Distorted audio

This is a problem that has only cropped up in the last few years. I believe it began in the summer of last year.
My audio tends to distort at random moments, sometimes worse than others. It sounds sort of like what a CD would sound like that had scratches in it. It's not all the time, but it happens often enough to be really annoying.
I've used the Windows troubleshooter to no avail, and have posted on another forum (won't say which) that totally ignored me.
The odd thing is, it evens out after about a month, and then it's okay for a few months, until it starts to crop up again. I have no idea what could be causing this
Any ideas on what it is and how it can be remedied?
Laymans' terms are greatly appreciated
Thanks so much,
Brad

Don't expect to get a response to this. Any sound flaw issues like this are suspiciously ignored on this forum.

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Distorted audio in iTunes and other apps after 10.8.4 ?

Hi
Listen. After i installed the latest 10.8.4 i have distorted audio in iTunes and other music applications.
I have tested this on 3 mac's all with the same result. distorted audio when playing loud
Anyone else got this new problem after installing 10.8.4 ?
I already filled in a bug report to Apple at https://bugreport.apple.com
We need to get this fixed NOW... Please write your situation if you discovered the same bug.
Thanks.
Have fun.
Erik

Ask on the Microsoft forums, as it's their software you're having problems with:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac

Problems watching movies on iTunes -- lagging video, distorted audio

Hello. I have a black MacBook running Mac OS X 10.5.8 (Leopard) and iTunes 9.0.2, and I'm having some problems. It's been going on for a few weeks now, and is worse some days than others, but the overall trend has been downward, so I wanted to try to get some help before it gets any worse.
The problem occurs when I try to watch movies on iTunes. I haven't had any problems with any other aspect of iTunes, although I don't really use any other aspects of iTunes at the moment besides the iTunes Store (I don't listen to music through iTunes or anything). Anyways, here's the problem:
Sometimes, when I'm watching a movie on iTunes, it will randomly (or seemingly randomly) glitch on me. I use the general term "glitch" here because the problem can manifest itself in one of a few different ways:
1.) The picture will freeze for a quick moment (less than a second usually) and skip forward real quick to catch up, and then sometimes, after it does this, it will go back to normal and keep playing the movie correctly. Other times after it does this, however, it will continue playing the movie, but with lagging video. When I say "lagging video", I mean that the video is slowed down, as if in slow motion. The audio remains normal. This only seems to happen in full screen mode (although I don't really watch movies any other way), so when it happens, I can generally hit escape to go back to regular viewing mode and it will fix itself, although sometimes I have to quit out of iTunes and reopen it.
2.) On rare occasions, instead of the video lagging problem, the picture will freeze all together, and if I recall correctly, the application always freezes with it.
3.) Less commonly than the video problem, the audio will become distorted. This usually occurs separately from the video issue, but can occur simultaneously as well. When this happens, the audio gets really scratchy and distorted, as if it was being filtered through a low quality children's boom box microphone. iek the video problem, this problem occurs randomly in the middle of watching the movie, but unlike the video problem, this problem persists after I quit out of iTunes. Quitting iTunes does not fix the problem in this case, unlike with the video lagging. When I quit iTunes, the distorted audio remains an issue an any application I use, and I have to wait awhile for it to go away on its own. So, unlike the video lagging, this audio issue seems to exist outside of iTunes, although it always starts with iTunes.
Can anyone help me figure out what is going on here? I've looked for patterns in other applications that are open during the times these problems occur, but haven't found any. I do have Norton AntiVirus installed on my computer, and I did notice awhile ago that any time I try to watch a movie on iTunes while I have a virus scan going on, I always get a glitch on iTunes, so I stopped running those two applications at the same time a long time ago, but I still have the problem. Should I try reinstalling iTunes? If I do this, will I lose any of the music or movies or apps that are in iTunes? I would assume not, but I just want to make sure I don't need to back anything up if I want to reinstall iTunes.
Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer.

Not sure why this question is labeled as "answered" since there are no answers in the thread?
I'm having the same issue with the extremely distorted audio track on itunes video. It's worst on the speech, which is hard to hear, garbled, a lot of scratchy noise overtop of it; the music tracks are somewhat better (and much much louder). This started a bit ago and was intermittent at first, now very bad, can;t get rid of it.
I have a lot of itunes video, and since it is all protected, to my knowledge it is not playable through any other player... so this is a real problem. Reinstalling itunes (9.2.1) did not help. Sometimes VLC also distorts sound (on other video), more often that's fine but itunes is not.
I would love to have a solution to this-- my video library is not much use.

