Audio distortion over time

The audio I am receiving deteriorates to a "fuzz" and eventually disappears completely after a few minutes of using Facetime on my mac mini with an isight camera for sound and video. Using lion and facetime 1.1.1. After I end the call, restart the app and call again, the sound is fine for a few minutes and then it starts all over again. Suggestions?

That's extremely strange. Although nothing's impossible, I think iTunes is the least likely culprit. Normally, if files are getting corrupted, the number 1 suspect is a failing disk drive. You might want to run some diagnostics on your disk.
How was the file ripped? Is it Mp3 or AAC? Some old rippers did non-standard things, and maybe new players are a little fussier. I thought all that had been sorted out by 2008, though.
You said you have Time Machine backups. Do you have any of when it was good?
I'd suggest trying to open it with Audacity and see if there's anything "interesting" about it.
If it's an MP3, you could also try an MP3 repair utility, like this one:
http://mp3.about.com/od/tutorials/ht/Repair-MP3-Files.htm
(I have no direct experience with this program).

Similar Messages

RE: Capture Problems on External Drive/Audio drift over time

Greetings FCP gurus -
I posted earlier on the LAFCPUG board and now seek worldwide assistance with a problem I can't seem to resolve.
Been working in FCP since 1.5. Been successfully capturing on external FW devices for over 4 years with an old 500 MHz Powerbook - no problems.
I recently upgraded to FCP 5 Studio on a PowerBook 1.5 GHZ 512 RAM FW 4/8 machine. Prior to upgrade, I was running Panther (OS X 10.3X) and FCP 4.5 HD. This configuration allowed me to flawlessly capture to external FW drives from Panasonic AJ-D250 DVCPRO deck using a standard DVNTSC codec. Prior to that I was also able to do the same from a Sony DSR-11 deck. No longer.
I now get a constant audio "drift" every time I capture. I've tried shortening the clips to under 10 minutes - even as small as 5 minutes - but the audio progressively drifts as the clip plays on. This is true in both FCP and QT. I completely reformatted the laptop/wiped the drive prior to install (Unjournaled) and it currently has 25 gig available disk space on the 80 gig internal drive. Additionally, I'm using LaCie 7200 RPM Oxford 911 chip-set external drives. I've tried with clean D2 FW 800 and Porsche FW 400 drives to no avail - even reformatted one and still no luck.
Current configurations attempted:
FW 800 PB port to FW 800 drive port/DVCPRO deck to FW 400 PB port
FW 800 PB port to FW 800 drive port/DVCPRO deck to FW 400 drive port
FW 400 PB port to FW 400 drive port/DVCPRO deck to FW 400 drive port
..and so on.
I'm at wit's end and appreciate any insight. Is anyone else having issues capturing to External FW media via FCP 5 Studio/OSX 10.4.x? I don't currently have the option of internal drives to capture as I'm working at a client site. Additionally, I sold my FCP 4.X upgrade software so going backwards is not an option either... Even took the deck home and tried this same trick on my home machine (Dual 500 G4 Sawtooth) to the internal ATA drive with the same result -...drifting audio. Since upgrade this is my first capture and needless to say it's not going well.
Help, information and insight are greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hi Expressofiend! Were you able to resolve this issue yet? We are having an IDENTICAL problem. We shoot on a Canon XL2, and thought that might be causing the audio drifting issue? We also have a Panasonic AD-J 250 deck, and when we capture, say an interview, the lip sync is perfect for a few minutes, then drifts as much as a second or two over 20 minutes of capture. It's making us crazy. Happens when we capture to an external LaCie or our internal drive. We're using Apple's 2.7 gig duel processor computer. 2 Gig of ram, all the latest versions of Tiger, Final Cut Pro 5, etc. If we look at the Quicktime movie - it shows the audio drift - you don't even need to view it through Final Cut!
Interestingly, if we use the Canon XL2 camera as the source player when we capture the 20 minute piece - there is NO audio drift or syncing problem. Only with the AJD 250! We've spoken with the senior engineer at Panasonic - he doesn't think it's the DVCPro unit. Says drifting audio isn't the kind of thing an out of adjustment or broken deck would do.
Anyway, any answers here yet?
Thanks,
Larry

