v1.10.0 — Video → MP4 & GIF conversions

Right-click any video in Finder → Quick Actions → Beat Kitchen Audio Tools → More…:

• Convert to MP4 (H.264) — web/QuickTime-friendly H.264 + AAC with fast-start.
• Convert to GIF — animated GIF from a short clip with a two-pass color palette, a width picker (320 / 480 / 640 px / original), and a loop / play-once choice.

Silent videos (e.g. screen recordings) now reach the conversion menu instead of erroring at the loudness step. Existing audio tools (loudness analysis, MP3, Mono, Normalize) are unchanged.

Signed with Developer ID and notarized by Apple.

v1.9.2 — Cloud-placeholder materialization + clearer ffmpeg errors

Two fixes since v1.9.0.

v1.9.1 — silent install failure under user-home domain

Postinstall hook now correctly handles user-home installs. Previously failed silently if the user installed to ~/Applications instead of system /Applications.

v1.9.2 — cloud-placeholder materialization + clearer ffmpeg errors

Right-clicking a file that's an APFS dataless placeholder (iCloud Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox cloud-on-demand) hit ffmpeg with Resource deadlock avoided (EDEADLK). Services-launched bash scripts lack the TCC permission ffmpeg's open() needs to trigger materialize-on-open inside the kernel, so the file never got pulled down and the analyzer reported "No audio stream found" — misleading.

bks-audio-tools.sh now:

• Probes for the APFS dataless flag via ls -lO before invoking ffmpeg, and force-materializes by reading the file in this script's context (where TCC does grant the permission ffmpeg lacks).
• Classifies ffmpeg failures:
  • Resource deadlock / Permission denied / Operation not permitted → "cloud placeholder, open it in Finder" guidance
  • No such file → "file not found"
  • Invalid data / moov atom → "ffmpeg couldn't parse this as audio"
  • otherwise the old "No audio stream" message stands

No changes to the loudness analysis pipeline, report formatting, or the conversion paths — all of which read the same materialized bytes.

Installer

Signed and notarized .pkg installer will be attached as a release asset shortly (uploading from the build machine).

v1.9.0 — In-app Uninstall, aligned report, signed/notarized build pipeline

Adds an in-app Uninstall option, version display, and aligned report formatting.

What's new

• About / Uninstall in the new More… menu — no more digging through ~/Library/Services to remove the tool. Uninstall removes both per-user and system-wide installs, and optionally the cached ffmpeg binary.
• Version is now baked into the dialog title and the bundle's CFBundleShortVersionString. VERSION file is the single source of truth.
• Loudness report values are now vertically aligned (was scrappy in proportional font; now uses SF Pro's tabular figures).
• Build pipeline signs, notarizes, and staples in one pass (--no-sign / --no-notarize escape hatches for local iteration).

Install

Download Beat-Kitchen-Audio-Tools.pkg, double-click, follow the prompts. The Quick Action shows up in Finder's right-click menu under Quick Actions for audio and video files.

If you have v1.8 or earlier installed, the new installer will overwrite it. To remove an older standalone copy, in Terminal:

sudo rm -rf "/Library/Services/Beat Kitchen Audio Tools.workflow"

From v1.9 onward, use More… → About / Uninstall… instead — no Terminal needed.

Requires macOS 12 or later. ffmpeg is downloaded automatically on first use.

v1.8.0 — Signed, notarized, one-click install

Apple-signed, notarized, and stapled. Double-click to install — no right-click workarounds, no Gatekeeper prompts, no Terminal.

Install

Download Beat-Kitchen-Audio-Tools.pkg, double-click, follow the prompts. The Quick Action shows up in Finder's right-click menu under Quick Actions for audio and video files.

Requires macOS 12 or later. ffmpeg is downloaded automatically on first use.

What's inside

Same right-click utility as v1.7: loudness analysis (LUFS, true peak, LRA), normalization, format conversion, safe mono downmix. This release is purely an install-experience fix.

v1.7.0 — Normalize + .pkg installer

What's New

Normalize

Loudness normalization with preset targets:

• -14 LUFS (streaming — Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube)
• -16 LUFS (podcast / spoken word)
• -23 LUFS (EBU R128 broadcast)
• Custom target

Output saved as filename_-14LUFS.ext alongside the original.

.pkg installer

The DMG now contains a .pkg installer instead of a raw .workflow file. This fixes the Gatekeeper block on macOS Tahoe — no Terminal commands needed.

Safe mono conversion

Mono downmix now uses explicit 0.5 channel coefficients — mathematically cannot exceed the original peak level, regardless of channel correlation.

Dual-mono detection

Stereo files with identical L/R channels are flagged in the analysis report.

Install

Download the .dmg, open it, double-click the .pkg, follow the prompts.

Security note

macOS may warn that this installer is from an "unidentified developer." This is expected — the package is not signed with a paid Apple Developer ID certificate, not because anything is wrong with it. The tool is fully open source — you can read every line of code before installing. To proceed: right-click the .pkg and choose Open, or go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway.

v1.5.0

• Escape key now properly closes the main dialog
• Conversion picker titled "Conversion Options"
• Removed branding footer from loudness report
• Cancel/Escape in conversion picker returns to results

v1.4.0

• Instant "Analyzing..." notification on right-click so it doesn't feel unresponsive
• Cleaner dialog: context-aware buttons (MP3/Mono only shown when applicable)
• Convert picker with "Both" option when both conversions available
• Removed clutter (quotes, uninstall/link from options)
• Branded DMG with dark background, BKS icon, volume icon

v1.3.0

• Clearer button labels (Copy Report instead of Copy)
• More menu with conversion options, Both, website link, and Uninstall
• Branded DMG with dark background, BKS icon, and install instructions
• Custom volume icon on mounted DMG

v1.2.0

Improved install instructions — clearer guidance on what to expect when macOS opens System Preferences after install.

Beat Kitchen Audio Tools v1.1.0

Right-click loudness analyzer and audio converter for macOS.

Install:

1. Download Beat-Kitchen-Audio-Tools.dmg below
2. Open the disk image
3. Double-click Beat Kitchen Audio Tools.workflow
4. Click Install when macOS asks

What you get:

• Integrated loudness (LUFS), true peak (dBTP), loudness range (LRA)
• Timestamp of the loudest moment in your file
• Convert to MP3 (320kbps)
• Stereo to mono conversion
• Works on audio and video files

Requires macOS 12 or later. ffmpeg is downloaded automatically on first use.