Clicks in recording

Hello everybody!
I’m new in this forum and I’m not sure how to do a new post. So I decided comment my problem here because the subject is similar to the KDD77’s one
I had been using Audacity for more than one year without problems. I recently upgraded the old operating system Windows 7 to 10, and also changed the hard drive.
After these changes, I started experiencing electronic clicks.
Yesterday for example, I did a small recording as a test. The raw recording seemed perfect but when I made some basic small improvements, the edited version presented some clicks. Today, when I listened to it again, it seems that there are even more clicks than yesterday. Perhaps Am I going crazy? :laughing: Ha ha ha or perhaps t is a playback problem? I have attached a small sample in order you can hear how the noise is.
FYI, my PC is a Lenovo B50 and my microphone is Apogee Mic Plus.
I know it is difficult to identify the cause of this type of problem. I have attached a smal sample I would be very grateful to receive feedback and suggestions from the members of this forum to help me find the solution.

Go to the “Windows” forum page (Windows - Audacity Forum)
and click the “New Topic” button near the top left corner of the page.


You’re not going crazy :wink:

This is a close up of one of the clicks:


Do you still get the clicks if you set the Project Rate (bottom left corner of the main Audacity window) to 44100 (and make a new recording)?

Hi Steve!

Thanks a lot for your help.
In the last few days, I’ve been listening to several of my audios and made some observations. See below my comments and so let’s try to understand the problem.

  • The small sample that I attached here ( wav )is an example of a strong click; one can hear it every time, so it’s certainly fixed at a point. Listening the entire recording again, I can hear others. Note that in my first message, I said the raw version was perfect but, listening again, it’s not true. There are many clicks too, less stronger. I have the impression that they are not fixed. Sometimes I can hear, sometimes not.
    I’m posting another part of the same audio here in wav.
    I would like to post the same fragment in aup3, but I receive a message of error. Isn’t possible to post aup3 files? Is there another way to send a aup3 to you? It would be nice if you could hear both. I have the impression that the clicks are most in aup3.

  • I checked some recordings I did before the Windows updating. In the format Audacity file, I can hear clicks, not fixed. The same recording in MP3 or wav ( exported before updating) there isn’t so many clicks.

  • Following your suggestion, I made a recording at 44100 Hz and there was no big difference; I hear clicks. But when I export this audio to wav, there is an improvement.

Well, that’s it for now. Let’s move forward!

I did a small recording as a test. The raw recording seemed perfect

And you exported a perfect quality WAV (Microsoft) 16-bit sound file of the recording and you still have it, right? Play it and make sure there is no damage from the original recording. Can you play it in Windows Media as well as Audacity?

The rules change when you’re trying to troubleshoot a problem. You need predictable events and files. If you can’t do that, then you may spend weeks trying to nail down where the problem is happening.

Is the “new” machine connected to a cloud drive or other on-line storage? Are you sure? I have to beat them off with a stick and if I do nothing, a cloud drive will magically appear in my system. Audacity doesn’t like those very much.

How about other applications and connections. Skype? Zoom? those can both cause problems.

If it’s relatively easy to disconnect the network, do that and do a clean shutdown of Windows. Shift+Shutdown > Wait for it to settle > and then start. This will divorce your machine from troublesome external connections and maybe some internal processes and software.

Start with the WAV file. If you have a damaged file, it will be damaged in the same place every time. If the playback system is damaged, it may wander. Play the work on a different machine. Email a short file to yourself and play it on your phone.

Do you get different damage by applying the same correction to copies of the same file repeatedly?

Split the system up into parts and test each part.

Koz

Hello Guys!
Thanks for your comments.
In the last few days I have been able to do more tests. I also asked my husband to hear some of the samples in order to confirm my impressions.( and confirm that I’m not going crazy!)
So please see below some new clues that may help :

  • Definitely, the clicks are not in the same place. My husband confirms my impression. Sometimes we can hear them, sometimes not.
  • The clicks only can be heard in Audacity (aup3). The same recording, exported as wav or MP3, and played in Windows Media, does not present the clicks. ( of course, it presents some few clicks, but in the same place. In this case I assume that they are a “real problem” during the recording)
  • I did the disconnecting process ( Shift+Shutdown )that you recommended but I didn’t note any difference in the clicks.
  • About other applications, I uninstalled Zoom at Skype, and restarted the machine but again, the clicks are still there.
  • I still have another app installed called Studio Next. It’s a recording app owned by a company I work for. This one I didn’t uninstall because I need it. Could it be the cause of the problem? it’s hard to know. The fact is that this app, as well as Skype and Zoom were already there before and everything worked fine. I only started noticing the click issue after the Windows updated.
  • Considering all explained, can we conclude that it is a problem in the play back?
  • Is there another test that I could do ?