So this isn’t necessarily anything super groundbreaking, but I did something last night that I thought was kind of cool. And it’s a good illustration of why I think it’s valuable to actually own your media rather than just renting access to it.
The Problem
Yesterday, I was listening to an audiobook that was probably recorded in the early days of the format; not cassette-era, but before there was really a loudness standard for audiobooks. I was several chapters in and the whole time I was thinking, man, this volume is really low. My phone was maxed out and I was still having trouble hearing it.
We’re getting into the warm days here in Phoenix, so the A/C is running in the afternoons and I’ve got fans going too, which is just more ambient noise, making it even harder to hear. And on my lunch break, I was cooking and connected my phone to a Bluetooth speaker so I could listen in the kitchen, and even then, I was losing words over the sound of the faucet and whatever else I had going on.
I was loving the story when I could actually hear it, but for some reason, it just wasn’t dawning on me until last night, and I thought, “Dude, you’re an audio producer. There’s something you can do about this.”
The Solution
The book is broken up into a lot of tracks, not just one per chapter. Nearly 250 of them. And I wasn’t thinking about the fact that I have software that can batch process audio. So later in the evening, I just decided I was tired of putting up with it and went to go do something about it.
Now, this is the key thing: luckily—or maybe not so luckily, it was actually pretty intentional—I had gotten this audiobook from Libro.fm and not from Audible. So I actually own the files. Even though I’d been listening in the Libro app, I was able to go back to my computer, locate the downloaded files from my purchase, and get to work.
I pulled them up to check the levels, and they were coming in at −29 LUFS on average. That is really low. So I knew there was definitely something I could do about this.
It took about 25 to 30 minutes to batch process all 244 tracks. They’re mono voice-only files, and I set them to process up to −19 LUFS; a 10-point jump. While I was at it, I also had the software do a little noise reduction and normalization at the same time, so it wasn’t just that the peak level came up, but the overall levels were evened out too. The one downside is that processing doesn't re-write all my metadata into the new files, so I had to retag everything, but even with that it still only took me a bit over a half-hour total.
Now I’ve got clean, nice-sounding files. I’m not listening in the Libro app for this particular title anymore. I just dropped everything into my Plex server folder and now I can stream really good, properly leveled audio from Plex. And, after only a few minutes of work, I can actually enjoy the 16-hour audiobook.
The Point
If I had bought this title through Audible, or most other audiobook platforms, that’s it. I’m just stuck with whatever the listening experience is. I can’t get to the files, I can’t process them, I can’t fix anything. I’m just at the mercy of however the book was originally mastered.
Because I bought through Libro and actually own the files, I had options. That’s really what it comes down to. Owning your media means you can do something with it when something’s wrong, or when your needs change, or when you want to use it in a different app or on a different device. Renting access means you’re stuck with whatever the platform gives you.
Now, of course, not everyone is going to run into this exact situation, and this is by no means the most important reason for owning your media, but it is a reason. Anyway, a bit of a tiny win for the end of the week. Sometimes it's the little things that make the difference.
If you'd like to check out Libro.fm, here's my affiliate link to give them a try.
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