Question for Black Knight at Distorted Audio

Dear Black Knight:
Would you please go back to the Distorted Audio discussion and answer the last question that I posted there regarding your comments: "With even just a small investment in these things you can improve the quality of your recorded sound by tons! purchasing a Class-A Preamp ($100ish per channel) will dramatically clear up the sound and lower the noise floor, so when you record something at -20 and want to bring it up.. it won't have a lot of garbage in the signal."
I would value your advice on my questions. Thanks
Barb.

Sure I will go look, my apologies

Repairing Distorted Audio in iMovie HD6 - Any tips?

I have a concert video that I recorded a while back & I was way too close to the speakers and PA resulting in real distorted audio. Any tips for making it better? I was fiddling around in iMovie and settled on the setting for "Arena" which is actually a real improvement apart from the fact that I'm not that keen on the whole arena sound as it was shot in a small club. It at least dampens that distorted rumble a bit. Any other tips?

I think I solved my own problem. I noticed that every song I tried to use that I bought through iTunes has the same problem. I guess I shouldn't use iTunes to buy music for videos. Plus, if I try to export to Garageband to score, it totally prevents me from importing those songs.
Either I stop using iTunes for this, or I burn everything I want to use to an audio disk and then import back to iTunes. I hate DRM.

T400 2765 T6u, vista 32b distorting audio output on my videos

My T400 has poor visual quality in pictures and videos one week ago. After I updated the graphic driver, the images of the pics and videos are ok now, but the laptop is giving out distorting audio output on my videos. Can someone help me out with this issue?
Thanks,
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Message Edited by guoclu on 05-11-2009 08:24 AM
Solved!
Go to Solution.

I updated my audio driver and bought another headphone and solved the problem. I don't don't know why my previous headphone doesn't work for t400--it works perfect for my desktop.

Desktop Pavilion Elite m9250f distorted audio when playing a dvd

I have a 64-bit operating system: Vista Service Pack 2 (two). The monitor is an HP w2207h HDMI with internal speakers.
When I play a dvd with audio going to the monitor speakers, I get this nasty repeating rumbling noise that has both a low-pitched and a high-pitched component to it; absolutely no intelligible audio (music, dialog, etc.) comes through, and the video displays fine. However, when I play the dvd using headphones, there's no problem with the audio whatsoever. There are no other problems related to audio coming through the monitor. I control whether the audio goes to the headphones by using the "Realtek HD Audio Manager" found in the Control Panel; when I choose "Speakers," the audio goes to the headphones; when I choose "HDMI Output," it goes to the monitor's internal speakers.
Any assistance with this vexing problem would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Jeff

Hello @Jeff77xx,
I understand that your HP w2207h monitor has distorted audio. I am providing you with some steps you can try below:
Step 1. Unplug the power cord from the back of the monitor and the wall
Step 2. Hold the power button down for at least one minute
Step 3. Plug the power cord back into the monitor and then into the wall outlet (not a power bar or surge protector)
Step 4. Press the Menu button on the monitor
Step 5. Navigate to the Factory Reset option and select it
Step 6. Try different cables between your computer and monitor.
If the above steps did not resolve your issue you can try the monitor on a computer or other device to see if the issue persists. Please call our technical support at 800-474-6836. If you live outside the US/Canada Region, please click the link below to get the support number for your region. http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/ww-phone-assist.html
Thank you for posting on the HP Forums. Have a great day!
Please click the "Thumbs Up" on the bottom right of this post to say thank you if you appreciate the support I provide!
Also be sure to mark my post as “Accept as Solution" if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others who face the same challenge find the same solution.
Dunidar
I work on behalf of HP
Find out a bit more about me by checking out my profile!
"Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong." ~ Donald Porter

Fixing Distorted Audio

Hello,
I am working on a project for which I received the source media digitized into a firewire drive. Once I imported that media into FCP, I discovered that the audio in one of my interview subjects' footage clipped at certain points, making some of his words sound distorted - I am unsure if the audio was originally recorded as such by the sound tech, or whether it was captured at an incorrect setting by the person who digitized the media. Bottom line is, the audio on one of my interviews *****, I have no access to the master tapes (reshooting is not an option), and I would like to be able to salvage some of the soundbites in question.
I am aware that it's near impossible to get rid of distortion once it's been recorded or digitized - does anyone know of a certain combination of FCP filters which would, at the very least, help me minimize the distorted audio?
Thanks in advance.

If the clips were captured as DV clips via firewire, then the person who captured is in the clear. The fault in that case would be the shooter's.
You might take one of the clips into Soundtrack Pro and look closely at the waveform to see if you can pin down the distorted parts. There's not much you can do about it, but you can at least confirm with your eyeballs that it's there and therefore unfixable. OTOH, if you see clean waveforms there, then . . . no I won't get your hopes up - it's not fixable.

