Hey all - I’m the “tech manager” at our church, which has recently converted - To Apple from PC, I mean. Anyway, we’re having a production in a couple weeks that uses a bunch of audio clips which I’ve imported into the Music app on the Mac Studio which runs all the multimedia. I’ll have my hands full at the camera control board, so I need to make the audio drops as easy as possible.
Right now, there is no pause between clips; it immediately plays one after the other, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to be precise enough to stop every playback at exactly the correct moment, so I’d like to press play to start, and then have it end automatically. I have not been able to find a setting that stops the music at the end of the individual song. Any ideas? I haven’t found that answer on the Apple support page.
I had similar needs and was unable to find a way to do what you want with Apple Music (without making single song playlists or other silly workarounds).
I ended up using the free version of Go Button for this for awhile on my iPad. If you can get away connecting an iPhone or iPad this can be a solid solution:
Low tech solution: import a clip of “silence” (Googling “silent mp3” immediately turned up a number of download choices).
Then I’d make a playlist with your music cues in order, with the “silent” MP3 between them. That would give you lots of time to stop the silent "music’ and then you can re-start from the next music cue when it’s time.
Happens on Spotify too. There is a suggestion that 15 or so tracks on one of their playlists will stop other tracks being played — it doesn’t. @rdkeir’s suggestion is a good one it is what I do on Spotify by including duplicate copies of John Cage’s piano masterpiece 4’ 33" at the end of every playlist. Does not stop them playing some arbitrary track but the silence does mean I get to intervene before that happens.
I was going to suggest what @rdkeir did but this is pure genius.
On a more tech savvy tone, I think you could do play the individual files with Keyboard Maestro Remote, but not so sure if that would be workable while doing some other things.
Edit: After checking GoButton it seems to be the best solution.
Most of my playlists are of (classical) pieces that are played from beginning to end, for example the intended days for parts of J S Bach’s Christmas Oratorio or complete string quartets by Schubert, Haydn, Bartok, and others. Not the sort of works that are enhanced by having to intervene during the “performance”.
Either that or for walking around the local woods, canal, public rights of way while I (occasionally) listen to music on my iPhone; keyboard add-ons wouldn’t be relevant. If a playlist reaches its end before I return home then “John Cage” is the preferable and desired option.
Yeah, I thought of different low tech “solution” that similarly is just a work around. I’m fading the volume in and out of each clip with Audacity so the audio cuts aren’t so abrupt, and while I’m doing that, I’ll just add a few seconds of silence to the end of each clip. That will achieve the same effect you mention, but it still is just a work around.
I don’t know why there would be no way to set Music to stop playing at the end of a song – except, of course, that this is another case of Apple knowing what’s best for the user. “Why would anyone want music to just stop? We won’t include that function.” Ok, I know, that was pretty cynical, but not without precedent.
BTW, I realized later while helping out with a presentation for the school, what t-shirt I coincidentally was wearing today:
Anyway, we’re having a production in a couple weeks that uses a bunch of audio clips which I’ve imported into the Music app on the Mac Studio which runs all the multimedia. I’ll have my hands full at the camera control board, so I need to make the audio drops as easy as possible.