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Gear / Technical Help => Post-Processing, Computer / Streaming / Internet Devices & Related Activity => Topic started by: voltronic on June 25, 2013, 04:45:44 PM

Title: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: voltronic on June 25, 2013, 04:45:44 PM
Maybe others know this already, but I just discovered a way to easily reduce the level of close-to-rig clapping without much impact to the surrounding music, making normalization easier and/or the clapping less obtrusive.

I'm a school music teacher, and most of what I record are student concerts.  I make edited CDs of every performance so that we can share the concert recordings with our students. The most difficult process for me during mastering has always been dealing with clapping from the audience when I go to normalize the overall level.  Since there are frequently people clapping along to the music and/or applauding very close to the mics, the claps are very high in level relative to the music.  This leaves little room to raise the overall level without resorting to significant compression, which I try to avoid for acoustic performances.  The fact that I'm currently using the built-in omnis on my M10 does not help things (but CA14c's are on the way soon!)

Previously I would manually attenuate the applause between songs and/or edit the loudest claps individually, and then normalize.  This accomplished the goal of raising the overall music level, but my edits were always very obvious and unnatural sounding.  Today I was reading up on click/pop removal for vinyl transfer, and thought it might apply to this situation.  The results were dramatically more natural sounding, and this process takes a fraction of the time.   This would have saved me hours editing this year's concerts.  :facepalm:

I tried this first in Izotope RX2, then again in Audacity.  No suprise that RX2 gave me superior sounding results but you can similar results in Audacity also.  Here's my process for both programs:

In Audacity:

1. Select area to remove clapping
2. Effect > Click Removal
3. Start with the following settings and adjust by ear:
   Threshold: 200
   Max Spike Width: 10

Or if you have RX2:

1. Select area to remove clapping
2. Open DECLICK & DECRACKLE module
3. Set preset to "Vinly record" (which enables the Random Clicks algorithm - you could do the same thing manually but this preset sounded great to me)
4. Preview as normal, and double-check previewing with "output clicks only" to ensure music transients aren't being grabbed by the processing
5. Make sure "output clicks only" is unchecked before processing.

I've linked a folder with audio samples as well as screenshots from Audacity and RX2.  File names will tell you what was what as far as processing.  The performance is an elementary school jazz band playing the end of "Jump, Jive, and Wail".  You'll hear the audience start clapping along to the beat, then it immediately goes into applause.  The M10 is on a camera tripod in the front row of the audience, almost dead center about 20' back from the band.  And yes, this is in a CafeGymAtorium with loud HVAC.  Let me know what you think of the results.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/j92ewqoy2kpu7zd/d6gE5C_hjz
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: Phil Zone on June 25, 2013, 09:22:55 PM
That's a great idea, thanks!
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: Marshall7 on June 26, 2013, 04:17:04 AM
I'll certainly be giving this a try.  Thanks.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: beeco on June 28, 2013, 04:17:06 PM
I've been using click removal in Audacity for just this purpose and have been happy with the results.  I appreciate the additional guidance on threshold and spike, though.  +t!
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: candor on June 29, 2013, 12:41:39 AM
Maybe others know this already, but I just discovered a way to easily reduce the level of close-to-rig clapping without much impact to the surrounding music, making normalization easier and/or the clapping less obtrusive.

snip

Previously I would manually attenuate the applause between songs and/or edit the loudest claps individually, and then normalize.  This accomplished the goal of raising the overall music level, but my edits were always very obvious and unnatural sounding.  Today I was reading up on click/pop removal for vinyl transfer, and thought it might apply to this situation.  The results were dramatically more natural sounding, and this process takes a fraction of the time.   This would have saved me hours editing this year's concerts.  :facepalm:

I tried this first in Izotope RX2, then again in Audacity.  No suprise that RX2 gave me superior sounding results but you can similar results in Audacity also.  Here's my process for both programs:


I had been doing this in audacity but to get all the claps down to music levels the declick settings I had to use ended up making the applause sound have a pumping effect.  After I switched to Adobe Audition I found I got better results by selecting the applause area and applying a hard limit to the section with a db cut which brought the loud claps down but left the rest untouched.  This resulted in an easy way to do the same thing and a superior sounding (at least to me) result.

Hopefully this adds another tip to your post-processing bag of tricks   :D
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: voltronic on June 29, 2013, 09:13:49 AM
Quote

I had been doing this in audacity but to get all the claps down to music levels the declick settings I had to use ended up making the applause sound have a pumping effect.  After I switched to Adobe Audition I found I got better results by selecting the applause area and applying a hard limit to the section with a db cut which brought the loud claps down but left the rest untouched.  This resulted in an easy way to do the same thing and a superior sounding (at least to me) result.

