Help recording Vinyl. I did it but it has clicks and pops!

[Hillyhi11s]

Hi,

My setup is Macbook w/ 4gb ram, Ableton 8 suite, 2 Technics, and a Rane TTM 57sl mixer.

I record vinyl into the computer using Ableton (currently only 1 track, but later entire sets), but when i play back the recorded audio there are pops and clicks all over the track. My needles and records are very clean. I was using the USB from the TTM 57 to record in the computer. It sounded fine at the time but when i play it back in Ableton it sounds bad. What am I doing wrong? Can I fix the problem within Ableton or do I have to re-record?

Also, the files are saved as AIF files, I thought they would be wave files?

[H20nly]

you can't be serious

[nuxnamon]

i have no experience with the 57 but i do have a 56.. try the analog outs of the 57 into your main audio card..

[Hillyhi11s]

First, of course I am serious! I have never had a problem recording with other programs. I am trying this a different way this time though.

Second, I have not tried the audio out option yet, but I am sure that will work (as it did in the past with other programs). However, being that the 57's USB sends audio to the computer, I would think it could work that way. Has anyone tried this with success?

[H20nly]

In Live's preferences (ctrl + ,) you can set the options for exporting and rendering. You have two choices .aif or .wav

Your post says "Help recording Vinyl. I did it but it has clicks and pops!". People actually pay money for plugins and developers actually design plugins and filters to make audio have those "clicks and pops!" Its no secret that vinyl makes clicks and pops. Many people will argue that its part of the beauty of it.

It sounded fine at the time but when i play it back in Ableton it sounds bad. What am I doing wrong? Can I fix the problem within Ableton or do I have to re-record?

Anybody that has the skills to actually fix (not mask) pops and clicks in recorded audio doesn't have to ask how to get the audio in the DAW. Hell they have a full time career of removing pops and clicks and cleaning audio up ahead of them as that seems to be the Holy Grail of mastering.

For what its worth... I don't think they will be using Ableton Live for that task.

Sorry. I thought you were trolling.

[H20nly]

^

He'd be a good candidate for one of our T.K. t-shirts.

[blakbeltjonez]

i'm gonna guess that those clicks and pops are very short, full scale square waves...

sure sounds like a digital clock problem, i.e., the Rane, or Ableton is not set properly to sync to whatever is providing master clock rate ...crackles and pops are a common symptom. you need to make sure everything's set up properly as far as sample rate, etc.

is there a 3rd piece of software in your scenario, like Serato? could be that Ableton is confused about who is providing the master clock. there can be only one master, or you're going to have those issues. if you have any other audio application running that can affect the "soundcard" of the Rane, that could be a potential problem.

you are probably monitoring the audio when you record from a point before the clock sync fucks it up.. like from the analog outputs of your Rane.

[djsynchro]

Were you trying to record "pop" music?

[Tone Deft]

Were you trying to record "pop" music?

smart ass.




try lowering your sample rate and increasing your buffers. the majority of pops and clips are from the microprocessor being overloaded.

[Hillyhi11s]

I was trying to record a record. I think i need to totally re-record (i recorded like 4 or 5 before i noticed the problem, oops).

So, the clicks and pops, maybe that was a bad explanation. They are clicks and pops, but not like what you might normally hear in a record. Its more like a constant clicking/popping throughout the entire song, not rhythmical or normal at all (these were new records too).

Is there a 3rd piece of software in your scenario, like Serato? could be that Ableton is confused about who is providing the master clock. there can be only one master, or you're going to have those issues. if you have any other audio application running that can affect the "soundcard" of the Rane, that could be a potential problem.

To this, the 57 has Serato built in, so maybe this is the issue. But i did not have Serato on while i was recording. The 57 is plugged directly into the computer and i was only running Ableton. Any way to fix the clocking problem?
If I record Serato, not records, i will need to use the audio out from my mixer anyhow. So, i guess that is the answer. I was hoping to do it directly with USB...

--
Hill

[v00d00ppl]

raise the input latency to as high as possible......your latency is too low....the more recording latency the more frequency ranges can get recorded......the less latency the more likely chance you will have a pop and click

[MJO]

I may be having the same problem.

I'm recording from a microphone through an Apogee Duet on a MacBook Pro (Core 2 Duo 2.53GHz, 4GB memory). I'm using Live 8.1. I don't get the pops when recording audio through Audacity (at the same bit depth and sample rate), if that's significant.

Things I've tried:
- cranking the buffer way up (to 1777), past the point of any useful live monitoring with effects.
- changing the bitrate (from 48kHz to 96kHz, then 44.1kHz) and also the bit depth from 24 to 16.

I can link to samples of the pops if it helps diagnose the problem (please let me know).

[sporkles]

What is your warp setting? I think the default warp mode is "Beats", and in Live 8, I've experienced
a lot of snap, crackle 'n' pop with "beats". Depending on what you want to do with the file, try
changing or deactivating warping. If you're new to Ableton Live, read up on "warping" in the
manual.

[MJO]

What is your warp setting? I think the default warp mode is "Beats", and in Live 8, I've experienced
a lot of snap, crackle 'n' pop with "beats". Depending on what you want to do with the file, try
changing or deactivating warping. If you're new to Ableton Live, read up on "warping" in the
manual.

Good call: I hadn't thought of that.

That wasn't it, though: warp is off.

[hexeract]

I have the same problem with the duet. It records fine in logic, but in ableotn I get clicks and pop 50% of the time. I guess it depends what kind of "mood" my computer is in. WHen using a motu 828 MKII i never have any pop clicking issues. The buffer and sample rate don't matter.
I'm a 2.93 macbook pro with ableton 7


People say check the clock settings, but in audio/midi the clock tab is grayed out as "default", so there's no way to change it. I've talked to both ableton and apogee and no one seems to know what the problem is. It's good to see I'm not the only one having it. Anyone find a fix yet?