Angela, you Rock!!! I just got assigned a 600 Page Audio Book... and its like eating an elephant... where do you start... and there you were like and Angel with all good info! Bravo to you !!! Joseph Miller.
I’ve been involved in sound production for a few years, but I’m new to the narration sphere and I gotta say, your channel has been the most valuable resource I’ve found thus far. You keep things digestible, and seeing your recording workflow is super helpful. Thank you for making these videos!
i won't lie..when I first saw your channel I was like.."oh goody..another voice-over channel..just what the world needs" But you kept popping up and you have some great and useful content. I really appreciate your approach and willingness to help. Especially in the audiobook arena. I'm glad to see that your channel is growing and passing some of the other scrubs that try to sell something every 5 minutes. Thank you for this great video.
Really great information here, and I thank you for sharing it. You may have already begun doing this at this point, but I implore you to not leave your work media folders on your computer. Always have TWO external hard drives and save all of your files to both of them. If you still want to keep a copy on your computer until a particular date in the future, that's fine, but you can actually free it up and make it less laggy by keeping your media files off the built-in HD and just keep 'em all on the TWO external HDs. If your computer dies, or rather, if your internal HD dies, you've lost all of your work. But if you get two (or AT LEAST one ... but don't get one get two) external HDs, you now have two unfettered sources from which to draw. And if for some reason one of these two external HDs die, then you've got the other. And IF that was to happen, IMMEDIATELY purchase a new one and transfer all of the data from the good XHD to the new one. Yes, yes, yes. ALWAYS have at least two external sources of your media. As well, it certainly doesn't hurt to utilize cloud storage. I've experienced the loss of data while in the midst of a job and had to do the entire thing over again. All that work for nothing. I would hate for it to happen to you. Sorry for the novel. :)
Excellent suggestion... I went and bought a 2nd external drive and CCC Cloner to have Cloner clone the hard drive to 1st drive and to the 2nd... and of course the G Drive as well. Yes, to have to do work over again due to a drive failure is just not acceptable.
How would I be able to do that with something like Audacity. That is what I am using right now. I have found some things that make improvements but still have residual clicks and the like. Ideas?? Thanks
Hey, your videos are really, really helpful thank you! Do you normalise at the beginning and the end? Or just the end? Also do you ever use a compressor? Thanks Chris
Hi Chris, thanks for watching! I normalize at the end, as the last step. I use a touch of compression, not too much. Like everything else, its something that will be different for everyone.
Hi Angela, firstly, you are so beautiful and helpful and I want to say THANK YOU for shining your light!! Secondly, I am recording my first ACX book, and I am unsure if I am to include all the text included in the Manuscript regarding printing and such prior to the actual beginning of the book (found between the title page and preface)?
Hi! Thank you so much, you're so sweet! I'm blushing! Are you taking about the copyright page? When in doubt, ask the RH what they want included but the copyright page or printing info is not included :) Thanks for watching!
Hi Angela, You mentioned in this video that the title of which part of the book you are narrating can be entered into Metadata. I could not locate that on Audition. When I look at my top right menu I do not see Metadata. Can you help?
Hi Christine, thank you for the question! To enter in the metadata, first make sure that you have that panel selected and showing on your screen. If you click on the "window" tab, click the metadata panel to activate it. It should show up on the right hand side. On the top of the "Metadata" panel, select the "ID3" panel to show. This is where you enter in the Chapter and the Title of the book. I will include this in my next video as well, once I have a moment to record it lol. I hope this helps! :)
@@VoiceOverAngela WOW I got! I love your videos. I can't believe you don't have more views. They must just not be aware of your presence. Thanks so much!
Hi Angela, This is an awesome video thanks for the info. Unfortunately I don’t have adobe audition, I use audacity instead. Anyway you can do a video using audacity instead?
Hello Angela I love this video. I did the scan for Amplitude statistics and my Total RMS was 24.04 So I raised the volume and then normalized to -03db. And for some reason it stayed the same when I scanned again. Any advise? Oh here's the weird thing... I tried raising the volume and then not normalizing it. The peak amplitude went to 0.29db. I uploaded it to ACX audiolab and it said NO issues found..
