Vocals are faint on all music in my iTunes library

Question

Level 1

9 points

Vocals are faint on all music in my iTunes library

I've just updated iTunes on my Mac (OS is 10.6.8) and listen to music while I work everyday. So a couple days go by and now the vocals become faint again on all music in my iTunes library. This happens every so often to me, usually within a few days from an iTunes update (just updated to iTunes 11.1.5) ... All of a sudden my music plays the songs without the lead vocals as well as some lead instruments missing too. It's as if I'm listening thru a midi-board recording where certain audio-input channels are turned off. When this happens, I search these forums for answers and while there may be similar problems out there on Apple devices (ipods, ipads, etc), no conversations I've read seem to have any solid cause/solution to fix the problem. So like now, I get frustrated, just give up trying to figure out the cause/fix, and start listening to Spotify over the next several days. Days and several restarts later (non related to troubleshooting this problem), I proceed to open iTunes to listen to my music, and then everything plays back fine again. By the way, restarting iTunes AND restarting my Mac doesn't fix this problem.

So I'm looking for the cause and the solution to this issue please?

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Regards,

Jaime

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: Mac Pro

Model Identifier: MacPro5,1

Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon

Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz

Number Of Processors: 1

Total Number Of Cores: 4

L2 Cache (per core): 256 KB

L3 Cache: 8 MB

Memory: 12 GB

Processor Interconnect Speed: 4.8 GT/s

Boot ROM Version: MP51.007F.B03

SMC Version (system): 1.39f11

SMC Version (processor tray): 1.39f11

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), iTunes 11.1.5

Posted on Mar 6, 2014 1:51 PM

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Answer 1

jmgraffix Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 10, 2014 11:22 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1

Thanks Roger Wilmut1 and C F McBlob for the help once again!!

For this reoccuring problem, I've always used headphones (daily at the office) with an audio extention wire plugged in to the back of the MAC. Since both of your recent suggestions, I then unplugged the headphones from my audio extention wire and plugged my external speakers into the extention. At that point, all audio (music and movies) play correctly through the external speakers (one left and right speaker, plus a subwoofer). Afterwards, I proceed to plug my headphones back in to the extention and still, the sound is missing lead vocals and voices in movies, etc. again.

So then, with my headphones still on, I open up the AudioMIDI Setup app. C F McBlob, the defaults you mentioned were set as you said. While I was in there, I just did the sound test under "configure speakers" (see screen capture)... and then I go to playback my music and videos. As a result, the full audio of all my music and movies has seemed to correct itself. So Roger Wilmut1, the sound test may have helped the system audio to recognize the stereo's two channel outputs again.

So, my problem is solved!! ...but I didn't really change a setting. It seems the problem fixed itself with the combined efforts of the sound test (in the AudioMIDI Setup app) as it re-registered the audio outputs AND by unplugging/reconnecting both the headphones and external speakers.

I hope this thread helps many others with this same problem!!

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Answer 2

jmgraffix Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 10, 2014 8:57 AM in response to C F McBlob

Thanks C F McBlob for the suggestions. I tried both of them and unfortunately these tips still don't correct it. :-(

Also, something I've noticed beyond iTunes, when I playback movies (.m4v format) in Quicktime, iTunes or VLC players, the main voices in the movies are faint or not heard either (like the music), while the soundtracks and sound effects are audible. perhaps this is an OS issue (OS X v10.6.8).

Is there any way to get "advanced system settings" for the audio on my MAC? It seems like there should be an equalizer setting that needs adjusting, however, there isn't an option in System Preferences.

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Answer 3

C F McBlob

Level 4

2,885 points

Mar 10, 2014 9:17 AM in response to jmgraffix

Applications/Utilities>AudioMIDI Setup

Using AudioMIDI Setup, have a look at your Output settings

They should be 44.1kHz, or in some cases, 48kHz Format and 2ch-24bit Integer, or in some cases, 16bit Integer, but 44.1kHz 24bit Integer is the default.

It sounds like you may be running 5.1ch output.

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Answer 4

Mar 10, 2014 9:30 AM in response to jmgraffix

Are you using external speakers plugged into the headphone jack? If so, does the error correct itself when you unplug them?

The effect you describe is symptomatic of a stereo signal which has had the two channels paralled to produce a mono signal, but one of the channels is in the wrong polarity (out of phase). This causes cancellation of any audio which is the same in both channels, i.e. central.

It's difficult to see how this can happen within the Mac unless some very peculiar bug has occurred: there is no setting to reverse the phase. Possibly there might be a problem with the headphone jack, but again it seems unlikely.

If you are using external speakers, and the effect disappears when you unplug them, try a pair of stereo headphones instead. If they are OK then you know it's the speaker wiring.

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Answer 5

C F McBlob

Level 4

2,885 points

Mar 6, 2014 5:22 PM in response to jmgraffix

Two places to check:

1. iTunes preferences:

2. Select ALL songs in your Library and Get Info, then under Options:

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