Crossfades?

[Gary Fitz]

I am mixing down a song for a 1st year university project. In the guitar track, the sound suddenly pans from left to right, creating a "click." I have been told that this click can be removed using crossfades. However, i cannot got it to work. Can someone please explain to me how to do this.I know ths request may seem a little stupid to some of you more experiencd pro tools technicans, but any help would be greatly appreciated.

[minister]

some drastic panning automation moves can cause these problems. but did you check your volume automation as well? you may have inadvertently changed that automation drastically too.

one way to do this kind of move would be to split the guitar into two tracks, one left the other right. then cross fade between them, either with volume or crossfade files.

this is not a judgment, but i can't think of why you would want to do this. what are you trying to accomplish? maybe there is a better way to get your desired effect.

[JKD99]

Any volume or pan move, if you've made it occur instantaneously, will always cause a click. Try, with the pan graph displayed, making your breakpoints even 10-30 ms apart will eliminate the click and still sound "instantaneous" to 99% of your listeners.
hope this helps, good luck!

[Richard Fairbanks]

As JKD99 points out, make sure your automation breakpoints are tilted lines, not vertical cliffs. A smooth 15 millisecond change will eliminate clicks on any material. Actually, 10ms is all you need, but I use 15 in case Pro Tools automation gets a little sluggish and misses the marks.

Looking at volume, or pan, or eq, or any automation change when audio is actually playing:
|__| = bad
\_/ = good

[JKD99]

excellent graphics, Richard!!
well done

[Dan Pinder]

He's kind of an ASCII stud.

[Kelly M. Pieklo]

He's kind of an ASCII stud.

That was the funniest thing I've read all day.

[tj_davies]

Just asking,

are you sure the click derives from the crossfade or automation? Or is the clicking in the recording of one of the two tracks? If so you can zoom into the tracks and use the pencil to remove the click in the audio file!