Issue when consolidate or AudioSuite crossfades

[Jperkins]

Has anybody had an issue with fades not working correctly when trying to consolidate a track containing crossfades or simply trying to AudioSuite a track with crossfades? I've had a few cases where there is a crossfade that sounds fine on playback, but when I consolidate that area or AudioSuite it with a plugin, the crossfade is ignored or otherwise weird and the sound gets very weird and distorted.

This is not the best video because the source audio is garbage and the session is a mess from a video editor but you can see that when the crossfades are drawn and I play the audio, it sounds "okay" to use the term loosely. Then, after I consolidate the the section and play the audio, there are crazy distortion bursts where the fades were.

Now I know that the source audio is already bad which is why I was attempting to fix it with RX4 DeClipper. At first I thought it was a bug with RX4 rendering but then I noticed that just consolidating with no plugins causes the problem. I don't think it has anything to do with how distorted and clipped the audio recording is because I can produce it on other audio as well.

Here's the video:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...de_Dist_01.mov

I also have a few screen shots of what happens to a simple fade out sometimes when consolidating or I AudioSuite a section:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...reen-Shots.zip

This doesn't always happen but I'd be curious to know if anybody else has had this problem of crossfades not being properly handled during AudioSuite or consolidating.

I'm using OS X 10.10.3
iMac 27" 3.5GHz i7
32GB RAM

The videos are from Pro Tools 12.0 but I believe i just had the problem occur on 12.1 as well.

[midnightrambler]

You should probably try turning down the waveforms to start with, everything looks like it's overloading from here. (Use Control-Shift-Down arrows and turn them down by 10dB or something)

[Jperkins]

I know that. My point is that I can reproduce the problem even with normal levels...I just don't have time to make a video for it now.

I tried to stress that it's not the level that is the issue. Whoever captured the audio probably wasn't anticipating everybody to scream so the source audio is badly distorted. I know that and how to address it. I'm not a moron.

Please look past the level of the audio as that is not the problem although it looks alarming.

[midnightrambler]

Well even if the original recording is recorded at 0dBFS you should turn them down to -10dBFS or something. IMHO You can't expect a waveform at 0dBFS added to another waveform at 0dBFS via a crossfade to produce anything other than distortion.

[midnightrambler]

But I would try trashing all your prefs and all that stuff as well, as I seem to remember having crossfade issues, thinking about it...


http://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/...s-preferences/

[Jperkins]

Apparently I'll have to make another video next time it happens with more sane audio levels to get my point across.



I've been doing this kind of stuff for years and only noticed this problem in PT 12.0 and continuing in 12.1

[midnightrambler]

And trashing your prefs hasn't helped?

I'm not doubting your years of experience, I'm just suggesting that in future you never have files or meters maxing out at 0dBFS. It's just not sane.

[Jperkins]

Originally Posted by midnightrambler

And trashing your prefs hasn't helped?

I'm not doubting your years of experience, I'm just suggesting that in future you never have files or meters maxing out at 0dBFS. It's just not sane.

I haven't had time to trash preferences yet. I agree that exceeding 0dBFS is not best practice but also don't think there should be a difference between what you hear on playback and what you get on consolidated clips.

Consolidating a clip should give you the same results that you hear on playback. I think something has changed or a bug has been induced with how PT processes crossfades when consolidating and applying AudioSuite.

Playback and Offline render sound ok in this situation, consolidate or AudioSuite does not.

[soybalm]

I had a similar problem when consolidating one track. Where there were 2 transient peaks like a simple t or k sound about a half second apart, there was instead, 2 high pitched squeals around 4k printed to the clip. They were just 30-50 ms long. The plugins used was Autotune and the stock 7 band after Autotune. The rest of the track was fine. I deleted the fades, and used the f command for default fades. I rendered that and it was fine. It shouldn't matter that I had Autotune and the 7 band because it was just a simple consolidation, not a render, but the fades make a difference. I am on PTHD 12.1 for mac.

[Jperkins]

Originally Posted by soybalm

I had a similar problem when consolidating one track. Where there were 2 transient peaks like a simple t or k sound about a half second apart, there was instead, 2 high pitched squeals around 4k printed to the clip. They were just 30-50 ms long. The plugins used was Autotune and the stock 7 band after Autotune. The rest of the track was fine. I deleted the fades, and used the f command for default fades. I rendered that and it was fine. It shouldn't matter that I had Autotune and the 7 band because it was just a simple consolidation, not a render, but the fades make a difference. I am on PTHD 12.1 for mac.

YES! Exactly what I have been noticing. My first thought was that it was a plugin bug but then I attempted to consolidate the file to eliminate the crossfades and hope that the plugin could render that properly.

That's when I discovered that the problem isn't plugin specific but happens on a simple consolidation and/or AudioSuite.

So far I haven't detected it on offline bounces though.

Now we are getting somewhere.