Audiobook Levels Help Please

[WFVoiceover]

Hello

I'm working on recording an audiobook, and am new to the whole concept of engineering. The ideal scenario would be to hire a sound professional, but the budget is not there.

It was recorded with Garageband for simplicity, and then edited on Audition CS6 and I used some Noise Reduction, the Simple Bass Cut EQ with 3x compression and then ran it through the Speech Volume Leveller as I found the variations in voice volume for different characters to be annoying.

The end result is the link here:

Could you please have a listen and advise on how to improve it for levels etc.

Thank you.

Equipment used:

Rode NT-1A
Apogee Duet 2
iMac
M-Audio AV40 ref monitors / Sennheiser HD280 Pro Headphones

 

[trkkazulu]

It sounds really good. I would recommend that you de-ess as well as bring the level up another six db. Also, de-breath. You should process the different voices independently so that you can get optimum levels for the separate voices. Overall, it sounds nice. Good start.

 

[WFVoiceover]

Thank you for your feedback.
It is difficult for me to make a balance between voice levels. Usually, I don't use the voice leveller but in this case, the ups and downs on the voices were distracting for me, and I also have to careful about over-dramatizing the audiobook. It is a case of us giving a sense of separation between voices, without it sounding like a radio play.

I appreciate your comments...... thank you

 

[Bobbsy]

Hi! Just downloaded your file and looked at it in Audition 6.

I agree that a de-esser would help a bit--don't use so much that you suck the life out of the file, just control the sibilance a bit. A quick play suggested that if you start with the second "Male Voice" preset (the one labelled "de esher" and move the centre frequency to about 4000Hz you'll be close, but some more playing might improve on that.

Second, Your average level is at about -6. This is fine for mixing but, when people start playing your audiobook on an iPod or in a car, it'll seem a bit quiet. There are some occasional spikes (often on the sibilance) holding your levels lower than they need to be.

If it was me, I'd use the Audition Hard Limiter effect, set with a maximum level of -0.3dB and an additional gain of 6dB. This'll make your waveform look a bit "rectangular" but, alas, it's what people expect these days, especially for the sort of playback on the move that is normal for audio books.

By the way, my wife came up behind me when I was trying your file and said "oh, what a nice voice--who is it? I could listen to that!". So consider yourself complimented!

 

[WFVoiceover]

That's great Bobbsy. I appreciate the advice.
Will send you a PM for your wife with the links to my website. I need to stay as anonymous as I can at the moment.

Best regards