Hello Angela and thank you very much for your videos! Could you please share your effects settings? DeNoise, NS1, Mouth declicks, Deplosives, etc? I ask because even I use more or less the same effects you use I don't get the sound clean enough between words and I spend an eternity cleaning it. I also do meditation voiceovers and it is even worse as I still get more noises and clicks because I speak very quietly. I would really appreciate any help. Thanks!!
Hi Isabel, for meditation narration, as you know there is more attention to detail as it's a slow and quieter narration. I use NS1, a bit of EQ, mouth de-click but still do some manual removal, then deplosive
Each effect will need to be adjusted to your recording space and voice. My settings will be different than yours. It does take some time to find a sweet spot, but I still manually adjust most of the time.
@@VoiceOverAngela I use audition noise reduction, compresion, NS1, RX mouth declicker and deesser. And then I have to go all over the audio removing manually breaths and noises.... I will pay with the settings because it takes me too long. I have never used deplosive. Thank you very much!
Thank you for this Angela, you are so helpful!! I do have a question. I did the steps to normalize, and scan the amplitude stats, and my Total RMS was still -26, so I did the steps you said. I went back to Normalize under my history tab, highlighted it like you did, raised the DB and normalized it again but the total RMS is not changing. It's not changing even when I repeat this step a couple of times. What am I missing? Thanks in advance!
I love that Audition has the specific -3db normalization option. I record in Reaper and you can only normalize an audio item to -1 for some reason, which is really annoying.
Rx7 is a suite of plug ins from Izotope that help repair some common issues with voice over recording. There is one specifically for reducing mouth noise, its the best!
Excellent collection of tutorials! I followed all your tips on editing and I think I am ready to send to ACX the files o this book I recorded for a friend with the help of a narrator. All is set to go, but when I save the files as MP3 16 bit, the files are FORCED to be saved as 32 bit float, and ACX requires 16 bit. What should I do to save the files at 16 bit, not 16 bit float, so I can upload them correctly? Grazie mille! Roberto
Hi Roberto, excellent question. If you save your files as 16bit mp3 and then close them, when you reopen the file it will automatically show as 32bit as that is how they are read by your DAW. But, if you saved it as 16bit, it is fine, it is still 16bit as far as ACX is concerned. :)
Your videos have been a real help in navigating formatting! Thank you! I have a question regarding the total RMS. I can't seem to get it under -26 even after going back and raising the dBs and normalizing again. Is there another way to get it within the limits? lol
It's typically one or more of the peaks in your waveform. I would add a bit more compression to make them more uniform or reduce some of those peaks, then normalize.
Hi Angela. Thank you so much for this tutorial! I wanted to ask, as you mentioned room tone: I’m having a hard time with room tone in my Acx files. As I submit them they’re saying they’re wrong, but the audio is completely silent before and after each file. There’s no pops, hisses, or anything of the sort, but they’re saying I need to edit the files to have proper room tone spacing. Can you help me with this? Thank you! (And I’m sorry about the lengthy question)
@@VoiceOverAngela Thank you for such a quick reply! Unfortunately I’ve tried fixing the spacing multiple times, and each time they say it’s wrong despite following what’s given in the email. :1 That’s why I’m so confused.
? Does Acx do anything to the file? I have followed these recommendations of mastering /formatting and passed QC... but the file sounds sort of quiet when compared to an actual produced audible recording 🤔... Please help Obi-Wan Voiceover kanobi
Lol! I'm no Obi-wan, but thank you for that! It may be because most of your files may have been on the lower end on the volume range? Closer to the -23 side? I think they may also compress it further, I'm not sure, but that shouldn't affect the volume much.
I tried adjusting my rms the way you instructed but it would not change. No matter how much I increased the db, once I normalize to -3 I still have 24.09 RMS, I have no idea what I'm doing wrong
There may have been a step that wasnt completely undone, and keep in mind that there are variables to each recording space. Try bringing up the overall volume of the entire file a couple db before you normalize.
