How to make volume consistent? ...Normalize? Speech Leveler?

Report · Nov 15, 2019

I'm processing my first audiobook files. I'm making good progress removing unwanted sounds. I'm aware of the requirements for submitting to ACX.

I notice in a big file that the sound wave varies a bit in mass and height. I have done Match Loudness across files. I made them all -21 Total RMS. I'm not positive what that means but the Amplitude Stats look similar now. Still when I look at the wave for an hour-long file in one view I notice some wandering up and down in overall height of the outer "fuzziness" and the center solid mass. Should I do something to level that out? I've seen "Normalize" mentioned. There's also Speech Leveler. ? Should I be making the Total RMS and *Average* RMS all be consistent across files? Thanks!

Report · Nov 16, 2019

If you do a forum search using the term 'ACX requirements' you'll find several posts that should guide you in the right direction.

Report · Nov 17, 2019

I'm fine on the specs and requirements. No questions there.

I'd be surprised if ACX gives info on how and when to use Normalize and Speech Leveler.

I'm wondering if anyone knows the pro's and con's of these two tools.

Normalize seems commonly done but i don't quite see what it does that is so useful. I've been omitting it.

SL seems powerful but i'm concerned about a downside.

thanks...

Report · Nov 19, 2019

Do you know of a YouTube video that walks people thru this? I see your reply at:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/audition/acx-requirements/m-p/10032788

...but it whips thru things without me understanding what you did or why. You mention normalizing and then doing that again but I don't understand what that is. (It raises the max signal to the amount entered. But I get lost at the -3db.) If there's a better explanation link, please share. Thx.

Report · Nov 19, 2019

There are plenty of great tips on this forum already as Steve mentions.

A few pointers from me. I wouldn't use Speech Volume Leveler on an ACX recording. It can have a habit of sucking up the quiet bits and causing hiss depending on recorded quality. It can also accentuate breaths.

I'd add in some light compression to even out the up and downs of your waveform and also consider a light noise gate. The noise gate will help with the noise floor requirement for ACX. You'll find both AutoGate and Compressor inside Effects > Ampliutde and Compression > Dynamics...

Report · Nov 19, 2019

Thanks. I didn't see any details about SL here. I did find some helpful basics at the official adobe features info site. But it was hard to find evaluation. Good to learn about this risk of a downside and lack of suitability to ACX. I'm starting to learn this. Took me a few days to figure it out on my own. Might have wasted a lot of hours creating hiss then trying to beat it back. I've processed all my files now. Some using SL. I'll review them to see what I think. If I went into a rabbit-hole and the results aren't impressive now that i've been a few days away from some of the work, well, i'll just redo it. My first file sure didn't sound good and i've already redone that.

Report · Nov 19, 2019

Hi... Some more tips or specifics would be great. So... I have some chunks of dialog that are quiet, some medium, some loud. How to best equalize them? I know the RMS specs for ACX. So I would aim them to that standard. I've tried playing with Dynamics and the Compressor and Expander. For the quiet chunk that I have I note that nothing there seems to amplify or increase the volume. So I'm stuck as regards that.

I also WAS stuck when I attempted to use Match Volume to get to the ACX specs, but then I remembered to use ITU LUFS instead of Total RMS in dB and the wave looks better now. Whew...