Hopefully this adds another tip to your post-processing bag of tricks   :D

Yep, that's one of the methods described in the sticky thread on post processing - I'll give that a shot also.  Thanks!
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: F.O.Bean on June 29, 2013, 11:24:56 PM
I have always highlighted each clap and reduced the gain of that clap. Works great and sounds very natural. But this seems like the way to go ;)
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: tim in jersey on June 30, 2013, 01:51:50 AM
.marking thread
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: bluntforcetrauma on July 06, 2013, 08:54:58 PM
Great, how do you actually select a "hard limit" for clapping?  What kind of db cut do you use? I use PEAK but i do have adobe audition I just never had used it.
I have been using the pencil tool in PEAK to individually lower clapping, in the attempts to lower clapping in order to have the " highest db of the recording being music and not clapping, so that when normalizing it will normalize to the sound of music and not an applause.
any help will be appreciated
i have been editing some acoustic shows and most have extended clapping after songs that are of a higher db level than any other "music " part.

Maybe others know this already, but I just discovered a way to easily reduce the level of close-to-rig clapping without much impact to the surrounding music, making normalization easier and/or the clapping less obtrusive.

snip

Previously I would manually attenuate the applause between songs and/or edit the loudest claps individually, and then normalize.  This accomplished the goal of raising the overall music level, but my edits were always very obvious and unnatural sounding.  Today I was reading up on click/pop removal for vinyl transfer, and thought it might apply to this situation.  The results were dramatically more natural sounding, and this process takes a fraction of the time.   This would have saved me hours editing this year's concerts.  :facepalm:

I tried this first in Izotope RX2, then again in Audacity.  No suprise that RX2 gave me superior sounding results but you can similar results in Audacity also.  Here's my process for both programs:


I had been doing this in audacity but to get all the claps down to music levels the declick settings I had to use ended up making the applause sound have a pumping effect.  After I switched to Adobe Audition I found I got better results by selecting the applause area and applying a hard limit to the section with a db cut which brought the loud claps down but left the rest untouched.  This resulted in an easy way to do the same thing and a superior sounding (at least to me) result.

Hopefully this adds another tip to your post-processing bag of tricks   :D
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: candor on July 08, 2013, 02:24:50 AM
Great, how do you actually select a "hard limit" for clapping?  What kind of db cut do you use? I use PEAK but i do have adobe audition I just never had used it.
I have been using the pencil tool in PEAK to individually lower clapping, in the attempts to lower clapping in order to have the " highest db of the recording being music and not clapping, so that when normalizing it will normalize to the sound of music and not an applause.
any help will be appreciated
i have been editing some acoustic shows and most have extended clapping after songs that are of a higher db level than any other "music " part.

Maybe others know this already, but I just discovered a way to easily reduce the level of close-to-rig clapping without much impact to the surrounding music, making normalization easier and/or the clapping less obtrusive.

snip

Previously I would manually attenuate the applause between songs and/or edit the loudest claps individually, and then normalize.  This accomplished the goal of raising the overall music level, but my edits were always very obvious and unnatural sounding.  Today I was reading up on click/pop removal for vinyl transfer, and thought it might apply to this situation.  The results were dramatically more natural sounding, and this process takes a fraction of the time.   This would have saved me hours editing this year's concerts.  :facepalm:

I tried this first in Izotope RX2, then again in Audacity.  No suprise that RX2 gave me superior sounding results but you can similar results in Audacity also.  Here's my process for both programs:


I had been doing this in audacity but to get all the claps down to music levels the declick settings I had to use ended up making the applause sound have a pumping effect.  After I switched to Adobe Audition I found I got better results by selecting the applause area and applying a hard limit to the section with a db cut which brought the loud claps down but left the rest untouched.  This resulted in an easy way to do the same thing and a superior sounding (at least to me) result.

Hopefully this adds another tip to your post-processing bag of tricks   :D

If you look at the waveforms in your editing software, the clapping sections are distinctive.  High narrow peaks - usually louder than the surrounding music or other recording.  It can take a bit of trial and error, but I usually start with the hard limit at or below the peak level level of surrounding program.  This way the loud claps are attenuated but the rest of the applause sounds pretty natural.  I find this takes me much less time than highlighting and adjusting each clap individually and I've often got claps that all don't respond to the same click removal settings.  If the overall applause is still too loud, the envelope tool is your friend.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: stevetoney on July 08, 2013, 10:44:25 AM
I use the noise reduction tool VERY sparingly because, in my experience, I think it's very intrusive to the rest of the master recording which you don't want to be touched.  So, I've never liked the results I get applying the noise reduction in Audition 1.5 for clapping.  I either isolate each clap and bring down the levels or use the hard limit tool. 

Maybe I just need to find the perfect settings, but I've played with the settings quite a bit and never found anything that I like.  I always found that the dynamics of the remaining sections were altered too much for my liking.  My 'issue' seemed to be that I could never get the settings dialed in right for the noise reduction tool to work without causing the music on either side of the clap to sound like it's muted and/or underwater.  So if I decrease the settings enough that so there's no impact on the music, it doesn't do anything to the clap...but if I increase the settings enough to eliminate the claps, the tool then messes up the sound of the music.  Even momentary analog noise spikes, like someone kicking my stand or a beach ball hitting my mics, aren't effectively removed by this tool without the resulting sound being impacted.  That said, I've had great luck using the tool to remove isolated digi noise spikes.

