New plug-in effect - PopMute

[xrx.black]

Can I run this in batch mode?

i.e. Can I configure/set popmute, and then run it across all of my dance/trance mp3s which have an annoying kick drum?

[Gale Andrews]

Can I run this in batch mode?

i.e. Can I configure/set popmute, and then run it across all of my dance/trance mp3s which have an annoying kick drum?

Only built-in effects can be used in the 1.3 batch mode at File > Edit Chains.

You could import all the files, Select All then run the effect and come back later to do Export Multiple (this assumes there is no valid reason not to using this effect). However it would add silence at the end of tracks so as to make all the tracks as long as the longest one, so that's a good reason not to run Nyquist effects on more than one track at a time at the moment.



Gale

[Trebor]

Also the optimum "popmute" settings for the different tracks (e.g. threshold) may be different : so each track should be processed individually rather than in a batch.

[xrx.black]

Hi,

1) How do I install popmute? How do I confirm that it was installed correctly?
I put the latest popmute.ny in:

Code: Select all

C:\Program Files\Audacity\Plug-Ins

After that, I rebooted the machine and loaded the attached mp3. Under the Effects menu, I notice there's a "Click Removal" which lets me choose Threshold and Spike Width. Is this popmute?

2) Please tell me how to remove/reduce the kick drum in the attached mp3.
When I tried all the different extremes for "Click Removal", the kick drum didn't change.

[steve]

1) How do I install popmute? How do I confirm that it was installed correctly?

Which version of Audacity are you using? (look in "Help menu > About")

[xrx.black]

Hi,

I'm using version 1.3.12-beta.

1) How do I install popmute? How do I confirm that it was installed correctly?
I put the latest popmute.ny in:

Code: Select all

C:\Program Files\Audacity\Plug-Ins

After that, I rebooted the machine and loaded the attached mp3. Under the Effects menu, I notice that there's a "Click Removal" which lets me choose Threshold and Spike Width. Is this popmute?

2) Please tell me how to remove/reduce the kick drum in the attached mp3.
When I tried all the different combinations of extremes for setting "Click Removal", the kick drum didn't change.

[steve]

C:\Program Files\Audacity\Plug-Ins

That looks like an Audacity 1.2 installation folder.

Have a look and see if there is another Audacity folder in C:\Program Files\
It may be called something like "Audacity 1.3 (beta)" or "Audacity 1.3 Unicode"

[Trebor]

2) Please tell me how to remove/reduce the kick drum in the attached mp3.
When I tried all the different extremes for "Click Removal", the kick drum didn't change.

That track does not lend itself to using pop-mute to remove the bass drum: on that track the bass drum does not produce peaks above the rest of the track, which is what the pop-mute technique I suggested relies upon.

You could just cut the bass from it using equalization to reduce the bass, a before-after example and equalization curve are attached.

Trance before-after bass cut equalization on Audacity.mp3

(420.41 KiB) Downloaded 119 times

cut bass equalization used on ' trance '.png (7.08 KiB) Viewed 1025 times

[Gale Andrews]

There's been no comments regarding the "Linked Stereo" mode, so I'm guessing that it's not really useful.
I've removed the "Linked Stereo" option in this version, though it can easily be re-enabled (open popmute.ny in a text editor and read the comment text near the top of the file).

What was the benefit of linked stereo? If the pop was only in one channel it would seem to artifact the other channel to no purpose.

I attached a wav file with an artificial spike of 10 ms (EDIT this meant 10 samples, see post below) generated white noise. Strangely Click Removal seems to remove it with less artifacts than PopMute (I tried less attack though it did not help much, and I appreciate setting the mute level is critical). Perhaps like Paraic, I think it might be good if the effect could be more clever and have an "auto" setting that tries to figure an appropriate residual level. Even when I matched the mute level exactly I still sensed more of a "whoosh" in the area than Click Removal produced. Perhaps unlike Click Removal, the recommendation for PopMute should be to use it on as small a region as possible?

Clearly though there are many cases where PopMute works and Click Removal has little or no effect.

I added links (not attachments) to the front page post:
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=50671&p=122958#p122958

Is that a good way to keep it updated?

popspike.wav

Wav with pop that Click Removal removes more cleanly?

(641.24 KiB) Downloaded 38 times

[steve]

What was the benefit of linked stereo?

The "benefit" is:
If the effect is applied to audio with a long burst of noise on one channel, using a slow attack/release, independent channel processing will cause the stereo image to swing violently across to the side without the noise (not much fun if you're wearing headphones and riding a bicycle at the time).

In practice I found that linking the channels is very rarely useful, and in my opinion not worth the additional control.

I attached a wav file with an arificial spike (10 ms white noise) generated into it.

You mean 10 samples of white noise?
Yes, for very short clicks the Click Removal effect is much better, but with clicks of 10 milliseconds or more, Click Removal will hardly touch them, and that's where "Pop Mute" can come in useful. Pop Mute not a subtle effect, it just bashes spikes with a big hammer, but it can make loud pops (and even hand claps, drum beats and small explosions) less obtrusive.