Static/distortion on recording in Yosemite

[cmac185]

Gale,

The first step I would omit is #8 (change buffer to 15). I would still doubt refreshing/tweaking an already low buffer setting would make any difference.

I don't think the buffer size itself made any difference. My thought, why I did it, was thinking just maybe the change in size caused some reinitialization either in Audacity or the system to setup the new buffer size. Will try the exact same setup without the change and see what happens. At least I got one good day of recording so it appears it is possible. Now to make it reliable.

Cliff

[Scott549]

I am getting this same terrible problem since upgrading to Audacity 2.1.0. I am using a 2009 iMac. I am getting the popping/static sound just like the sound posted by the original poster. This happened on 2 of the last three podcasts I recorded, and it started happening at about 30 minutes in. No indication that this is happening during recording but on playback the pops are there.

Tonight the ultimate disaster happened. Three of us recorded for a little over an hour. When I did the save command and named the file, Audacity "unexpectedly quit" -- there was a "recover file" command, which resulted in chopped up segments that are unusable. Some of those segments had the popping sound. So it was popping leading up to a total crash and hour-long recording lost.

I obviously need to figure out a solution. Could it be that the new Audacity version is taxing the capacity of the old computer? Do I need a new Mac? How about using an older version of Audacity? Is that an option?

[Gale Andrews]

I am getting this same terrible problem since upgrading to Audacity 2.1.0. I am using a 2009 iMac. I am getting the popping/static sound just like the sound posted by the original poster. This happened on 2 of the last three podcasts I recorded, and it started happening at about 30 minutes in. No indication that this is happening during recording but on playback the pops are there.

What version of OS X, please?

Make sure Transport > Software Playthrough is not ticked (not checked) then reduce "Audio to buffer" in Audacity's Recording Preferences to 0 (zero). Increase Audio to buffer in increments of 10 milliseconds until you can record without obvious dropouts.

See if that fixes the crackling. If if does not, please attach a sample: How to post an audio sample. Also post the information from Help > Audio Device Info... top right of the Audacity menu so we can see what recording device you are using.

Tonight the ultimate disaster happened. Three of us recorded for a little over an hour. When I did the save command and named the file, Audacity "unexpectedly quit" -- there was a "recover file" command, which resulted in chopped up segments that are unusable. Some of those segments had the popping sound. So it was popping leading up to a total crash and hour-long recording lost.

The popping does not lead to crashes for others so may not be related to the crash.

Leave Audacity running and attach the information from Help > Show Log... . That may help us know why the recovery is incorrect.

Do not close or quit Audacity with the audio incorrectly recovered. If you need to shut down or restart the computer, please force quit Audacity in Activity Monitor which will preserve the unsaved changes.

Then open Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder and type:

Code: Select all

~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/ 

Please attach the Mac crash report for Audacity which should be in that folder. Please see here for how to attach files: http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 49&t=64936.

Note that if you are on OS X 10.10 you want to open /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/ instead, and if you are on OS X 10.4 or 10.5 you want to open ~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/.

Going back to an older version of Audacity may or may not help with the crackling. It is not fully obvious from the reports we have which version you should go back to, but you could try 2.0.3. Note that versions before 2.1.0 do not properly support Yosemite - Audio Unit effects definitely won't work in Yosemite unless you have 2.1.0.


Gale

[Scott549]

I am using Yosemite 10.10.3, which I believe is the latest version.

I got this from the log but I do not know when it was generated.

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17:09:01: Audacity 2.1.0
17:09:01: Trying to load FFmpeg libraries...
17:09:01: Trying to load FFmpeg libraries from default path, '/Library/Application Support/audacity/libs/libavformat.55.dylib'.
17:09:01: Checking for monolithic avformat from '/Library/Application Support/audacity/libs/libavformat.55.dylib'.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(/Library/Application Support/audacity/libs/libavformat.55.dylib, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Loading avutil from ''.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(.bundle, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Loading avcodec from ''.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(.bundle, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Loading avformat from '/Library/Application Support/audacity/libs/libavformat.55.dylib'.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(/Library/Application Support/audacity/libs/libavformat.55.dylib, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Error: Failed to load FFmpeg libraries.
17:09:01: Trying to load FFmpeg libraries from legacy path, '/usr/local/lib/audacity/libavformat.55.dylib'.
17:09:01: Checking for monolithic avformat from '/usr/local/lib/audacity/libavformat.55.dylib'.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(/usr/local/lib/audacity/libavformat.55.dylib, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Loading avutil from ''.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(.bundle, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Loading avcodec from ''.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(.bundle, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Loading avformat from '/usr/local/lib/audacity/libavformat.55.dylib'.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(/usr/local/lib/audacity/libavformat.55.dylib, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Error: Failed to load FFmpeg libraries.
17:09:01: Trying to load FFmpeg libraries from system paths. File name is 'libavformat.55.dylib'.
17:09:01: Checking for monolithic avformat from 'libavformat.55.dylib'.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(libavformat.55.dylib, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Loading avutil from ''.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(.bundle, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Loading avcodec from ''.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(.bundle, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Loading avformat from 'libavformat.55.dylib'.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(libavformat.55.dylib, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Error: Failed to load FFmpeg libraries.
17:09:01: Error: Failed to find compatible FFmpeg libraries.

