Old 07-13-2020, 11:48 AM   #1
Birches
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Default Removal of mysterious clunk

Hi. I recorded a voiceover narration and, upon playback, I found a sound somewhere between a pop and a clunk. It almost sounds like the “tom” setting In my metronome. I have spent some hours trying to remove the sound, but I have so far been unsuccessful.

I am surprised that the sound is not obvious in the waveform. I isolated it by slowing the rate of playback. I was able to cut it out, but then I couldn’t remove the resulting click at the seam between the stitched-together selections of the track. I tried playing with the fade-out/fade-in, and I tried lining up the sine waves. I still had a click.

I should mention that I am fairly new to REAPER and similar tools.

I had hoped to use a frequency filter, but I couldn’t find documentation that matches my version 6.12. So I couldn’t follow YouTube videos. The REAPER manual seems to assume a level of knowledge that I don’t yet possess. I think I need to create a small selection that includes my clunk, apply REAEq to that selection, and play with the frequencies. But I am not able to interpret the interactive graphical tool that appears.

It is hard for me to formulate a clear question, but if you could point me to a video, Some internet resource, a thread on this forum, or something in the REAPER manual, I would appreciate it!
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Old 07-13-2020, 12:33 PM   #2
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Welcome to the forum!
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Originally Posted by Birches View Post
It is hard for me to formulate a clear question, but if you could point me to a video, Some internet resource, a thread on this forum, or something in the REAPER manual, I would appreciate it!
I think the first order of business is to diagnose the problem. This part is a little odd:
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Originally Posted by Birches View Post
I am surprised that the sound is not obvious in the waveform
Me too. Also:
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Originally Posted by Birches View Post
I couldn’t remove the resulting click at the seam between the stitched-together selections of the track. I tried playing with the fade-out/fade-in, and I tried lining up the sine waves. I still had a click.
It's not that you don't know what you're doing - it's that you apparently do know what you're doing, and yet the problem persists.

Humour me. Make an empty track next to the problem track. Move the problem item (or items, now, if split) temporarily to that track. Solo the new track.

Was there another item on the first track, hiding underneath? Does the problem persist when the material is played on the new track?
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Old 07-14-2020, 06:31 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fex View Post
Welcome to the forum!I think the first order of business is to diagnose the problem. This part is a little odd: Me too. Also:It's not that you don't know what you're doing - it's that you apparently do know what you're doing, and yet the problem persists.

Humour me. Make an empty track next to the problem track. Move the problem item (or items, now, if split) temporarily to that track. Solo the new track.

Was there another item on the first track, hiding underneath? Does the problem persist when the material is played on the new track?

Fex, Thanks so much for putting some thought into this with me. I tried what you suggested (sort of -- see below). I am able to isolate the clunk and move it in a selection to a new track. I can hear the clunk when I solo the new track. When I try to stitch the original track back together, I can't get rid of the click.

For a little more information, I was actually a step or two farther down the road than I had let on. I had recorded a track with vocal narration; then I added a track of background music. I rendered both to a .wav file for use in a situation that didn't require perfection. Now I am trying to create a voiceover demo using 30 seconds from this .wav file, plus snippets of two other narrations. So I imported the rendered .wav file into a track in the Demo project. That is where I first noticed the clunk and tried to edit it away.

So to clarify what I said at the beginning of this reply, I augmented your suggestion by going back to the source project and tried your ideas there. The clunk appears on the vocal track. The background music track is clean. I worked with the vocal track in the original project: isolated the clunk; dragged the selection with the clunk down to a new track; soloed the new track and verified the clunk was there; tried to stitch the original track back together; can't get rid of the click.

Note that there was nothing behind the selection with the clunk.

The wave form seems to have some anomalies in the area of the clunk, but there is no clear spike, just a bit more raggedness in the wave.

As for the click, I tried matching the high points of the waves when stitching together -- with no fade-in/fade-out. That produced a click. So I added the default fade-in/fade-out. Still a click. Tried a longer fade-in/fade-out and then a much longer fade-in/fade-out. Neither worked. I am stumped.
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Old 07-14-2020, 06:38 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Birches View Post
As for the click, I tried matching the high points of the waves when stitching together -- with no fade-in/fade-out. That produced a click.
As I'd expect....

