Audio

The Audio tab of Present's settings decides where the sound from videos and audio clips plays, which device the headphone (cue) buttons use, and the audio feed's sample rate. Each output can also carry its own sound, which you set on its row in Outputs.

Where to find it

Open Present, click Settings in the top bar, then Audio (the speaker icon, under Output). It works in the web app and in Tech Manager.

Choose the speakers for video sound

1. In Present, click Settings, then Audio.
2. Under Sound from videos, open Speakers.
3. Pick the device that feeds the house sound (for example the sound desk's interface), or System default.

This is the default for every output. Any single output can override it on the Outputs tab, which is how a live stream feed carries its own sound while the room keeps the house speakers.

Give one output its own sound (lobby, overflow, live stream)

1. In Present, click Settings, then Outputs, and open the output's row.
2. Under What it shows, click the Audio icon (the music note) so it is lit.
3. Under Sound, choose what it plays: Audience media (the sound of what is on Audience) or a live input such as the room mix (listed as "Live input:" and the device name).
4. Drag Level to make it quieter. 0 dB is untouched; it can quieten, not boost.
5. To pick the sound card or add a lip-sync delay, turn on Show advanced settings at the top of Outputs. The row then shows the sound card (Default device, System default, or a named device) and Delay in milliseconds.

An NDI output carries its sound inside the NDI stream ("Carried in the NDI stream."), so it never plays into the room. A web link carries no sound. A new stage screen starts silent, so the band's monitor never plays a clip unless you ask it to.

Listen on headphones without the room hearing

1. In Present, click Settings, then Audio.
2. Under Cue (headphones), set Cue device to your headphones or a booth monitor.
3. Close settings. Click the headphone button on a track in the inspector's Audio tab, or on a video in the media inspector's preview. Only the cue device plays it; the Audience never hears it.
4. Click the headphone button again to stop.

System default is not offered for the cue device, because on most booths that is the room's speakers. None (the headphone buttons stay off) turns the buttons off. The cue device is remembered on this computer only.

Change the audio feed sample rate

1. Stop every video and audio track.
2. In Present, click Settings, then Audio.
3. Click Advanced.
4. Set Audio feed sample rate to 48 kHz (the default) or 44.1 kHz.

Sources and devices that do not match are resampled on their own side, so most churches never change this.

Check the sound before the service

1. In Present, click Settings, then Service check.
2. Click Run service check.
3. Under the Audio row, click Play test tone on the audio feed. The tone plays on the Speakers device.

Troubleshooting

"Another output already plays to that device, so this one stays muted."

Two outputs are set to play through the same sound card, and only one may, so the same clip is never heard twice. Turn on Show advanced settings and pick a different sound card for one of them, or turn its Audio icon off. The open row may also say "Muted here: another output already sends its sound to that device."

The device lists show no names

Browsers only show sound device names after a one-time permission. The web app may ask to use your microphone once; allow it, and Present stops using the microphone straight away. The service check says "No audio output devices are listed; device labels need a one-time permission grant." until then.

Video sound plays although no screen is on

This is on purpose. The Audience button's tooltip and the output's row say where it goes: "Sound is going to" the device, because the output that normally carries it is not showing. Only one device carries the sound, so nothing doubles.

"Choose a cue device in Settings > Audio first."

The headphone button needs a cue device. Set Cue device in Present > Settings > Audio.

"That is also the Audience's device, so the room would hear a solo."

The cue device is the same as Speakers. Choose headphones or a booth monitor instead.

The sample rate box is greyed out

"Stop every video and audio track to change the sample rate." Stop playback, then change it.

The stage monitors play the video's sound

Open the stage output's row in Outputs and click its Audio icon so it is struck through.

Good to know

• Speakers is a church setting. In a room, a note at the top says whether that room uses the church's audio output or its own; a change made in a room stays in that room.
• The headphone buttons, the cue device and the test tone work the same in the web app and in Tech Manager.
• Playing and stopping tracks is done in the inspector's Audio tab on the right of Present, not in settings.