Having said the above, I'm not willing to sacrifice any on the sound of the music in order to deal with the claps, so maybe my comment is based on the fact that I haven't found any settings that work well enough for my liking.  But again, I've tried and I've never found any settings I'm happy with, so I go with the hard limiter or the 'isolate the clap' method.

EDIT TO ADD:  I'm curious to know if 'power users' have any luck with the noice reduction tool  on clapping (vs. hard limiting).  If they do, then I'd like to know what settings you use and/or how I can better apply the settings than I have.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: voltronic on July 08, 2013, 11:27:55 AM
I use the noise reduction tool VERY sparingly because, in my experience, I think it's very intrusive to the rest of the master recording which you don't want to be touched.  So, I've never liked the results I get applying the noise reduction in Audition 1.5 for clapping.  I either isolate each clap and bring down the levels or use the hard limit tool. 

snip

Having said the above, I'm not willing to sacrifice any on the sound of the music in order to deal with the claps, so maybe my comment is based on the fact that I haven't found any settings that work well enough for my liking.  But again, I've tried and I've never found any settings I'm happy with, so I go with the hard limiter or the 'isolate the clap' method.

EDIT TO ADD:  I'm curious to know if 'power users' have any luck with the noice reduction tool  on clapping (vs. hard limiting).  If they do, then I'd like to know what settings you use and/or how I can better apply the settings than I have.

IMHO, noise reduction is never going to be the best choice for something like clapping because a noise reduction algorithm it's looking for steady-state noise to cancel (ex. HVAC drone, hiss, etc.) as opposed to intermittent random noise like clapping, etc.  That said, I've never been satisfied with Audacity's noise reduction - it always has given me the phasey "underwater" sound you experienced, or it sucked out percussive transients from the music.  BUT - the noise reduction in iZotope RX quite frankly is spectacular.  It really is able to cancel the background noise without harming the actual music, at least to my ears.  This is no help for claps or stand hits though.

Click Removal (or whatever your program of choice calls this) is made specifically to address intermittent noises, and like I said in my original post I was able to get great results with it - even in Audacity.  Personally I was amazed with how much of a difference it made, but of course YMMV.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: stevetoney on July 08, 2013, 12:43:54 PM
^ Thanks alot for this response.  It really helps define the experiences you've had with these tools, as well as differentiate what didn't work.  It also helps to know that you had the same experiences I had with the tools I mentioned that I've used.  It's really exciting to know that there is a good tool out there for clapping!

For some reason, in my initial response I didn't key in on the fact that you were talking about the click reduction tool, not the noise reduction tool.  Cool!  Thanks for the tip!
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: F.O.Bean on July 08, 2013, 12:55:24 PM
THANKFULLY! I ONLY record loud PA systems, because I only have to reduce the gain of a few claps per set, or fireworks at summer festies. I will just continue to do the individual claps ;)
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: bluntforcetrauma on July 09, 2013, 05:07:42 AM
So if one is to " select portion of recording needing clap removal" then what do i do?
do I set hard limit?
do I use click removal for clapping?

anyone suggest steps - I know we all may use different software, for example I use PEAK with some plug ins. But instinctively they most use the same or close to the same steps they just might call the process a different name.
so after selecting section of recording that needs to decrease clapping--what would be the next steps?
would I use hard limiter first?  then some sort of click removal?  then envelop?  of course I dont know how to use the envelop at all.
also how do you know what to set hard limit at?  and how actually does one do it?

thanks


Great, how do you actually select a "hard limit" for clapping?  What kind of db cut do you use? I use PEAK but i do have adobe audition I just never had used it.
I have been using the pencil tool in PEAK to individually lower clapping, in the attempts to lower clapping in order to have the " highest db of the recording being music and not clapping, so that when normalizing it will normalize to the sound of music and not an applause.
any help will be appreciated
i have been editing some acoustic shows and most have extended clapping after songs that are of a higher db level than any other "music " part.

Maybe others know this already, but I just discovered a way to easily reduce the level of close-to-rig clapping without much impact to the surrounding music, making normalization easier and/or the clapping less obtrusive.

snip

Previously I would manually attenuate the applause between songs and/or edit the loudest claps individually, and then normalize.  This accomplished the goal of raising the overall music level, but my edits were always very obvious and unnatural sounding.  Today I was reading up on click/pop removal for vinyl transfer, and thought it might apply to this situation.  The results were dramatically more natural sounding, and this process takes a fraction of the time.   This would have saved me hours editing this year's concerts.  :facepalm:

I tried this first in Izotope RX2, then again in Audacity.  No suprise that RX2 gave me superior sounding results but you can similar results in Audacity also.  Here's my process for both programs:


I had been doing this in audacity but to get all the claps down to music levels the declick settings I had to use ended up making the applause sound have a pumping effect.  After I switched to Adobe Audition I found I got better results by selecting the applause area and applying a hard limit to the section with a db cut which brought the loud claps down but left the rest untouched.  This resulted in an easy way to do the same thing and a superior sounding (at least to me) result.