Recording a bands live set has distorted audio

Previously I have recorded many bands live set (small hardcore bands, all legal, don't worry) using the Camera app on my iPhone 4, 4S, and 5. Always got very high quality recordings thanks to the automatic gain control (I think?). Now with the iPhone 5S and iOS7 I get very distorted audio. Not sure if it's the software or hardware change. Sadly I do not have my old iDevices to test them again, but a lot of my old videos are on youtube. Any thoughts or solutions?

1. What is the maximum number of tracks that can be recorded at one time in Garageband?
http://www.bulletsandbones.com/GB/GBFAQ.html#maxnumrecordabletracks
(Let the page FULLY load. The link to your answer is at the top of your screen)
I read somewhere that Garageband can only record 8 live tracks{...} Is this true?
yes, however that 8 tracks is 16 channels, explained briefly here:
http://www.bulletsandbones.com/GB/TricksHacks.html
and 1 MIDI track simultaneously.
correct, there is no workaround
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doable if the interface supports it, and you're up for the extra work in post
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not doable with GB.
3. I plan to record to a 1 TB external USB drive so that I don't run out of disk space. Would GB play nice with recording to an external drive over USB?
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4. If no, should I record each song, save it, then copy it over to the external? or record the entire set in one recording?
trusting an entire performance to a single recording is not a good idea no matter what you use. saving each song would be wise no matter what.

Distorted audio in quicktime playback

Does anyone have distorted audio in imported videos playing in Quicktime? I have imported several videos from a camcorder (Canon FS300). The videos were originally in .mod format but iMovie imported them and converted them to .mov files. The strange thing is that in a couple of the videos the audio does not play back correctly. When the file is opened and Quicktime begins to play it, it seems the left and right channels are slightly out of sync. The result is a sort of echo. The strange thing is that the file plays fine in iMovie and when right-clicked and opened via "Quick Look." I have converted several files via Handbrake (into .m4v files) and the files all play fine. Converting via iMovie is much easier and faster than Handbrake and since the files play correctly otherwise the problem must lie in Quicktime. Any suggestions? I would rather stick with Quicktime but I guess I could switch players if I must.
MacBook Pro 2.2 Ghz
OS X Lion

Repair permissions _*& restart*_.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300832 Mac OS X: No audio from certain multimedia content
Trick/Tip: Open up GarageBand if installed then, open a program (optional).
Quit out of the GarageBand app.

Distorted audio during playback

has anyone else had the problem of distorted audio in itunes. when i play a song on itunes, it's totally distorted, as if the output level of is too loud. even when i turn down the volume fader, the audio is still distorted. i play the same tracks through quicktime and they're fine, so it's definately an itunes issue.
can anyone help?
thanks
simon

Hey Simon,
I've had this issue since iTunes went to version 7. I believe it may be tied to the original DRM scheme Apple used and is using. I don't know about you, but I have no issues with iTunes Plus purchases and if I rip my own CDs. Otherwise, all of the non iTunes Plus downloads distort. If I'm correct, you may see this thread vanish in the near future. I think this is potentially a huge issue when you consider a billion downloads, or however many Apple is up to now.
Chris

Distorted audio while recording with ScreenSflow

Hi all,
when I record my screen using ScreenFlow (latest version) I get distorted audio.
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Thanks

You can connect a mic to the iPod via the headphone jack and that mic will be used by the video app you use for the video camera on the iPod. I do not remember if the built-in mic gets cut off when yo do that so you may have to cover the mic hole on the iPod.

Distorted Audio - Any Tips or Tricks?

Hello all.
I have been given a project to edit that has some seriously distorted audio.
Basically the production was recorded with the audio from a line-in feed which the user had no control of (from a live event).
The house mixed the mics way too hot.
So, I'm sitting here with this video turned over to me with audio tracks that don't show clipping (levels are fine) because the damage was done on the audio console of origin.
Can anyone think of anything to minimalize this is? When the speakers talk loud, the distortion is rather noticable. So if there are effects or anything I should try, please, by all means suggest them.
My thanks!

Can you get the unmixed audio tracks? (those might actually not be individually too hot, just got toasted on the mix.) Can you call the singers back in to overdub the vocals? (Most people might not know anything is out of the ordinary as long as the vocals are clean.)
Otherwise, this blog entry might interest you:
http://www.danmccomb.com/posts/736/fix-clipped-audio-recordings-with-izotope-dec lipper/
see if that's something you'd want to invest in... it's pricey.
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Good luck... it's hard work unless you can get the original individual tracks, or re-record!

Mac Mini has Distorted audio over HDMI

My brand new mid-2010 Mac Mini has distorted audio over HDMI. Ideas? Tried multiple connections, devices, but the Mini's audio flattens and distorts high pitch sounds. Really distracting, makes movie watching impossible. Thinking about returning it.

