SingSnap Original by Recording-Support

Getting setup on your MAC!!!

START HERE!!!
MAC 101

http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/work/

Navigate to Garageband
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2510

http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/garageband-hero

How to set up using a Mac BASICS.
http://www.singsnap.com/snap/r/c81153db2

Mac users should make sure that the appropriate audio input and outputs are selected.

In Mac OS X, for example, the Sound system preference may give you a choice between a built-in audio controller and or iMic USB audio system (assuming you have an iMic plugged in!). Similarly, in Classic Mac OS versions, go to the Sound control panel, and go to the Input tab, and make sure the proper input device (such as the iMic) is selected-- for the iMic, choose Line In... USB Audio , or External Mic: USB Audio. Activate the Check Signal Level box, and send a signal in from your audio device, testing that the signal level is showing up. Adjust the levels as required to get a signal of reasonable strength, that is close to the top of the green, flickering into the red. This makes sure that the levels of the sound coming into the computer are neither too low nor too loud, but just right.

If using headphones (recommended) you need to loop

run Applications -> Utilities -> Audio MIDI setup.app

Check out the Audio Settings for the USB Headphone Set. or the plug and hear type headphones. These look different depending on the device, but you may find that the "MIC input" is not routed back out the headphones, you can enable this in the control panel. You should be able to hear yourself in the headphones

Sound Preference

Sound Control Panel

Basics to Look for
On the computer, you'll see several 1/8" Mini connectors, either on the sound card on the back of the computer, or on the body of the case... most times, you'll have a cord going from one connector to your computer's speakers, but it's not always clear which one to use. You may have four (or more) plugs:

* speaker out: for plugging in speakers, using a relatively low-powered audio-amplifier on the sound card. This is also used for "PLUGGING IN THE HEADPHONES"
* line out: for connecting to an external stereo system or to speakers with their own amplifier. (On higher-end sound cards, you may have two outputs-- for front and rear pairs of speakers).
* mike in (aka mic-in): this is for plugging a microphone into the computer; it expects a higher-level signal than the line in circuit. It can be used in a pinch, but you may have to adjust levels when recording.
* line in: this is for sending an audio signal into the computer from audio-gear: home stereo, mixing board, etc.

These plugs may be identified with icons: a picture of speakers, a picture of a microphone, and maybe an image with an arrow pointing in, and one pointing out... these could refer to Line In and Line Out. For better or worse, it may take some experimentation to find the right place to plug the cable into your computer.(if using an external mixer)

The sound-quality of your recordings is limited by the quality of your computer's sound card. This can be a relatively faint component, especially if built-into the motherboard of desktop PCs or notebooks. An alternative is a USB sound device, which can provide a cleaner, better quality way to get sound into the computer.

Ready to Record (Mac) Most have Garageband or you can select another program of your preference, to run along side garageband, such as Soundflower, Audacity, Hijack, or SimpleSound.

SimpleSound is usable, if no-frills. When it opens, you'll see a list of System Alert Sounds-- go to the Sound menu to select CD Quality, then the File/New menu to record a new sound. Click the Record button, and away you go!

Sound Recorder

There's no equivalent to Simple Sound built-into OS X. Better, though is the free Audio Recorder, a simple recording application.

Whether using OSX or the classic Mac OS, you may want a more sophisticated recording program. There are lots of options, many of which can be downloaded-- though in most cases, users will need to buy a product code to continue to use a program after a trial period. On the Internet, you may want to go to someplace like Download.com and search for recording.

Well worth checking out: "Audacity", a very capable and free recording program, available in versions for Windows, Mac (both classic and OS X) and Linux.Unix. Development of the classic Mac version has stopped with the 1.0 version release; however,OS X development is continuing.

The current versions for Audacity now have VU meters, making this a very usable-- and free program. Check it out!

Among other programs worth checking out are: (Garageband may already be installed, and works well with these programs. depending on your likeness and preference.)

* Peak LE is the lite version

* Coaster is a free recorder with a good set of options.

* Amadeus II runs under both Mac OS 8.6 and up or natively under OS X;

* SoundSampler has both classic Mac (OS 8.5+) and OS X versions... lots of power but a somewhat geeky interface.

* Analogue Ripper

Griffin Technology, makers of the Mac-audio add-ons iMic and PowerWave has a free program:

Soundflower is a good program and free download

By now, you should be hooked up to your audio hardware, or have your onboard settings ready to record on SingSnap and have software up and running.

Make sure you run the Singsnap wizard to capture your soundcard if using the internal mic, (see diagram above for the settings) they should look something like this, depending on your setup.