REALTEK AUDIO DEGRADING OVER TIME WITH FLME - PC WINDOWS 7

I am having a real issue with the onboard Reatek audio card and The Flash Live Media Encoder. I am providing the signal to the onboard Realtk audio card via the mic in source on my computer. The video is coming from my DV cam. At first, the audio sounds fine but after a period of time, the audio begins to degrade until it becomes totally useless - muffled and weak. If I use the onboard DV mic, it's OK. Problem seems to be with the onboard Realtek card. Some times it appears to be related to making some changes in the FLME settings. If I reboot the computer, it fixes it for a while and then the problem starts again. Running a PC with Windows 7. Anyone else, experiencing this? I have had the same problem on two different machines.

There is no way to do it from windows direct to the TC.
It only presents AFP to the WAN side. And most ISP block SMB from internet access due to risks. There is AFAIK, no suitable AFP protocol utility for windows at the moment. If you google and find one, be aware it probably will not work to your satisfaction anyway.
You must use a Mac to access AFP but even then it is not a secure protocol and I would recommend against it anyway.
So basically if you had have asked before purchasing, I would have said, TC is unsuitable product. It is a backup drive for a Mac. It is not a NAS.. it is not designed for remote access by any computer other than a Mac. It does not support any other file protocol to the WAN interface.. and no secure protocol even there.
A NAS with Time Machine extensions from QNAP, Synology, Netgear all are designed for web access and are far more suitable. Researching a purchase beforehand is always worthwhile.
Anyway, your choices are.. return the TC and buy something more suited to the job.
Or if return is now impossible sell the TC on ebay.. etc and do the same thing.. buy a more suitable NAS.
Or buy a cheap mac mini (even second hand) and use that for communications with home.
Or, replace your current router with something that includes vpn. This is actually a good and commercially sound decision. VPN is generally used by business to connect to remote locations, because it is secure and will allow the greatest flexibility of connection. How hard or easy depends on the current setup. I would recommend a combined modem router with vpn server if you have adsl. Or for cable you can find plenty of routers with combined vpn. You can also use those for adsl if your ISP allows pppoe with bridged modem. The TC will have to be bridged as well. For other broadband it might be harder to find the right kind of box.
Once you setup a vpn you can access it from work using the appropiate vpn client in your work computer.

How to adjust audio duration/speed over time?

I watched a video on how to adjust video duration/speed over time, using time remapping and keyframes, but it does not seem to affect audio for some reason. Is there a way to adjust the speed/duration of audio over time like you can with video?

Oh you need to do it in AE? That's... kinda.. unneeded but okay. Thanks!

Audio performance deteriorating over time until Mavericks reinstall

I'm on the latest Mavericks, maxed-out 12-core Mac Pro. I use Steinberg Nuendo as my main audio DAW. It works like a dream... for a while... But after a few weeks it starts slowing down until Nuendo is almost unusable. Larger projects which normally run just fine become unworkable or very sluggish because they just overload the CPU, as if I was working with a 5 year old computer. This issue specifically targets audio performance, whether I use internal audio or my audio interface (UAD Apollo).
I've tried removing/uninstalling all non essential drivers, extensions etc, and reinstalled/updated everything I can't work without to the latest versions. I've tried unplugging everything except 1 monitor, keyboard, mouse and USB authorization sticks. Nothing makes a difference. It's like there's a virus that progressively slows down my system, but I have found no virus on my system, at least via MacKeeper.
Here is my temporary solution: Every few weeks I reinstall Mavericks (right now 10.9.3) via the Apple online recovery system (Command-R on startup). The problem goes away completely and my Mac Pro is blazing fast again... For a few weeks, until audio performance deteriorates and I have to reinstall Mavericks again. Apple tech support originally advised me to reinstall Mavericks on top of itself, and I was really happy the problem was fixed, but I didn't know it would keep sneaking in over and over again.
This is the third time I have to reinstall Mavericks via online Recovery, and I am still baffled as to what could possibly get worse over time in this manner, and also specifically target audio performance! It's like some sort of cache is getting filled-up somewhere and overloading some of the computer's functions over time. Whatever this is, it gets reset during a reinstall.
If anyone has any ideas or hunches, they would be really appreciated!
PS: I've posted the same issue in the "Mac Pro" section to make sure I get the most coverage. I don't expect too many answers since not too many people have the Mac Pro yet and this is a targeted inquiry.

