Category: audio
How to get good sound (from video or music) over Zoom
Zoom is optimised for speaking. If there is any other noise (e.g. a guitar or piano) Zoom will think it is background noise and try to remove it! To share a movie or song over a zoom meeting you need to change some settings. Here’s how.
How to export multi-track audio files from GarageBand
There’s no option from the GarageBand menus to export the individual files from your multi-track recording. You can only save the entire GarageBand file or a stereo version of the song. But there is a way to do it manually.
How to get good sound on a movie, livestream or webinar.
With COVID our church has moved to putting the talks online. The most important thing when recording talks is good audio quality. Your eyes can put up with poor video, but poor audio gets irritating very quickly. Thankfully it’s very easy to get clear sound. The key is to use an external microphone so that…
How to adjust the volume of a USB audio device in OSX
You can usually adjust the audio level of your Macintosh computer using the sound slider bar and also using the volume keys on your keyboard. But if you plug in a USB audio device (Focusrite, Presonus, Behringer, Rode etc) the built in Audio controls are disabled. This is so that the full volume can be…
Google Play Music and iTunes audio quality – what’s the difference.
I just purchased exactly the same song from iTunes and Google Play Music to compare them. If you are interested, here are the differences. iTunes uses AAC, while Google Play Music uses mp3. Google Play uses a slightly higher bitrate, but that probably compensates for AAC being a better algorithm. I can’t hear any audible difference.…
Finding the right audio cable for your iPhone or iPod
This article is about the kind of cable you need to plug your iPhone or iPod or laptop into a stereo. If you look on any iPod, or the back of a Mac mini, or the side of your Apple laptop you will see a round hole where you can plug in headphones. iPhones unto…
How to connect a pair of bluetooth speakers to your iMac, Macbook or Macbook Air
There are a stack of bluetooth speakers available. Here’s how to pair one to your Apple laptop for better sound quality and volume.
A great speaker system for your iPod or iPhone – Marley Get Together
If you are after a good looking and good sounding small speaker around the $200 mark, I’d recommend the Marley Get Together.
What’s the best external iPhone Microphone?
Good external microphones for the iPhone/iPad are expensive – not the kind of thing you want to buy and find out they are no good! Here’s a comparison of three external iPhone microphones: The Apogee MiC, Fostex AR-4i and Tascam iM2.
How to import songs into iTunes using the LAME mp3 encoder
What the LAME mp3 encoder is, why it’s better than the iTunes default, and how to use it.
How to get some awesome Garageband tracks
Nine Inch Nails – the band – have released some of their older songs in full garageband format.
How to import songs into iTunes with no loss of quality
Why it’s best to import all your songs using the apple lossless encoder.
How to record speech
Here’s a pretty good way to record speech on the macintosh, and have it sound OK for listening to over the internet.