4 more tips for amplifying your sound on a Mac
I have an old Macintosh computer that has developed a buzz on its built in microphone. So I bought a USB microphone which works but when I upload it into youtube the sound is very quiet. I have tried some things I found on google to try to get it to work better but with no success. Any ideas?
Thanks,
That buzzing thing started happening with my built-in mic too. so I also use a USB mic. To add to Harry122's sound ('
sound'? Ha! See what I did there?
) advice, there's a couple of other things you can do to make your sound louder.
Before I get to these tips, however, Harry's two tips (internal gain on the computer/ external gain on the mic) are the first things you should try. If the input level is too low, what you will get from amplifying it will be somewhat akin to listening to someone singing down an old phone line.
So, assuming you've cranked up the mic input in the ways Harry has suggested; and, given that you're using a Mac, assuming also (see Tip 4 below) that you're recording into QuickTime...
I don't know what is your Mac OS (Snow Leopard, Mountain Lion, Lion, Yosemite, El Capitan, Sierra), but if it's any of the ones on that list, chances are you're recording into the version of Quicktime that's bundled with the OS, located in your Applications folder.
In that case, once you're done recording using that version of QuickTime, open your video with the QuickTime 7 app in your
Utilities folder (if you can't find one there, download it for free from:
https://support.apple.com/kb/DL923?locale=en_US
To find out which version you're using click on 'About QuickTime' under "QuickTime Player" in the QuickTime menu bar.
Once you've opened the file in QT7, use cmd+J
(⌘+J) to open 'Movie Properties' (or from the menu bar: Windows>Properties). You should see something like this:
Click on 'Audio Settings' and one of the options will be for volume (you also have balance, treble & bass). Move the volume slider to the right, close the Properties window and save.
So that's tip 1: Open your video in QT7,
⌘+J, Audio Settings, Volume.
Tip 2:
While you've still got your video open in QT Player (QT10), go File>Export>Audio> to create a .m4a audio-only copy of your performance.
Open Quicktime 7 & use cmd+O (
⌘+O) to open the exported audio (don't double-click on the file: chances are it will then open in iTunes).
Also also open your video recording in the same manner.
With the audio file open in QT7:
⌘+A 'Select All';
⌘+C 'Copy'
Switch to the video file also open in QT7, and paste in the copied audio:
⌘+A 'Select All';
⇧+⌥+⌘+V (Shift+Option+Cmd+V); "Add To Selection & Scale"
Open the Properties Window,
⌘+J, & go to Audio Settings once more. You will now see 1 video track and two sound tracks. Sound track 2 will be the one you just pasted in. So now you've already got double the volume, without actually having to perform any amplification. Make any further audio adjustments as before.
So that's tip 2: Export audio-only from QT10. Open your video and the audio-only file in QT7; copy and paste the audio into your video (repeat if necessary).
Tip 3.
The ability to export audio from QT10 and then re-import it into your video using QT7, gives you the opportunity to use 3rd-party audio-editing software & make your adjustments there.
For preference, I use Audacity (a free download:
www.audacityteam.org/download/mac/. I've never got on with Garageband or Pro Tools. Programs such as these all start from the premise that you want to use them for recording an actual band; and so make you start by specifying and defining drum and instrument tracks, before you can even begin to think about importing your audio.
Audacity starts with a very barebones screen, and demands a lot less CPU than GB or PT which means it opens a lot quicker and also means processing is much quicker also.
So, open Audacity>File>Import. Then, Effects>Amplify (you might want to look at Effects>Equalizer also)
Audacity>File>Export. A dialog box will appear inviting you to add 'meta-tags' to your audio. Just click through it: you don't need them (you'd only want them if you were exporting something you wanted to listen to in iTunes).
Open that file in QT7 and select 'all', copy and paste as before.
Tip 4.
Some people may suggest using iMovie, both for recording and editing. The main drawback to iMovie is again the amount of CPU it requires, meaning: it's very slow to load; there's a danger that the frames and/or audio will be dropped as the computer tries to keep up as the recording is proceeding; exporting back into a format that YT will accept will take a very long time (maybe as much as an hour for a 5 minute video).
Do understand I'm not knocking the program (iMovie). I use it myself to edit stuff I've recorded on my video camera. It's just that your computer really needs to have the processing speed to make effective use of it. So for the sort of stuff we're throwing up onto YT for our Seasons' entries, QT is the cry you will always hear from me.
HTH!