Make sure you got all the parts and pieces.
MacKeeper Removal
Activity Monitor - Mavericks
Activity Monitor in Mavericks has significant changes
Performance Guide
Why is my computer slow
Why your Mac runs slower than it should
Slow Mac After Mavericks
Things you can do to resolve slowdowns see post by Kappy

Premier Pro is slowing the audio of a clip over time why?

There is nothing wrong with the clip I look at it online before i download it and even when I download it the sound syncs up perfectly with the video, however when i bring the clip into premier pro and play it the sound starts off once again perfectly in sync, however by the end of the clip the sound it completely out of sync with the picture. when i go to export the video as a sequence it does the same thing where the clip starts out fine, but over time becomes out of sync. what is Premier doing and why?

What, EXACTLY, is inside the video file?
Read Bill Hunt on a file type as WRAPPER http://forums.adobe.com/thread/440037
What is a CODEC... a Primer http://forums.adobe.com/thread/546811
What CODEC is INSIDE that file? http://forums.adobe.com/thread/440037
Report back with the codec details of your file, use the programs below... A screen shot works well to SHOW people what you are doing
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/592070?tstart=30
For PC http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en or http://www.headbands.com/gspot/
For Mac http://mediainspector.massanti.com/
While your specific file may not be from an iphone, this MAY give you an idea
Iphone won't edit easily because it uses a variable frame rate
- A fix in message #22 http://forums.adobe.com/thread/934466

ITunes sync bug causes space on iPod/iPhone to be gradually lost over time

This topic pertains to iTunes for Windows version 10.1.1 and most likely all prior versions. At the time of this writing 10.1.1 is the latest version.
I have clearly identified a bug with the procedure iTunes uses specifically to copy Music over to the iPod and iPhone units. A detailed description with steps to reproduce follows, but first the summary: Space is gradually wasted by iTunes erroneously copying certain tracks twice! The 2nd copy is not recorded in the itunesDB file, and space wasted on these duplicate tracks is counted under "Other" in the iTunes capacity screen. It is impossible to ever retrieve this space from the portable device without doing a factory restore on the Summary screen, which of course will also wipe out all your Apps, Videos, Photos, Music, etc at the same time. Hardly an ideal workaround!!
Details:
When several tracks are to be copied to the portable device; either an iPod or an iPhone, and I have successfully reproduced this on both an iPod nano 5th Generation and an iPhone 4, sometimes a track is accidentally copied twice while, one of the selected tracks isn't copied at all. The user will notice when this occurs, that during their sync, one of their songs just seems to be missing. Syncing again will then copy the track which was missed during the last sync, but unfortunately, the 2nd copy of the track that was erroneously duplicated remains. The track which is duplicated appears in the hidden folder on your iPod file system as both the AAAA.mp3 filename structure and the <track name>.mp3 file name. Oddly enough, when this bug occurs, the itunesDB does not associate to the AAAA.mp3 like it normally would, but to the <track name>.mp3 and the AAAA.mp3 file is just wasted space on your device which cannot be recovered without manually deleting this file (a task which is impossible on an iPhone without hacking the device).
It is easy to reproduce this. This is very obvious if you start with an empty, new iPod. Sync a bunch of tracks to your iPod (the more the better), in fact this cannot happen if you only sync 1 track at a time, then check to see if the number of tracks is equal to the number of tracks that should be there. i.e. did the sync seem to just miss 1 or 2 tracks?
Make sure "Enable disk mode" is checked for your device, and browse to (Drive Letter):\iPod_Control\Music\ and you will eventually find that exact number of files which have actual track names instead of the standard AAAA.mp3 type filename. Next, in iTunes, remove ALL songs and any other forms of audio (such as podcasts), from the device. Your music folder techincally should now be empty, but as you browse through the hidden Music folder in the device, you will stumble upon a couple of files that remain. These are the orphaned files I've been talking about.
The effect:
Over time, with repeated additions and removal of songs from one's device, these files accumulate. The iPod owner, none the wiser, will start to wonder why "Other" in the iTunes capacity display is continuing to grow. I was highly suspicious after cleaning out my iPod entirely, that "Other" was still showing 1.6GB!! I browsed through the filesystem wondering why which led me to discover tons of various music files in the music folder which shouldn't have been there (after all, iTunes shows no music stored on this device).
The Fix:
Some sort of bug is causing this erroneous duplicate copy to be generated, and then the database to actually reference the erroneous copy instead of the AAAA.mp3 copy. One workaround iTunes could actually build in some sort of enumeration function that scans all of it's internal F## folders in the Music folder looking for these orphaned files, and simply erase them if they are not contained in the itunesDB. Pushing out this type of behavior into a new iTunes release would also fix the problem for all the people who've already racked up GBs of wasted space as that space would suddenly become available again for apps, tracks, and other files.

