What is the best practice to remove the clicks/pops from the needle drops?

I use declicking and noise reduction only when absolutely necessary. If a cleaner, better pressing can be found, I get it. I also on vintage discs use the stylus profile which gives me the music with the least distortion, and the best sound.

 

Id' say the best practice is simply to accept them, and enjoy the music as its presented.

 

Except that people have different personalities, and cannot accept things just for the way they are. For example, some of us do not want ANY clicks, pops, or surface noise. We want the vinyl rip to sound like the master it came from.

 

Cool edit pro records at whatever quality you desire.
Just plug the player into the laptop Mic Jack with a stereo lead....but be sure to switch off the laptop external recording Mic beforehand.

 

But have you used ClickRepair brand tick removal? Once you've seen (and heard) it in action, there is no going back. It's not just another filter. Pardon me if you've already stated your extensive experiences with it in this thread.

It would have been so helpful back in the radio days, trying to play a Badfinger or Mary Hopkin hit song over the air, and no CD yet released, and all you have is some 45s and LPs with their tick, click or pop right where you don't want it. A godsend gift - never imagined.

 

Best technology I have used? If it is really annoying....I put the LP on and listen to it from the next room ....maybe the kitchen while making dinner.

 

Ohhh..needle drops....never mind.

 

Most do that anyway. It does not clean up your record like CR will.

I'm doing my final (for now) Warner Brothers Loss Leaders title. So nice to have all this material on music server and so clean too.

 

The recording software is not the problem. You're saying to plug a stereo line output cable into the laptop's mic jack? I was under the impression that the mic jack is a mono input and designed for the much lower output of a microphone. That's why I've been using an external USB device.

 

I use a stereo wire into the Jack and have converted analogue cassettes and the 2 channel wave forms have been in stereo......not identical looking mono.

 

I prefer to keep it as it is or to remove manually using Nero Wave Editor which is free.

 

Well, I did begin with "I'd say". I accept people are different. For me it's fairly simple - if you simply must have no clicks or pops, you buy digital. Clicks and pops are an artifact of the media. Sure, you may get a copy that is pristine, but having owned Vinyl for 40 years, it's only a matter of time before some surface noise, pop or click, happens. So, if no artifacts are the desire, I buy the CD.

 

In that era, the only such tools were KLH or Burwen transient noise eliminators or splicing out ticks and pops from a tape. I've used Click Repair, I've used the hardware units, I've used many a DAW's methods, and even seen CEDAR at work. These tools need to be used lightly, with taste and restraint. Easily abused at the cost of the music. Ever heard any of the broadcast automation tapes from the FM days, the masters were declicked by tape editing. Usually done skillfully. I deal with your scenario a lot, I dub a lot of vintage singles and LP discs for airplay on oldies formats. Tip, the Shibata, the Microline, or other forensic tip for this job is rarely the best for the job. Most of the Badfinger and Mary Hopkins records in my world were findable enough to get a better copy.

 

And sometimes are in fact the best. Depends on several factors including how and where record is worn, is IGD a known issue with that record or not, styrene or not, and a few others. I'd never write off or state neg on those microline tips. Just too many factors involved (if one is so inclined). The modern world and internet changed what is findable and at what cost. Amazing times we find out selves in. And many folks just can't get "it" as clumsy clutzes, and not for everyone. I am talking about making a judgement call, on any of the above.

I never heard the George Harrison song on Apple 45 "Deep Blue" without ticks 'n nicks until CR arrived on the scene.

 

The thread is for the best practice for removing clicks and pops. So, I suggest you, and several others who wish to post otherwise, should find or create a thread for not making needledrops or removing the artifacts. In that light, you guys are just threadcrapping.

You do realize that some music is still not available in digital form, or, if it is, the mastetrong is jacked up.

 

On 45 RPM singles, the kind I have to deal with the most often for transfers for oldies formats, conicals are a major necessity. LP versions on CD are much easier to find as a rule (there's exceptions of course). I deal with dubbing 45 singles in broadcast production (for an AM station once a powerhouse in it's market) so authentic single versions can be played on air when the station is on automation. Usually live assist or live during the day. On LP discs, that is where the MicroLines, the Shibatas, and their ilk are best used.

 

I haven't read the whole thread, and was wondering how popular a sentiment like this would be.

I've just accepted my source whenever I've done a needle drop. Further, I don't like sectioning an album side into songs. It's a side, dagnabit, and I listen to vinyl in part to get the thought of ramdom access out of my head and get lost in the music. My drops are side 1, and side 2.

