Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with audio and apple

How to delay Mac sound output?

i_cola — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 06:53:45 -0800

I want to delay the sound output from my Mac Mini so I can get it to sync with video from a different source. I've got a radio commentary (available via Safari or iTunes on the MacMini) that is up to a minute ahead of the TV feed I'm watching on my laptop. I want to watch the TV feed with the radio commentary roughly in sync.

Is there a software solution out there that will allow me to adjustably delay the entire audio out from the MacMini?

Even better would be the ability to delay the audio from a particular application & I'd like the option to be able to sync both feeds on a single Mac.

How to control airfoil remotely, possibly on iphone?

joshgray — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:49:10 -0800

I know of only one app (remote buddy) that claims a plugin that would let you control airfoil on a mac remotely via an iphone but it does not work very well. Is anyone else doing this? Plan is to have a few airport express units in different rooms, and i would like a way to tell airfoil to switch between audio inputs (itunes, pandora, radioshark, etc) without going to the machine itself.

Mic level vs. Line level FIGHT!

knowles — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 07:50:00 -0800

How do I build a microphone preamp for a Macbook Pro? Oh hai. I just recently learned that the 3.5mm input on my MBP (core duo, 2.16ghz, 17in) is not actually a 3.5mm mic in, but a 3.5mm stereo line-in. What's the simplest circuit I can build to remedy this? What about more complex ones?

I bought a Zalman ZM-MIC1 and assumed that it would work out of box, not knowing that I would need some kind of preamp. I have soldering skills and a decent understanding of what electronic components do, how do I get the mic output up to line level for like six bucks at Radio Shack?

If you're so inclined, explain what is making the loudness happen and suggest cool modifications for this circuit as well.

Help my MacBook make sound again!

zacharyseibert — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 20:00:50 -0800

Possible solution to getting sound back on my MacBook? I have an original white MacBook, Core Duo 2 ghz. The sound card on the logic board died awhile ago, and I have yet to get it fixed. It is out of warranty, and the people at the Apple store have informed me that it will cost $250 to get it fixed through Apple. I was hoping there was a way around spending $250 on an older laptop I might replace fairly soon.

My real question is, if I were to buy an external sound device, that would go through USB or FireWire, would that solve my problem of no audio input/output without needing to repair the internal onboard sound card? Also, if this is a plausible solution to my problem, any recommendations on an external device that works well with OSX (Leopard, if that matters) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Not Getting Famous on YouTube

tmcw — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:24:55 -0800

I have a song I composed / recorded / etc. I'd like to make simple video by cutting together fragments of public-domain films with this song. I have a MacBook. How to get to point B? iMovie is crashing on every import. iMovie seems to crash every time I open the "Import Movie" dialog. Not a sign of quality software.

I don't want to spend much/any money on this. I've tried writing a quick app in Processing.org to do this, but the movies I'm working with are 100-200MB mpg files, and that fills up Java's heap very, very quickly - I can't imagine throwing FFT analysis on top of that.

Are there are any open-source or cheap applications that allow fairly basic video editing capabilities like this? Anything possibly designed for VJs or very nonlinear editing like this will be? I'm a little miffed that there hasn't been an obvious, slick answer to this like there has been for 99% of my mac artsy-software needs.

Thanks for any help!

MultiMix8 on iMac OS X 10.4

psychotic_venom — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:13:21 -0800

Help fix my firewire mixer/recorder - MultiMix 8 on OS X only "seen" by the OS after a cold boot. Here's my situation:

I recently went Mac (iMac) and wanted an inexpensive way to record a bunch of demos, so I went shopping for firewire sound cards/mixers and selected the Alesis MultiMix8 Firewire mixer. It claimed Mac support (though the original drivers were for 10.3), so I plugged it in, turned it on, and threw in the CD.

I found out later that the recommended way to perform the driver installation is to NEVER plug in the firewire cable before you install the drivers. Ick.

