How to adjust RMS & Loudness in Adobe Audition for Voiceover and Audiobooks | Tips from a PRO VO

[@treehousephonics3175]

SWEET MOTHER OF PEARL!!! I was bouncing back and forth between normalizing and compressing and still couldn't get my audio to sit within the standards, and then you came along. Supreme Wizard of Save My Bacon and had my file snapped into shape with the Match Loudness setting. Had no idea there was such an amazing preset for audiobooks. This really made my day. Thanks a mil Jay! I subscribed based on this alone. Time to deep dive!

[@LinkSalasNYC]

Bookmarking this. Finally, a helpful video for Audiobook narrators

[@RogerHayes-e9y]

Amen!!

[@kaythompson3478]

Thank you so much for making this video! I had been up to 2am trying to figure out how to fix my RMS between -23db and -18db for audiobook samples. I gave up and called it a night. The next morning I came across your video and you helped me solve the issue! I have now successfully uploaded my first audiobook sample and I'm over the moon about it, even though I know I still have a long ways to go in my career. I am appreciative to come across your channel! Now whenever I get stuck, I know who to search for!😌

[@jaymyersvoiceover]

So glad to hear that Kay! Congratulations!

[@craftedgemworkshop7927]

Thank you for taking the time and making this video. I had stepped away from my edits because of the frustrations around this topic. I edited my audition today and I am super happy with the turnout now.

[@jaymyersvoiceover]

So glad to hear that!

[@perchancetoread]

This is the first video I've found that showed me exactly what I was looking for: How to tweak the SETTINGS to achieve the correct RMS, etc. Every other video assumes you know how to do that or just omits the conversation. Much appreciated!

[@jaymyersvoiceover]

You bet!

[@SuperDjcnote]

Jay this helped me out so much. I've been racking my brain trying to get audio approved by ACX and after following this video, they approved! Thanks again, I appreciate you and all the other Pros in this field that take time to help "newbies" like me.

[@jaymyersvoiceover]

My pleasure!!

[@natalieflores952]

OMG!!! Your video was perfect! Really helped me out. I've watched so many videos.... but this one is the best

[@jaymyersvoiceover]

So glad to hear!

[@patbowman9959]

Your voice performance is always perfection for listeners for all the reasons mentioned in this snippet. Other narrators, regardless of their own experience, should follow every word of your advice! Thank you!

[@jaymyersvoiceover]

Thanks very much Pat!

[@patbowman9959]

@@jaymyersvoiceover No thanks necessary - long may you read!

[@harveyyoder6736]

Very very helpful! I spent 4 hours trying to figure this out on KZbin and Adobe Audition before I found this video. After this video, all my questions are answered. This video has everything I need to know and it's all very easy to understand. You're an awesome guy, Jay!

[@jaymyersvoiceover]

So glad it was helpful! :)

[@anon123-fp1xb]

Thank you Jay, this was the most clear and effective video of the dozens I’ve watched trying to figure this out

[@BitcoinforIdiots]

I. LOVE. YOU. I am a hobbyist video editor and recently started editing a podcast. I am new to audition and trying to find solutions to my problems without knowing the lingo has been exceptionally difficult. Great video and thank you for the help.

[@jaymyersvoiceover]

My pleasure! Best of luck ;)

[@BitcoinforIdiots]

Follow up: My current podcast that I am editing the waveform looks like the waveform on the right in your video and its overall too quiet, what would you recommend doing to level out everything and increase the overall volume?

[@MedievalMary]

I use match loudness and a Hardlimiter/True Peaks of -3db. Basically the same if a little different.

[@rosevelorum]

Thank you so much for this informative and helpful guide! I was having SUCH a hard time working with my files, and you absolutely saved the day. Thank you for the great information and advice!

[@jaymyersvoiceover]

Anytime! Glad to hear it was helpful.

[@michaelfaeth]

Thank you for addressing this and the help.

[@jaymyersvoiceover]

Anytime!

[@bethreth5151]

So clear and helpful, Jay. Thank you!

[@jaymyersvoiceover]

You're very welcome!

[@marquism1799]

Saved my butt here! Thanks so much for this!

[@UpliftPress]

Sadly I have an older version of Audition. But you have a wonderful voice!

[@jaymyersvoiceover]

❤️

[@debdoyAtyahoo]

Hi Jay, Thanks so much for this really helpful information. My question is about the db level - when I run the parameters, I get a db level around the -7 or -5. Are these values still ok for audiobooks? I understand that we can't go above -3db but how low can we go?

[@jaymyersvoiceover]

Hi Debbie! As long as your RMS values are -18 to -23 db it doesn’t matter where your peaks are. Though if they get too low it may be an indication that something is amiss elsewhere in your processing, for example excessive compression.

[@cuentaqoscar4840]

Brother, THANK YOU, it was really what I was looking for and in Spanish there are no tutorials for this and you saved me, I have a question, I add a little mastering to my audio, voice equalizer among other things, do you recommend doing the normalization before or at the end?

[@jaymyersvoiceover]

of course! Happy to help. For your question, if you're adjusting your loudness to hit a certain specification, it's best to do this as the final step in any processing you do since EQ, editing, normalizing, etc. will all affect loudness to some degree.

