ACX Check: How to meet technical requirements every time

After having two audiobooks rejected by ACX for technical issues, I’ve finally developed a reliable process for meeting their requirements every time. I thought I’d share what I’ve learned:

1. **Understanding the requirements**
– RMS between -23dB and -18dB
– Peak values between -3dB and -1dB
– Noise floor below -60dB
– No distortion or digital artifacts

2. **My workflow**
– Record at -12dB peak for headroom
– First pass edit: remove mistakes and mouth sounds
– Noise reduction: very gentle pass (-6dB reduction max)
– Compression: 2:1 ratio, slow attack, auto release
– Normalize to -3.5dB peak
– RMS adjustment if needed (rarely is after proper recording)

3. **Testing before submission**
– ACX Check plugin (free) on master track
– Listen to full audio on different devices

Anyone else have tips to add? Or different approaches that work reliably?