How can I get a balanced stereo signal from an external mic in Keynote?

Tech Support
1

I’m trying to record a voiceover - with an external Samson CO1U - USB Studio Condenser mic - to a Keynote presentation on my MacBookPro MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014) before exporting it a video file. The problem is, that the audio is confined to the left channel.

I have tried altering the balance using Audio MIDI Set-up but that doesn’t work. I need to use the external mic to get a better sound quality than using the MacBook’s internal mic.

Is there a way to get a balanced stereo (or split mono) signal from an external mic?

2

You could use something like Audio Hijack to record directly to mono, or mix down the file in something like Audicity.

1 Like
3

Microphones generally are mono, and only produce a single channel of audio. You should be able to pull it into GarageBand (or any other DAW) and export a file from there. Just balance the microphone track dead center in the stereo mix first.

4

Thanks chaps. The recording has to be in Keynote because it’s a voiceover and timed to slide changes and animations. How can I take the audio track out of Keynote, then edit in say Audacity and THEN add it back to the Keynote file?

5

The problem seems to have arisen in the past with a different USB input devices.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6691987

I just checked my USB input headset and it has no control for L/R inputs. I use Camtasia and have no problems with it. Camtasia automatically merges and rebalances the L with the R.

Here is an old thread on how to find the audio track from a Keynote presentation.

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JJW

6

Many thanks. I’ll give that a go.