mixing tracks generates "clicks"

Special Interest Groups Audio Processing
1

Hello, we recorded song using Audacity, each instrument per track: drums, bass, guitar, solo-guitar and vocals. Tracks are noise cleaned and NO clipping. I have aprox. 1db space to clipping.

When I play SOLO each track, it sounds great. But when I play them together i some places (where is solo guitar and vocals loud) i heard “clicks” - quiet cracking. When i am MUTE each track, cracking is quiter and quiter. When I MUTE vocal or solo guitar, cracking is not present.

My QUESTION is - where is the problem? I dont want to change VOLUME.

These effect was applied:

  • each track is noise-removed
  • voice has little echo
  • solo guitar has little echo
  • voice has been “compressed”

Thank you

2

Carefully save your project.
Select all tracks by clicking above each MUTE button with the SHIFT key down.

Effect > Amplify: -6 (top number) > OK.

Turn your sound system up to make up the difference. Did the cracking go away? If it went way down but didn’t quite vanish, reduce the overall show another three to six dB.

You can’t mix a show at final volume. If, for example, you have five tracks of the same instrument playing the same notes, a five track production would be about +25dB not -1dB. Audacity can deal with sound management like that, but I bet you’re beating the snot out of your sound card.

Mix at a lower volume so you have no distortion. Then I’m not sure what to do. There is or was a Feature Request to make a tool similar to Effect > Amplify which would protect the composite show from overload.

You could carefully save the Project and Export as a WAV file. Audacity will mix down to a single stereo show. Then you could process that with the loudness, compression and “dense” tools to get your volume back. We get to wait for one of the other elves.

Koz

3

Thank you very much. It was as you said! I muted all tracks, mixed to one and after that I appliead effect Compresor to the final mixed track, after Compresor I applied Amplifiy +2db (with clipping) but no quality lost and now i have song with SAME volume as first, but without “cranks” & “clicks”.

Thank you, I was so easy :smiley: