PT 2022.5 Audio Clicking and Popping After Import

[Thatengineergirl]

Hello!

I just updated my PT to 2022.5 and now after I import and convert audio files it clicks and pops.

I download a lot of YouTube beats and the playback is fine when I play the downloaded file but clicks and pops after it’s imported to pro tools. The other engineers at my job are also having the same issue and we can’t figure it out how to fix it and the clients are getting upset.

Is anyone having this issue too/found a way to fix it? Please help!

Thanks!

[dominicperry]

Similar or same problem reported here.........


https://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?...ghlight=clicks


But not clear if this has been fixed for some people and not for others.

Dominic

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by Thatengineergirl

Hello!

I just updated my PT to 2022.5 and now after I import and convert audio files it clicks and pops.

I download a lot of YouTube beats and the playback is fine when I play the downloaded file but clicks and pops after it’s imported to pro tools. The other engineers at my job are also having the same issue and we can’t figure it out how to fix it and the clients are getting upset.

Is anyone having this issue too/found a way to fix it? Please help!

Thanks!

Some more details might help, like what exactly are you doing, and you are import what exact file formats (details, sample rate, bit depth etc and converting to what exact format/sample rate?) ?

You likely have already, but confirm the click is in the recorded/imported audio (i.e. you can see the click transient in the waveform).

Does dragging and dropping the file in the edit window produce the same as results as file>import?

An obvious work around to try is to do the conversion and/or the sample rate conversion part outside of Pro Tools and just import a .aiff or .wav file. The canonical audio format conversion utility on Mac is afconvert a command line utility included with macOS, a little cryptic but it's the very useful: afconvert -h to see the options.

Have you tried basic troubleshooting stuff like trashing prefs, trying this with a new empty session? No I suspect it might not help, esp. if other are also seeing the problem... but get this out of the way so you can tell Avid you've' done it.

If you can share the source file that gets clicks/pops on input it may be useful to get others here to try it.

If you just updated you might as well update to 2022.6 even though I don't see any mention there of addressing this.

There seems to be multiple changes going on in Pro Tools import, at least for MP3, with changes back last year that introduced clicks/pop issues to MP3 imports and 2022.4 fixed at least some of those issues. Seems like some changes might be introducing some new problems, some changes fixing some of those problems, and still more to fix. And folks are reporting slow import problems as well recently. With so many things flying around about import issues I would encourage you to file a support incident with Avid and share the incident number/details on DUC.

[Thatengineergirl]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Some more details might help, like what exactly are you doing, and you are import what exact file formats (details, sample rate, bit depth etc and converting to what exact format/sample rate?) ?

You likely have already, but confirm the click is in the recorded/imported audio (i.e. you can see the click transient in the waveform).

Does dragging and dropping the file in the edit window produce the same as results as file>import?

An obvious work around to try is to do the conversion and/or the sample rate conversion part outside of Pro Tools and just import a .aiff or .wav file. The canonical audio format conversion utility on Mac is afconvert a command line utility included with macOS, a little cryptic but it's the very useful: afconvert -h to see the options.

Have you tried basic troubleshooting stuff like trashing prefs, trying this with a new empty session? No I suspect it might not help, esp. if other are also seeing the problem... but get this out of the way so you can tell Avid you've' done it.

If you can share the source file that gets clicks/pops on input it may be useful to get others here to try it.

If you just updated you might as well update to 2022.6 even though I don't see any mention there of addressing this.

There seems to be multiple changes going on in Pro Tools import, at least for MP3, with changes back last year that introduced clicks/pop issues to MP3 imports and 2022.4 fixed at least some of those issues. Seems like some changes might be introducing some new problems, some changes fixing some of those problems, and still more to fix. And folks are reporting slow import problems as well recently. With so many things flying around about import issues I would encourage you to file a support incident with Avid and share the incident number/details on DUC.

I'm using this Youtube to MP3 converter https://y2mate.is/en332/youtube-to-mp3.html We were thinking that could be the issue with the converters but when the download is played from files there's no clicking and popping.

I'm converting an MP3 to a sample rate of 48KHz, bit depth is 24-bits, file type is BWF (.wav) and a buffer size of 32 samples. Changing the buffer size and sample rate didn't work either.

You can't see the clicks and pops in the waveforms when its imported and its bounces with the them as well. Dragging and dropping has the same results as importing.

The audio track is routed directly to the master track with no input. I've tried routing the track to various aux tracks and that doesn't help either. My usual playback engines are an Apollo Twin x, GoliathHD or external headphones. They all produce the same outcome.

