A: Yes, the Sound Studio User's Manual is a reference that can answer questions about specific commands and items in Sound Studio. The User's Manual comes with the Sound Studio folder, in the archive file you can download.
Also, please see the Sound Studio Release Notes to see if your bug has been fixed in the latest release.
Q: Do you know of any other web sites where I can find more info?
A: Yes, there are many web sites out there which can help you learn more about audio recording, from general tips and techniques for getting a better recording to the technical details of specific pieces of hardware.
[Please go online to the web version for the URLs]
Q: Where can I buy audio equipment?
A: You can buy audio equipment online, or you can find a local retailer or dealer of audio equipment. Please note that I am not affiliated in any way with the dealers and manufacturers listed below, and that their inclusion below does not constitute an endorsement of their products.
If you want to buy online, check out:
* Musician's Friend
* Sweetwater
* Edirol for Roland products
If you want to find a local retailer, use the MapQuest Yellow Pages to set your location, and search for one of these terms:
* Dealers:
* Guitar Center
* Sam Ash Music Store
* Categories:
* Music Dealers
* Musical Instruments - Dealers
* Audio - Visual Equipment - Dealers
If you want to do a search for local and online retailers, go to Harmony Central Services: Retailers. For a list of online retailers, check out:
* Yahoo's B2B Audio and Sound/Retailers directory
* Yahoo's Music Instruments and Equipment Retailers
Q: Will Sound Studio work with my [computer model, audio hardware, OS software, etc.]?
A: I often get asked whether Sound Studio will work with a specific combination of hardware and software. While I do test on a variety of systems and setups, I can't test on every possible combination of computer model, audio hardware, and OS software.
I cannot make any promises or guarantee that Sound Studio will work with a particular system. I have tested Sound Studio on a variety of computer models, audio hardware, and OS software. Please look at the Hardware Compatibility page for results of those tests.
No Warranty. Felt Tip Software makes no warranty, expressed or implied, on its products, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
The inclusion of a particular product or manufacturer on this web site does not constitute any endorsement of the product or manufacturer, nor does it guarantee that the mentioned hardware will work with Sound Studio.
Q: What AppleScript commands are supported?
A: There are many AppleScript commands which are specific to Sound Studio. You should open the dictionary for Sound Studio using Apple's Script Editor. If a function isn't listed in the dictionary, it probably isn't supported via AppleScript.
Currently, only basic editing and filing commands are supported in AppleScript. What isn't supported in AppleScript inlcude: the import and export commands, filters, sound generators, marker commands, and view commands.
Q: "SoundLib--SoundConverterFillBuffer" Error On Launch.
A: The error "SoundLib--SoundConverterFillBuffer" means that you need to install QuickTime 4.1 or higher. Sound Studio uses certain functions available only in QuickTime 4.1 or higher to do sound compression in AIFF-C files.
Also, make sure that the "Sound Manager" is installed and enabled. If you don't know what that is, try reinstalling QuickTime with the default options.
Q: I'm getting an error -36.
A: The error number -36 means that you have I/O errors, which most likely means that your disk or cables are bad. Check your disk with Disk First Aid, and check your cables for connections and broken wires. Also, your disk may have bad sectors. In this case, you will need to reformat your disk, which should map out the bad sectors. Make sure to back up your important data before reformatting your disk.
Q: How should I update or upgrade to a newer version?
A: The current upgrade or update process for the software is to download the new version from the download site, unstuff the downloaded file, and replace the old "Sound Studio" folder with the new folder. You should delete all previous versions of Sound Studio on your hard disk so that you won't accidentally launch the old version. It is OK to keep a compressed archive of the old version.
There is no installer required to install or update to a new version.
The license is a separate issue. If you bought any version from 2.0 to the current version (2.0.5 as of this writing), you can use the same license (and license code) for versions between 2.0 and 2.9 inclusive. Currently, there is no need to buy an upgrade license to update your software if you bought the license for 2.0 or higher. (This may change in the future.)
If you bought any version from 1.0 to 1.5.5, an upgrade fee applies. Please see the Purchase page for current prices.
Q: Installing Sound Studio on systems with UFS volumes.
A: Sound Studio has been successfully tested with UFS-formatted volumes, and no problems were found. The fact that the app uses resources to store certain information should have no effect on its use with a UFS volume. The app has also been tested with user accounts with limited access to the system without finding any problems. The app has been installed from the "root" account and runs fine from both the root account and from user accounts. The app has not been tested with NetBoot machines, or with systems where the user's home directory resides on across a network.
Q: Can I buy a license for version 1.5.5 or an earlier version?
A: No, the earlier versions have been discontinued and are no longer being sold. In the future, a lighter version of Sound Studio may be offered, with only basic recording and editing functions.
Currently, if you try to order the older version, Kagi will not accept the payment. If you get a "Payment cannot be processed" message from Kagi, that means the product you tried to order has been discontinued.
Q: How do I pay by check?
A: On the purchase page, click on the product you want to purchase.
On the next page, enter your address, and scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the "I will send a Check/Money Order..." radio button. Submit the form.
Print out the resulting page, and send it along with your check to the address on that page.
After processing your order, you will receive an email "Thanks for your payment" which has the license code if you scroll down in that message.
Now, get started by going to the purchase page.
Q: I purchased a Sound Studio v.1 license, and now I want to upgrade to version 2. How do I buy the upgrade and how much does it cost?
A: If you bought a license for verision 1.5.5 or lower of Sound Studio, you can purchase an upgrade to version 2 of Sound Studio for $24.99. If you purchased a license for version 2, you don't need to purchase an upgrade until version 3 comes out.
To purchase the upgrade, go to the upgrade page.
Q: How do I order more than one license?
A: To order more than one license, you will need to use the Kagi order form, which lets you enter the quantity for each item you wish to order. Go to the Kagi order form.
Q: How do I get a refund?
A: To get a refund for a purchase you made through Kagi (all web-based orders), send an email to refund@kagi.com and include a copy of the "Thanks for your payment" email from Kagi. You should receive an email within 24 hours in response telling you how long the refund process will take.
Q: My license code doesn't work. The 'OK' button is grayed out.
A: In the "Enter License Code" dialog box, the OK button is grayed out if you didn't enter a valid license code.
Make sure you are using version 2.0 or higher of Sound Studio. You can download it from downloadsoundstudio.com. Also make sure that the "License Name" you received is copied with the same spacing and punctuation as in the email you received from Kagi "Thanks for Your Payment."
If you are copy-and-pasting the info into Sound Studio, make sure that you're not copying any extra spaces, carriage returns, or other extra characters into the fields. If that happens, you can delete the extra characters from the field.
If you have a license code that begins with "SS-", you have a version 1 license code. Your Sound Studio license code from version 1 won't work in version 2.0. You will need to upgrade to 2.0 to get a new license code. Or, you can continue to use version 1.5.5 with the old code.
Q: Every time I launch Sound Studio, it asks for my license code, even though I've entered it several times into Sound Studio.
A: Try deleting the Sound Studio preferences file. Use Sherlock to search for "Sound Studio 2.0 Preferences" and delete the file. You can also look in your home directory in ~/Library/Preferences/ for this file. Sound Studio stores your name and license code in the preferences file, but if this file is corrupted, it won't store it correctly.
Q: I lost my license code, and now Sound Studio is asking me to enter it again. What can I do?
A: If you need your license code again, send the name you registered Sound Studio under and your email address to support@felttip.com. If you don't remember the exact name you used, try to send a couple that you may have used. If your license code is found in the database of past purchasers, you will be sent your license code within a couple of days. If your name doesn't show up in the database, you'll get an email to that effect.
Q: Where Is My License Code?
A: You should have received your license code in an email from Kagi. The email message should have the subject "Thanks for your payment" and be from "Kagi (sm) " or something similar.
The license code should be near the bottom of that email message. You may have deleted or ignored that message since at first glance, it looks like a bunch of technical information.
You will need to scroll down about 30-35 lines in that email to find your license code. This is about three-quarters (3/4) of the way down the message.
The license code starts with the letters "ST" and is nine digits long, in the form "ST-0000-0000-0". If your code doesn't look like that, you have to wrong code.
If you need your license code again, you can go to Kagi and click on the Payment Query link. They may move the link to that page, so I can't provide a specific link to it.
If you found it hard to find your license code, you should send an email to Kagi at admin@kagi.com and tell them what you think of their system. Also, let me know if you think I should drop Kagi and use a different payment processing system, through the support email form.
Q: Why do I get no sound when I play an audio file?
A: Sometimes the sound output setup will default to the wrong device. First, check your Sound Input/Output Setup in Sound Studio. For Mac OS X, the output section should have "Mac OS X Audio HAL" selected, and then go to System Preferences and go to the Sound panel. In the Sound panel, click on the Output tab and select the appropriate sound output device. After this, you may need to close your file in Sound Studio and reopen it for the settings to take effect.
Under Mac OS X, Sound Studio's "Mac OS X Audio HAL (System)" corresponds to the selection in the System Preferences->Sound panel's Alerts tab, while " Mac OS X Audio HAL" corresponds to the Output tab. This allows you to send system alert sounds to one device while sending the audio playback to another.
If you're using Mac OS 9 or lower, you can select directly the audio device that you're using for sound output in the Sound Input/Output Setup in Sound Studio.
Q: When I try to record, I get a "Sound quality not available" error alert. What sound quality settings should I be using?
A: Most devices will support 44.1kHz, 16-bit, stereo recording. Try that setting first. If that doesn't work, try 44.1kHz, 16-bit, mono. For USB monophonic microphones, it's important to use the "mono" setting instead of stereo. In almost all cases, you should keep the settings at 44.1kHz, 16-bit, because typically sound hardware will support those settings.
New in version 2.0.3, you can now record to a stereo file from a mono microphone, and vice versa, so the number of channels setting of your file can be either one or two and recording should work either way.
Q: The input levels stay in the RED and the waveform is clipped. What can I do?
A: The problem is that the audio signal level where it enters your USB audio input device (or other hardware which contains the A/D [analog/digital] converter) is too high, causing clipping, which is a form of distortion.
Software Solution
First, check the input gain sliders in the "Input Levels" window. If you can move them, you may be able reduce the input levels. In my testing, this only seems to work with Apple's built-in sound input hardware found on older Macs. All the current model year Macs seem to lack the ability to adjust the input gain. Also, none of the USB and FireWire audio input devices I've tested seem to support adjusting the input gain either.
