Audio spikes in iMovie 10.4.3 on macOS Sequoia 15.2 when adding mp3 files

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Level 1

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Audio spikes in iMovie 10.4.3 on macOS Sequoia 15.2 when adding mp3 files

I've been creating some highlight videos for my daughters sports ball team.

The movie consists of multiple video clips anywhere from 4-20 seconds and I like to add some music to them.

Historically I could add a mp3 file without issue but I noticed on my new M4 mini that the when adding the audio to the project the first few seconds of the song will un-uniformly have a full spike to the sound level which really provides an unpleasant viewing experience.

The music files are my own mp3 files stored locally on my Mac. I drag and drop them into the project and this is the result. I've tried multiple songs and get the same results. I did not see this issue on my old M1 Mini.

You can see the spike in the screenshot below.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Mac mini, macOS 15.2

Posted on Jan 7, 2025 4:58 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Rich839

Level 8

48,156 points

Jan 10, 2025 8:36 AM in response to badfish866

Hi,

Not sure what is causing the audio spike, but you can try some diagnostics to see if you can cure the problem.

Try deleting preferences. To delete preferences open iMovie while holding down the Option and Command keys and select to delete preferences in the box that appears. iMovie will open in a new empty library. Reopen your old library to get back to your projects. (To reopen your old library close iMovie and go to your Movie folder or wherever you have your old iMovie library stored. Double click on the library’s icon. iMovie will open in that library.) Possibly you may need to reboot to set the changes. Deleting preferences is a safe procedure that

will not cause data loss or disruption to your project.

If still no luck, try copying your media into a newly created project and see if the audio works correctly there.

Failing that, as a workaround you can manually lower the volume in the spiked section of the audio clip. Hold down the r key while dragging your cursor over the spiked section. A yellow box outlining the desired section will be created as you drag. Within the yellow box, put your cursor on the horizontal volume adjustment line and pull downward to lower the volume.

-- Rich

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