Removing periodic clicking

[stumpp1]

Hi,
i have got this probelm. I have a track with spoken word, that i recorded using microphone. The problem is, that somehow there is this really annoying clicking, that appears periodicly each second. The "click" sound itself is really short (about 0.0003 sec.), but significantly loud. What i want to ask is, whether there is a way to get rid of this clicking other than using "click removal" or "noise removal"? I tried them both, but to really get rid of the clicking, i had to set the level of each reduction really high, which caused the sound to be really bad. What i was thinking was some kind of filter, which would use correlation function to find each click, which you could than cut away easily. Or is there some better plugin for reducing noise and click than the standard ones? Thanks a lot.

Paul

[steve]

It would be best to fix the problem at source.
I presume that there was no audible clicking (such as a clock) while you were recording?
Tell us about your recording - what operating system, version of Audacity, type of microphone, Audacity settings.....

[stumpp1]

Hi. Thx for your reply. I should have been more specific. The track is a record of my teachers lesson and he wants me to make a CD of it, that he would sell in a shop. So the sound has to be quiet good and clear. As you can see, i dont have the oportunity to change the environment, get rid of the clicking (its most likely caused by some kind of clock, like you said) and record it again. I have to do with what i already have. The lesson is 3h long and the click repeats each second. Getting rid of each click manualy takes me about 5 to 15 sec, so clearing the whole track would take me 30h straight. So any help would do Thx.

[kozikowski]

Or it could be your computer gasping for air once a second as it tries to find empty hard drive space on a fragmented drive. Error check and defragment early and often.

Defrag
-- Right Click Start > Explore > Right Click Local Drive C: > Properties (Used, Remaining) > Tools > Error Checking & Defragmentation

You may be the poster child for Click Removal. It's intended to remove clicks and pops in a phonograph recording, but it works with any abrupt sound like that.

Its available in Audacity 1.3.11 in the Effects menu. I don't know that it was ever imported into Audacity 1.2.

Koz

[stumpp1]

Or it could be your computer gasping for air once a second as it tries to find empty hard drive space on a fragmented drive. Error check and defragment early and often.

Defrag
-- Right Click Start > Explore > Right Click Local Drive C: > Properties (Used, Remaining) > Tools > Error Checking & Defragmentation

You may be the poster child for Click Removal. It's intended to remove clicks and pops in a phonograph recording, but it works with any abrupt sound like that.

Its available in Audacity 1.3.11 in the Effects menu. I don't know that it was ever imported into Audacity 1.2.

Koz

Hi, thanks for advice, but i really don't think that this is the case. Other tracks that i edit with audacity are OK (no clicks). I tried using Click Removal, but as i said already, if i want it to remove the clicking, its reduction level has to be set really high which causes the sound of the entire track to be really bad. I was looking for some better solution, where i wouldn't have to change the entire track. But thx anyway.

[kozikowski]

Did you notice that we've been pushing you off to Audacity 1.3.11 at every opportunity? There's a reason for that. A lot of the diagnostic and critical repair tools in 1.3 are considered the finished and working tools. Audacity 1.2, not so much. I was going to point you at Noise Removal as an experiment, but that's useless if you're still in 1.2

Can you post a short stretch of the clicking show? I think you can do it directly on the forum. I forget what the size limit is, but it will probably warn you.

Koz

[waxcylinder]

Regular clicks like this can often be caused by your virus checking software.

Some anti-virus s/w packages have an option to "trust" certain file types - if this is the case with yours tell it to trust/ignore *.aup and *.au files (these are the files that Audacity creates - the .au files are the little segements of sound created every second or so). If you do not have that facility then you can try turning off the anti-virus software while you are recording - disconnect your PC from the internet and any LAN /wireless connection before you do this and make sure you restart the antivirus before you re-connect.

As you apparently have a pre-existing recording that you need to clean up, try using Brian Davies' ClickRepair software. It costs $40 - but you get a 21-day free trial - certainly long enough for yoy to process your file. You can get it from here: http://www.clickrepair.net/software_dow ... epair.html

For more background see this sticky thread I created a while back: http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1994

WC

[stumpp1]

Regular clicks like this can often be caused by your virus checking software.

Some anti-virus s/w packages have an option to "trust" certain file types - if this is the case with yours tell it to trust/ignore *.aup and *.au files (these are the files that Audacity creates - the .au files are the little segements of sound created every second or so). If you do not have that facility then you can try turning off the anti-virus software while you are recording - disconnect your PC from the internet and any LAN /wireless connection before you do this and make sure you restart the antivirus before you re-connect.

As you apparently have a pre-existing recording that you need to clean up, try using Brian Davies' ClickRepair software. It costs $40 - but you get a 21-day free trial - certainly long enough for yoy to process your file. You can get it from here: http://www.clickrepair.net/software_dow ... epair.html

For more background see this sticky thread I created a while back: http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1994

WC

Absolutelly amazing, exactly what i had on my mind and what i needed. Its doing the same that i didn't want to do manually and its doing even a better job. Really great program. Thanks a lot. Bye.

Paul

[waxcylinder]

Absolutelly amazing, exactly what i had on my mind and what i needed. Its doing the same that i didn't want to do manually and its doing even a better job. Really great program. Thanks a lot. Bye.

Isn't it just.

Before I was pointed in the direction of ClickRepair, I started out on my LP transciption project by removing the clicks manually, findinfd them, zooming in and then using the draw tool to repair the click by redrawing an interpolated waveform - painfully slow and laborious. USING Brian's CR speeded up my transciption project substantially - and produced better results.

WC