This means that even if the sliders do move, they might not have any effect on the input gain. The reason the sliders might look like they work while the nothing is happening in the hardware is because of a piece of software called a driver which talks to the hardware on one end, while talking to the application (Sound Studio) on the other end. Now, this driver tells the application what the hardware is supposedly able to do, and one of these features is the ability to adjust the input gain. In some situations, the driver tells the app that it is able to adjust the input gain, where in reality nothing of the sort is true. Meanwhile, Sound Studio is happily telling the driver to change the input gain when you move the sliders, but the driver just discards those messages.
The same thing also happens with other features of the sound hardware, such as play-through. It's not a pretty situation, but it's how it is with Sound Manager drivers today. Hopefully, the Core Audio drivers under Mac OS X will be better behaved.
Hardware Solution
So, if you've determined that you can't adjust the input gain in your hardware from Sound Studio, check for any other way to adjust the gain. If your hardware includes a input level slider, use that. The Roland (Edirol) UA-30 and UA-3 have such sliders. Use them, even if the level meters on the hardware go into the red. What matters is the level meter in Sound Studio. As long as it doesn't clip in Sound Studio, you should not have any clipping.
What do you do if your hardware doesn't have a input level slider? You need to find another way to reduce the signal level at the inputs. The easy way is to reduce the volume on your source, be it a tape deck, amplifier, or instrument. Most things which output audio have an adjustable output somewhere, usually called a "headphone" jack. You can use the headphone jack, with the appropriate cables, instead of line-level outputs.
What if you don't have a headphone jack? This is where you may need another piece of hardware. You have many options here.
The least expensive is to get a headphone volume control. This is a little headphone extension cord with a thumb-wheel or a slider built-in which will adjust the signal level going through it. One such piece of hardware is the "Koss VC20 Inline Headphone Control."
If you want to spend a little more money, you can get a small stereo mixer which has knobs or sliders for adjusting levels. Then you just put the mixer between your source and your input device. Mixers are multi-function devices, and you can use them to record from microphones and electric guitars, to mix multiple sources, and to send the output to an external signal processor.
Another option is to get an amplifier with headphone jacks or other adjustable output. You could also build your own adjustable attenuator out of electronics parts, but this requires some expertise with electronics.
The thing to remember is that you want to adjust the levels before it goes into the A/D convertor (audio input device), because that's where the clipping can occur. After it is turned into a digital stream of numbers, there is nothing you can do to get rid of the clipping, so you need to adjust the levels before that happens.
Q: The input gain slider only affects one side of the stereo input. How can I fix this?
A: That is a bug in the operating system in Mac OS X version 10.1.2, before build 5P63. If you have updated your Mac OS X to version 10.1.3 or higher, you should be OK.
Q: Why are the input gain controls grayed out and immobile in the Level Meter window?
A: This means that the current sound input device you have selected in Sound Input/Output Setup doesn't support the input gain controls, and therefore you can't change the input gain of that device from Sound Studio.
Q: Does Sound Studio support multitracking? Will there be a version which supports multiple tracks?
A: I'm looking into the possibility of adding support for multiple tracks. The current version does not support multiple tracks. It can only record a single stereo track of audio per file. You can record to one file while playing another, but there is no way to synchronize the two files.
Q: How do I record an Internet streaming audio broadcast? A MIDI file?
A: There are several applications or situations where your computer is generating sound but there isn't a means to record what is playing, such as Apple Speech synthesis, MIDI data played using QuickTime musical instruments, and streaming audio from RealPlayer or from iTunes.
The simplest way to capture this audio in Sound Studio is to connect the Sound Output port to the Sound Input port of your computer. While this will result in some degradation of the signal due to the digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital conversion, the amount of noise is insignificant for most purposes.
To be able to hear what you're recording, you should use a stereo Y-connector to connect the two sound jacks together along with external speakers. When you do this, you will want to make sure that play-through is turned off.
If your computer doesn't have a sound input jack, see you will need an extra piece of hardware called a sound input device, such as a USB audio adapter such as the Griffin iMic.
Q: When I plug my microphone into the line-level input jacks, the recorded signals are too low. How can I raise the levels?
A: You need to use a pre-amp to bring the signal levels up to line level. The microphone outputs an electrical signal of only a few millivolts, but line-level inputs are generally around 2 volts, so you need something to amplify the signal. There are also other considerations such as the impedence of the microphone, but you don't have to worry about that. The only thing you need is a microphone pre-amp, or something that has a pre-amp built-in, such as a mixer board.
A typical dynamic microphone is made up of a diaphram connected to metal rod inside a coil and magnet set. This combination takes vibrations in the air and generates electricity through the coil. The voltage of this electricity is very low, and it needs to be amplified to bring it up to what is called line-level.
Some older Macs have audio input jacks which accept microphone-level signals. On those Macs, you can use the input levels gain slider in Sound Studio to amplify the signal. But for most people, your Mac only accepts line-level audio inputs, so you will need a mixer board.
Q: Is there a limit to the length of audio that Sound Studio can record?