So I installed the updated drivers from the Alesis site. Eventually I read the troubleshooting and turned the entire unit on and left it plugged in, then I shut down the system and cold booted it (not a soft-restart), then the MM8 appeared. It worked.

After I turned it off, it didn't appear anymore. So the only way to record is to shut down the computer completely and turn it back on after I whip out the mixer and plug it in.

Does anyone know of a way around this? I've tried turning it off for 5 seconds and turning it back on. I've tried off->unplug->on->plugin like it was suggested in the manual. Most of the people I'm reading about deal with the Windows side, so that usually doesn't help. I don't know if installing Leopard would fix this or not (if it's even supported).

Here's the stats:
iMac Intel Core Duo - OS X 10.4 Tiger
MultiMix 8 Firewire with 1.5d4 driver and 2.00 firmware.

How does Apple TV behave?

ascullion — Mon, 14 May 2007 09:46:24 -0800

Can someone with an Apple TV tell me something? When you listen to a music track on your Apple TV, does the play count of the song in the relevant iTunes library increase?

How to I boost the audio within a qmt file?

Izzmeister — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 23:34:34 -0800

How would I boost audio from within qt or wmv files that i've rendered already from final cut pro?
i want to boost audio from within qt or wmv files that i've rendered already from final cut pro.

i don't want to render them again (they're due at 9am gmt)

i've been on the phone with apple qt pro tech support for hours trying to figure out why that app doesn't do what it says it can do. they're as mystified as i.

so, can anyone point me toward an application that will allow me to change the audio level within a wmv or qt composite video file without having to re-render it from within final cut pro or premiere?

Basically, I ned a solution wherein i can edit audio properties within a qt or wmv file to make it louder.

Thanks!

Airtunes-like function on the cheap?

nowonmai — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 08:53:57 -0800

How can I make my music play on two Macs simultaneously? I work in a lab where sometimes I'm close to the iMac, and sometimes I'm at my desk near my MacBook Pro. I'd like the same music to be coming from each one so I can have an uninterrupted listening experience. All the music is on the MacBook Pro, and the computers are on the same LAN.
My current method is to use iTunes sharing on the iMac to select the same album as is playing on the MacBook Pro, and attempt to synchronise by pressing 'play' at the right time. This obviously has to be repeated every time I put on a new album or skip a song, and shuffle play is out of the question.
Is there a better way to do this, so that whatever is on iTunes on the Macbook will play on the iMac? Is there software that would make the iMac emulate an Airport Express?
Adding new hardware to the setup is not an option; I would prefer not to spend money on software; a couple of seconds of "buffering lag" might be acceptable.

My MBP hisses when I connect it to my TV. Why?

tonylord — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 20:17:42 -0800

Why does my MacBook Pro hiss/bubble when I connect it to the TV (not the logic board thing, I've done that)? So I use my (2gig ram, 2.16 processor) MBP to watch films, dvds etc through my TV. I use the DVI-S-Video doohickey and a standard 3.5mm Y cable from the headphones socket.

Whenever I connect the system up, there is a constant hissing/bubbling sound through the TV's speakers.

It is incredibly annoying and sounds like the Logic Board problem did (through the right speaker), before I got that fixed. Was kind of hoping it was the same problem and all would be well when I got a new logic board. Ah well.

The sound is worse when the processor is doing lots of work and is realtively quiet when it isn't so busy. What is causing it, can I solve the problem?

I wonder if it's something to do with completing a circuit or something (sorry for the crappy terminology!). When I detach the audio cable, if I touch more than one of the posts on the plug with my fingers, I get audio feedback through the TV's speakers. Is that connected?

Spoken-Word-Audio-Filter: What is the best way to get audio from tapes to my Powerbook?

plemeljr — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 11:23:40 -0800

Spoken-Word-Audio-Filter: What is the best way to get audio from tapes to my Powerbook? Here's the deal: I'm using a Marantx PMD222 cassette analog recorder to field record interviews (and sometimes sounds) of New Yorker's for a project of mine. I want to use the original tapes as masters, but then convert them to a .wav file in order to create a digital master. I can then downsample it to whatever I need. The intended output is primarily through the web, but with a view toward compiling a CD for distribution.

