Crackling in Pro Tools Recording

[Saxy Dave]

Hi all!

I'm new to Pro Tools and have been working on getting a project recorded. Unfortunately, it randomly crackles/statics during the recording process, or at least when I play back what I've recorded. I've done some research and have already adjusted the Sample Size a few times (it's currently maxed out), and I have made sure that the playback option is accurate for the I/O. My PC storage free space is at 32% currently, and from what I've read them minimum should be 20% so that it doesn't overload the PC.

My setup currently is:
- Pro Tools 2022.12.0 (Windows 10)
- Focusrite Scarlet 2i2 (input device)
- AKG P420 (microphone)

I'm currently downloading the latest version/driver (2023.3, as the warning said that 2023.6 doesn't work properly) to see if that helps, but is there anything else that could be the cause of this issue? I can record over the crackle bits, but I don't view that as a sustainable practice.

Any help would be appreciated. Let me know if there's any additional information that could help. Thanks in advance!

[sw rec]

Can’t tell for sure without complete system specs. (You didn’t provide any info about your computer.) But check your sync source and make sure it’s on “internal.”

https://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=300050

[Saxy Dave]

Apologies - I didn't know what all was needed.

Device
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X 6-Core Processor 3.80 GHz
Installed RAM: 16 GB

Windows
Edition: Windows 10 Home
Version: 22H2
OS build: 19045.3208

The Focusrite is plugged into my G: Drive. I have two new XLR cables that I've swapped for running the microphone to the Focusrite, but the result is the same.

I'm also not sure where Sync Source is located in Pro Tools.

Please let me know if there's anything else that I can provide. I'm not fully up-to-speed with all of the terms in the post you linked to, but I provided what I knew and could locate.

[sw rec]

Again:
https://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=300050

[Saxy Dave]

I will state again that I'm not a very technical person, but I have provided all of the information in the "at the very least" section that I can tell.

I tried creating a Sandra report, but it comes up with an error each time.

If this means you're unable to help me, then I guess that's all that can be done in this community, and I will attempt other avenues to resolve my issues.

Again, I thank you for your consideration, at the very least.

[sw rec]

We’re able to help, directly proportional to how much information you can provide. “At the very least” isn’t helping. Recording to a separate hard drive, or your system drive? What are the hard drive specs? Spinner (what rpm?) or ssd? Did you do ALL of the Windows optimizations?? There’s way too many factors involved here, and requests for more accurate information are being made in an attempt to zero in on what the problem could be.
(Sync is in your “setup” page, by the way.)

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by Saxy Dave

The Focusrite is plugged into my G: Drive. I have two new XLR cables that I've swapped for running the microphone to the Focusrite, but the result is the same.
.

What exactly does this mean? If you are daisy-chaining USB from PC>drive>Focusrite, try plugging the Focusrite directly into its own USB port. Another possible fix(if you are short of USB ports), get a small powered hub. Leave the interface plugged directly to the PC and put other stuff(drive, iLok, etc) on the hub

[Saxy Dave]

Originally Posted by sw rec

We’re able to help, directly proportional to how much information you can provide. “At the very least” isn’t helping. Recording to a separate hard drive, or your system drive? What are the hard drive specs? Spinner (what rpm?) or ssd? Did you do ALL of the Windows optimizations?? There’s way too many factors involved here, and requests for more accurate information are being made in an attempt to zero in on what the problem could be.
(Sync is in your “setup” page, by the way.)

Understood. I'm a musician, and I've been wanting to start recording my own stuff, but I don't have the technical background that you're probably used to. I appreciate your patience as I try to provide what can help you help me.

Everything that I'm doing is directly to my computer's system drive. The computer has a 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor. My memory speed is 2133 MHz. All of my drivers are currently up-to-date. I'm not sure what my HD specs are, but if it helps, the storage space is 464 GB and I have 175 GB free at the moment. It's a NTFS file system.

I do have a separate system drive within the computer that was created by the friend who built it; I don't recall why he did it, aside that he said it could be useful. If it would help to save/record to there, that's an easy fix. It has 917 GB of storage and has 604 GB free; same NTFS file system.

As for Sync, I see a Synchronization tab under Preferences. Is that what you're referring to? If so, there are two unchecked boxes labeled "Machine Chases Memory Location" and "Machine Follows Edit Insertion/Scrub". There's also a "Minimum Sync Delay" that's currently set to 30 frames. I don't see a spot where I can select "Internal", or anything related to Sync anywhere else in my Setup dropdown.

Originally Posted by albee1952

What exactly does this mean? If you are daisy-chaining USB from PC>drive>Focusrite, try plugging the Focusrite directly into its own USB port. Another possible fix(if you are short of USB ports), get a small powered hub. Leave the interface plugged directly to the PC and put other stuff(drive, iLok, etc) on the hub

Apologies, I'm used to how I describe things at work. The Focusrite is directly plugged into a USB port - the name of the port is "G:", so that's why I labeled it as such. The full path is microphone-XLR-Focusrite-USB port.

[sw rec]

By all means, record to that secondary drive. It may or may not address the problem, but by process of elimination, it’s one less issue. If you go into Windows explorer (I think it’s actually “file explorer” now) and right click on the drive, it’ll give you the drive info. Here’s the deal: in the days of recording to “spinner” drives, the drives had to be 7200 rpm. 5400 rpm drives wouldn’t move data fast enough (not enough throughput), but you typically got an aae error and Pro Tools would stall. Modern computers are fast enough to record to the system drive (depending 100% on the drive itself, of course) but if you have a hard drive fail, 99 times out of 100 it’s the system drive. Do you really want your sessions there?
As Albee said….don’t daisy-chain your Focusrite to the G drive…it should have its own USB port. And while you’re at it, go into device manager and scroll down to the USB icon, and make sure power management is DISABLED on every USB port. (Un check “allow computer to turn off this device to save power.”)
Other thing to check. Device manager>sounds. Make sure Windows is NOT using the Focusrite as the default sound device. Assign that task to your onboard audio (probably Realtek.) PT, as you’re discovering, is a real DIVA (which, oddly enough, is AVID backwards) and doesn’t like sharing hardware.
Ever find the sync source option? (It’s in the “setup” tab, either under hardware or playback engine.) Make sure it’s on “internal.” If the interface is looking for an outside sync source, it’ll be full of pops and clicks. And you might want to look at that option in Focusrite control, which installs when you install the hardware driver. (You are using the Focusrite driver, I assume?)
Keep me posted. We’ll get ya there!

[Saxy Dave]

Okay - thanks for the tips. I moved the project to the other drive, but the issue still occurs.

I went to the drive and right-clicked to get to Properties; this is what pops up. The other tabs don't point to anything that I would think are useful, but I can share them if you'd like.
https://i.imgur.com/BjOdAtJ.png

I don't have a specific reason to save the project in either drive, aside from having a place to save them, really.

Focusrite is directly plugged into a USB port; it's labeled as "G:" but isn't actually a separate drive. Oddly, the USB menu in Device Manager only has one checkbox labeled "Notify me if there are issues connecting to USB devices", so it doesn't look like I have the option to disable power management that I can see.

I did adjust my sound settings so that Focusrite isn't the sound device, so I'll try again later today.

Thanks again for your assistance so far. I also appreciate the AVID-DIVA joke!