A: The absolute limit for the total length of any file in Sound Studio is 2 GB. That's 2 gigabytes, or 1024 megabytes. Your typical hard drive today contains 80 or more gigabytes. This limit is for the total length of the file, so if you start with an empty file, you can record 2 GB of audio data. If you are adding to an existing file, you won't be able record as much. Also the file header takes up some of this (usually 54 bytes), but this is small enough to be negligible.
To get the duration that 2 GB represents, you need to know the sound quality settings of the file. This is the sample rate, sample size, and number of channels. The formula for computing the number of bytes given the time in seconds is:
Bytes = Time * Sample Rate * Sample Size * Number of Channels
Where sample rate is in Hertz and sample size is in bytes instead of bits. This means that 8-bits equals 1 byte and 16-bits is 2 bytes. To get the time, you would solve for time instead of bytes, so:
Time = Bytes / (Sample Rate * Sample Size * Number of Channels)
For 2 GB at 44.1 kHz, 16-bit, stereo sound, this is:
Time = (2 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024) / (44100 * 2 * 2)
Time = 2,097,152 / 176,400
Time = 12,173.94 seconds
This result is in seconds, so if you want to convert to minutes, you divide by 60, and if you want to convert to hours, you divide by 3600.
Time = 12,173.94 seconds / 60 seconds per minute = 202.90 minutes
Time = 12,173.94 seconds / 3600 seconds per hour = 3.38 hours
To see how to convert from time to bytes, see "How do I compute how many bytes a recording will take up?"
Q: How do I compute how many bytes a recording will take up?
A: To calculate the number of bytes that a recording will take up, given the duration of the recording, you can use a simple equation. First, you need to convert the time to seconds. To convert minutes to seconds, multiply by 60. To convert hours to seconds, multiply by 3600.
30 minutes = 30 * 60 = 1,800 seconds
2 hours = 2 * 3600 = 7,200 seconds
Once you have the number of seconds, you also need to know the sound quality settings of the file. This is the sample rate, sample size, and number of channels. The formula for computing the number of bytes given the time in seconds is:
Bytes = Time * Sample Rate * Sample Size * Number of Channels
Where sample rate is in Hertz and sample size is in bytes instead of bits. This means that 8-bits equals 1 byte and 16-bits is 2 bytes. For 1 hour at 44.1 kHz, 16-bit, stereo sound, this is:
Bytes = Time * Sample Rate * Sample Size * Number of Channels
Bytes = 3,600 * 44,100 * 2 * 2
Bytes = 637,040,000
Since the number of bytes is often such a large number, it is easier to express it in terms of kilobytes, megabytes or gigabytes. In the computer world, a kilobyte is 1024 bytes, instead of 1000 bytes. Also, a megabyte is 1024 kilobytes, and a gigabyte is 1024 megabytes. So to convert the number of bytes, divide by the appropriate factor:
To see how to convert from bytes to time, see "Is there a limit to the length of audio that Sound Studio can record?"
Q: How do I record from a mono source into a stereo file?
A: There are many different combinations of audio equipment out there which makes it difficult to prescribe a single solution. When people want to record from a mono source, this usually means that their audio source is connected by a single 1/4-inch plug, usually a guitar, microphone, or some other device. What I suggest is that you use a mixer board, pan the signal to the center, and record the mixer's stereo outputs.
If you don't have a mixer board, it becomes more complicated. You could do the mono-to-stereo conversion entirely with pieces of hardware, such as adapters and splitters. Or you could record the audio in stereo, and select one channel of audio and paste it over another in the Sound Studio window. This can take some time as Sound Studio needs to copy every single sample of the file.
Q: I get an error -54.
A: Error number -54 means "permission error," which in the case of sound input drivers means that the sound input is being used by another application. Try quitting any other apps, and turning off Speech recognition or any other software which may be using the sound input. Also, try selecting another device in "Sound Input/Output Setup."
Q: I get an error -229 when pressing record.
A: The error number -229 seems to indicate that your audio input device was unplugged or otherwise made unavailable. Check your cables, and go to "Sound Input/Output Setup" and select your input device again.
Q: I just upgraded and I can no longer record without digital skips. (Applies to versions 2.0.5-2.0.6.)
A: There's a bug in versions 2.0.5 and 2.0.6 which can causes digital skips in recording made with Sound Studio if your computer starts to run low on CPU time. The problem is that there was a change made in the app in version 2.0.5 to try to reduce the amount of CPU time the app uses. Unfortunately, the change caused a thread-priority issue which results in the recording engine not getting time when it needs it.
A work-around is to boot into Mac OS 9, since this bug only affects Mac OS X. Another work-around is to use version 2.0.4 for recording. This bug will be fixed in the next release, since all that needs to be done is a one-line change in the source code. Go to downloadsoundstudio.com for version 2.0.4.
Q: No waveform after stopping recording. (On dual-CPU PowerMac G4s)
A: This is a bug in versions 2.0.4 to 2.0.6 of Sound Studio which seems to only affect dual-CPU PowerMacs. The bug manifests itself intermittently after clicking the stop button when recording. The waveform no longer shows up in the window, but the time displays show the total time of the recording.
The workaround is to go back to version 2.0.3 of the app to record. You can still use 2.0.6 to edit files.