So, my best practice is to Let It Be.

 

I have "remastered" all my important vinyl for years, and have used a number of different declick/decrackle methods over the years. IMHO iZotope RX is the way to go. Their automated de-click works extremely well - though as someone mentioned earlier in this thread - the key is to let it run at a minimal sensitivity first, in the "Clicks Only" mode - to listen and verify that you are only removing clicks. Then, up the sensitivity / repeat / until it starts to remove music - then back off to the previous setting. It's pretty amazing how well the RX can differentiate between noise and say snare/cymbals.
But after the low-sensitivity automated run, I go through the entire disc - listening and watching (in spectral view) for the clicks that remain. And there are lots. RX allows you to fix these very quickly with the Instant Process option. This option allows you to set the declick Sensitivity much, much higher, and then highlight only the exact click area - tap the mouse - and POOF, it's gone - while the track is still playing). Once you get good at this, you rarely have to Stop to manually remove clicks.

The RX De-noise is a different matter than the De-click, in that it takes some experience to know what to remove and what to leave - and it is often very program-dependent. It's more of an art than the De-click is - and especially on quieter material/passages needs to be done by hand. I generally automate a high pass at 20 hz, but that still leaves a lot of low end hash between 20-50 hz, that needs to be taken out manually in the sections that matter. I very rarely auto-denoise between 500 and 8000, because those are the areas where you can really screw up the music.

I used to be a diehard vinyl fan that scoffed at digital preocessing, but I always wondered why there was something much "easier" about listening to my reel to reels than to the same software on vinyl. Once I started working on lp's to do some very basic repairs, and looking at and listening to the spectography simultaneously, I realized just how much subliminal noise there is even on a super clean ones. And once that noise was removed, that ease to the sound like on tape was there. So by ripping in very high resolution, I can take an LP and make it sound better (to me, anyway) in digital than it does on vinyl.

 

I finally bought the most recent versions of Sound Forge Audio Studio & Audio Cleaning Lab (way cheaper than the pro versions & they do the majority of what I need) & am enjoying the results.
Many thanks.

 

I checked out their website and was VERY impressed with the "Living Doll" sample!

I have not downloaded the demo yet, but is it easy to use with the mid priced version? Anything special that needs to be known in order to make best use of the software?

 

Starting in the mid-70s, the Microlines and Shibatas work well on singles.

There's still a terrestrial radio market despite all the eulogies for it. I just wish the oldies stations I hear cared enough to use actual single versions. I should contact the recent startup in Tucson and offer my services.

 

If you index your songs for each side, nothing is stopping you from listening to it as you always have.

 

Manually. Treating the whole track is a quality compromise.

If the record is trashed and I don't intend to play it again....I'll burn it wet with a backup stylus.

 

I've always kept in mind that one shouldn't run a declicker more than once or twice. That dulling of transients can creep up on you without your noticing. Your clicks may disappear but you may not notice that the "edge" of your transients have also been smoothed out a bit, even if you reverse the file first.

That's what I do, go through each second of the files with the spectral view. I normally do this in Audition and zap those hard to get at clicks there. Once in a while I will run into a click, clack, or glitch that can only be removed with RX's Spectral Repair tool, using the replace tab. If I can't get it that way, i'll simply try cutting it out. In rare cases, i've had to take a section from another part of the song and graft it into the troubled spot. That gets very tricky! I do that in Audition. Anyway, the spectral function is crucial in surgical declicking. It takes a high level of concentration and dedication to manually declick with that method, but sometimes nothing else will do if you want a 100% click-free file. But, it's important to tale lots of breaks because after a while, you start to miss things, or you can no longer tell between a legit transient and a click. Sometimes i've played a file years after the fact, find a click, and go in and remove it.

Here is where I use the denoiser in RX and/or Audition. Sometimes the one in Audition CD works just fine. In other cases, nothing beats RX. It pays to have several tools at your disposal.

Some vinyl die-hards may wonder why I obsess so much over tiny little clicks. Why? because they're there, I hear them, and they bug me, dammit! That's why!

I used to do needledrops with my buddy and he would always comment on how clean his freshly-done needledrops were, and i'd always hear the surface noise and the tiny little clicks. But then, he also admitted that his hearing was a little shot.

My goal is always to make the drops sound as if they came right off the master tape. I do not want to hear any evidence of it coming from a vinyl record.

 

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