Hopefully this adds another tip to your post-processing bag of tricks   :D

If you look at the waveforms in your editing software, the clapping sections are distinctive.  High narrow peaks - usually louder than the surrounding music or other recording.  It can take a bit of trial and error, but I usually start with the hard limit at or below the peak level level of surrounding program.  This way the loud claps are attenuated but the rest of the applause sounds pretty natural.  I find this takes me much less time than highlighting and adjusting each clap individually and I've often got claps that all don't respond to the same click removal settings.  If the overall applause is still too loud, the envelope tool is your friend.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: stevetoney on July 09, 2013, 10:26:24 AM
^ By his responses, I think the OP of this thread is saying that the Click Removal tool is more effective at minimizing the claps than the Hard Limit tool.  That said, I haven't use the Click Removal tool for claps, I can only speak to how I use the Hard Limit tool, which I've found can be quite efffective in situations where the level of the clap is alot higher than the level of the music.

OK, so the times that I've found hard limiting to be effective is when the clapper is close to the mics and, when looking at the sound signature in your software, you see distinctive spikes where the clap happens.  If the level of the clapping does not cause a level spike, in other words the clap level is the same or lower than the level of the music, then the hard limit tool won't help at all.

What you want to do then is determine what are the peak levels of the music and set the limiter so that it cuts off the levels of the clapping so that they're attenuated to about the same level as the music.  This won't do anything to eliminate the clapping, but at least it will make the clapping less annoying since the levels won't be so loud on the master recording.

So, if the music is peaking around -10db and the claps peak above that, then set the limiter for sounds louder than...maybe -9.5db. 

Now, you can normalize levels on the entire recording and the level of the claps will only be a half db louder than the level of the music, whereas before hard limiting the claps might have been 10db or more louder.  I don't like to set the limiter lower than that, because then you're also going to attenuate the peak levels of the music.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: bluntforcetrauma on July 09, 2013, 11:48:05 AM
^ By his responses, I think the OP of this thread is saying that the Click Removal tool is more effective at minimizing the claps than the Hard Limit tool.  That said, I haven't use the Click Removal tool for claps, I can only speak to how I use the Hard Limit tool, which I've found can be quite efffective in situations where the level of the clap is alot higher than the level of the music.

OK, so the times that I've found hard limiting to be effective is when the clapper is close to the mics and, when looking at the sound signature in your software, you see distinctive spikes where the clap happens.  If the level of the clapping does not cause a level spike, in other words the clap level is the same or lower than the level of the music, then the hard limit tool won't help at all.

What you want to do then is determine what are the peak levels of the music and set the limiter so that it cuts off the levels of the clapping so that they're attenuated to about the same level as the music.  This won't do anything to eliminate the clapping, but at least it will make the clapping less annoying since the levels won't be so loud on the master recording.

So, if the music is peaking around -10db and the claps peak above that, then set the limiter for sounds louder than...maybe -9.5db. 

Now, you can normalize levels on the entire recording and the level of the claps will only be a half db louder than the level of the music, whereas before hard limiting the claps might have been 10db or more louder.  I don't like to set the limiter lower than that, because then you're also going to attenuate the peak levels of the music.

For example, claps are at -6.0 db and the music is at -16 db.  So how would one set limiter? 
I always try to make sure the music at any one point is louder than any claps.  so when i normalize the entire recording it will normalize to the music and not the clap
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: Brian Skalinder on July 09, 2013, 12:17:04 PM
I've found applying limiting or compression to only the applause sections -- rather than the file in its entirety -- works quite well.  There's often a quiet(er) musical moment at the end of songs, but before applause...and after applause, but before the start of songs.  This allows me to compress the applause down to the level of the music at the time the applause starts, which is often -- but not always -- lower than much of the rest of the music.  $0.02

For example, you might have a file with applause peaking at -3 dB, music peaking at -9 dB, but the music immediately before and after a section of applause only peaks at -15 dB.  In this case, apply compression / limiting to the applause section only, knocking it down to -15 dB.  Whereas if you apply compression / limiting to the entire file, the lowest you could knock down the applause would be -9 dB.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: stevetoney on July 09, 2013, 01:14:32 PM
^ Thats what I do too.  Sometimes you can get some funky looking waveforms, because if people clap for a long time you'll get a blocky looking section to your waveform that looks kinda out of place when you zoom out, but who cares about that. 

In fact, now that you mention this point Brian, I have used the combo of both the Hard Limit and the 'zoom in on each clap' method.  For applause at the end of the song, I do what you suggest, but if there are some isolated instances where one or two people get goofy during a song, I'll zoom in on the clap and adjust it manually so that the music is left unaffected.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: stevetoney on July 09, 2013, 01:37:54 PM
For example, claps are at -6.0 db and the music is at -16 db.  So how would one set limiter? 
I always try to make sure the music at any one point is louder than any claps.  so when i normalize the entire recording it will normalize to the music and not the clap

I only use Audition v1.5, so here are the steps/clicks I use...