Q: Waveform wraps around instead of clips when input gain is set to max.
A: There is a new "feature" in the Mac OS which enables the input gain sliders in the app on machines whose hardware doesn't support changing the input gain. What is happening is that the audio is being amplified in the software by the OS. If you set the input gain to the max, low level sounds are increased. A side effect of this is that high level sounds seem to wrap-around in the waveform view.
Another effect is that if you set the gain to a low value, the input audio will start clipping before it reaches the maximum amplitude in the window. What is happening is the analog input audio is being digitized by an A/D converter which has a fixed range of min and max voltage. When the input audio signal exceeds this range, the A/D converter is no longer able to give a meaningful value and returns the min or max value that it can return. This is called clipping. What is happening when you set the input gain to a value other than 1.0 (which is the midpoint on the slider) is that all the input samples are digitally multiplied by the gain factor. Unfortunately, this operation cannot restore the data lost from clipping.
When the gain is set above 1.0, the same multiplication happens, but you get the problem of overflow, because the range of values to represent a sample, typically 16-bits, is limited. When you multiply a sample, and the result is above or below the range of a 16-bit value, the result is wrapped around. When you look at the waveform window, the waveform that goes off the top of the view will seem to wrap around from the bottom.
In this case, it would be best to set the input gain slider to its default, middle position by double-clicking on the slider. This way, the gain factor will be 1.0, and your hardware's input range will be exactly the same as the app's sample data range.
Q: Why isn't the M-Audio Delta Audiophile 2496 supported under Mac OS 9 or lower?
A: The Audiophile 2496 PCI card works well under Mac OS X, however under Mac OS 9 there is a problem with its driver which causes Sound Studio to crash during or after recording from this audio card. The problem is most likely in the Sound Manager drivers that ship with this card, and as far as I know there is no workaround for this under OS 9 or lower. You can still boot into Mac OS X and use the card.
Q: I am recording through a MacAlly iVoice or Griffin iMic USB audio device. The input levels seem to go red zone. Is this a problem and what can I do?
A: This isn't always a problem, but you may need to reconfigure your setup or add some hardware.
With the iVoice and the iMic, you won't be able to adjust the input levels from within Sound Studio. As far as I know, the hardware doesn't support changing the input gain. So if you need to adjust the input gain, you will need to find a way to adjust the audio signal level where it enters the USB audio input device.
The first thing to check is the levels in Sound Studio. If you are used to using peak-level meters in the analog world, you'll need to adjust to some changes in the digital world. In the analog world, the first red bar always corresponds to zero dB, and you have some headroom above that where an occasional peak can go. In the digital world, the first red bar is usually somewhat below zero dB (it's at -6 dB in Sound Studio), and you have absolutely no headroom above 0 dB. What happens when you go over 0 dB in the digital world is hard clipping, which is a form of distortion.
This means that as long as the signal doesn't go above 0 dB, your signal will be fine. You could be in the red zone all day, as long as you don't go above 0 dB, you won't have any distortion at all. In Sound Studio, to check that you're not clipping, there are two readouts to the right of the level meter bars. These show the maximum dB level of the input signal, and you can reset them by clicking on them. To use them, click on them to reset them, and then play the loudest passage of your recording through the inputs. If the readouts don't say "Clip", you should have a good recording.
If your input is clipping, you will need to somehow reduce the audio signal level where it enters your USB audio input device. See this question for more info.
Q: I have a Sony Media Converter, Dazzle Hollywood DV Bridge, or other analog-to-DV device and I can't seem to record audio.
A: You need to have a video signal on the analog video input to in order to record from the audio inputs through FireWire DV. It seems that all FireWire DV devices require this, and I think it is part of the FireWire DV specification. If you don't have the video signal, Sound Studio won't record anything.
To set it up to record through FireWire, you would select "DV Audio" as the device in "Sound Input/Output Setup." Also, make sure you select any device other than "FireWire DV" for the sound output, or you will get an error -14104 when trying to record and playback won't work. It seems you can't have the FireWire DV device play back at the same time it is recording.
This generally means that you will be using the FireWire DV device for input, while using the Mac's built-in audio system for output.
Also, if you have a Dazzle Hollywood DV Bridge, make sure its mode setting is set to "A to D" when recording, and set to "D to A" when playing back audio. When playing back audio, it may take 5 seconds for the device to get ready, so the first five seconds of your playback won't be heard.
Q: Recording from a USB device under Mac OS 9.1 or 9.0.4 crashes.
A: Update your Mac OS to 9.2.2. Earlier versions of the Mac OS had USB audio drivers that were buggy and can cause crashes while recording. You should be able to use the "Software Update" mechanism of the OS to update to the latest version of the Mac OS.
Q: How do I reduce noise when I'm doing field recordings with microphones?
A: The best thing to do is to prevent the noise from getting into the recording. You should try to move the microphone as close to the subject as possible. If you're doing video recording, get a better microphone than the one built-into the camera. The camera's microphone is often not very good quality compared to separate microphones, and because it's on the camera itself, it can't get close enough to the subject
You have several options for mic'ing your subject. The easiest way is to use a handheld mic which the subject or someone else must hold. The drawback is that for video, the microphone is in view.
