Oh, no. Your first ACX/AUDIBLE audio production just got bounced. What now?

You have finished your hours of recording and the author has approved it.  You are feeling good, certain that you have figured out this whole audio production process.  Then, there's bad news.  

​Maybe you have just received this message in your email ...

She looks so happy about your "issues", doesn't she? 

Don't panic.  You can handle this problem and we will take it step by step.  First of all, know that there are several different versions of these emails, each with their own "issue" noted.  Sometimes, you have more than one issue with a set of files.
In this post, we will look at the ROOM TONE AT BEGINNING AND END error.  This one is pretty simple to fix-- that's why we are looking at it first.  

Question: What does ACX mean by "Room Tone" at the beginning and end?
Answer: "Room tone" means literally the sound of the empty room you are recording in.  When I first started recording for AUDIBLE, I spliced into 2-3 seconds of lead-in silence for my first projects.  This was a mistake and it will get your project bounced.  

How to fix it: ACX wants the audience to be able to hear that subtle room tone before they hear your voice.  All you have to do is, after you hit record, wait for 2-3 seconds in silence BEFORE recording any voice and, VOILA, you have room tone at the beginning.  The same rule applies for AFTER you are done recording.  When you end a chapter, wait for 2-3 in silence BEFORE turning off your mic or hitting the stop key.  Do this every time you record, for every chapter and every project. Then, you will never have a Room Tone error again.

But, one last piece of advice.  Review the Room Tone requirements carefully because they are very specific.  As of the time of this post, ACX wants exactly 1 second of room tone at the beginning and 0.5 to 1 second of room tone at the end.  Do NOT attempt to submit something with room tone outside of these parameters or it will get bounced.  It's basically: room tone within their exact requirements or it will bounce.

I hope this advice will help solve your Room Tone errors.  In coming posts, we will look at other common errors and discuss how to fix them.