Two steps forward - one step back.
Thanks to insight from others here I enabled disk use and went to [drive letter]/iPod/control/music
There I saw a long list of folders called F00, F01, F02 etc.
In my case there were 49 of them with roughly 400 files in each folder.
The bulk of the files were named ABCD.mp4 down to ZYXW.mp4.
In each of the fifty folders were, as predicted above, a handful of song files labeled as such - ie borntorun.mp3 or iseered.mp4
I opened each and every one of the folders, deleted the files with real names and synced the pod.
On my 120 GB the yellow "other" fell dramatically, down to under 1 GB. Which is under 1% of the total. Not great but acceptable.
So far, so good.
Now that I had fresh space I set about adding new songs to the pod.
Imagine my disappointment when I rechecked the F00 to F49 folders and saw that song name files had crept back in. Not as many, and I was able to delete them quickly and keep "other" under 1 GB. But still. It's like having crab grass or rodents.
Is there any hint that iTunes might address the underlying cause?
In the gripping process of deleting four or five files from each folder I noted that some specific files came up again and again. Just for laughs I'm going to delete and re-add those songs in case that helps.

What does "Analyze audio for flex time editing" in Garage Band? It's taking so long(3 days)! and I can't shut down my pc.

What does "Analyze audio for flex time editing" in Garage Band? It's taking so long(3 days)! and I can't shut down my pc.

Did you ever figure out what was going on? i've got the same issue.
I record 2 hour choir practices then edit the talking out to make more useful accompaniments for personal practice. During my editing process my MacBk Pro (0r GarageBand) decides it needs to "Analyzing audio for Flex Time Editing". It will finish doing it and immediately start over again. I can not cancel it so I just have to force quit Garageband and lose eveeryrthing I have editied since my last Save. I've shut my mac totally off and rebooted and to no avail. Any suggestions?

RE: Macbook Stuttering, Audio Distortion

FYI
As discussed in Macbook Stuttering, Audio Distortion,
The solution to this problem is as follows:
The fix is to blow out nearly four years of dust (in my case), using the instructions given here (for replacing a fan...)
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-MacBook-Core-2-Duo-Fan/522/1
You don't need to remove the fan, but go as far as removing the keyboard, and then you can simply use an air-duster to remove every bit of dust you can find.
If your macbook's heatsink (as in my case) was cleaned by a professional in Apple Store, and you still keep having problems with youtube, ichat, skype and have stuttering, audio and video distortion and your 2+ghz intel macbook behaves as if it's an early iMac G3 - you have to do all steps described at ifixit.com.
When I have taken out my macbook's fan (the heatsink was perfectly sterile) I have found a 5mm thick layer of compressed dust blocking 97% of the air exit.
Removing the blockage has helped and my macbook is operating like it's new.
PS: It's sad that people at Apple Store do not do their job properly.