You can get a lavalier mic, which clips to the subject's clothing. There are wireless versions of these which lets the subject move around freely. Also, these mics can be small enough to be virtually invisible.
You can also get a boom mic or a shotgun mic, but this requires someone to operate the boom or the mic. If you don't have time to set up a mic but you don't want a microphone in the shot, this would be a better option.
Once you get the microphone close to the subject, you'll find that wind isn't as great an issue as it was before. You will still need to use a wind filter to prevent wind noise from being too loud. Most microphones come with a wind filter or wind sock which you can put over the mic, or you can buy one. But since the microphone is closer to the subject, you won't have to amplify the microphone as much because the sound from the subject is more powerful. (The power of a sound decreases inversely with the distance.) This means that any wind that gets to the mic isn't amplified as much.
Q: Do you have any plans to allow saving a file as an MP3?
A: No, I'm not planning to add the abillity to save directly in the MP3 format, because the free iTunes software from Apple will let you convert AIFF files to MP3. Adding such capability to Sound Studio would require licensing the MP3 technology and adding to the cost of a Sound Studio license.
In the future, I might add the ability to load plug-ins into Sound Studio, and a third-party company could write a plug-in that lets you save directly to MP3.
Another possibility is if there are any apps which do MP3 encoding and can accept AppleScript commands, it would be possible in a future version of Sound Studio to have a command which tells that app to encode the file to an MP3.
Q: Can I burn audio CDs in Sound Studio?
A: No, Sound Studio doesn't have the ability to directly burn audio CDs. However, you can use Sound Studio to create the audio tracks that make up a CD, and then use iTunes to create the CD. First, prepare each CD track as a separate file in Sound Studio, and save each file to a folder on your hard disk. Then, in iTunes create a new playlist, and drag your saved files to this playlist. Rearrange the tracks to your liking.
Now, if you have a CD burner connected, you can click on the "Burn CD" button in the upper right corner of the iTunes window. See iTunes Help for more info.
Q: How do I open or edit a track on an audio CD?
A: To open a track on an audio CD, select File->Open, navigate to your Audio CD, and open your CD track directly. The file will be converted into an AIFF file which you can edit and save.
If that doesn't work, you can also use File->Import with QuickTime to open CD tracks.
Q: How do I turn a tape or record into a CD?
A: To make a digital audio CD out of an analog source, you will need several things:
* Sound Input device. These are usually built into the computer, but the iBook and Cube, for example, don't have them. You will need a USB Audio input device such as the Roland UA-30 or iMic for these Macs.
* CD Burner (CD-R or CD-RW). You can use iTunes to actually burn the CD. See iTunes Help in iTunes for more info.
* For phonographs: If you have a turntable, you will also need an amp to bring the signal up to line levels.
* The proper audio cables. This will depend on your set up, but usually you'd use an RCA to 1/8-inch stereo cable.
When you have that all set up, launch Sound Studio and go to Audio->Sound Input Source and make sure that Built-In->Sound In is selected if you have built-in sound input, or USB Audio is selected. Please see the USB Audio section if you have trouble here.
Make sure the playthrough option is on, and click OK to close the dialog. If you start your analog source playing, and your Input Levels window is open, you should see the levels meter start working. You want to adjust the levels so that it goes into the yellow occasionally, but not into the red. (See the Input Levels section for the advanced discussion about levels.)
Once you've set up the levels, you can start recording. Select File->New and create a 44.1kHz, 16 bit, stereo file. You can start recording now. The maximum file size is 2 GB, which translates to about 3 hours and 20 minutes at the current settings. The best way to record is to do an entire side of the record or tape in one pass, and then edit later.
When one side is done, click stop. The window will start to redraw, but you can start editing right away. You will want to turn each song or section of the recording into a separate file so that your CD burning software can make them into separate tracks. The fastest way to do this is to place markers at the start of each song, and then use the "Edit->Split By Markers" command. You can name each marker according to the song that comes after it. When you use the "Split By Markers" command, you will need to specify where to store all the files that will be created for each piece of audio separated by markers.
You can now take the files you have just created and drag them into your CD burning software (such as Roxio Toast or iTunes) to make an audio CD. Make sure you set the track gap to zero if you want seamless transitions between tracks.
Optionally, after spitting the side into separate files, you can clean up the ends by deleting extra silence or use fades. Also, if some tracks seem too quiet, you can use the Normalize command to bring the volume up, without the risk of making it too loud and clipping samples. Save each file as an AIFF file, and the CD burner software should take it from here.
Q: WAV files can't be opened in Sound Studio, or WAV files saved by Sound Studio aren't openable on a Windows program.
A: The Windows WAV file format is a complex file format with many programs expecting certain non-standard pieces of data in the file. Sound Studio only supports the standard WAV file format with uncompressed audio sample data. It does not support the various compressed WAV file formats, such as MP3 or IMA inside the WAV file. (You can import compressed files with the "Import with QuickTime" command.)
To open a WAV file in Sound Studio, first make sure it is not compressed. You can check this by using QuickTime Player. Also, make sure that the file's type is "WAVE" or the file name ends with ".wav". If it still doesn't open, try using the "Import with QuickTime" command to open it. If that doesn't work, then your file was probably corrupted in the transfer.
