Weird "sounds" when recording or soloing a Soundbite.

buzzsmith · Post by **buzzsmith** » Wed Feb 24, 2016 7:41 pm

Today I was prepping a vocal track to send to Nashville and noticed about 3 or 4 instances of an unusual "pop" or weirdness at the tail of the very exposed vocal track. No crossfades, just the tail of a single soundbite.

If I started the sequence prior to the word(s) I'd hear the noise. If I started during the word, all was OK.

If I selected and auditioned the whole word same thing. Half the word including the release, no problem.

No plugs, no effects, just raw vocal.

I'll try making a copy tomorrow and merging and maybe bouncing and see if that corrects it.

Sig is probably not correct. OS 10.8.6 and DP 9.01.

Have not deleted prefs or repaired permissions if that is applicable since the upgrade 3 weeks ago.

Thanks!

Buzzy

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FMiguelez · Post by **FMiguelez** » Wed Feb 24, 2016 7:49 pm

So if I understand correctly, they are irregular? The are not printed, but you hear the noises seemingly randomly, depending where you start playback?

It sounds quite similar to an issue I've been having...
http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... =1&t=61101

buzzsmith · Post by **buzzsmith** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 6:21 am

FM, in my case, they seem to be in the same spot(s) but I don't see them as printed on the waveform(s).

For instance, it could be the word "go" held out for 2 seconds. If I start the sequence at the beginning of the word, I'll hear the little noise around the release point. If I start in the middle of the word, I don't!!??

Same applies to playing the soundbite by selecting the waveform.

All of the word...noise on the release.

Last half of the word...no noise.

We did do a little bit of DP pitch correction so I'm gonna look into that, too, to see if the affected soundbites have any corrections where the glitches occur.

Also, besides trying a merge and a bounce on a copy, I'll probably down save a copy of the project and open with DP 8 and check that out.

Thanks for your reply.

Buzzy

Edit: Grasping...I'll try changing the buffer size, too, to 512 or 1024. I think I'm currently at 256.

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Tritonemusic · Post by **Tritonemusic** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 7:17 am

buzzsmith wrote:We did do a little bit of DP pitch correction so I'm gonna look into that, too, to see if the affected soundbites have any corrections where the glitches occur.

That's where I'd look. I love DP's Pitch Correction, but it can definitely make weird, popping noises, etc. on certain material.

buzzsmith · Post by **buzzsmith** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 8:28 am

Tritonemusic wrote:
buzzsmith wrote:We did do a little bit of DP pitch correction so I'm gonna look into that, too, to see if the affected soundbites have any corrections where the glitches occur.
That's where I'd look. I love DP's Pitch Correction, but it can definitely make weird, popping noises, etc. on certain material.

That's EXACTLY where the problem was. When I removed the pitch correction from the area, the pop/glitch also went away.

With the pitch corrected, merging didn't help nor did Bounce To Disk. In fact when I bounced two soundbites to disk, the resulting soundbite actually showed the pop where the original did not display that.

This is disconcerting.

Buzzy

Tritonemusic · Post by **Tritonemusic** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 8:44 am

I've had occasional success redrawing the bad section using the pencil tool, just enough to get rid of the weirdness.

buzzsmith · Post by **buzzsmith** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 9:02 am

Tritonemusic wrote:I've had occasional success redrawing the bad section using the pencil tool, just enough to get rid of the weirdness.

Redrawing the waveform or the pitch curves within a pitch block?

Thanks.

Buzzy

I did file a TechLink.

Here's a link to two images...

https://flic.kr/s/aHskvfgtzn

Double click on either to enlarge.

Tritonemusic · Post by **Tritonemusic** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 10:54 am

buzzsmith wrote:Redrawing the waveform or the pitch curves within a pitch block?

The pitch curve. You can also try using the Scissor Tool and create a separate pitch block for just the problem area and treat that independently. Unfortunately, it's never really a sure thing. I just go nuts and try different scenarios and sometimes I get lucky.

buzzsmith · Post by **buzzsmith** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 11:35 am

Tritonemusic wrote:
buzzsmith wrote:Redrawing the waveform or the pitch curves within a pitch block?
The pitch curve. You can also try using the Scissor Tool and create a separate pitch block for just the problem area and treat that independently. Unfortunately, it's never really a sure thing. I just go nuts and try different scenarios and sometimes I get lucky.

What's weird is that where the pop/glitch occurs (at the releases) there is no pitch correction applied.

IOW, I corrected the long note, but did not correct the release or the vibrato.

If you have a second, check out the images on the link above.

And, thank you!

Buzzy

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Shooshie · Post by **Shooshie** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 8:45 pm

Maybe it's too late, if you've already corrected it, but if it's still as it was, you might try expanding the view. That is, zooming in on the pitch correction. Sometimes you will see little things that you didn't know were there when you zoom in quite a bit.

But sometimes it's just unexplainable. You can try duplicating the soundbite and replacing it, and see if it still happens. Or look for artifacts in aux tracks through which it may be routed. Is there a master track or a sub-bass parallel aux that may have some kind of automation in them?

If it was just the pitch, then I'd file it in the unexplainable phenomenon and call Fox Mulder and Dana Sculley. That's happened to me before, too, by the way. I was able to dodge it with automation, but most of the time you can't do that, unless it's a background vocal in ensemble, or already fading out, or something like that. I've also found the same word elsewhere in the song (especially if it's a bridge) and just spliced in all or part of the word.

In the old days, we'd have just done another take. You know?

Shoosh

buzzsmith · Post by **buzzsmith** » Fri Feb 26, 2016 5:56 am

Thanks, Shoosh.

Yes, over the years I've moved "t"s and "s"s that were more pronounced to the areas where they weren't.

I've spliced the beginning of an "ooh" to the tail of another.

In my soon-to-be-diagnosed feeble attempt to explain and rationalize, I feel like the DP engine is doing its job when it encounters a pitch correction then when it "releases" it generates this little pop or glitch.

It's probably been happening for quite a while but never noticed until I had to send just this isolated vocal with NOTHING to mask any abnormalities.

As mentioned earlier, I did send a TechLink. The technician that replied said he'd never heard of this issue and asked me to send him one of the offending 2 second waveforms to see if he could recreate.

Yep. There are always workarounds!

Buzzy

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Basstrup · Post by **Basstrup** » Sat Feb 27, 2016 8:27 pm

Like in Melodyne - it's good practice to cut t's and s's and not pitch correct them. I get way less artifacts that way.

buzzsmith · Post by **buzzsmith** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 6:34 am

Basstrup wrote:Like in Melodyne - it's good practice to cut t's and s's and not pitch correct them. I get way less artifacts that way.

Yes. The soundbites in question did not have pitch correction on the releases.

And, I'm learning Melodyne 4, now. Amazing.

Thanks...

Buzzy

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buzzsmith · Post by **buzzsmith** » Thu Mar 03, 2016 3:49 pm

Again today. Probably 8 instances on a 4 minute solo vocal. No pitch correction on the releases, but a definite "pop" at the end of the phrase.

Only way to correct is to flatten out (at least) the very last block with the pencil tool. Sometimes, one or two more that precede the last block.

And as mentioned earlier, if I start playback halfway (or so) through the soundbite there usually is no pop.

Just does not make sense!!

Buzzy

MOTU TechLink active...responses are back and forth. No resolution as of today.

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