The PMD222 has a RCA jack out (mono) so I figured I could use the Edirol UA-1EX connected to my PowerBook as the input. I'm not looking for 100% studio sound, nor could I afford it - I would be willing to spend about $200.

Are there any other ways I could convert the analog to digital using my powerbook? Is the Edirol UA-1EX a good product? Are there any other proiducts out there which would be better?

Thanks!

Normalize audio within imovie

Tlogmer — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 01:08:39 -0800

Is there any way to normalize audio within iMovie? A plugin or something? As it is, I have to export to garageband, and then manually double up the sound track and adjust the volume 'til the levels scrape the top.

QuickTime very, very unhappy

NinjaTadpole — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 05:50:58 -0800

QuickTime, (and QuickTimeAlternative) can't play sound correctly and hangs after any interaction. It started after downloading the QT8 plus iTunes bundle a month or so ago and I've never been able to sort it out since.
The video will play correctly if no controls are used, but the sound will either be the first 1/10 second repeated or silence. If using the controls at all (such as reducing the volume) the video hangs for 30 seconds or so before resuming. At no point will the sound play correctly.

I've uninstalled and re-installed both pieces of software and only had one installed at a time. I use Windows 2000.

So what's got stuck and choked my machine? How do I set the QT free?

External audio for Powerbook?

suitcase — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 13:37:25 -0800

I currently use the standard 3.5mm jacks on my Powerbook and would like to upgrade to a nicer set of inputs and outputs. I figure the only way to do this would be a USB or Firewire breakout box that provides a set of higher quality RCA or Coaxial inputs and outputs. Creative brand external soundcards might fit the bill, but these are not compatible with OSX. Is what I am looking for necessarily an external soundcard or are there breakout boxes that appear to the system as just another set of input/outputs? Thanks!

Realplayer to Airport Express?

teg — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 15:00:29 -0800

Can I send audio from applications other than iTunes to my Airport Express? Specifically, I want to be able to listen to BBC radio streams which are in Real Player format. I'm using Mac OS X 10.4.

Is 128kbps AAC enough?

nickerbocker — Thu, 31 Mar 2005 09:05:15 -0800

Do you think that 128kbps AAC files are good enough? I was checking out the Apple Music store (for the first time), and was actually very surprised on what kind of selection they had, and their prices are hard to beat (are they?). The DRM bothers me, but not too much as there are ways around it if need be. I'm use to buying audio CDs and ripping them as ~196-256 vbr mp3s. After they are ripped I package up the CD (unless I want to read the booklet) and put it away in a box and really don't ever pull it out again. Thinking an Online Music store would probably be better for me, but how close will the sound quality come to what I'm use to? 128kbps doesn't seem like enough for something I payed money for.

Mac Speakers

interrobang — Sun, 21 Nov 2004 19:21:15 -0800

I'm getting the new iMac in the mail on Tuesday, and I want to watch DVDs on it. I'd like to buy a set of 5.1 Surround Sound speakers for it, but as far as I can tell, you can't really just buy a set of speakers and plug them into the headphone jack on your computer. Or can you? My main interest in 5.1 Surround Sound is mostly for using the enhanced "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" DVD, so this isn't really that big a deal, but I haven't found a simple setup for 5.1 speakers online.

If this is indeed not possible, what's a good set of Macintosh-usable speakers that cost around two hundred dollars?

Real media streams: Saving, splitting, converting to mp3?

dobbs — Sun, 19 Sep 2004 23:10:31 -0800

My own blue thread makes me want to know how I can record these concerts (Real media streams) to my hard drive and then convert to MP3 and then break them up into individual tracks. I'm on OS X Panther and prefer iTunes but will download whatever.