Your processor is momentarily saturated. It's not really a 'defect' that is covered under warranty.
Flash is a widely-known resource hog. It's one of the reasons that Steve Jobs has 'banished' Flash from iPhones and the new iPad, and uses H.264 format video.
Have you also noticed that the fan becomes loud when this is happening? Almost any time the fan starts running at high speed, it's because your processor is working hard and needs additional cooling.
If you look at Activity Monitor when the stuttering occurs, you probably have a combined CPU utilization of the top two or three processes running of more than 100%.
It's also quite possible that the Free memory 'green slice' of the of the System Memory pie chart is quite tiny.
Work-Arounds
1. Run fewer processes/programs. Close and Quit every application that doesn't need to be running while you're watching Flash.
2. Try another browser. Some are better than others at running Flash. I use Safari primarily, but Firefox, Google Chrome, and Opera are also available.
3. Add RAM memory, especially if you still have just 1Gb RAM memory installed. Upgrading to 2Gb or 4Gb (MacBook 2,1 actually only recognizes and utilizes up to 3Gb) will help somewhat. It doesn't cure the processor saturation, but it does give the programs running more 'breathing room' until it reaches the saturation point.
4. ClickToFlash gives you options for how Flash is handled. Free download here --> http://rentzsch.github.com/clicktoflash/
5. H.264 format videos may be less processor intensive.
6. Buy a new Mac with a faster processor and more RAM. Even a 2.26Ghz MacBook Pro does much better than the 2007 2.16, because it uses a low power microprocessor, has 2Gb RAM standard, has a more advanced video chipset, and an unibody aluminum case to help dissipate heat.

What can be causing inconsistent DVD video and audio distortions...

Does anyone have any idea why the DVD I burn using DVD Studio Pro (from a 90-min FCP QT movie) - whether it’s compressed by DVD Studio Pro, or through Compressor (with bit-rates of 4 for avg., and 7.2 for maximum) - plays with some serious simultaneous video and audio distortions on my brand new DVD player – that don’t show up at all when played on a friend's DVD player.
As a test, I burned a DVD with just the video, and it does NOT play the same distortions on my DVD player. This obviously means the video distortion is related to the audio being there, but, I don’t know why, or how to begin fixing the problem.
Any help would be tremendously appreciated!

Oh yes, indeedy!
Go into the AC3 encode tabs and have a look around. If you never used A.Pack with older versions of DVDSP then none of this will look familiar, but essentially the tabs are exactly the same as the old A.Pack application.
You can set the desired bitrate - for stereo you don't need more than 192Kbps. You can set the dialog normailsation value (for now, type in -31 and press return) and you can set the compression type - just use 'none'.
This should get you a reasonably useable AC3 file for your project, but as you might guess, there is a lot more to it than that! Head over to http:..www,macprovideo.com and see if you can get hold of the tutorials for A.Pack, or find a copy of Martin Sitter's book for DVD Studio Pro (any version). The chapter on A.Pack is well worth reading and possibly justifies the price of the book on its own.
Once you have got the audio encoding sorted out and are using it on a disc, see if the distortion still happens.
Also, can you describe the distortion that you are seeing?

Problem with Audio Distortion

I have a large iTunes (v7.2) library with over 110,000 tracks, which I run through the digital line out of a Mac Pro running OS X 10.4.10. For some reason, I'm suddenly getting serious audio distortion on many of the tracks. Some tracks play with distorted, crackling, others play extremly softly. Others play fine. What makes the problem strange is that it occurs with different tracks encoded in different ways: MP3, unprotected AAC, protected AAC, and Apple lossless tracks are all affected. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to which tracks are affected. Furthermore, I've verified that it's not the tracks themselves...if I run the same tracks through iTunes on another computer (via library sharing), they play fine. Finally, I've turned off Sond Check, Sound Enhancer, and the Equalizer, but the problem persists.
It's very frustrating! If anyone can please help me, I will be extremely grateful. Thanks so much!
Mac Pro Mac OS X (10.4.10) iTunes 7.2
PowerBook G5 Mac OS X (10.4.2)
PowerBook G5 Mac OS X (10.4.2)
PowerBook G5 Mac OS X (10.4.2)
PowerBook G5 Mac OS X (10.4.2)
PowerBook G5 Mac OS X (10.4.2)

It is set to 256 by default and even with an higher buffer size it doesn't change at all

Color Filling Over Time Help

Hello, I am working on an audio template. I am trying to make a waveform similar to the one you can see in Soundcloud. I've managed to program an expression to generate the waveform. But I am having an issue with filling up the waveform with a color with respect to time. For example, do you see on soundcloud how the waveform fills up orange as the song progresses? This is the concept I am trying to work on. Here is what I have so far:
I want the blue bar to move to the right over time, but I only want the white parts of the waveform to turn blue as it progresses (the rest of the blue solid hidden). How would I go about doing this? My knowledge in After Effects is limited so any help is GREATLY appreciated! Thank you
Please let me know if you need more information