[Darryl Ramm]

You mean you *can* see the pops/clicks in the waverform... because if you can't then they are not there and the pop/click is coming at playback and you need to solve that problem.

Assuming you really meant can't see them in the waveform then: They are either coming from Pro Tools during playback or further down the playback chain, maybe from interference. If they playback fine outside Pro Tools then that points the finger at Pro Tools Playback.

Do you have any external digital devices clocking to/from your interface? If using external clocking, unplug that for some tests and just run on the interface internal clock. For your earphone/headphone make sure that is direct not an aggregate device. Heck make sure you are not using any aggregate devices and the devices you are using are not part of another aggregate or being used by any other app (which should usually work fine on macOS... but...).

If you are downloading and playing with stuff off YouTube I am surprised you are running at a buffer size of 32 samples. Just asking for problems with no reason?

Trash prefs

Try to create a new empty session 48 kHz, WAV, 24 bit (totally empty not from a template or a copy of a session).
IO Buffer size 256 samples (an arbitrary larger/"normal"/less risky number).
Ignore errors *not* checked... you want Pro Tools to throw an AAE error not put pops/click in your playback.
Disk cache set to 1GB (enough to fully cache a small test session).

test with that. Still problems..

Try moving all .aaxplugin files out of the plugin folder and leave them out while testing, Pro Tools will automagically reinstall the core plugins when you start it up, which is fine. (the test session is not going to have any plugins but you just want to check for other problems caused by plugins you are not even using).

Try creating a new Admin account and repeat the same tests from there.

---

I converted a near hour long video off YouTube of some very nice Mozart chamber music. Used the same tool you did, download at highest quality 160kbps MP3 (unclear what rate you are using).

With Pro Tools 2022.6 on my 2019 15" i9 MacBook Pro running Big Sur I created a new session at 48kHz 24 bit, WAV, interleaved and imported the mp3 (since it's an mp3 there are no conversion options). I could not hear a single click/pop but I did keep getting interrupted and having to go back and relisten over stuff, but hey I have Mozart in the background for most of my day. I repeated with a non-interleaved session, and listened for about 10 minutes and heard no problems. I was using my little Grace m920 monitor controller as the playback engine.

[Thatengineergirl]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

You mean you *can* see the pops/clicks in the waverform... because if you can't then they are not there and the pop/click is coming at playback and you need to solve that problem.

Assuming you really meant can't see them in the waveform then: They are either coming from Pro Tools during playback or further down the playback chain, maybe from interference. If they playback fine outside Pro Tools then that points the finger at Pro Tools Playback.

Do you have any external digital devices clocking to/from your interface? If using external clocking, unplug that for some tests and just run on the interface internal clock. For your earphone/headphone make sure that is direct not an aggregate device. Heck make sure you are not using any aggregate devices and the devices you are using are not part of another aggregate or being used by any other app (which should usually work fine on macOS... but...).

If you are downloading and playing with stuff off YouTube I am surprised you are running at a buffer size of 32 samples. Just asking for problems with no reason?

Trash prefs

Try to create a new empty session 48 kHz, WAV, 24 bit (totally empty not from a template or a copy of a session).
IO Buffer size 256 samples (an arbitrary larger/"normal"/less risky number).
Ignore errors *not* checked... you want Pro Tools to throw an AAE error not put pops/click in your playback.
Disk cache set to 1GB (enough to fully cache a small test session).

test with that. Still problems..

Try moving all .aaxplugin files out of the plugin folder and leave them out while testing, Pro Tools will automagically reinstall the core plugins when you start it up, which is fine. (the test session is not going to have any plugins but you just want to check for other problems caused by plugins you are not even using).

Try creating a new Admin account and repeat the same tests from there.

---

I converted a near hour long video off YouTube of some very nice Mozart chamber music. Used the same tool you did, download at highest quality 160kbps MP3 (unclear what rate you are using).

With Pro Tools 2022.6 on my 2019 15" i9 MacBook Pro running Big Sur I created a new session at 48kHz 24 bit, WAV, interleaved and imported the mp3 (since it's an mp3 there are no conversion options). I could not hear a single click/pop but I did keep getting interrupted and having to go back and relisten over stuff, but hey I have Mozart in the background for most of my day. I repeated with a non-interleaved session, and listened for about 10 minutes and heard no problems. I was using my little Grace m920 monitor controller as the playback engine.

Everything except the imported stereo track is/was perfectly fine. There was no clicking or popping otherwise.

Regardless, I figured out the issue it was the YouTube converter. Appreciate your efforts to help!