Click & pop hunting tips needed

[Tapehead]

koz wrote:
To address a problem you had about two-thirds of the way up the thread, no the blue waves do not have to "fly by." I set Auto Update the Display when I'm recording to make sure I'm getting a proper performance, but I turn that off immediately when editing. I'll put the view exactly where I want it, thanks. I don't need any help.
Audacity > Edit > Preferences > Tracks > [_] Update Display... (de-select)

Koz

'

Thanks I didn't know about that, I'll try that next time.

Trebor wrote:
A low-pass filter will smooth the waveform , you may have to use repair on the ends of the section where a low-pass equalization has been applied ...

Thanks for the screenshot I'll try that as well.

Tapehead wrote:
p,s Is there a shortcut or facility to automatically flatten out a waveform line between two points or induce a curve instead of a spike?

steve wrote:
If that is for repairing small clicks, then there is the "Repair Tool" http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/repair.html

Tapehead wrote:
p.p.s Why does the zoom have to be so high before the draw tool can be used?

steve wrote:
Because the Draw tool acts on individual samples.
I'm guessing that you have a "feature request" in mind for it to do something when zoomed out?

Thaqnks steve, I used the Repair tool and you know me I like to facilitate ease of use for duffers in Audacity so yes I think it would make good feature request if you'd be so kind

waxycylinder wrote:
Like DVDdoug I also use a piece of third party software. Like you I used to use the spectrogram view with the draw tool and latterly the Repair effect. - but than Koz pointed me in the direction of Brian Davies' ClickRepair (for which I am eternally grateful to him [Koz and Brian that is], as it has saved me huge amounts of time and produced excellent results with my LP transfers).

See this sticky thread: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1994

WC

That will be my next port of call if I find lots more clicks because it is time consuming this way, but I'm getting quicker and so far on the old recordings i've examined I don't think I have too far to go.

[Gale Andrews]

If that is for repairing small clicks, then there is the "Repair Tool" http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/repair.html

p.p.s Why does the zoom have to be so high before the draw tool can be used?

Because the Draw tool acts on individual samples.
I'm guessing that you have a "feature request" in mind for it to do something when zoomed out?

Thaqnks steve, I used the Repair tool and you know me I like to facilitate ease of use for duffers in Audacity so yes I think it would make good feature request if you'd be so kind

Done.

Gale

[Tapehead]

Thanks Gale.

[pdun459]

Thanks guys for this info. I've been struggling with some annoying clicks and was finally able to remove them seamlessly.

[waggy]

I have some old recording that the waveform just changes inexplicably. Say, 2 to 4 waves that look like they've gone thru a low pass filter such that they are different than the preceeding and following waveforms. The shape of the waveforms generally aren't different, they are just "smoother". At full speed the result is a "click" At lower speeds there is generally no indication there is a problem.

I quickly got frustrated with the Spectrogram view. Because yes, it shows the area that needs to be repaired, but there is no way of facilitating that repair in waveform view.

My primary question: Is there a tool for painting or brushing in spectrogram view. Or do all repairs have to be made in waveform view?

[Gale Andrews]

I quickly got frustrated with the Spectrogram view. Because yes, it shows the area that needs to be repaired, but there is no way of facilitating that repair in waveform view.

My primary question: Is there a tool for painting or brushing in spectrogram view. Or do all repairs have to be made in waveform view?

There are the spectral edit tools if you are in spectral selection.

Note that you could Edit > Duplicate the track, and look at one track in a spectrogram view, and the other track in a waveform view, and use Draw Tool on the waveform track (if you are zoomed in sufficiently).

Or you can use Repair on a track in a spectrogram or waveform view (if the selection does not exceed 128 samples).


Gale

[waxcylinder]

Or you can use Repair on a track in a spectrogram or waveform view (if the selection does not exceed 128 samples).

And the easiest way to see how many samples are selected is to go to the Audacity Selection Toolbar (normally at the bottom of the Audacity window unless you have moved it and:
1) change the time display units to hh:mm:ss + samples
2) in the middle time display box click on the radio button for Length rather than the default End

See this page in the Manual: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/se ... olbar.html

WC

[waggy]

I quickly got frustrated with the Spectrogram view. Because yes, it shows the area that needs to be repaired, but there is no way of facilitating that repair in waveform view.

My primary question: Is there a tool for painting or brushing in spectrogram view. Or do all repairs have to be made in waveform view?

There are the spectral edit tools if you are in spectral selection.

Note that you could Edit > Duplicate the track, and look at one track in a spectrogram view, and the other track in a waveform view, and use Draw Tool on the waveform track (if you are zoomed in sufficiently).

Or you can use Repair on a track in a spectrogram or waveform view (if the selection does not exceed 128 samples).


Gale

Thank you for your help Gale. I did learn some things. But, personally I haven't found spectrogram view real helpful. Not trying to dissuade anyone from using it though. Everyone needs to use whatever tools they find helps them achieve desirable results.

My solution was to go back and clean the vinyl. And then clean it again for good measure, before re-recording the tracks. Had to repair all the legitimate clicks again, but this got rid of the "ghostly" bumps and thumps that I couldn't solve.

Sorry for mudding-up this good thread with my bs. But maybe this will serve as a reminder for some that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.