> Effects
> Amplitude
> Hard Limiting

The last click brings up a 'Hard Limiting' menu.  Using the examples you've described above, here are the settings I would choose in the 'Hard Limiting' menu (the underlined section is what I enter)...

Limit Max Amplitude To  -15.5 db
Boost Input By 0 db
Lookahead Time 7 ms
Release Time 100 ms

Clearnly the most important number is the first one.  By picking -15.5db above, Audition will only choose the sounds that exceed -15.5db level.  That means your music is left untouched. 

To be honest, I'm not sure if the other numbers I've shown are the best settings or not.  0, 7, and 100 are what I always enter as defaults. 

For example, I've always chosen 0db for the second item mainly because I don't understand it.  Clearly, you don't want to enter a positive number here if you want to minimize clapping, but in writing this response, it occurs to me that perhaps entering a negative number would be good.  In the help section of Audition, this is the description of that function...

Boost Input By
Preamplifies audio before you limit it, so you can make a selection louder and ensure that no clipping occurs (similar to what is commonly done with the audio on TV commercials).

My best suggestion would be to enter different numbers and see what is the effect on your sample then pick whichever works the best.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: F.O.Bean on July 09, 2013, 02:02:36 PM
So if one is to " select portion of recording needing clap removal" then what do i do?
do I set hard limit?
do I use click removal for clapping?

anyone suggest steps - I know we all may use different software, for example I use PEAK with some plug ins. But instinctively they most use the same or close to the same steps they just might call the process a different name.
so after selecting section of recording that needs to decrease clapping--what would be the next steps?
would I use hard limiter first?  then some sort of click removal?  then envelop?  of course I dont know how to use the envelop at all.
also how do you know what to set hard limit at?  and how actually does one do it?

thanks


Great, how do you actually select a "hard limit" for clapping?  What kind of db cut do you use? I use PEAK but i do have adobe audition I just never had used it.
I have been using the pencil tool in PEAK to individually lower clapping, in the attempts to lower clapping in order to have the " highest db of the recording being music and not clapping, so that when normalizing it will normalize to the sound of music and not an applause.
any help will be appreciated
i have been editing some acoustic shows and most have extended clapping after songs that are of a higher db level than any other "music " part.

Maybe others know this already, but I just discovered a way to easily reduce the level of close-to-rig clapping without much impact to the surrounding music, making normalization easier and/or the clapping less obtrusive.

snip

Previously I would manually attenuate the applause between songs and/or edit the loudest claps individually, and then normalize.  This accomplished the goal of raising the overall music level, but my edits were always very obvious and unnatural sounding.  Today I was reading up on click/pop removal for vinyl transfer, and thought it might apply to this situation.  The results were dramatically more natural sounding, and this process takes a fraction of the time.   This would have saved me hours editing this year's concerts.  :facepalm:

I tried this first in Izotope RX2, then again in Audacity.  No suprise that RX2 gave me superior sounding results but you can similar results in Audacity also.  Here's my process for both programs:


I had been doing this in audacity but to get all the claps down to music levels the declick settings I had to use ended up making the applause sound have a pumping effect.  After I switched to Adobe Audition I found I got better results by selecting the applause area and applying a hard limit to the section with a db cut which brought the loud claps down but left the rest untouched.  This resulted in an easy way to do the same thing and a superior sounding (at least to me) result.

Hopefully this adds another tip to your post-processing bag of tricks   :D

If you look at the waveforms in your editing software, the clapping sections are distinctive.  High narrow peaks - usually louder than the surrounding music or other recording.  It can take a bit of trial and error, but I usually start with the hard limit at or below the peak level level of surrounding program.  This way the loud claps are attenuated but the rest of the applause sounds pretty natural.  I find this takes me much less time than highlighting and adjusting each clap individually and I've often got claps that all don't respond to the same click removal settings.  If the overall applause is still too loud, the envelope tool is your friend.

I zoom in almost all of the way I can, and highlight each clap. Then I just reduce the gain of that clap by around -6db ;) 8)
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: cashandkerouac on July 09, 2013, 02:29:57 PM
the sound of loud, sharp clapping close to a microphone is one of the most annoying and unmusical sounds i can think of.   >:(   

i use Adobe Audition 5.5 and deal with each clap individually via the "Auto Heal" function.  you have to zoom in to highlight only the duration of a single clap (nothing more) and treat each one individually.  it is extremely tedious and time consuming, but the results are amazing and very natural sounding if you do it right.  normal claps close to the mic pretty much disappear; loud claps close to the mic do not disappear, but they are significantly attenuated and are made to sound like they are much farther away from the mic than they really are. 

caution: if you try the Auto Heal function in Audition, do not attempt to group claps together or you will be very disappointed with the results. 
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: bluntforcetrauma on July 10, 2013, 09:47:24 AM
For some reason BIAS PEAK does not allow you to ZOOM all the way in on a single clap -select it and by "highlight area" and use limiter or decrease gain  or any other compression other than the PENCIL tool.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: voltronic on July 10, 2013, 08:55:39 PM
For some reason BIAS PEAK does not allow you to ZOOM all the way in on a single clap -select it and by "highlight area" and use limiter or decrease gain  or any other compression other than the PENCIL tool.