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Slow SATA = distorted audio?

Why are my SATA drives so slow? Is there a way to speed them up? What gives?
I’ve got them connected to the SATA ports on the MOBO. No raid other than the drivers I had to load so the board would see the drives. Standard C, D, E, F (2 partitions per drive) configuration. 2 IDE CD-Roms (pri/sec masters) as G & H.
I tried running a recommended prog called HD Tach & if I’m reading this right, it says my drives are slower that your standard IDE drive.
http://www.simplisoftware.com/Public/index.php?request=HdTach
I’m getting distorted audio and the only thing I can see out of place is the suspected slow SATA communication. I’m going to start over with only IDE drives to see if I’m right (although I do dread my two 250 GB sata drives becoming paperweights…)
I have loaded the most recent chipset drivers, tweaked my bios to the best of my knowledge, uninstalled & reinstalled my card in each PCI slot and am going nuts here.
Got any knowledge to throw my way?

Since reading up on MaxBlast 4 and Maxtor's Big Drive Enabler I got to thinking my problem may be related to data loss so I’ve decided to start over from scratch. I’ve also been paying extra close attention to detail during this install. I changed boot from Other to SCSI in BIOS. Also I noticed a missing mscoree.dll, replaced it and am looking into possibly loading current .net framework (not sure of importance or preferred method yet). I’m still debating loading SP4 but most likely will (I’m currently holding off laoding any updates). There was some reason for me reverting back to SP3. SP4 did something negative to my previous DAW but I can’t remember what it was (oh well, better remind myself). My system already seems to be running smoother and I got something to install that wouldn’t install before (probably due to the missing mscoree.dll file I’m currently unfamiliar with). I find it strange it never gave me an error before, yet adversely affected my machine. Gotta love beta progs (especially when they are sold to you as a completed prog) :-/ . Luckily I am aware this one IS a beta though. I’ll have to inform the creators of this finding.
I always select the ‘DMA if available’ options on the IDE channels. I just wasn’t sure if you were talking about some other location for changing this. I’m not yet very educated when is comes to SATA and integrated SATA controllers.
As for running Maxtor’s test prog:
-“The PowerMax utility is effective on all ATA (IDE) hard drives with a capacity greater than or equal to 500 MB.” My drives are each SATA 250 GB.
-and-
-“PowerMax v 4.21 will not detect ATA or SATA hard disks connected to embedded or add in RAID controllers, NVIDIA Force 4, VIA KT 600 and KT800 chipsets. If the hard disk is connected to an unsupported controller, it will have to be moved to an alternate system, or controller for diagnosis.” I have no alternate system or desire to spend more money.
Upon further investigation, the readings on HD Tach are apparently correct and reasonably good. This is not a common activity for me so I have more to learn…
As I said before, SP4 will most likely get loaded soon. I always stay current with DirectX.
I always try to keep my IRQ conflicts under control.
I installed the current VIA HyperionPro Driver Package Version - 5.04A from viaarena.com.
I am even trying something new with my virtual memory, which should have sweet results.
I’ll post more later when I have everything re-installed and witness my results.
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Heavily distorted audio over firewire seemingly triggered by FW Drives

I have a Focusrite Saffire Pro 20i/o firewire 400 audio interface which worked fine for a while but for the last few months I have been occasionally getting distorted audio. The distortion starts gradually and over a period of a few minutes seems to increase until the original sound is barely recognisable. It sounds a lot like the BitCrusher plugin in Logic.
It usually seems to be caused by the presence of a firewire hard drive and is triggered when I start doing any kind of processor-intensive task (or perhaps hard drive intensive task), such as exporting a quicktime movie or rendering a sequence in Final Cut.
I imagined this was a problem with the Focusrite itself but I've found that my friend who has a MOTU 828mkII firewire interface has exactly the same problem at times though not as often. He too only started experiencing it a few months ago.
I told Focusrite and they suggested I shouldn't use a FW drive on the same buss - but I used to do this without a problem. Even when the interface is in the 400 socket and the drive is in the 800 socket is seems to happen. Are they sharing a buss?
The Focusrite is a class-complieant device and relies on the OSX firewire audio driver rather than a third-party one, but the MOTU has its own drivers. I'm using the latest Apple FWAudio driver that focusrite distributes with their driver downloads.
Is anyone else experiencing this? Did something change in some OSX update to cause this?

You're right, I wouldn't do anything intensive while recording.
But usually this happens when simply playing a song in iTunes and then I copy a big file or export a video whilst iTunes is running and the audio gradually deteriorates, and the only way to get it back to normal is to turn the Saffire off and back on again. And it does only seem to happen when a firewire drive is attached, and probably when I'm writing to or reading from that firewire drive.

Distorted audio

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