Recent crash report and crash report from two weeks earlier attached.

I will try the other things you suggested and post an update.

The popping I have been getting, only after about 30 minute of recording, sounds just like the clip attached to the original post. I am recording now and will see whether I can duplicate that and/or error messages.

[Scott549]

I have been getting this in log reports -- don't know whether or not it is related. See attached.

[Scott549]

OK, I recorded for an hour. When I saved the file, it did not crash, but the popping sound started at about 39 minutes and continued until the end of the recording. The attached file is at around the one-hour mark.

[Gale Andrews]

OK, I recorded for an hour. When I saved the file, it did not crash, but the popping sound started at about 39 minutes and continued until the end of the recording. The attached file is at around the one-hour mark.

Thanks. Please try setting Audio to buffer to zero, then upwards in 10 ms increments until recording can be made.


Gale

[Gale Andrews]

I have been getting this in log reports -- don't know whether or not it is related. See attached.

Those could be relevant, if the times of the events coincide with when issues occur in your recording - do they?

Clearly you should not be doing TimeMachine backups when you record (if you are doing that) - that's asking for trouble.

The error "Attempt to use XPC with a MachService that has HideUntilCheckIn set. This will result in unpredictable behavior: com.apple.backupd.status.xpc" seems to a common message associated with TimeMachine but there is no good answer to it that I found in the Apple Forums. Please search yourself if you wish.

The "GoogleSoftwareUpdateDaemon" (KeystoneDaemon) installed by Chrome could be relevant if it's calling home frequently or buggy. You can try disarming it or removing it: http://applehelpwriter.com/2014/07/13/h ... -your-mac/. Or you could try disconnecting the internet/shutting off Wi-Fi when you record.


Gale

[Gale Andrews]

I am using Yosemite 10.10.3, which I believe is the latest version.

I got this from the log but I do not know when it was generated.

Code: Select all

17:09:01: Audacity 2.1.0
17:09:01: Trying to load FFmpeg libraries...
17:09:01: Trying to load FFmpeg libraries from default path, '/Library/Application Support/audacity/libs/libavformat.55.dylib'.
17:09:01: Checking for monolithic avformat from '/Library/Application Support/audacity/libs/libavformat.55.dylib'.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(/Library/Application Support/audacity/libs/libavformat.55.dylib, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Loading avutil from ''.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(.bundle, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Loading avcodec from ''.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(.bundle, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Loading avformat from '/Library/Application Support/audacity/libs/libavformat.55.dylib'.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(/Library/Application Support/audacity/libs/libavformat.55.dylib, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Error: Failed to load FFmpeg libraries.
17:09:01: Trying to load FFmpeg libraries from legacy path, '/usr/local/lib/audacity/libavformat.55.dylib'.
17:09:01: Checking for monolithic avformat from '/usr/local/lib/audacity/libavformat.55.dylib'.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(/usr/local/lib/audacity/libavformat.55.dylib, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Loading avutil from ''.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(.bundle, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Loading avcodec from ''.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(.bundle, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Loading avformat from '/usr/local/lib/audacity/libavformat.55.dylib'.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(/usr/local/lib/audacity/libavformat.55.dylib, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Error: Failed to load FFmpeg libraries.
17:09:01: Trying to load FFmpeg libraries from system paths. File name is 'libavformat.55.dylib'.
17:09:01: Checking for monolithic avformat from 'libavformat.55.dylib'.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(libavformat.55.dylib, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Loading avutil from ''.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(.bundle, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Loading avcodec from ''.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(.bundle, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Loading avformat from 'libavformat.55.dylib'.
17:09:01: Error: dlopen(libavformat.55.dylib, 1): image not found
17:09:01: Error: Failed to load FFmpeg libraries.
17:09:01: Error: Failed to find compatible FFmpeg libraries.

Unfortunately that doesn't say anything about why the crashed project did not recover correctly.

You can always try recovering the recording by hand which involves time-sorting then renaming the AU files. See http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/re ... ually.html.

Recent crash report and crash report from two weeks earlier attached.

Thanks for those. Did you ever open Audacity > About Audacity... in the sessions that crashed?

Were you saving a project or exporting a file?

It would probably be an idea if you tried 2.0.3 for some recordings https://audacity.googlecode.com/files/a ... -2.0.3.zip. However given this is a recording and not a playback problem, it may not make any difference. Set the "Audio to buffer" back to 100 ms when using that version.


Gale

[Scott549]

Latest test: I found a download of Audacity version 2.0.5. I recorded over 2 1/2 hours of audio. I saved the file, no problems. Checked the audio and there is no clicking at all on the recording. Sounds fine.