Very informative video, Angela. One question: Do you need to wait till you've completed the entire book to upload to ACX? Or can you upload as you complete each chapter?
I'm so confused on getting the programs on NS1 mono and down on your list. I can't seem to find that on my adobe audition and when I look them up, I can't seem to find them online.
Vague video: She went from discussing how to choose a format based on the website criteria and magically switch to the software. I'm so confused--where did the software come from. I wasn't even told the software name! Then I'm a Lil puzzled about how the software works from then on. I thought this was a tutorial but I'm very unclear about the process. I would love someone to explain thx.
Hi! Thanks for watching! I use Adobe Audition for my recording software, I apologize if I did not name it, I have a handful of videos on audiobook production, sometimes I forget. :) Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Hi Angela! Thanks for all your very helpful videos. 🙂. I just accepted my 1st offer to produce an ACX audiobook. Are things like the copywrite pages, table of contents, indexs and such usually read?
You will use the copyright date and owner for the closing credits, but that page is not narrated, nor are the table of contents, index, about the author, references, footnotes etc. Just the main body of the book plus foreword, epilogue, etc. Congratulations by the way!!!
Yeah, I was having issues with getting my format settings right with OBS, after converting back to mp4, the timing was off.... I did my best to match it back up. I felt it more important to share the information even if it was slightly off in timing. Thanks for watching!
@@VoiceOverAngela I see, maybe you can try to have a spot in your video when you clap your hands. Syncing the visual clap with the spike on your recording makes the entire thing easier. I was being facetious and actually nasty, but you made the right decision in releasing that video as it was. It was very useful you know what I am going to give you a like for your content and for the way you handled a troll like me :)
Booked my first audio book contract! This video came through clutch. Thank you so much Angela
Yay! Congratulations! Have fun with it!
Angela, you Rock!!! I just got assigned a 600 Page Audio Book... and its like eating an elephant... where do you start... and there you were like and Angel with all good info! Bravo to you !!! Joseph Miller.
I’ve been involved in sound production for a few years, but I’m new to the narration sphere and I gotta say, your channel has been the most valuable resource I’ve found thus far. You keep things digestible, and seeing your recording workflow is super helpful. Thank you for making these videos!
Released 7 months ago and has one dislike. You are definitely doing something right.
Now two!
i won't lie..when I first saw your channel I was like.."oh goody..another voice-over channel..just what the world needs"
But you kept popping up and you have some great and useful content. I really appreciate your approach and willingness to help. Especially in the audiobook arena.
I'm glad to see that your channel is growing and passing some of the other scrubs that try to sell something every 5 minutes.
Thank you for this great video.
Thank you for your comment, I really appreciate it. I just wanted to help, truly. We are all beginners at some point.... Thank you for watching. ❤
This video and your channel in general, has been super informative! Thank you very much!
Really great information here, and I thank you for sharing it. You may have already begun doing this at this point, but I implore you to not leave your work media folders on your computer. Always have TWO external hard drives and save all of your files to both of them. If you still want to keep a copy on your computer until a particular date in the future, that's fine, but you can actually free it up and make it less laggy by keeping your media files off the built-in HD and just keep 'em all on the TWO external HDs. If your computer dies, or rather, if your internal HD dies, you've lost all of your work. But if you get two (or AT LEAST one ... but don't get one get two) external HDs, you now have two unfettered sources from which to draw. And if for some reason one of these two external HDs die, then you've got the other. And IF that was to happen, IMMEDIATELY purchase a new one and transfer all of the data from the good XHD to the new one. Yes, yes, yes. ALWAYS have at least two external sources of your media. As well, it certainly doesn't hurt to utilize cloud storage. I've experienced the loss of data while in the midst of a job and had to do the entire thing over again. All that work for nothing. I would hate for it to happen to you. Sorry for the novel. :)
Thank you so much Shawn, I do save my work to external hard drives. Thank goodness for them! Thank you for watching and for sharing your advice!
Excellent suggestion... I went and bought a 2nd external drive and CCC Cloner to have Cloner clone the hard drive to 1st drive and to the 2nd... and of course the G Drive as well. Yes, to have to do work over again due to a drive failure is just not acceptable.