Yes it does - you click the wheel and then scroll it to zoom in/out.  Or you use the +/- icons on the toolbar.  The included compressor/limiter plugin for Peak is called Sqweez.  Never used Peak so I can't help you further but here's the manual:
http://bias-inc.com/downloads/documentation/ (http://bias-inc.com/downloads/documentation/)

Or try one of these methods (Limiting / Compression / Click Removal) in Audacity.  I just tried Audacity's Hard Limiter and it's very simple but effective.  You only need to adjust the first setting (dB limit) which is what other programs would call "threshold".  Set it just above the highest musical peak in the section that has clapping (as Tonedeaf suggests -15.5 dB for your example). 
http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/Hard_Limiter (http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/Hard_Limiter)
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: voltronic on July 10, 2013, 09:41:51 PM
^ By his responses, I think the OP of this thread is saying that the Click Removal tool is more effective at minimizing the claps than the Hard Limit tool.  That said, I haven't use the Click Removal tool for claps, I can only speak to how I use the Hard Limit tool, which I've found can be quite efffective in situations where the level of the clap is alot higher than the level of the music.

I don't know that Click Removal is more effective; I just wanted to share this method because I hadn't seen it used for this before and saved me a lot of time.

Something I just discovered though: If you zoom in to the sample level, you will see that a Hard Limiter clips the waveform at your threshold setting (at least it does in Audacity) whereas Click Removal as I'm using it lowers the level of the clap without clipping.  It may seem obvious that a hard limiter operates this way, but maybe less obvious that click removal does not.  On clapping I don't think it matters but thought it was worth mentioning. 
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: capnhook on July 10, 2013, 10:07:31 PM
I try to nip it in the bud, in real-time.......with a bit of fart spray.  They can clap as loud as they want to, if we can get 'em 8 feet away.... 8) :sick: :sick:
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: stevetoney on July 10, 2013, 10:51:21 PM
^  LOL.  I have a taper dream that involves me owning a venue that books bands that everybody wants to see so much that they'd put on muzzles and mittens upon entering the venue.  I like the mitten method of clap attenuation.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: stevetoney on July 11, 2013, 07:33:51 AM
In Audition I use a set of compression presets that have different "top end" limit slopes with null impact up to a top limit and compress downward towards 0dB.  Fool around with different combinations of "the hook" and see what works best in any given situation.   

Attachments are typical.  Attack/Release settings are default I think.

This works, for me, better than across the board hard limiting as it does keep some of the variability of the peaks of the original clap pattern in tact as opposed to "butter sticking" the entire passage to a max level.  It's all 'bout bein' natchil IMO. :clapping:

I appreciate your comment, but really don't understand it without playing around with the dynamic processing tool, which I've never done because I don't understand it (hows that for a circular sentence?).  That said, if you're isolating individual claps and using one of 7 or 8 presets to keep it natchil, why not just zoom in and use the manual method? 

This question isn't a challenge, I'm just curious and trying to learn from your comment. 

Also, since the first two paragraphs of your response really lost me but I'd LOVE to learn how to use this tool, if you have the time to explain a little more basically, I'd appreciate it.  I don't understand what you mean when you say 'null impact' 'compress downwards towards 0 db' and 'attachments are typical'.  But really, the more basic question is how does one use this particular tool and where is it useful (besides clap attenuation).  Thanks in advance.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: page on July 11, 2013, 10:19:59 AM
If you look at the waveforms in your editing software, the clapping sections are distinctive.  High narrow peaks - usually louder than the surrounding music or other recording.  It can take a bit of trial and error, but I usually start with the hard limit at or below the peak level level of surrounding program.  This way the loud claps are attenuated but the rest of the applause sounds pretty natural.  I find this takes me much less time than highlighting and adjusting each clap individually and I've often got claps that all don't respond to the same click removal settings.  If the overall applause is still too loud, the envelope tool is your friend.

This is why I use a limiter in general; once I figured out the loudest part I want to remain untouched, I shave off everything above that. I like that for clapping for two reasons; they don't have much sustain energy and part of what I find so offensive with them is the transient more so than the sound.

Your results will be based off of two things; you're ability to figure out that break-even point where you're not adversely harming the content you want to keep and second, the quality of your limiter plugin (they aren't all equal... Some can dig deeper without noticeable sonic impairment).