If the WAV file you save in Sound Studio can't be opened on a Windows program, try opening the file with Windows Media Player. If it works in WMP, they your program may have some special requirements for opening WAV files.
Please make sure to include the name of the program which created the file, or the program with which you're trying to open the file, in any bug reports.
More info:
MATLAB wav file format
Q: How do I save in a compressed file format?
A: To save a file with compression, use the AIFF-C file format. After specifying where to save the file, it will present a compression type dialog. The suggested format is IMA 4:1, which is a lossy compression format which results in files that are one-quarter the size of the uncompressed version.
Alternatively, you can use iTunes to use MP3 compression. See the FAQ entry for iTunes for more info.
Q: How do I find out how many bytes of disk space a file takes up?
A: To find out how big a file is, in terms of bytes, use the Finder. Select the file you're interested in, and go to "File->Get Info." It should tell its size on disk.
Q: I see a "Dialog Goes Here" window behind the "Import with QuickTime" compression dialog.
A: That's something to work around a "feature" of QuickTime which only allows compression if the app shows that dialog, and the smaller dialog is there to make sure the real dialog shows up in the correct position.
Q: How do I edit an MP3 file?
A: To edit an MP3 file, you need to import the file into Sound Studio, do the editing, and then save as AIFF so that iTunes can turn it into an MP3. Here are some detail instructions:
In Sound Studio, select File->Import with QuickTime, and choose the MP3 file you wish to edit. After importing the file, you'll have a new window with the audio data in it.
If you want to bring the volume up to their maximum possible level, you can normalize the audio. Go to Edit->Select All to select all the audio. Then go to Filters->Normalize, and use the default setting of 96%. This will take some time to do. Wait for it to finish normalizing.
Now, go to File->Save As and save the file as an AIFF file, on your desktop. When it's done saving, go to iTunes, and select Advanced->Convert to MP3. Choose your AIFF file, and iTunes will convert it back to MP3. You can now delete the AIFF file, and replace the old MP3 file with the one you just created.
The new MP3 file will be placed in your iTunes music folder in the "Unknown Artist/Unknown Album/" folder hierarchy. The ID3 tag information is not saved in this process, so you will have to re-enter them by hand.
If You Don't Have iTunes
If you can't get iTunes, you can try other software that does AIFF-to-MP3 conversion. There are many apps out there that will do that, all of which require paying a fee for the full use of the MP3 encoding function. Some of the apps are:
A: The best thing is to get a recording without the hiss. It is very difficult, and can be expensive, to remove noise once it has gotten into the mix. If you can't get another recording or do another take, check if the tape was recorded with Dolby NR or dbx noise reduction. If it was, you should turn on the noise reduction switch or run the signal through the appropriate Dolby or dbx decoder.
There are a few things you can try in Sound Studio to make the noise less noticeable. You can use the Graphic EQ to reduce the high frequencies, but this will also color the sound and may make it muddier.
If there is still noise, you'll need the expertise of an audio engineer who knows this kind of stuff, or a book about audio recording, because this is a tricky subject. There is software available that can process and reduce noise, such as Arboretum's Ray Gun, and they cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand.
Q: How can I remove clicks, pops, and crackle from LP recordings in Sound Studio?
A: For snaps, crackles, and pops, there's only two good filters for this. One is the Interpolate filter, which is best used for individual clicks and pops. The other is the Fade Special filter, which is best used to erase any areas where there are too many pops to take out individually.
The Interpolate filter should be used at the 1:1 zoom level. You select the pop plus a few samples before and after it, and then apply the Interpolate filter. The pop looks like a spike in the waveform. The result of the filter should look like a nice rounded waveform. If it doesn't come out right, you can Undo it and try again on a slightly different selection.
The Fade Special filter should be used with a 'U' shaped envelope. The middle of the area you select will be erased, so you should use this only on an area of about 1 to 10 milliseconds.
Q: How do I edit the audio track from an iMovie clip?
A: If you are using iMovie, and want to do more advanced editing of the audio track in a video clip you have in iMovie, you do that with the help of Sound Studio. The first thing to do is to have a video clip and put it into the timeline of the iMovie project. Then use "Advanced->Extract Audio" on the clip in iMovie. Now the video track will have a separate audio track locked to the video clip. "Locked" means that the beginning of the audio is synchronized with the beginning of the video. The extraction may take a few minutes for long clips.
Now, you can find the audio file in ithe "Media" folder in your iMovie project folder, in the Finder. The file may be named "Voice 01" but the name may be different. You can find the file name by selecting the audio clip in iMovie and going to "File->Get Clip Info," and the file name will be the "Media File."
Once you know which file to edit, you can open the file with Sound Studio and do any kind of editing and apply effects to the audio. The changes won't show up in iMovie until you save the file in Sound Studio.
Q: How do I cross-fade from one file to another?
A: You can cross-fade from one file to another in Sound Studio. First, open two files. Preferrably, will want to make sure they both have the same sample rate, sample size, and number of channels. This example uses a cross-fade of five seconds, but you can use a different duration. Apply the Fade Out filter to the last five seconds of the first file. Apply the Fade In filter on the first five seconds of the second file. Now, select all of the second file and select Edit->Copy. This will put it on the clipboard. Use "Mix" (under the Edit menu) to paste the first file at a point five seconds before its end. The audio on the clipboard will be mixed on top of the first file at the insertion point, and the file will be extended to hold the new mix. And there you have your cross-fade.