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Originally Posted by Birches View Post
So I added the default fade-in/fade-out. Still a click. Tried a longer fade-in/fade-out and then a much longer fade-in/fade-out. Neither worked. I am stumped.
I'm not surprised. This makes no sense, if you're fading out before the click and fading in after it. A short fade should do it. If the noise persists, it's.... elsewhere.

I really want to listen to this mysterious click/clunk thing now. Failing that, perhaps you could post a screenshot.
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Old 07-15-2020, 03:12 PM   #5
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Open reafir and put it into subtractive mode and let it build a waveform of the sound. Level out all other frequencies and subtract just the clunk.
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Old 07-19-2020, 05:22 PM   #6
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jnorman34, thank you for the suggestion. I studied up on reafir and tried it. It didn't work for me, possibly because I can't really isolate the clunk; so I think I was capturing the frequencies of the clunk and of the narration. Also, I don't know what you mean when you say, "Level out all other frequencies". Google didn't help me to understand that. Perhaps if I understood that, it would give me something else to try.

Fex, thanks for sticking with me. I am attaching a .zip file that has an .mp3 to let you hear the clunk (right at the first "Stop!" in the narration) and a .png to show the waveform that includes the clunk. Sorry about having to use the .zip. Apparently, REAPER won't let me send an .mp3 file directly.
Attached Files
File Type: zip Clunk Waveform.zip (162.7 KB, 152 views)
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Old 07-19-2020, 06:04 PM   #7
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I'm not quite sure how to tell you this, Birches....

I looked at the waveform. I see no clunk.

I listened to the audio. I hear no clunk.

Now, on the one hand, my sensory organs are quite well worn at this point, and on the other hand, I've been doing this sort of thing for a very long time.... so I'm going to go out on a limb here:

There is no clunk.

Do you here a clunk when you listen to that mp3 (not the audio in the project, the mp3 in the zip)?

Did you solo the track you're working on? Is it possible that you've been trying to remove the clunk from the wrong track?

Last edited by Fex; 07-19-2020 at 06:10 PM.
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Old 07-19-2020, 06:18 PM   #8
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I do hear a very slight plosive, such as you might expect with a word like "Stop" being suddenly exclaimed. My semi-professional advice - and it's probably the best I can give - ignore it. No-one will notice, and any attempt to remove it will compromise what is otherwise good quality audio.
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Old 07-19-2020, 06:21 PM   #9
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I was just about to post the same thing. I don't hear any "clunk" either. What I do hear throughout the clip, is a vague background sound (as if a background music track was mixed down really low). It is not particularly prominent on the word "stop" however. It is kind of like a palm muted guitar perhaps but very low down in the mix as I say.

In addition I thought there was slight excessive sibilance on occasion but again not at the point you mention.

I did try Reafir to isolate the sound but couldn't find anything that was "clunky".
I too am old so may be missing some frequencies so maybe this needs fresh (and younger) ears but my money is on Fex at this point...
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Old 07-19-2020, 06:24 PM   #10
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Thanks for the vote of confidence!
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Originally Posted by martifingers View Post
What I do hear throughout the clip, is a vague background sound (as if a background music track was mixed down really low).
That's clearly meant to be there. It sounds quite good.
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Old 07-19-2020, 06:31 PM   #11
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Well. That is a direction I wasn't thinking I'd go : ). Thanks, Lex and Martifingers for the quick responses -- and for trying reafir on my track. I will listen again with fresh ears, which are also approaching medicare-eligible.
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Old 07-24-2020, 08:40 AM   #12
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I'm not able to listen to the file, but you might be able to remove the odd noise using spectral editing. It takes a bit of mucking about to get a good results, but it's kind of fun if you have the time on your hands. I used it to remove some weird breathing noises on some acoustic guitar tracks and it worked pretty well.

based on other replies, the clunk might be too subtle to even see on the spectrum, but it's worth a try.

Kenny did a great video (obviously): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSBO_VC9q3E
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Old 07-24-2020, 11:44 AM   #13
maxdembo
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Wasnt Mysterious Clunk the drummer in the sad/art/jazz/skiffle/hardcore outfit, Artichoke Bellhop?
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