I recently found your channel. Very helpful information. Thank you!
This video was super helpful and gave me info I didn’t even know I needed 😩😩😩
This is all new to me! Looks interesting. Do not know if my voice is suitable to do that kind of work. But I am thinking about trying it.
You're so helpful Angela, again so many thanks. ♥☮∞
Thank you so much! This is very helpful.
Yep the exact video I needed!!! Thanks ma’am!!!
Thank you! This is really helpful. I have a question. Where can I see the noise floor in the Amplitude Statistics?
Very nice
Thank you Angela for this very informative video. What is your workflow? Do you work with iZotope RX's effects first and then Audition's tools? Thanks
This is a great video, Thank you. Can you tell me what program you use to record please? I am trying to find a good recording app.
@@trailingtrekker thank you for watching! I use Adobe Audition as my recording software.
what daw do you use? is there a specific daw you have to use or can you use anything as long as its edited and mastered correctly?
I use Adobe Audition, you can use any you wish as long as it's formatted correctly. Thanks for watching!
How would I be able to do that with something like Audacity. That is what I am using right now. I have found some things that make improvements but still have residual clicks and the like. Ideas??
Thanks
Thank you!
Hey, your videos are really, really helpful thank you! Do you normalise at the beginning and the end? Or just the end? Also do you ever use a compressor? Thanks Chris
Hi Chris, thanks for watching! I normalize at the end, as the last step. I use a touch of compression, not too much. Like everything else, its something that will be different for everyone.
@@VoiceOverAngela That was very helpful, thank you!
If I recorded and edited in Audacity is my end product going to sound that different vs doing it all in Audition? Thanks!
Hi Angela, firstly, you are so beautiful and helpful and I want to say THANK YOU for shining your light!! Secondly, I am recording my first ACX book, and I am unsure if I am to include all the text included in the Manuscript regarding printing and such prior to the actual beginning of the book (found between the title page and preface)?
Hi! Thank you so much, you're so sweet! I'm blushing! Are you taking about the copyright page? When in doubt, ask the RH what they want included but the copyright page or printing info is not included :) Thanks for watching!
Hi Angela, You mentioned in this video that the title of which part of the book you are narrating can be entered into Metadata. I could not locate that on Audition. When I look at my top right menu I do not see Metadata. Can you help?
Hi Christine, thank you for the question! To enter in the metadata, first make sure that you have that panel selected and showing on your screen. If you click on the "window" tab, click the metadata panel to activate it. It should show up on the right hand side. On the top of the "Metadata" panel, select the "ID3" panel to show. This is where you enter in the Chapter and the Title of the book. I will include this in my next video as well, once I have a moment to record it lol. I hope this helps! :)
@@VoiceOverAngela WOW I got! I love your videos. I can't believe you don't have more views. They must just not be aware of your presence. Thanks so much!
@@christineayala3343 Oh good! I'm so glad to help! It's alright, I make the videos just to help. I appreciate the compliment though! 😘
What recording application do you do use when recording your audiobook?
I use Adobe Audition
Please can you teach me how to start my aaudio book
Can we make audiobook in mobile
Any idea where I can find the NS1 Mono, RX 7 Mouth click and the RX 7 De plosive?
The RX7 plugins are found at Izotope.com, the current version is RX9. The NS1 is from waves.com.
@@VoiceOverAngela Thank you so much!
want more tutorial about acx
Hi Angela, This is an awesome video thanks for the info. Unfortunately I don’t have adobe audition, I use audacity instead. Anyway you can do a video using audacity instead?
Hi! I've had a few requests for this topic, I'll see if I can get a video done on it. Thank you!
@@VoiceOverAngela Thank you! Btw, I signed up for your platinum membership 😁 I’ve been catching up on your videos I have learned a lot 😁 thank you 😊
Hello Angela I love this video. I did the scan for Amplitude statistics and my Total RMS was 24.04 So I raised the volume and then normalized to -03db. And for some reason it stayed the same when I scanned again. Any advise? Oh here's the weird thing... I tried raising the volume and then not normalizing it. The peak amplitude went to 0.29db. I uploaded it to ACX audiolab and it said NO issues found..
