You must know these audio editing guidelines - No Excuse - Part 2 - Audiobook Narration Series

Audiobook Narration Series

Author

Master Editor
August 20, 2024

If you work in voice editing, it's important to know the ACX submission requirements. 

It is a must for audiobook narration, but it is equally important for professional voice-over, podcasts, and content creation.

You might ask, "Why do ACX guidelines matter if I’m not making audiobooks?" The answer is simple: these standards are helpful for all audio editing projects.

If you want clear and professional voice recordings, following ACX guidelines is a great way to achieve that.

The purpose of ACX requirements is to create a consistent and enjoyable listening experience. This goal applies to all voice editing projects, not just audiobooks.

So even if you’re not producing an audiobook, learning these guidelines is valuable. But what exactly are these requirements, and why are they important?

ACX has some key points that define excellent audio. 

These guidelines cover technical details and help you spot and fix common audio issues. Studying them gives you the tools to create clean and professional recordings. 

You may think you know what good audio sounds like, but these guidelines can reveal problems you didn’t realize were there.

Take "mouth clicks," for example. Have you heard of them? If you haven’t, don’t worry—you’ll understand soon.

When we speak, our mouths make tiny noises. In conversation, these sounds are normal and go unnoticed. 

But when speech is recorded, mouth-clicks, pops, and lip-smacks become obvious.

Many people don’t know these noises exist in their recordings. Because you need to learn about these noises. 

You can’t fix a problem that you don’t notice or recognize.

I’ve seen this happen with many clients. I was approached by someone who learned audio editing from YouTube only, and applied for voice-over jobs. 

But his submissions were rejected because of mouth clicks. He didn’t even know they were a problem until he got feedback.

This shows why it’s important to learn about common audio issues. If you don’t know what to listen for, you can’t fix it. 

That’s why ACX submission requirements are so helpful.

In this series on audiobook narration, I’ll explain important ACX points. For now, let’s focus on the one:

“Your audiobook should be consistent in sound and formatting. This includes audio levels, tone, noise level, spacing, and pronunciation. Consistent audio makes for a better listening experience and can lead to good reviews and better sales.”

The key is consistency. This doesn’t just mean keeping your voice steady. It also means controlling noise, tone, and spacing. 

"spacing" means the pauses between words or sentences.

If your audio isn’t consistent, listeners will feel in inconsistency. 

Drastic changes can ruin their listening experience. 

For a better listening experience of your audience, Your goal is to deliver smooth, enjoyable audio.

The ACX guidelines can be divided into three categories:

  1. Before recording

  2. During recording

  3. After recording

Some points in the ACX requirements must be taken care of before recording. You can not fix any of those issues once you record your audio.

You also need to pay attention to something during recording. Because the better and clean your recording is, the better audio will be on final output.

And the last things are some technical requirements that have to be achieved by post-processing with the software.

In my next post, I’ll explain which points belong to each category. Before that, make sure you go through the ACX requirements.

If you missed the first part of this series, you can catch up here: Thinking Audiobook Narration the correct way - Part 1.

If you are looking for A-Z guidance and materials on Audiobook Production in Audacity, please have a look at the following Audiobook Bundle:

To learn Adobe Audition well to get started in voice-over or audiobooks, you can check out the following Adobe Audition Bundle: