Trying to fix 20 seconds of flawed audio

[dougwm]

Hi everybody,

I'm a total Pro Tools newbie and just joined the forum. Greetings to all! I need some expert advice on an unexpected audio problem I found in a file that I am working on in Pro Tools, though it was not originally recorded in Pro Tools.

Background: At a recent recording session (classical organ), I stupidly played the opening two lines of a piece only once (breaking my own "play everything at least twice" rule). Later, I discovered what might be a clocking error (or something) in that take. It is a repetitive nasty disturbance that modulates the audio for about 20 seconds and then disappears. Can anyone recommend a tool or procedure which might rescue this? Alternatively, I'll be driving from MA to FL to record those two lines again. Yay!

This link is to a 1-minute clip that contains the problem. It manifests about 20 seconds in and lasts 20 seconds:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...%20opening.mp3

Thanks in advance for any inspiration that you all can provide!

Doug

[amagras]

It might be interesting to hear what people will suggest but if recording again is an option for you then go for it and don't look back. Good luck

[c-tone]

It may be difficult, if not impossible, to repair that issue.

How was it recorded, if not using Pro Tools? What was the original audio file format?

Try to access the original file, not a copy, or have someone else check the original recording and see if the same issue exists there.

[weezul]

I'd shake the hand of the guy who could repair that! That's particularly bad clocking sounds. I usually just get clicks that RX could probably handle. The tone of the recording seems to really change at that point though. You could maybe use a software organ for that section, and use some form of EQ match to blend it. Try and crossfade it in and out? I think a re-record is your only option (wether in the same place, or as an overdub)

[K Roche]

I think it can be repaired (maybe) BUT only way I know of would be use the Izotope RX https://www.izotope.com/en/products/repair-and-edit/rx.html not cheap $349 for the standard version but if you are doing a lot of recording of acoustical instruments it can be an invaluable tool. I have used the standard version for my acoustic guitar recordings for a little over a year now and it is pretty impressive

But as weezul said above there is such a drastic change in tone and volume that even though you could probably remove the initial sound the before the soft organ part starts with RX the removing the rest of the intermmittent ones might also create drop outs that may be noticeable and perhaps only masked by some kind of delay effect or something added to that part. But it will probably not sound like originally intended

[studiostuff]

Originally Posted by K Roche

I think it can be repaired (maybe) BUT only way I know of would be use the Izotope RX https://www.izotope.com/en/products/repair-and-edit/rx.html

I gave it a lash w/RX-5 Advanced and was unable to do much in the way of a convincing repair.

Maybe someone w/more RX-5 skills than I have can do it. But I'd say from a quick glance and attempt that it is not going to be fixable.

[DontLetMeDrown]

Not sure that's fixable. On the bright side, the glitch is pretty trippy would make a perfect intro for a metal song. Cue the blast beats! \m/

[Emcha_audio]

Here's my suggestion.

If there's nothing else playing at all in that moment and you simply want to save the reverb tail, it's pretty easy to do.
1 - Create an aux that has about the same feel as the original room ambiance, and one with a reverb that has about the same decay.
2 - create a fade out that is pretty steep just before the beginning of the crackling
3 - automate the aux channels so that the mute comes off a tad before the fade out, and automate a fade in on the aux channel that is the exact opposite of the fade out, placed exactly at the same point.
4- make sure that the ambiance aux feeds the reverb aux.

If you dial it in well, this will basically fade out the crackling before it happens, and the last note(chord) will be picked up by the ambiance and reverb aux to complete the reverb tail.

// edit, I was listening to it at work on too low levels to hear the strings. disregard, Izotope might have a tool for it, but it will have an effect on the sound.