Finding an annoying little splick...

[Steve Crook]

Usually on the track fade out/in and not sufficiently large to warrant increasing the click removal level, and they don't show up distinctively on the spectral view either. My technique is to use the 1sec play button and move the cursor left until the splick disappears, then back to the right until it just reappears, then select from the cursor to a point 0.5s to the right, then I should have the RHS of the selected area positioned just past the splick.

This is quite effective, but is there a better way to do it?

If not, would it be possible to introduce a couple of bounding markers at the top of the clean-up waveform each one positioned 0.5s from the cursor? Like the current permanent markers, but these would only show when the cursor is stationary and would be of a different colour... 

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

Hi Steve,

Interesting idea.  It's certainly possible, but I'm not sure that people would know what they were for.  I'll think it over.

I actually use a different technique.  I use the '1' button repeatedly, zooming in progressively, to zero in on the click.  Usually, I can then see it in the waveform display, and if I can then I know where to place the manual repair.  It sometimes takes a couple of goes to get the repair in the right place but it works for me.

It pays to make manual repairs quite wide, I find.  They don't do any real damage and it increases the chances of nailing the little devils.

Edited your post slightly for clarity.  I hope I got the meaning right.

[Steve Crook]

I'm all for clarity...

Yes, normally the 1 button on its own works well, but there are times when the plick looks a lot like what's in the fade, it's surprising just how similar they can be when the plick is eye-poking (to me). Personally, I find it difficult to co-ordinate the noise with the position of the cursor while its moving, I'm not sure if the cursor is a little laggy or if I am But, overall, the effect is the same and by the time I'm zoomed in to the extent a repair is possible there's quite a lot to look at to find the plick.

There are other occasions noise is in a much more dynamic part of a track where, despite being comparatively small, I can still hear it, then, it's **really** difficult to spot and I find this technique is the only thing that works for me.

If the markers were made an option and had to be switched on, the meaning would be clear (I hope).

I should add that, normally, I de-click on level 2 with percussion at max and brass on. But I do 4 passes, pass 4 sometimes gets nothing, but mostly there are another half dozen of so clicks repaired.

Almost always I get enough click repair like that and I'm left with a bit of manual cleaning at track starts and ends. Occasionally I have to change a percussion protection to a repair, but that's really quite rare. Also, sometimes the automatic repairs leave leading or trailing edges un-repaired changing a click to more of a splunk, but they're easy to spot and manually widen. 

The other thing I do now is to do the declick and de-noise first, then go back and position tracks. I found it made positioning track start and end simpler...

On average I take around 15 minutes per LP including waiting for the 4 click passes, and the end result is noise free on speakers and virtually silent at normal headphone listening levels. Really, I'm a very happy bunny.

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

OK Steve, we will look at this.  And thanks for the background, I do find it useful.

One thought that occurs to me is to display the markers when you press the '1' key.  I'm not sure when they should automagically disappear though, that needs more thought.  Maybe, once displayed, they should remain until you select a different album side (or perhaps leave the Cleanup Audio window.  Or do you want them to move if the cursor is moved?  I'm not sure if I quite understand the trick you're using here.

[Steve Crook]

I'd thought to have an option to display them and to have them stay in the display until the option was turned off. Default would be off.

I don't know how much CPU/graphics adaptor effort would be required to move them with the cursor when its dragged, but it would make more sense than disappearing them briefly to have them reappear when the cursor stops if it's not going to cause problems.

Originally I'd thought markers similar to the yellow markers there are at the moment, but I wonder if a pair of differently coloured vertical lines might be better.

In any event, this is a nice to have rather than anything vital, if you think it's too difficult, too much work or inappropriate, I'd understand.

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

Actually, I'm coming round to your point of view - i.e. that this is worth doing.  I'll see what can be done.

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

Hello again Steve,

This is just a quick note to say that we will be doing something about this in the next Beta.

What we decided to do was to add an 'Automatically Set Selection when Playing 1 Second Either Side of the Cursor' option to the Cursor Options menu.  Doing it this way has the advantage that you can tweak the edged of the selection (zoom in and drag) and then play the selection again to pin down the exact location of the click.

Then, to position the cursor at the edge of the selection, click on said edge (in the left or right channel, depending) and the cursor will go there.  Then press 'R' to insert your manual repair and then, if needs be, drag the edges of the repair to entirely encompass the click.

We hope to release the Beta in the next few days.  Please ask to be notified of posts to the following forum topic to get a reminder when that happens:

http://www.alpinesoft.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=2567.0

Thx.

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

Update: VinylStudio V12.0.2 Beta 3 has now been released and incorporates this feature.  You can get it from the link above.  Please let us know what you think.