iMovie 11 not saving audio edits

I'm also having this problem. I've gone through and fixed the audio at least ten times, but it never sticks. For me, it seems to only happen with the detached audio. Really frustrated and disappointed.

Features iMovie should have:

-a manual save button (for situations like this).

-a means to simultaneously equalize/adjust the audio of an entire project.

-copy/paste capabilities for all movie elements.

But seriously, does anyone have a solution?

This is SO amazing...that Apple would let this out the door with such an obvious problem...at least now I know that I don't have to slash my wrists - its not me after all...I'll have to deliver a less than optimized audio project though - NONE of my painstaking audio adjustments will stick. C'mon Apple...please do something to fix this program that seems to get worse with every release.

Wow, just Wow.

@ sailor, could you please list the audio adjustments that are not working for you in detach audio and exactly what you do when you apply them? The only two adjustments that appear to have this issue in detached audio or audio only from video clips are Equalize and Enhance for me. The workaround I found is to apply adjustments after editing/trimming/moving the detached audio, or after adding transitions. In other words, I see that by simply adding one transition to project after I have applied Equalize and/or Enhance, those settings are not retained for detach audio or audio only foreground tracks.

Don (if I may)...the adjustments that disappear are "reduce background noise" and the equalizer custom adjustments. My workflow at this point (main content, transitions, titles, bg music and voiceovers) are done and timed for the show. I began visiting each voiceover this morning, adjusting each track for the best reproduction. After completing this (18 clips), I made one final "Play" using full screen. When that was over, I notice that all of the equalizer and bg noise adjustments were gone...as if they had never been changed. After discovering this thread, I went back and re-did them all and immediately did a "Finalize Project", whatever that means. At this point I'm finishing up preparing the movie to hand off to iDVD...at first glance, it appears that MAYBE the changes held...not sure yet. I'm new to this forum and am not sure about what "detached audio" tracks are, but I assume they are audio streams that are NOT bg music....in any case, that's MY sad story 😐

cheers,

david

Dave,

Sorry to hear about your experience. To answer to your question: the only workaround in current shipping version of iMovie that I know of and that will allow you to retain EQ and Enhance (Noise Reduction) adjustments in foreground audio tracks (as in actual voiceover recordings, detached audio tracks, audio only from video clips in Events) is to trim/edit/move them BEFORE applying such audio adjustments. DO NOT SWAP Projects or Events Either Prior to Finalize your Project, NOR Playback in Full Screen.

If you finalized (rendered) your project BEFORE trim/edit/move your foreground tracks, you might have lost your audio adjustments. If you did finalize your project AFTER final application of Equalize and Enhance audio adjustments, then you will be OK to share/burn to iDVD. I just did this for a project of mine and it worked fine.

Good luck.

Wow, was I glad to see I'm not the only one. This was driving me absolutely insane! You hit the nail on the head for me with DO NOT PLAY BACK IN FULL SCREEN. I was doing that, and of course, lost my "Reduce Background Noise Setting" every time on my detached audio tracks. Never tied the two together.

Thanks for the tip, saved my butt on this Friday at 5--gotta go, my deadline is now!

This is outrageously annoying. Please fix it soon (or at least let us know you have registered the problem) as this was first raised over 6 months ago.

This is horrible and frustrating.

I figured out a workaround, though. It involves another piece of software, Audio Hijack Pro, which lets you record audio from any other running application.

You just adjust the clip the way you want it, then play it back (with other clips turned down) and use Audio Hijack Pro to record while you're playing back. Bring the file you just recorded back into iMovie and line it up where your previous one was. Now you have a file that sounds the way you want, but isn't dependent on iMovie adjustments which may or may not stick.

This isn't ideal, of course, but at least you know the changes you've made aren't going to disappear randomly.

The problem I'm having is when it comes to the volume on a voice over. I recorded the first voice over just fine. But when I tried to do another one, over any clip, it sounds as if it's muted. However, when I hover over the purple voiceover box, I can hear what I recorded in a fast forward mumble jumble. I can even hear it when click on the "click trimmer" option. It simply won't play on the clip that I'm trying to voice over. And yes, I've put the volume all the way up in the individual audio settings.. and clicked "done" every time. SOOOO FRUSTRATING. Can anyone help? I don't even care if the sound isn't perfect, I simply want to hear the voice over!

I see that this issue has persisted since November, 2010.

I continue to have the same issue. Audio edits are lost at the slightest shift of any audio or video tracks, and a replay in full screen. Edits, specifically, are the "remove background noise" feature. Afraid to begin applying EQ edits for fear of a time waste. "Ducking" feature saves just fine, it's primarily the noise feature that gives me issue.

I'm calling this broken and going with the assumption that Apple has us by the nuts and does not feel it has any incentive to fix software you've already paid for.

Ok... so here is the solution. (That is, until Apple fixes it the right way!) Not-so-quick-and-easy, unfortunately. Get your project ready for finalization...check timing, insert voiceovers/audio, insert photos, etc. When you are ready to finalize the project, make your audio adjustments. Then immediately send to iDVD or whatever. It should work.