Sound is corrupted and shaky in iMovie project

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Level 1

14 points

Sound is corrupted and shaky in iMovie project

Dear All.

I have a problem with the sound from my iMovie project which appears to have become corrupted.

The sound has become shaky as if being played through an AM radio with a bad signal. All the sound components are still there - the original soundtrack on the DV footage, the added effects and music are all intact, but have become corrupted in some way.

When I select the optional tracks in playback in iMovie - the corruption appears to have affected all 3 tracks. i.e. the video footage + the 2 soundtracks.

Has anyone had this happen to them and found a solution? Or has anyone got any ideas what may have happened to the original quality which was perfect until yesterday.

I have edited many iMovie projects over the past 3 years and never had this issue before and am hoping there is a better fix than having to start from scratch!

Thanks Norman

MacBook Pro, iMac G5, Mac Mini Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Jul 6, 2007 4:30 AM

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Answer 1

SDIllini

Level 6

16,675 points

Jul 6, 2007 6:15 AM in response to NormanUK

Hi Norman:

Hpw much free space do you have on Mac?

What was the audio source of the soundtrack? iTunes?

Sue

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Answer 2

Jul 6, 2007 9:53 AM in response to NormanUK

Karl's pointed out that if you have a lot of separate audio clips in a movie (..there seems to be no specific number as far as I remember, but let's say 90..) then the audio will stutter.

A useful remedy would be to finish editing a particular sequence, then Export that sequence with all its audio clips as a new 'Full Quality' movie, and then re-import that, with all the audio baked into one sequence.

But maybe that's not your problem ..as Sue asks; more details, please..

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Answer 3

NormanUK Author

Level 1

14 points

Jul 6, 2007 11:52 AM in response to SDIllini

Hi Sue,

Yes much of the source music and effects are stored in iTunes and imported into the timeline.
The interesting thing is that the movie had no problems until yesterday when I noticed a scratchy soundtrack whilst reviewing some edits. I turned off each track to try and isolate if the problem was with the music, sound effects or original DV footage but it seems to be over the whole mix randomly.

I will try exporting at full quality and re-importing the current edit and see if that solves the problem.

The movie is currently about 45 minutes long - but I have edited many times before on iMovie with films up to 1 1/2 hours and never noticed a reduction in sound quality which is why this particular problem is puzzling me.

I will report back after the movie is re-imported.

Norman

MacBook Pro, iMac G5, Mac Mini Mac OS X (10.4.10)

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Answer 4

Jul 6, 2007 11:56 AM in response to NormanUK

Norman, here's the topic David mentioned. It contains a description of how to test your project for the audio stutter caused by having "too many" audio clips. Note too audio problems can also occur after adding songs from iTunes, also discussed briefly.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2597033#2597033

Karl

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Answer 5

NormanUK Author

Level 1

14 points

Jul 6, 2007 11:58 AM in response to SDIllini

Hi Sue,

Missed answering your other question about space - the iMovie project is stored on an external drive with at least 70Gb still free on it.

I am editing on a MacBook Pro 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo with 4Gb of SDRam - so I think that I have the space and memory to cope with the edit. However ever doubtful of my own knowledge - I copied the whole project over to my iMac G5 which somehow made the edit sound even worse. (not enough Ram probably)

Now going to export and re-import to see if it solves the problem.

Norman

MacBook Pro, iMac G5, Mac Mini Mac OS X (10.4.10)

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Answer 6

NormanUK Author

Level 1

14 points

Jul 6, 2007 12:01 PM in response to Karl Petersen

Thanks Karl,

I will check this out first and report back after reviewing my project again.

As ever thanks for your help,

Norman

MacBook Pro, iMac G5, Mac Mini Mac OS X (10.4.10)

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Answer 7

NormanUK Author

Level 1

14 points

Jul 6, 2007 3:47 PM in response to Karl Petersen

Hi Karl,

The link that you sent for solutions to the corrupted sound that I had was fantastic thank you.
Extremely thorough and very clear instructions thanks.

I have now exported the whole project and created a new version to which I will add the new clips and audio - without bad sound.

It seems from reading the various posts that there is some discussion whether these problems are related to too many audio clips or too many transitions - I probably qualify for both in this current project.

I will now be counting my audio clips and being careful with my transitons - or maybe I should persevere with Final Cut Express which has barely been out of the box since I got it a couple of months ago FEAR!!

Thanks Karl for your help with this problem.

Norman

MacBook Pro, iMac G5, Mac Mini Mac OS X (10.4.10)

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