Digital clicks

Audacity 3 Help Forum macOS
1

Hello. I’m trying to do some basic editing on a stereo recording. It seems whatever editing I do, it creates a digital click. So far, I have tried to copy and paste and also use the “tempo change” effect. Both resulted in clicks at the join. It’s definitely not there on the original recording. I’m trying to do this on an imac from 2007 and I’m running OS 10.5.8. I downloaded from the DMG. Any help would be apprecitated.

Thanks!

1 Like
2

Before editing, ensure that the audio does not have DC off-set. http://manual.audacityteam.org/manual/help/manual/man/tutorial_editing_an_existing_file.html#DC

Try to make edits at points of silence, or immediately before a beat, or at zero crossing points: http://manual.audacityteam.org/manual/help/manual/man/edit_menu.html#zero

Also, see this topic: http://manual.audacityteam.org/manual/help/manual/man/tutorial_editing_an_existing_file.html

3

I have this problem now–whenever I edit voice only mono tracks, digital clicks get introduced.
Sadly (but not surprising), all of the links above from 13 years ago are dead.

I’m running 3.7.3 on MacOS Sequoia 15.3.2 (24D81). Buffer length is 0. Project sample rate is 96K.

I’ve tried:

  • Deleting digital clicks (i.e. with Delete)
  • Edit–>Remove special–>Silence audio
  • Audacity built-in de-clicker
  • Izotrope RX11 de-click plugin, set to single-band algorithm with sensitivity of 3 and click widening of 0
  • Removing DC offset with Effect–>Normalize (per here): DC offset - Audacity Manual
  • Envelope tool (only thing that works but I find it next to impossible to select the right areas)

Any other suggestions? Here’s what these introduced bits look like:

Screenshot 2025-03-27 at 1.18.09 PM
Screenshot 2025-03-27 at 1.18.09 PM610×201 29.7 KB

4

I have my view in sinewave and zoom so I can see where my edit point is right where the wave is dead at center. If you cut a wave that is anywhere above or below, the resulting stop is like a hard wall resulting in a small click. I will sometimes grab a tiny bit at the end/beginning of an edit and choose “Fade:out/Fade:in” respectively for a smooth start/stop. If I’m editing voice together I choose a point where the wave of the left edit matches the wave of the right edit so the line is a nice continuous wave. You can choose the point where they meet and use effect-noise-repair to ensure you’ve “connected the dots” so to speak.

Hope that helps.

5

You need to remove any DC offset before editing. You can’t hear DC (zero Hz) but it makes a click when it suddenly kicks-in or kicks-out.

Then there’s Select → At Zero Crossings so you don’t cut in the middle of a wave.

Or short fade-in’s & fade-outs (a few milliseconds) usually prevent clicks and a short (or longer) crossfade almost always makes a smooth splice.