Beaten by scratches on LP's

cjfrench wrote on 12/20/2009, 10:49 AM

I have enjoyed using the Audio Cleaning Lab to write cassette tapes and clean records on CD's. Now I want to clean up some treasured old LP's. Of course they have scratches, and removing the clicks would be the single most valuable use of the Lab.

I'm beaten ! I can select the scratched area as an object, and mark the scratches, but I can't work out how to remove them. The manual is incomprehensible, and trying all the controls on the DeClicker panel hasn't worked. Does anyone know of a good how-to ? (Can be auf Deutsch - my wife will translate.)

Comments

Procyon wrote on 12/21/2009, 10:11 AM

You didn't bother to tell us which version of ACL you are using, but I think it probably doesn't matter. I have a very old version. However, the latest version doesn't really look all that different function-wise. It just has a few more features.

As far as I can tell, the only options you have are the Declicker and Decrackler.
In the version I have, they work fairly well.

However, neither is capable of doing a perfect job, and will leave some artifacts depending on the severity of the damage. And, since they are basically filtering systems, the source material will be adversely affected depending on how strongly the features are used. This can be mitigated somewhat by judicious use of the equalizer.

No matter what you do, it is going to be a compromise.

I believe the kind of selective modification you seem to want is not available in ACL. However, you can do something very much like it using a true audio editing program, such as the Music Editor that comes with MMM. With it you can significantly reduce or eliminate severe pops and scratches on an individual basis.

There may be other software programs available that can do this. I took a look at Audacity, but I did not see any editing function with this capability.

Good luck!

cjfrench wrote on 12/22/2009, 6:45 AM

Very many thanks for the help. Sorry about lack of version - it's ACL 12.

I don't think you quite understand my complete stupidity in trying to do this ! I can select a scratched area, and make an object of it, I can bring up the DeClicker DeCrackler panel (looks like a metal panel with a handle at each end) and mark the scratches. But what do I do then ?! Nothing that I have tried has any effect. Please treat me like the idiot which I seem to be, and tell me in nauseating detail !!

Procyon wrote on 12/23/2009, 11:20 AM

Easy man. There's no need to be so hard on yourself. It is possible I am the one who is ignorant here.

I have a very old version, and I've looked at the screen shots of version 15 and the features are basically the same.

As I said, I don't believe what you are trying to do is of any use. I could be mistaken.

The Declicker and Decrackler is best applied to the entire object (song). I don't believe you can isolate only short sections. Even if you could, those short sections would then sound different from the rest of the piece.

On the Declicker and Decrackler, there is an ON/OFF button, which must be turned ON for it to work (which, I'm sure is obvious). Then, the associated slider can be adjusted to determine the amount of correction desired.
You should be able to hear the improvement as you move the slider to the right.

You should also save the project just to be on the safe side.

I don't know what the edit button allows you do do since MAGIX does not make the user's manuals available to anyone who doesn't purchase their products. If they did, we could probably be much more helpful.

tmccall wrote on 2/2/2010, 11:39 PM

Here's what I do and it works 98% of the time.

Zoom in about 3X.
Click "Edit" on Declicker.
Select the best preset for your record (weak,avg,strong) for Declicker & Decrackler.
Click the little button in front of "MARKERDECLICKER" to turn it on.
Click "Search Clicks" to let the program find as many as possible.
Press <space> to begin playing and listen carefully (headphones are best) for any pops that the pgm missed and note the spike in the timeline.
Press <space> to stop playback.
Position the cursor line as close to the spike as possible.
Press the '+' key on the Numpad and zoom in about 3-5 more times.
Move your cursor line to the tip of the spike.
Click "SET" under "Click Marker" to manually mark it.
Press the '-' key on the Numpad to zoom out some.
Reposition the cursor line back enough and press <space> to listen again.
With luck, you'll kill it the first time but usually you have to zoom back in and move the marker closer.
After getting all the pops out, I usually open up Denoiser and select "Hum noise 1" preset to kill the extra ghost noises.
Depending on how much noise you removed, you may want to change your dynamics some to brighten the sound back up so it doesn't sound so flat.

Good luck!

cjfrench wrote on 2/18/2010, 5:02 AM

Thanks again. Sounds a bit more hassle than I had hoped ! I'll keep working.

John