Q: Can I edit out pops and clicks in Sound Studio?
A: Yes, you can edit them out. You must individually locate each pop and click, zoom in to 1:1, and select the click and a little area around it. Then use the "Filter->Interpolate" filter. This will smooth out the waveform where you have select. You may have to undo it and try it again with a slightly different selection until you get the hang of the filter.
Q: I get an error #-39 when copying and pasting.
A: This is a bug which has plagued Sound Studio from version 2.0 to 2.0.5. It is fixed in version 2.0.6, which can be downloaded from the download site.
Q: How do I remove a marker?
A: You have two ways to remove amarker. Both require you to first check Show Markers and uncheck Lock Markers. The first method is to drag the marker out of the window. The second method is to double-click on the marker, and click the Delete button in the dialog that shows up.
Q: Adjust Pitch: Can I change the pitch without affecting the duration/tempo?
A: The "Adjust Pitch" command is a tape-style pitch adjustment. This means that when you change the pitch, the tempo and duration of the audio is also affected.
So the answer is no, it can't change the pitch without affecting the duration and tempo. There are programs and hardware units which can do pitch shifting without affecting the tempo. Search the Internet for pitch shifting and slowing down the tempo.
Q: Why are all the items under the Filter menu disabled?
A: The filters only work on selected audio. You must select some audio in order to apply the filter. Try creating a new window, recording some audio or inserting some noise, and selecting all of it. Then you can use the filters.
Q: Do you have plans to allow effects to be previewed in real-time?
A: There is already a "Preview" command in version 2.0.4 for most filters that will let you preview the effect of the filter on the selection. For best results, you should run Sound Studio under Mac OS 9.2.2 because Sound Studio doesn't get enough CPU time to run the preview in real-time under OS X.
I'm also planning to allow the filters to work in real-time on the input stream, though there will be a certain amount of additional latency due to the overhead of the filters.
Q: How do I adjust the duration of a file?
A: To change the duration of an entire audio file, select Audio->Pitch Shift and enter the duration the file should be. The pitch of the audio will change with the duration, but as long as the change is not more than 5%, it shouldn't sound noticably odd.
After using Pitch Shift, if you want to put the file on a CD, you need to resample the file to 44.1 kHz. Use "Audio->Resample" and put in 44.1 kHz for the sample rate.
Q: How do I make my audio sound like it came through a telephone?
A: Try using the Low-Pass filter first to remove all frequencies above 3400 Hz, with a window width of 95, then use a High-Pass Filter to remove all frequencies below 400 Hz, with a window width of 255 (you have to type in this number). You can adjust the window width to change the frequency roll-off. The frequency graph in the filter set-up dialog will show you the effect of the filter.
Q: I have several files with widely varying sound levels. How do I get them all to the same level?
A: You need to use the Normalize filter. You can work on each file one at a time. For each file, do this:
1. Open the file in Sound Studio.
2. Select all of the file (use Edit->Select All), making sure to select both tracks if it's stereo.
3. Select the Normalize filter (Filter->Normalize).
4. The settings for Normalize should already default to 0dB.
5. Click OK in the Normalize dialog. The filter should begin processing the file.
6. When it's done processing, save and close the file.
7. Repeat the above steps with the next file.
What you will end up with is a set of files which all have roughly the same peak sound levels, so for most music they will have the same overall levels.
Q: I can no longer save Presets.
A: Check that your Presets folder path is set to a directory (folder) where you have write access. (To check the Presets path, go to Preferences.) You can set the presets folder to any directory, but you should set it to one where you have permissions to write to the folder if you want to save presets.
The presets folder path can be changed starting with version 2.0.4.
Q: Is there a version of Sound Studio in French (or German, Italian, etc.)?
A: No, Sound Studio has not been localized for any language other than English yet. I have tried doing German and Italian localizations, but I think it would be better to concentrate on the English version than to have a less-than-excellent localization. I'm open to any suggestions on this topic.
Q: If I am outside the U.S., and I can't pay by credit card, how do I buy a Sound Studio license?
A: The best thing to do is to get an international bank draft. This is a check (or cheque) which a bank issues and which is payable by a branch of this bank in the U.S. It should be payable in U.S. dollars, and you should make the check payable to "Felt Tip Software." Send the check to:
Felt Tip Software
260 Iven Ave, Suite 3D
Saint Davids, PA 19087
USA
There may be a transaction fee associated with getting the international bank draft. All large international banks have branches in the U.S., and you should be able to locate a branch in a major city.
If you know someone who has a credit card, you could ask him to purchase the license for you. In this case, make your purchase through the purchase page, and make sure the name in the shipping address is your name, because this name will show up in the license code. Also, the billing address should be that of the card holder. When you have placed the order, make sure to print the receipt so that the card holder will remember that he made this purchase for you, and so that 30 days later, he won't be asking about a mysterious charge on his card from a vendor called "Kagi."
Sending cash (currency notes) through the mail (post) is risky and not recommended because I am not responsible for anything lost mail, and the mail is not a secure method.
