Clicks in rendered audio? RX works nice but why are these there?

[Caine123]

hi again!

i have some exported tracks/loops which dont clip, where the signals are sidechained and so on. so i got clear signals and still at some points the audio just clips, you hear a small click. e.g. when a kick hits at some points, or the bass arp is playing and so on.

1. do you know why this happens? why this can happen?
2. i got RX7 a long time and this one helped so much, i didnt know this could unclip so well. i didnt mark the whole audio cause it also unclips sections where is doesnt clip or where it should have a clicky sound. so i marked only the small sections with this short click and it was able to nearly unclip everything without having reduced quality as it is just a few miliseconds (wow!)

thx

[MogwaiBoy]

You're right about RX being wow - it's truly magic! And yes I definitely zoom in and only apply processing to the smallest area to be as surgical as possible (unless it's a constant background noise profile).

As to your question of why they are there.... there are SO many possible reasons.

One thing I know is that all kinds of weird artifacts can pop up in audio exports. Having a look at the very beginning few milliseconds of most tracks usually shows some kind of split-second rumble, low level pop, DC-offset click, or something. It could be the DAW's internal delay compensation, or one of your processor's automation snapping to zero when it reverts to the start of the track. Automating mute buttons can do it too. There's also a tendency for clicks to appear through sidechaining and heavy gating. These are all typically very low level and only noticable if you export stems and listen carefully in solo. So I suspect you are talking about some of kind of cause - since it's so bad you've had to remedy it in post with RX.

Send me (or post) some files and I'll take a listen, if you'd like, and give my opinion after investigating.

[aberration123]

9 out of 10 times I find the clicks are usually coming from synth LFOs, especially if you are using pre-sets. We don't really know how the designer triggered the notes whilst designing, difference of MIDI note length etc.

Attack too fast on ducking/sidechaining device, also too shorter release are good places to start. You'd be surprised how long the attack can be on ducking, lets say the kick transient/body is roughly 40-50ms before the pitch sweep really falls off, that upper part of the kick shouldn't really be clashing with bass synths so much so let it through and focus your ducking on the release. Maybe you are reducing the volume too much and pumping the snot out of everything?

Less of this....

more-than.jpg

More of....

that.jpg

There's a lot to be said for thoughtful note placement and arrangement, making your life easier and less mixing headaches later.

My guesstimate would be LFOs, try duplicating the synth parts and go through the patches, start by turning LFOs off, especially if they a modulating the filter cut-off or effects, also worth checking the attack and release of the envelopes.

Also... if you are using sine waves for bass, they can be buggers, you might need to lock the phase of the oscillator to 0 so it starts from the same point each time and then fine tooth comb the attack and release, it can be like tightrope walking. Clicks will come and go randomly if the phase start changes through the cycle.

^ be careful not to apply ^ that to everything though, it can end up sounding awful with everything re-triggering, especially saws.

Psyscope is a really useful tool for seeing what you think you are hearing. Probably one the best purchases I ever made.

[Ablecrew]

I get them all the time. looks like there's way to many variables to say anything for sure...so I stopped trying to figure it out and just re-render until I get a usable wav file.

[MogwaiBoy]

9 out of 10 times I find the clicks are usually coming from synth LFOs, especially if you are using pre-sets. We don't really know how the designer triggered the notes whilst designing, difference of MIDI note length etc.

Attack too fast on ducking/sidechaining device, also too shorter release are good places to start. You'd be surprised how long the attack can be on ducking, lets say the kick transient/body is roughly 40-50ms before the pitch sweep really falls off, that upper part of the kick shouldn't really be clashing with bass synths so much so let it through and focus your ducking on the release. Maybe you are reducing the volume too much and pumping the snot out of everything?

Less of this....

more-than.jpg


More of....

that.jpg


There's a lot to be said for thoughtful note placement and arrangement, making your life easier and less mixing headaches later.

My guesstimate would be LFOs, try duplicating the synth parts and go through the patches, start by turning LFOs off, especially if they a modulating the filter cut-off or effects, also worth checking the attack and release of the envelopes.

Also... if you are using sine waves for bass, they can be buggers, you might need to lock the phase of the oscillator to 0 so it starts from the same point each time and then fine tooth comb the attack and release, it can be like tightrope walking. Clicks will come and go randomly if the phase start changes through the cycle.

^ be careful not to apply ^ that to everything though, it can end up sounding awful with everything re-triggering, especially saws.

Psyscope is a really useful tool for seeing what you think you are hearing. Probably one the best purchases I ever made.

Excellent post! I usually go for very short/instant sidechain envelope speeds, knowing that it can produce ticks and clicks - if they're audible on the full mix i'll mix with the attack for sure.

I really like your point about not ducking so much of the kick transient / it's more the kick sustain that clashes with the bass. That makes absolute sense to me and something I'll keep in mind. THe last like 5 songs I've released didn't have drums but hey they next one does

[Caine123]

Really excellent posts! i will dig much more into this the next days and check the projects if LFOs, sidechaining (this definitely! cause i use it a lot for Bass and Kick combo etc.) are triggered at these pops!

You're right about RX being wow - it's truly magic! And yes I definitely zoom in and only apply processing to the smallest area to be as surgical as possible (unless it's a constant background noise profile).

As to your question of why they are there.... there are SO many possible reasons.

One thing I know is that all kinds of weird artifacts can pop up in audio exports. Having a look at the very beginning few milliseconds of most tracks usually shows some kind of split-second rumble, low level pop, DC-offset click, or something. It could be the DAW's internal delay compensation, or one of your processor's automation snapping to zero when it reverts to the start of the track. Automating mute buttons can do it too. There's also a tendency for clicks to appear through sidechaining and heavy gating. These are all typically very low level and only noticable if you export stems and listen carefully in solo. So I suspect you are talking about some of kind of cause - since it's so bad you've had to remedy it in post with RX.

Send me (or post) some files and I'll take a listen, if you'd like, and give my opinion after investigating.

wow, great offer, i definitely will post the examples . and will also analyze it too more.
so far i read some posts on google too and it seems not really an uncommon topic! i dont use RX much but suddenl i remembered it and tried it out and was like, wow, this things saved so much time instead of getting back and being angry and nearly destroy my wall lol, sure it is better to know WHAT EXACTLY issues these sounds, but this will hopefully be solved very soon