Ableton Forum

I get clicks on some live clip recordings at the loop point, what is the best way to remove this and implement start and end envelopes in real time?

what do you mean by clicks?
are these clicks part of the recording?
or what?
if they are.. draw in a volume envelope that lowers their power..
if these clicks are only in the beginning/end of the loop.. enable 'fade' button on the clip

3dot is correct, enable fade button on the clip and fade the beginning/end parts of the clip where it meets the next.

I will advise though, you do it on a per-clip basis rather than configuring Live to add fades to all clips in preferences.
I say this because I recently had this setting on for some reason in one of my Live installs and had to painstakingly go back through well over 100 clips and reset the fade at the beginning of the clip as the start was faded in automatically.

I believe the clicks are due to something called "Zero Crossing" (edit: not "DC Offset") if I recall correctly from an explanation I got from the Abes before. One clip ends at a certain frequency, and if the other clip starts with different frequency, there's a click or pop when the two waveforms meet as it's not 1 solid wave.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_crossing

cotdagoo wrote:One clip ends at a certain frequency, and if the other clip starts with different frequency, ...

It's not about frequencies but amplitudes, and the easiest way to get loop transitions or even sample start and end on the same amplitude is to cut both ends at zero crossings.

Sampler's Snap option does exactly that: When you move Sample Start or End, they snap to the next zero crossing.

Audio Editors usually have a snap-to-zero option and/or a corresponding search function.

But for real time use, as miekwave is searching, fades (and a bit of luck) usually do the trick.

3dot... wrote:what do you mean by clicks?
are these clicks part of the recording?
or what?
if they are.. draw in a volume envelope that lowers their power..
if these clicks are only in the beginning/end of the loop.. enable 'fade' button on the clip

The clips Start and End points on some loops do not end at the 0 point. I am unable to find an auto envelope (5ms fade) function that is automatically applied to the start and end of the clip. This is why I asked if there is a realtime solution to this.

miekwave wrote:
The clips Start and End points on some loops do not end at the 0 point. I am unable to find an auto envelope (5ms fade) function that is automatically applied to the start and end of the clip. This is why I asked if there is a realtime solution to this.

I'm curious, did you ever resolve this to your satisfaction? If so, can you share? I've read of a couple of things that might work/help, but am curious what solution(s) you might have found for your application.
cheers!

OMG haha I had this exact same issue today. My little brother recorded a few different bass lines with a bass guitar and one section had that click/pop. So I just did some micro editing like the vid below and deleted a little bit at the end where the pop is. I then consolidated the whole section that gave me problems and looks like it fixed it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch71XGEPsaY

I think this is the same issue you were having. If not disregard my post. haha

Junosynth wrote:OMG haha I had this exact same issue today. My little brother recorded a few different bass lines with a bass guitar and one section had that click/pop. So I just did some micro editing like the vid below and deleted a little bit at the end where the pop is. I then consolidated the whole section that gave me problems and looks like it fixed it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch71XGEPsaY

I think this is the same issue you were having. If not disregard my post. haha

The problem that you give is a very fixable one, either thru Live or a good sound editor like Sound Forge. I believe this person was talking about creating loops LIVE (on the fly), so there is no chance to edit the loops as is being described in the video that you've attached. So, thanx for this post, but it's not quite relevant to the problem that i a working with and (i think) the problem the original poster is/was having.
thanx and cheers!

jlanpheer wrote:

Junosynth wrote:OMG haha I had this exact same issue today. My little brother recorded a few different bass lines with a bass guitar and one section had that click/pop. So I just did some micro editing like the vid below and deleted a little bit at the end where the pop is. I then consolidated the whole section that gave me problems and looks like it fixed it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch71XGEPsaY

I think this is the same issue you were having. If not disregard my post. haha

The problem that you give is a very fixable one, either thru Live or a good sound editor like Sound Forge. I believe this person was talking about creating loops LIVE (on the fly), so there is no chance to edit the loops as is being described in the video that you've attached. So, thanx for this post, but it's not quite relevant to the problem that i a working with and (i think) the problem the original poster is/was having.
thanx and cheers!

Ok Gotcha. Sorry I couldn't be of more help but thanks to this thread I now know more about why this stuff happens.

How wrong am I???

Live needs a simple audio editor to take care of such things! It's only been since forever that people have asked for one.

Seriously, a simple audio editor with pencil/xfades would be a DANDY. I try to use external audio editors but they suck mostly.

'Create Fades on Clip Edges'

leave this ON

https://www.ableton.com/en/articles/aud ... ive-clips/

I disagree with the "fades" option...

If you want the loop to sound perfect, zoom in as close as you can on the waveform and make sure the "start" and "end" of the loop are at a point when the pressure is at 0... you'll get a sure-result this way.

you can't tell the difference between using the fades option and setting it by hand, except that setting it by hand is very time consuming

JamesFB wrote:I disagree with the "fades" option...

If you want the loop to sound perfect, zoom in as close as you can on the waveform and make sure the "start" and "end" of the loop are at a point when the pressure is at 0... you'll get a sure-result this way.

Live isn't sample accurate. It's not doable just by zooming to make it 'sound perfect'.

Sorry for saying perfect, I meant clickless...

And sure, even if it's not completely perfect, I've found it to be a good indication. Enough tweeking close up, so long as you're in the right area, and you'll hit the mark.

Are you saying it's a good idea to leave the fades on? It's just with the fades, the result is more unnatural... and the "click" can be eliminated so long as you hit two spots with 0 pressure...

Remember, the click is a result of dramatic pressure changes... if you want to learn to control the noise, learn how it works yourself and stop relying on buttons and tools. Get the theory through your head. Even if the tools to measure aren't perfectly accurate, at least you're approaching the problem from its foundations rather than layering bulls**t on top.

F**k those fades. Understand why the clicks are happening so you can eliminate them from the source.