Tuesday VO Tech Tip: MacOS “Mic Mode” Mishaps

After updating their Apple computers to the MacOS Sonoma operating system, quite a few voice actors encountered strange results in their audio. The resulting “raw” recordings sounded heavily processed, with strong muting of upper frequencies and aggressive noise removal whenever they stopped speaking. When using the Spectral view option in Izotope RX, it showed that heavy filtering was taking place. You can see that in the screenshot above, where there is no audio evident above about 11 kHz. Additionally, the “between word” spaces are excessively vacant, indicating some sort of noise reduction.

In all cases, the VO’s were recording “raw” audio into their software with no Effect processing turned on. Some had newer Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (which have an “Air” circuit that can add character to the input), Presonus Revelator io24, or UAD Apollo interfaces (which can add Plug-in processing to the input). But, the results were actually far worse than simply setting things wrong. As a quick diagnostic troubleshooting step, we swapped in different interfaces, changed to USB-direct-connected microphones, or simply tried to record using the computer’s internal microphone.

When the same results started cropping up no matter what recording hardware we used, it became apparent that this was a software issue. Figuring that out helped quite a bit. I quickly began to find reports of similar issues and potential fixes. Unexpected results are one of the main reasons I encourage other voice actors to always hold off updating their system. It’s much more efficient to let other’s find all the quirks and incompatibilities when complex operating systems are updated. In this case, a change to the MacOS System audio tools made things sound bad.

It turns out that Apple had taken a page from the Zoom “background noise reduction” playbook, and implemented a very aggressive tool to “clean up” audio coming into the computer. While something like this might be helpful for casual conversations or meetings, it is not appropriate for any type of quality audio we need for our work. This heavily processed mode is currently called “Voice Isolation” (as of Sonoma 14.3.x) and will negatively impact your recordings. If Voice Isolation is on when you are recording, you will end up having to redo your work.

According to the information which Apple has supplied, these options should be selectable any time you use the microphone. An orange “microphone” icon should appear in your Control Center, or at the top right edge of your Menu Bar. This allows you to select “Standard” Mic Mode or “Voice Isolation”. Confirm that “Standard” is selected.

Curiously, I encountered a condition where an Intel-based Macbook had been updated to Sonoma. In this instance the orange microphone icon was not reliably appearing anywhere, providing no way to turn it off. After a few restarts, the icon did finally show back up, and the voice actor quickly turned the setting back to “Standard”, which got things sounding usable again.

At this point, there does not seem to be any way to globally disable this behavior. Hopefully, as we move forward, Apple will provide greater control through the System Settings, including the ability to globally deactivate this option.

Earlier MacOS versions are available through Apple

Running an older version of the Apple operating system (MacOS)? It is possible to upgrade your Apple computer to MacOS versions other than the latest. All recent OS versions are still available in the Mac App store – for example, Ventura can be downloaded here.
As you’ve probably heard me mention, I tend to be careful regarding any upgrade to a studio production computer’s operating system. There’s nothing wrong with being a year behind on your in-studio computer. Although the Mac will nag you to upgrade to the newest/latest/greatest version, it will not force you to do so. (Unless you have automatic updates turned on, which I strongly recommend against on any studio computer).
If you are unsure what your OS your computer can use, this Apple resource page is a good place to start – or feel free to reach out and set up a session to assess and update your system.

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