Click Removal in Sound Forge 5.0

Tutorial:
For those of you that haven't been this deep into it yet, and need a little encouragement
as to how to find and remove clicks with the pencil tool, here are some screen shots
of the process, to help you to recognize a click by "sight" and to show you what the
result looks like, once the click has been removed.

With a little practice anyone can do this!

The Screen Shots:
All of the images below are zoomed in all the way, and the problem area is bracketed
between two markers, showing first, the problem area "before" the click is removed,
and then the problem area "after" the click is removed.
( Hit the "M" key to drop a marker where the cursor is sitting )


Click 1: Before:
Big nasty click hangin' there! ( left channel - top )

What I was hearing in the above instance was a distinct high frequency click in the left channel
of my headphones, and you can see the spike in the left channel, ( on the top ),
in between the markers.

When you hear something that you want to look at closely, the first thing to do is get your cursor
close to the problem area, as close as you can, right before you hear the click

Stop and start playback a few times, moving the cursor each time, getting closer, until you need
to zoom in to a tighter view to see where you're going.



Use the magnifying glass on the bottom right of the window to zoom in, a few clicks at a time,
moving your cursor closer to the click, by listening.

After a few stops and starts you'll be down to the most magnified view
and you'll then need to look for the click, and that is exactly why I've posted these images,
to show you ( generally ) what to look for and how to use the pencil tool,
to ( once again, generally )...

... draw, yes...you manually redraw the wave form,
the same way you would draw it on a piece of paper, with a real pencil,
to create a "smoother curve/line" at the place where you see the "jagged click".

Click 1: After:
Left channel repaired, using pencil tool.

In the above "after" shot I now see a slight spike in the right channel that I didn't fix,
mainly because I didn't hear it, but take note of how that one looks, because sometime you might
find that little spike to be the click that you hear.

Generally:
When it comes to clicks:
Jagged = BAD!
Smooth = GOOD!

(Note, however, that not ever jagged thing you see is a problem,
and if it ain't broke, meaning you can't hear a problem,
then don't bother fixing it!)



That's all the coaching you need, other than to say that it takes a bit of practice to get
smooth with the pencil tool,
and you also that there is no exact science here, when your drawing.
As long as it's a smooth fix and you no longer hear the problem, then that's good!

Click 2: Before:
Big nasty click in the right channel! ( bottom )

Most importantly, realize, that for the best results,
( best results = no noticeable click and no noticeable loss in musical content )
you want to connect the smoothest part of the wave before the click to the smoothest
part of the wave, after the click.


Click 2: After: right channel ( bottom )
repaired, using pencil tool... I also got that little spike in the left channel.

The pencil tool will "snap" the line together, in the most efficient way, relative to where you
start and stop drawing.

That's it! Have a look at the images and get a feel
for what those little nasties really look like and you'll
be a master of the pencil tool in no time!

Click 3: Before:
Jagged Click in right channel ( bottom )

Click 3: After: ( Right Channel- Bottom )
Repaired using pencil tool...once again I also did the left channel

Click 4: Before:
( Right Channel - Bottom )
Smaller - Harder to see - but still an audible problem

Click 4: After ( right channel - bottom )
Repaired using pencil tool.

Tutorial by Steve Karl - 11.22.01 - 6:45 AM


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