I’ve seen a lot of useful information on removing spectral clicks (those clicks and pops seen only with the spectrogram), but I guess I’m still trying to figure out why they exist, and more importantly, how to avoid them.
I would be very appreciative if those who have experience with this issue could give me their guidance. What are the most important things to do (or not do) so I don’t get these weird little glitches in my recordings?
Thanks!!!
You didn’t say what you’re recording… Usually noise comes form the analog-side…
If it’s a “digital problem” it’s probably buffer overflow. Try increasing your [u]Buffer/Latency[/u]. Also try to minimize multitasking and background operations.
…Your operating system is always multitasking, even if you’re only running one application - The digital audio streams-in at a smooth-constant rate. When the operating system gets around to it, the data is read from the buffer and written to the hard drive in a quick burst. If the operating system doesn’t get back to reading the buffer in time, the buffer overflows and you get a glitch.
A bigger buffer helps, reducing the background operations helps, and a faster computer helps. The buffer is a also delay of if you are recording with a microphone and monitoring yourself through the computer with headphones a large buffer (longer delay) can be a problem. Other than that, there is no downside to a bigger buffer.
There is also a playback buffer, but in this case the danger is buffer underflow.
(those clicks and pops seen only with the spectrogram),
You should be able to see them in the waveform if you can “find” them and zoom-in. The trick is to find the glitch in the spectrogram view, zoom-in, then switch to the waveform view. You’ll have to zoom-in to the point where you can see the individual samples.
Thanks for the reply! I am doing simple voice recording, and the clicks are indeed digital, and I’ve gotten quite good at finding them with a spectrometer/waveform combo.
The latency won’t bother me… can you recommend some buffer settings that should eliminate this issue?
The latency won’t bother me… can you recommend some buffer settings that should eliminate this issue?
There are too many unknown variables… I believe the default is 100ms so just try something bigger… Maybe double it to 200ms.
If doubling the buffer size makes no difference (at least making the glitches less frequent) you’ve probably got a different problem. If the glitches get less frequent but are still there… Try increasing the buffer again.