Removing pops & clicks for short film...

[bdemon]

Continuing my audio editing quest in a pal's short film, there are a number of pops heard during scene changes. Using Logic 8, I normally can fix these with crossfades, but because I'm working off an edited audio track I can't do that in most of these cases. I ran the audio through Soundtrack Pro using a filter to remove pops & clicks. It got rid of some, but there are still a few I can't get fix. Should I be asking the director for the original audio tracks so I can apply new crossfades or other tricks?

Applying compression to the track seems to make these pops more obvious. But the mixed track is a bit on the quiet side, so I'm also trying to figure out what to do there.

Thanks?

[nerol1st]

Well, no idea if logic can do this (cubase can) but if it can:

Zoom WAY in on the pop and draw out the wavform so it connects better.

That was probably a bad way of explaining it. Basically I'm telling you to re draw the wavform.

[scarecrowbob]

I kind of depends on why there are clicks and pops to begin with.

Are they part of the original audio, such as lavs scraping on clothes and equipment being powered on/off? Are they part of the location's sound?

Are they generated by the edit, by things like cutting audio at a non-zero-crossing sample?

How frequent are they?

How long is the project?

Do you have access to a workflow where you get the audio as an EDL rather than as the rendered exported file? What programs is being used to edit the piece?

I have, in the past, sat down with a director and edited audio with him in Avid to match levels better. Would something like that be helpful?



Anyhow, what you could probably do is this...

as an alternative to redrawing the wave,

...assuming that the click doesn't happen on dialogue,

you can take some noise from somewhere else in the scene

(and if I am doing the location work, I'll actually record noise just for this purpose,

we could call it "room tone")

and cut the area with the pop out,

and crossfade that noise in where the pop was.

That is probably the easiest answer. I do that a lot.

You have to be crafty, but it is a great tool.

[bdemon]

Good info, thanks. I think the director is using that Adobe editing program...forgot the name. But most of these pops are within dialogue and sound like they're caused by the scene edits. My crossfade efforts haven't helped.

[scarecrowbob]

If you can get an OMF or AAF export, then maybe you can open the edit in Soundtrack Pro or Logic.

Maybe.

It is wayyyyyy ifffy.

Maybe sitting down at the edit machine and re-editing it there would be the easy thing to do.

[Richard King]

There are a couple of programs that I use for deleting pops and clicks from records. One that is fairly automatic is called "Click Repair" (clever name) and can be found here: http://www.clickrepair.net/ The other is called Goldwave. Goldwave has a click fix portion in the program and also allows redrawing the waveform. Goldwave can be found here: http://www.goldwave.com/ I use Click Repair first and if anything still needs looking at I'll go to Goldwave and do some redrawing.

[chris carter]

Adobe Audition can do it very easily, faster than any other program I know.

[nerol1st]

Originally Posted by chris carter

Adobe Audition can do it very easily, faster than any other program I know.

I will say Audition has one of the best wav editors on the market. But mixing in that thing (even version 2) sucks. I found it SLOW.

[chris carter]

Originally Posted by nerol1st

I will say Audition has one of the best wav editors on the market. But mixing in that thing (even version 2) sucks. I found it SLOW.

Yup. The multitrack part of that program is pointless... a silly add-on. But the editor side is more than worth the price.

[nerol1st]

Originally Posted by chris carter

Yup. The multitrack part of that program is pointless... a silly add-on. But the editor side is more than worth the price.

Yeah if it only worked on mac.

[Kendrix]

Wavelab- (even the inexpensive wavelab Essential 6) includes an auto declicking feature that seems to work well.

[IsildursBane]

If he can't even make edits w/o pops & clicks, chances are most of his other edits are lousy, too. Get the original audio project/OMF and do it right. Drawing a new fade takes 2 seconds. Trying to find a click can be a PITA.

-Dan.

[Jimbroni]

Originally Posted by nerol1st

Well, no idea if logic can do this (cubase can) but if it can:

Zoom WAY in on the pop and draw out the wavform so it connects better.

That was probably a bad way of explaining it. Basically I'm telling you to re draw the wavform.

yeah I dunno logic, but if you have the option to manually redraw the waveforms (the pencil tool) that's the way to go. I've tried a bunch of declickers and never found one that did the job without ruining the sound.

Of course the pencil tool is more time consuming given alot of clicks and pops, but in the end it does the job without affecting the overall sound.

I'm not sure if you know what a click looks like on a waveform, but in general its where the waveform will either spike straight line up or down (big volume change with no time component) or a wave curve will just suddenly drop off like a chunk has been taken out instead of continuing to slope back to zero. In both cases its the Instantaneous volume change(straight vertical line) that causes clicks.

[VSpaceBoy]

depending on whats going on at the time of the pop, you could copy a section of "dead space" from a different section of the audio and crossfade that overtop of the problem area.

[The Chinese]

Originally Posted by IsildursBane

If he can't even make edits w/o pops & clicks, chances are most of his other edits are lousy, too. Get the original audio project/OMF and do it right. Drawing a new fade takes 2 seconds. Trying to find a click can be a PITA.

-Dan.

This.

In ProTools, Use the Pencil tool. Hold the Control Key and using the I Beam, scrub the audio over the click...Find it, and zoom in, Keep doing this until you can visibly see the click. Then draw it out.

OP, Some of the tricks listed here are cool, but you said that the clicks are on Dialogue, so this will work.

Waves De-click works well, Sonic No-Noise also very well.

Todd A.

Edit: Sorry, I noticed you're in Logic 8...Does not apply, but Logic must have a similar ability.

[gsHarmony]

Izotope RX. It's absolutely amazing. If I can get permission from the producer, I'll post some clips from the movie I'm currently mixing. I've managed to convert noisy, clicky, clipping audio into completely usable audio. If someone told me what you could do with this software, I wouldn't believe them, so download the demo and go through the tutorials. Best ~$280 I've ever spent.