[@dharmakelleherauthor]

Very helpful!!!

[@TheWatchFrogs]

Can you do this for fl studio? Will buy coffee :)

[@jaymyersvoiceover]

Sadly, I don't have FL studio. If I end up picking it up though I'll keep this in mind!

[@zachhalliwell553]

I keep having issues where I use the Match Loudness settings and while the statistics are correct, the audio comes out WAY louder than I feel like it should be. So then I try to normalize it or add a compressor, but then that throws off all the statistics again. I'm wondering if I'm just recording with my gain too low or something.

[@jaymyersvoiceover]

I experience something very similar if I'm listening to my audio on the same headphones I recorded on after running Match Loudness. What I recommend is to compare your audio to similar samples on various listening systems that AREN'T your monitoring headphones (i.e. laptop speakers, phone speaker, car, etc.) and this in my experience lends a better comparison between how loud something "should" be on different platforms versus how loud we think it is in the booth.

[@zachhalliwell553]

@@jaymyersvoiceover ya know. Okay. I thought I was crazy. Because that’s exactly it, it’s in my headphones. But then I’ll send the file to my phone and post it on Tik Tok and it sounds just fine.

[@yashveersharma6979]

please please make a new video which describes Normalization and Loudness. And the same audio used in this video would be great choice for the new tutorial video. the most annoying thing is Low volume parts and high-volume parts (not so consistent audio level) in an audio and no decent fast/quick way to improve it.

[@jaymyersvoiceover]

Happy to make a video on that, though from what you're describing it sounds like compression is the tool you're looking for. Here's one of my videos on it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gaapk6ihi5uom80

[@naturalnaela]

Mine doesn't have all of those labels 😭 I'm trying to view the average RMS and I don't even have an option for it

[@jaymyersvoiceover]

Ah! Sorry you're running into that trouble. Are you using Adobe Audition?

[@naturalnaela]

@@jaymyersvoiceover I am! And I just downloaded it so I’m sure it’s the newest version. I’m having an issue where my mic (randomly while recording) will have these bursts of static. Very short and quick but distracting nonetheless, so I’m wondering if putting my audio in Adobe Audition to create a noise gate will help cut out the random static.

[@jaymyersvoiceover]

@@naturalnaela Ah! If you'd like to send me audio thru my website, I have a "Tech Support" portal and can try to help you out. No pressure of course, but it's there if you need. In the long term, that's an issue you'll likely want to try and sort out in your equipment rather than in post-processing. Regarding Average RMS, if you click to the "Loudness" tab like I do in the video, in the bottom left of your window should be a box called "Amplitude Statistics." You can select the whole audio file In the "editor" window, then in the "Amplitude Statistics" window click SCAN SELECTION in the bottom left. That'll show you Average RMS!

[@naturalnaela]

@@jaymyersvoiceoveractually I probably will do that. I’d much rather figure out the source of the issue, I just have no idea what I’m doing 💀 I’ll check out your website

[@naturalnaela]

@@jaymyersvoiceover Just sent over the request! Thanks so much!

[@techcdrive1702]

sooo isn't it just normalization ???????????? or it is completely different, so many questions around this thing and less content and answers on other platforms, normalization on an uneven audio ( just like the sample used in this video ) and match loudness on the same. what's the difference of applying these two on the same type of audio file and what would be the better solution to use to make even audio levels, Or on what case scenario what would be best in-between these two.

[@jaymyersvoiceover]

Good question! In short they are similar but different. Normalization takes the overall peak in your audio (the single loudest point in your waveform) and raises that to a given value. So if your peak is at -8dB and you normalize to -3dB, the audio will be increased by 5dB overall. This doesn’t necessarily bring your audio to a certain loudness specification though due to variability in peaks. Match loudness on the other hand includes a limiter effect to address that.

[@techcdrive1702]

@@jaymyersvoiceover sooooo basically that means we have to apply limiter or compressor before applying normalization to bring overall/ whole audio frequency to even level!!! and in match loudness its just inbuilt. it does the both with just one!!!!!! is it possible to make a video on this topic. basically comparing the effects of both methods ( to make even audio level ) on an uneven audio ( sample is this video).

[@jaymyersvoiceover]

@@techcdrive1702 I'd be glad to make a video on this when I am able. Though, I'm not sure what you mean by even audio vs uneven audio.

[@techcdrive1702]

@@jaymyersvoiceover Which method increases noise level more - 1st method Compressor/Limiter > Normalization or 2nd method Match loudness. i am guessing both stands equal in this.

[@techcdrive1702]

@@jaymyersvoiceover on 0:59 in this video, my waveforms are exactly like that, uneven kind of wavelengths, in my audio recording there are some low wavelength parts ( under -30db) and some high ( average -10db ) , and i want to increase those (-30db) parts , somewhat like -22db or so. so i applied both "match loudness" and " Normalization after limiter"; both worked but "match loudness" was pretty good in increasing overall audio and " normalization " is decent for this particular task . that's why i am confused if "match loudness is the new standard now for this kind of issues and if that so - ditching Limiter>normalization is good idea or not ( because of the steps involved in this one )!