Loading ...Recording narration in Keynote ‘08 - WORKAROUND!
I use Keynote ‘08 for my professional presentations, I also use it for client work such as training and technical presentations. I am super-excited about the new features in Apple’s Keynote ‘08 update. Unfortunately, if you have decent audio recording equipment it seems Apple didn’t do a good job at testing this with the “Slideshow Recording” feature.
Problem: Keynote ‘08 is not able to use some Firewire audio interfaces as the audio input source. If you try, you get this error message (Grammar Girl, where are you?):
The Apple Discussion board has been tracking this bug since Paul Figgiani reported it on Aug 10 2007. I respect Paul and like his work so I was extra-motived to find a solution. Someone posted a workaround that involved basically dumping the “Line out” of your interface into the “Line In” on your computer. Yes that works, but it feels dirty. Here’s a better way!
You will need:
- Audio Hijack Pro from Rogue Amoeba software ($32 if you don’t already have it. I’m a podcaster so I already had this.)
- SoundFlower from Cycling ‘74 (Free. Thanks, Cycling ‘74!)
- Inside Audio Hijack Pro:
- Add a new “session”. I called mine “Keynote workaround device”
- Set the “source type” to be “Audio Device”
- Set the “Input Device” to be your audio interface (e.g. “Alesis 1394″)
- Set the “Output Device” to be “SoundFlower (2ch)”
- Click the “Advanced Button…”
- Inside the “Advanced Device Options” dialog (See Figure 3):
- Set the Input Device Left Channel to be 1 (assuming you have your mic plugged into mixer channel #1)
- Set the Input Device Right Channel to be 1 (this assumes you only need to record your own voice into the Keynote slides)
- Set the Output Device Left Channel to be 1
- Set the Output Device Right Channel to be 2
- Close this dialog
- Your settings should now look like Figure 4.
- Hijack this Audio device (click the “Hijack” button)
- Add a new “session”. I called mine “Keynote workaround device”
- From the Mac “Sound Preferences” control panel, set the default audio interface to be the “SoundFlower (2ch)” device. See Figure 3.
- Now go back to Keynote ‘08 and record your slide voice over
- Ta Da!
How does this work?
My guess is that Keynote ‘08 doesn’t know how to deal with an audio device that has more than 2 channels. Through this workaround, I’m using Audio Hijack Pro to route the mixer input #1 into both sides of the Left-Right signal path of the SoundFlower(2ch) pseudo audio device. By setting SoundFlower (2ch) as the default system audio input device, Keynote ‘08 is tricked into using the fancy audio interface.
The best part of this workaround is that you’re getting the best possible sound directly from your audio interface. You’re keeping your audio signal in its digital form all the way into the Keynote and using your expensive interface to do the A/D conversion instead of the Mac’s “Line In” port.
Posted: October 10th, 2007 under Macintosh, Podcasting, Technology.
Tagged: Apple • keynote • Macintosh • presentation • recording | Comments: 6
Comments
Comment from shadow
Time: November 2, 2007, 1:52 pm
Submitted this to the Podcast Academy website: http://podcastacademy.com/2007/08/07/apple-keynote-08-voiceover-recording/
Comment from titanacyle
Time: January 7, 2008, 6:56 am
Hi thanks for the useful tips on adding narration to Keynote using an audio device. I was wondering this is specific to firewire audio input devices? I have a USB microphone (Samson) and am disappointed that when I use it with Keynote the volume is barely audible even when I crank it up in the sysem prefs. Would the Rogue Amoeba software resolve this issue, following your protocol? It seems a pity to have a decent microphone (its not that expensive but it is $50) and not be able to use it for this feature. Any advice you have would be appreciated. Thanks!
Comment from shadow
Time: January 7, 2008, 10:17 pm
Hi — I don’t have any experience with that microphone, but something you should try:
Before you launch Keynote, double-check the “input” device that is selected in the “Sound” System Preferences. Make sure that the audio level into it looks good. Then launch Keynote and see if that makes a difference.
The symptom you’re describing is exactly like what I noticed when I tried to use my mixer with iMovie ‘08. For some reason, the Sound System Preferences got switched to the laptop’s internal mic. The sound quality was exactly as you describe.
If that isn’t the problem, then I don’t know if Audio Hijack Pro will solve your issue. Thankfully, Audio Hijack Pro has a free trial version so it won’t cost you a thing to try it!
Hope that helps. Let me know how you work out.
Comment from titanacycle
Time: January 8, 2008, 1:14 pm
Brilliant! I downloaded Audio Jack Pro and followed your instructions. The audio works perfectly now! Suddenly podcasting just got a lot easier for me. thanks for these excellent instructions that even a novice like myself can follow. All the best-LT
Comment from admin
Time: January 9, 2008, 10:37 pm
LT,
Thanks for the note. I’m glad that worked for you. AHP is a great little program…very versatile! I’m working on a larger how-to that describes how to make Skype interviews better than most podcasters are doing today. As far as I can tell, this technique hasn’t been written up before and it took me a while to perfect it. A sample of a Skype interview using this technique can be found on Security Hype episode #10 (http://www.securityhype.com/blog/archives/32 ).
Stay tuned!
bill
Comment from Brett Strader
Time: November 9, 2008, 6:47 pm
Thanks so much for the tip! I was having the exact same trouble, only with iMovie ‘08. This fixed it perfectly, and also introduced me to some features of Audio Hijack Pro that I had not ever explored (hijacking an interface, for example — what an easy way to do quick recording without launching and setting up the DAW).
Thanks a million!
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