IMHO, noise reduction is never going to be the best choice for something like clapping because a noise reduction algorithm it's looking for steady-state noise to cancel (ex. HVAC drone, hiss, etc.) as opposed to intermittent random noise like clapping, etc.  That said, I've never been satisfied with Audacity's noise reduction - it always has given me the phasey "underwater" sound you experienced, or it sucked out percussive transients from the music.  BUT - the noise reduction in iZotope RX quite frankly is spectacular.  It really is able to cancel the background noise without harming the actual music, at least to my ears.  This is no help for claps or stand hits though.

I concur with all of this.

100ms is a long release for a hard limiter, especially on applause.  I'd try 1ms or less.

Good digital limiters are lookahead such that they effectively have no attack time--the attack will be applied in advance of the peak.

QFT. beat me to it.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: capnhook on July 12, 2013, 09:28:13 AM
^  LOL.  I have a taper dream that involves me owning a venue that books bands that everybody wants to see so much that they'd put on muzzles and mittens upon entering the venue.  I like the mitten method of clap attenuation.

Mittens?  Great idea for every taper's gear bag.....if we all carried them, breaking them out could soon become the universal sign to "stop f#%king clapping so loud"........

Worth a try..
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: stevetoney on July 12, 2013, 11:04:12 AM
^  LOL.  I have a taper dream that involves me owning a venue that books bands that everybody wants to see so much that they'd put on muzzles and mittens upon entering the venue.  I like the mitten method of clap attenuation.

Mittens?  Great idea for every taper's gear bag.....if we all carried them, breaking them out could soon become the universal sign to "stop f#%king clapping so loud"........

Worth a try..

Doubles as an emergency wind screen!
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: stevetoney on July 12, 2013, 11:08:43 AM
Tone, I made the attachments so as to avoid a long winded description of what the tool does, hoping the graphical representation would provide the "thousand words" business...

I understand about the screen shots.  It's just that these special tools just aren't very intuitive and I've tried to figure out how best to use them, but haven't been successful.  So, the extra detailed response that you provided is REALLY appreciated.  I know it takes time to write. 

I've got a recent recording with some really obnoxious clapping going on.  I'll bring that up and then re-visit your explanation.  If I have any more questions, I'll come back to this thread.  Thanks again man!
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: nardo on July 14, 2013, 01:58:15 AM
Thanks to this thread I now also use the click removal in Audacity. I highlight the section that contains the clapping, for this show I'm working on right now I set threshold 200 and spike width 30. This got most of the clicks, the ones that were still there I used the "Repair" effect on (for that you have to zoom in all the way, it only works on a few samples).
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: bluntforcetrauma on July 14, 2013, 10:49:50 AM
If you look at the waveforms in your editing software, the clapping sections are distinctive.  High narrow peaks - usually louder than the surrounding music or other recording.  It can take a bit of trial and error, but I usually start with the hard limit at or below the peak level level of surrounding program.  This way the loud claps are attenuated but the rest of the applause sounds pretty natural.  I find this takes me much less time than highlighting and adjusting each clap individually and I've often got claps that all don't respond to the same click removal settings.  If the overall applause is still too loud, the envelope tool is your friend.

This is why I use a limiter in general; once I figured out the loudest part I want to remain untouched, I shave off everything above that. I like that for clapping for two reasons; they don't have much sustain energy and part of what I find so offensive with them is the transient more so than the sound.

Your results will be based off of two things; you're ability to figure out that break-even point where you're not adversely harming the content you want to keep and second, the quality of your limiter plugin (they aren't all equal... Some can dig deeper without noticeable sonic impairment).

IMHO, noise reduction is never going to be the best choice for something like clapping because a noise reduction algorithm it's looking for steady-state noise to cancel (ex. HVAC drone, hiss, etc.) as opposed to intermittent random noise like clapping, etc.  That said, I've never been satisfied with Audacity's noise reduction - it always has given me the phasey "underwater" sound you experienced, or it sucked out percussive transients from the music.  BUT - the noise reduction in iZotope RX quite frankly is spectacular.  It really is able to cancel the background noise without harming the actual music, at least to my ears.  This is no help for claps or stand hits though.

I concur with all of this.

100ms is a long release for a hard limiter, especially on applause.  I'd try 1ms or less.

Good digital limiters are lookahead such that they effectively have no attack time--the attack will be applied in advance of the peak.

QFT. beat me to it.

How would one generally use a limiter?  it makes sense to use limiter the way you put it, you find the loudest part you want to remain untouched, then shave every thing off above that?  I understand the statement, but what would be a step by step instruction to get the result that is made in the statement?
I use PEAK which has Squeez limiters, but possibly maybe most limiters are close to being the same?
thanks for the help
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: dean on August 10, 2015, 11:30:32 PM
.marking thread