So just to clarify you are trying to create a levels representation for the duration of an audio file and not an animated audio frequency analysis. If that's what you're doing just pre-compose those hundreds of layers or nest the comp in your main comp and then use the track matte. If it were me I'd probably just import the audio layer into the comp, press the L key twice to reveal the audio wave form, press the ~ key to make the timeline full screen, expand the wave form, take a screenshot, add the screenshot to the comp, apply Keylight, then add a shape layer below the screenshot, set the screenshot as an inverted alpha track matte for the animated gradient and be done with it. This comp would be nested in my main comp to complete the effect.
If I wanted a different look for the waveform I would edit the screenshot in Photoshop or use a Premiere Pro or any other program to capture a screenshot of the waveform. Since you've done all the work of creating your hundreds of layers I'd just pre-compose them all, drop a shape layer with an animated gradient below the pre-comp and set up the track matte.

HT6114 I'm still getting audio distortion when I input audio through the minijack.

I updated to Mavericks, and now when I plug my iPhone in with the miniplug with a male-to-male cord, I get a pitch shift that happens randomly through Quicktime audio recording.
Since I don't have my music backed up on this computer, I input my iPhone's music through a cord and use the audio recording feature. It's worked great for over a year until I upgraded to Mavericks, and I hoped this update would have fixed it since it said "• Fixes an issue that my cause audio distortion on certain Macs."

Is it just sites like YouTube? Can you play music files-mp3/cd ,hear Windows system sounds,etc?
******Clicking the Thumbs-Up button is a way to say -Thanks!.******
**Click Accept as Solution on a Reply that solves your issue to help others**

IMovie Audio Distortion (When Exported)

I recently made a video in IMovie, and I am running into some troubles with the audio when i export the video to a quicktime format or when I burn it onto a CD. I preferred using IMovie HD to the version I had upgraded to with iLife '08 so I re-installed IMovie HD - version 6.0.3. The video is about 40 minutes long and includes both video's from a handheld camera (with sound), still pictures, and music from my iTunes. The video runs great on iMovie, but when I burnt it to a DVD or when I export it to quicktime, it is distorting about 3 minutes of audio at the beginning of the video. It sounds like someone sped up the voices, put a mic in a wind tunnel, and made some weird sound effects over the top of the video. The original audio is still recognizable, but it is greatly masked by this distortion.
The other issue is that when I try to open the .mp4 file created from the "share" function of i-movie, it is giving me an error message that says "An invalid sample description was found in the movie". I have tried changing the extension to a (.m4v) but had no luck. When using VLC's video player to open the file however, it worked like a charm and the video displayed just fine (except for the audio distortion as mentioned above). Has anyone else run into this issue, and if so, do you have any possible solutions? I read somewhere online about separating an ac3 file (I have no idea what that is or how to do it), but I can not find the article again. Thanks in advance!

Hi Bob,
Welcome to iDVD Discussions.
Did you import 16-bit audio from your camcorder?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=165285

Audio distortion during/after capture in Premiere Elements10

Why is the audio distorted (sounds like a cell phone that keeps losing a signal and every other word is garbled) when capturing a video from a DV camcorder in Premiere Elements10? I'm using a IEEE 1394 cable from the camcorder to the computer and DV camcorder is selected in the Premiere Elements setup menu. Any help.........please!

Capturing from a tape-based miniDV does not change the audio or video information in any way, Unkie. So if you're capturing from a miniDV camcorder and getting distortion, that distortion is happening in the camcorder itself.
But if you're getting distortion when you output your video, it could well be because your audio levels are too high.
As I say in my books, whenever you edit your video, you should go to the Window menu and open the Audio Mixer. Watch your audio levels as you play back your timeline. They should peak at Zero. If they're up in the yellow and red or are overloading the mixer, you are going to get distortion in your video output.
But if you're saying you're hearing distortion while capturing your video -- that's a whole other issue. You need to adjust your computer's audio levels or turn down your speakers. As I've said, capturing over FireWire does absolutely nothing to change the audio or video information that's coming in from the camcorder. It's just your computer playing it too loud.

Audio distortion over time

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