Input and output settings are crucial

Input based on your setup internal and external

Output based on your setup internal or external

Some preferences to look at
When you get ready to record, you may be asked what quality to make your recording... if you aren't asked about this, check your software's Preferences or settings to make sure they're what you want. Here's the Sound Quality dialogue for Sound Studio:

These choices-- a 44.100 kHz sample rate, 16-bit sample size, stereo, will provide CD-quality recordings. Figure on needing about 1 MB of drive space for each minute recorded.

About signal levels

The trick with recording (not just in the case, but in all sorts of recordings) is to get as hot a signal as possible that isn't too powerful. If your signal is too low, the quiet portions of the music can get lost in the ever-present background hiss and noise. So you want to boost your music signal as much as possible, relative to the background sound. However, if the signal is too high, the loud portions will over-drive the recording circuitry, causing audible distortion and clipping. Most recording software (and hardware) will include meters, (known in the trade as VU Meters). Typically, the top portion will be coloured red. While playing or recording, you're best off if the signal is high, going into the red momentarily. If it is in the red for extended periods, you're probably getting a distorted signal. If it's never in the red, you're probably too quiet.

You may be able to adjust the level with a Gain or Level control (as in the Mac Sound control panel or the Windows speaker controls), or with a volume control on your mixer,ect. (Depending how you're hooked up, your volume controls may or may not affect the strength of the signal being sent from your audio equipment to your computer). If you can't control the levels at this stage, you're better off with a lower-strength signal; you can boost a quiet sound later, but if you've recorded a distorted signal, there's nothing you can do later to get rid of the distortion. However, if your signal is too low, you'll get a lot of background noise, and boosting the signal will also boost this noise, sometimes making the music unable to hear.

(Note: the Mac sound Control Panel has both a level control and a meter so you can see the effect of changing the level. This is a very good thing).

Check your levels

Do a test-run, recording something, just to make sure everything is connected properly and your levels are at reasonable. 20 seconds or so of music ought to do it (unless your music has very quiet and very loud portions, in which case, you should check some of each)... Stop and play it back on your computer. Hopefully, it worked and sounds good... if not, keep fiddling with the level controls, both on your audio gear and on your computer until you find that happy medium.

With A Mixer!!

Audio Hijack Pro
http://www.rogueamoeba.com/audiohijackpro/
this is your virtual mixing board

Soundflower
http://www.cycling74.com/products/soundflower
This app acts like an audio device in your mac. So you can send audio to it from one application and tell another application to receive audio from it.

1) Install the apps.

2) Start Audio Hijack Pro and click in the lower left corner, the plus sign, to make a new session.

3) In the input tab, choose Audio Device for source.

4) For input, select the microphone you will be using (Built in Microphone: Internal Microphone or some other usb mic) For output, keep "Default System Output" selected.

5) Click the effects tab. Right-click, choose 4FX Effect, Application Mixer.

6) For the application, select your browser, I am using Firefox. Close the window, you can make adjustments later by clicking "editor" on the application mixer with the knobs.

7) Now, right click next to your application mixer and choose, 4FX Effects, Auxiliary Device Output.

8) Set your device as Soundflower 2ch.

9) Open the editor in the application mixer and click the hijack button.

11) Run the singsnap wizard again. When you get to the point of choosing your mic, choose Soundflower 2ch.

12) When you record you must click the "hijack" button on the main audio hijack window

13) optional... To add an effect like reverb, right click on the effects board and select 4X Effect, Reverb. This needs to be slotted just before the Auxilliary Device Output

Steps 5,6 and 9 simulate the old "stereo mix" but...

If you plan on using the new singsnap mixer you can skip steps 5, 6, and 9 above

If you are using the free version of audio hijack pro you will hear some noise after the hijack button has been pressed for 10 minutes. Bypass this by unclicking and clicking hijack again.

added info for flash
FYI... When a flash player is being downloaded, the local folders have to be deleted, so the flashplayer with mac recognizes the new settings, it is a plugin issue with the browser. So delete the local folder for flashplayer

here is a link to apple support about deleting this folder or any other folder to be deleted

http://support.apple.com/kb/TA22302

for Mac make sure you fix permissions first. Then in your home folder delete the Flash Player folder that is inside both Library/Caches/Adobe and Library/Preferences/Macromedia.

For some reason Flash Player is unable to properly write data to those folders even after an uninstall and reinstall. This is probably due to corruption of the folders. Again delete folders.

Should you need further assistance please do not hesitate to contact the Recording Support Team, just click on the link below to submit a help ticket.

Submit a Help Ticket with the Recording Support Team