I'm running into the exact same issue
Hello Angela and thank you very much for your videos! Could you please share your effects settings? DeNoise, NS1, Mouth declicks, Deplosives, etc? I ask because even I use more or less the same effects you use I don't get the sound clean enough between words and I spend an eternity cleaning it. I also do meditation voiceovers and it is even worse as I still get more noises and clicks because I speak very quietly. I would really appreciate any help. Thanks!!
Hi Isabel, for meditation narration, as you know there is more attention to detail as it's a slow and quieter narration. I use NS1, a bit of EQ, mouth de-click but still do some manual removal, then deplosive
Each effect will need to be adjusted to your recording space and voice. My settings will be different than yours. It does take some time to find a sweet spot, but I still manually adjust most of the time.
@@VoiceOverAngela I use audition noise reduction, compresion, NS1, RX mouth declicker and deesser. And then I have to go all over the audio removing manually breaths and noises.... I will pay with the settings because it takes me too long. I have never used deplosive. Thank you very much!
Thank you for this Angela, you are so helpful!! I do have a question. I did the steps to normalize, and scan the amplitude stats, and my Total RMS was still -26, so I did the steps you said. I went back to Normalize under my history tab, highlighted it like you did, raised the DB and normalized it again but the total RMS is not changing. It's not changing even when I repeat this step a couple of times. What am I missing? Thanks in advance!
Hmmm, not sure. Perhaps try to add a bit more compression before you normalize. That may help make the volumes a bit more uniform to start with.
I love that Audition has the specific -3db normalization option. I record in Reaper and you can only normalize an audio item to -1 for some reason, which is really annoying.
I love Audition, it's awesome. I've heard good things about Reaper too.
Rx7 mouth noise?
Rx7 is a suite of plug ins from Izotope that help repair some common issues with voice over recording. There is one specifically for reducing mouth noise, its the best!
She gets to the "meat" of what you need to know around 07:13 into this, if you need to cut to the chase.
Excellent collection of tutorials! I followed all your tips on editing and I think I am ready to send to ACX the files o this book I recorded for a friend with the help of a narrator. All is set to go, but when I save the files as MP3 16 bit, the files are FORCED to be saved as 32 bit float, and ACX requires 16 bit. What should I do to save the files at 16 bit, not 16 bit float, so I can upload them correctly? Grazie mille! Roberto
Hi Roberto, excellent question. If you save your files as 16bit mp3 and then close them, when you reopen the file it will automatically show as 32bit as that is how they are read by your DAW. But, if you saved it as 16bit, it is fine, it is still 16bit as far as ACX is concerned. :)
Your videos have been a real help in navigating formatting! Thank you! I have a question regarding the total RMS. I can't seem to get it under -26 even after going back and raising the dBs and normalizing again. Is there another way to get it within the limits? lol
It's typically one or more of the peaks in your waveform. I would add a bit more compression to make them more uniform or reduce some of those peaks, then normalize.
@@VoiceOverAngela Thanks so much for replying and answering my question 💗👍
What format you are using for recording
I record as a wav file, 44100khz and 16 bit sample rate. I use Adobe Audition as my DAW.
Hi Angela. Thank you so much for this tutorial! I wanted to ask, as you mentioned room tone: I’m having a hard time with room tone in my Acx files. As I submit them they’re saying they’re wrong, but the audio is completely silent before and after each file. There’s no pops, hisses, or anything of the sort, but they’re saying I need to edit the files to have proper room tone spacing. Can you help me with this? Thank you! (And I’m sorry about the lengthy question)
Hi Misty, thanks for watching! It sounds like they're taking about spacing. Maybe at the start or end or during narration, between paragraphs maybe?
@@VoiceOverAngela Thank you for such a quick reply! Unfortunately I’ve tried fixing the spacing multiple times, and each time they say it’s wrong despite following what’s given in the email. :1 That’s why I’m so confused.
? Does Acx do anything to the file? I have followed these recommendations of mastering /formatting and passed QC... but the file sounds sort of quiet when compared to an actual produced audible recording 🤔... Please help Obi-Wan Voiceover kanobi
Lol! I'm no Obi-wan, but thank you for that! It may be because most of your files may have been on the lower end on the volume range? Closer to the -23 side? I think they may also compress it further, I'm not sure, but that shouldn't affect the volume much.
May I ask what system you are using to record the audio for your reading.
I use Adobe Audition. Thanks for watching!
@@VoiceOverAngela You welcome and thank you so much.
I tried adjusting my rms the way you instructed but it would not change. No matter how much I increased the db, once I normalize to -3 I still have 24.09 RMS, I have no idea what I'm doing wrong
There may have been a step that wasnt completely undone, and keep in mind that there are variables to each recording space. Try bringing up the overall volume of the entire file a couple db before you normalize.
Very informative video, Angela. One question: Do you need to wait till you've completed the entire book to upload to ACX? Or can you upload as you complete each chapter?
Thank you for watching! Personally, I finish the entire book before I upload it to ACX.
Where can we go to get a preset designed for our voice?
Tim Tippets, George Whittam, amongst many others...
I'm so confused on getting the programs on NS1 mono and down on your list. I can't seem to find that on my adobe audition and when I look them up, I can't seem to find them online.
Hi! These plug ins are found at waves.com and izotope.com.
@@VoiceOverAngela Thank you so much!
Hello and thanks, what platform is this??
This is ACX, an arm of Amazon where narrators and authors meet to produce audiobooks.
@@VoiceOverAngela lol actually is that Audacity
@@skippylearn apologies, I thought you were referring to ACX. I use Adobe Audition as my DAW.
@@VoiceOverAngela tks much, do you prefer this over Audacity?
@@skippylearn I do, I used Audacity for about a month or two. Switched to Audtion and then got the entire CC suite for the other apps. :)
Vague video: She went from discussing how to choose a format based on the website criteria and magically switch to the software. I'm so confused--where did the software come from. I wasn't even told the software name! Then I'm a Lil puzzled about how the software works from then on. I thought this was a tutorial but I'm very unclear about the process. I would love someone to explain thx.
Hi! Thanks for watching! I use Adobe Audition for my recording software, I apologize if I did not name it, I have a handful of videos on audiobook production, sometimes I forget. :) Please let me know if you have any other questions.
So are each chapter uploaded separate ?
Yes, each chapter or section will be separate
Hi Angela! Thanks for all your very helpful videos. 🙂.
I just accepted my 1st offer to produce an ACX audiobook.
Are things like the copywrite pages, table of contents, indexs and
such usually read?
You will use the copyright date and owner for the closing credits, but that page is not narrated, nor are the table of contents, index, about the author, references, footnotes etc. Just the main body of the book plus foreword, epilogue, etc. Congratulations by the way!!!
Thank you for your help. It is much appreciated. 🙂❤️
Too bad her picture is over the choices she's using.
It's a learning process.... I realize I made some recording mistakes at the beginning of my UA-cam adventure...
@@VoiceOverAngela I'm just starting to learn recording, so I'm easily confused. Thanks for your efforts.
all that work to make a nice sound, but it is out of sync with the video haha. just use your phone next time
Yeah, I was having issues with getting my format settings right with OBS, after converting back to mp4, the timing was off.... I did my best to match it back up. I felt it more important to share the information even if it was slightly off in timing. Thanks for watching!
@@VoiceOverAngela I see, maybe you can try to have a spot in your video when you clap your hands. Syncing the visual clap with the spike on your recording makes the entire thing easier. I was being facetious and actually nasty, but you made the right decision in releasing that video as it was. It was very useful you know what I am going to give you a like for your content and for the way you handled a troll like me :)
@@MMABeijing Thanks! I have since figured out the appropriate settings, for the most part, but thanks for the advice. No worries, have a great day!
This video was super helpful and gave me info I didn’t even know I needed 😩😩😩
Thank you!