Ditto
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: ButchAlmberg on October 25, 2015, 09:59:23 PM
I just taped Warren Haynes @ Jannus Live and never realized how much I despise clappers. I'm convinced this one woman knew exactly what she was doing, too. This thread is just what I was looking for.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: ilduclo on October 26, 2015, 09:42:14 AM
not sure if I've posted in this particular thread or not, but the envelope ampilfy works great for this. I start at 100%, drop relatively quickly to 60% (usually) carry a flat 60% across the bottom of the envelope and then sharply back up to 100%, spline the curves (asymtotic). This gets a natural sounding 40% reduction in the applause. I have also combined this in a "reverse fashion" by amplifying quiet music using the envelope amplify function going from 100% up to 160%, then again back to 100 sharply. Combining these 2 has really worked well for me for a nice sounding recording of quiet music that was "enthusiastically appreciated" by the audience.

here's a screen shot of the applause lowering envelope, note the basis is 100% at the top, so the envelope goes lower than that below the top

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sY2dpaZhKG8/Vi4roHUJ13I/AAAAAAAAAuw/n6GS4WNeE7o/s320/lower.jpg)

and here's the 160% amplify upward. Note that the basis is 200% at the top and 100% in the middle, so the envelope amplifies when above the center

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FHEECygliCA/Vi4rlcAIc8I/AAAAAAAAAuo/9Zg9V9XiOno/s320/amp.jpg)

Of course, it goes without saying that the flat section in the middle where we are slope=0% should be "played with" until it sounds best to you. I use the 40% down and 60% up as what works for me and as sort of a maximum, above and below which I can really hear the amplification


and, of course, save your unedited files.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: hoserama on October 29, 2015, 12:03:33 AM
If you're going to do that in Audition (that looks like Audition), just load it into the multitrack editor and automate the volume via envelop editing there. Non-destructive editing and then just export when you have the settings you want.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: ilduclo on October 30, 2015, 11:46:15 AM
that's actually a soviet version of cool edit pro. I have those stored as presets, so it's pretty easy to do them, I don't generate those curves each time!

Question on this. The envelope works great for end of song clapping,  but what hard limiting values should be used for clapping during songs, like when people clap at the end of a good solo? I used to have a couple of presets that worked ok, but I lost them when migrating from one pc to another.  My hard limit has the following adjustable attributes

limit max amplitude to ____db
boost input by ________db
look ahead time _________ms (5....20) ------comes out of the box at 7 ms
release time _________ms (40...200)----comes out of the box at 100 ms


I'd like to be able to set it to achieve the same 40% reduction in clapping volume as I've done with the envelope

all suggestions would be MASSIVELY appreciated. I need to do this to something I recorded last night! :'( ??? :'( ??? :'(

Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: voltronic on October 30, 2015, 12:41:25 PM
^ I don't have cool edit, but try the suggestions I posted for Audacity at the beginning of the thread for this type of thing.  Or use the Hard Limiter with a Residue level of 0.7 as a starting point.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: voltronic on October 30, 2015, 08:59:42 PM
Revisiting... The trouble with envelope attenuation is that, while you know you can knock down the peak claps with it by what ever percentage, you also lower the well behaved clappers close by and the room in general.  When you go to far, it sounds like the room has been moved well away from the action and you don't get a natural sounding reaction to the show.  These are live recordings after all.* That's why I've more or less gone to dynamic processing for most of my repairs.  It keeps the good local applause and limits the exuberant one or two at the same time...  YMMV

Yes that's a good point.  I tried envelopes once for this purpose but quickly abandoned them for the reasons you mentioned.  Now I use a combination of declicking for periodic claps and/or limiting for continuous washes of applause to reduce the loudest applause to that of the highest peaks, and the results are much more natural.

* I have prepared "studio" versions of live shows where I've cut the house out all together and cross faded the gaps.  They're alright if that's all you can salvage.

I did this once for a choral concert I performed in at the request of our conductor.  I recorded the dress rehearsal run in the afternoon and then was able to leave my setup exactly in place to record the concert that night.  The audience was exceptionally quiet and well behaved, and didn't jump in with applause immediately after the last cutoff.  This gave me two takes of the concert that sounded close enough where I could make "studio" comp edits.  I had plenty of clean hall tone to insert between tracks so the background was pretty seamless throughout the CD.  Not sure I'd ever do something like that again, but it worked out surprisingly well.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: ilduclo on October 31, 2015, 09:28:50 AM
Revisiting... The trouble with envelope attenuation is that, while you know you can knock down the peak claps with it by what ever percentage, you also lower the well behaved clappers close by and the room in general.  When you go to far, it sounds like the room has been moved well away from the action and you don't get a natural sounding reaction to the show.   

yes, the operative words are "go too far",  to me moderate amounts are 30 to 40%. I know of no other way to do this with a natural sound. I am hard limiting the "in the song" clapping I was talking about earlier by reduction of approx 5 db. Seems to be working. and I changed the default timing per the recco to the lowest 40 ms setting......sounding great
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: dyneq on February 14, 2016, 05:50:20 PM
Bumping to share my experience. Last night, I recorded video for a friends' band performance in a small room at a brewery (Sonic Studios omnis > Nikon D3300 > Quicktime mov file). I had a good spot for both video and sound, but at times people would raise their hands up to my head's level and clap right next to the mics (I was seated on a tall stool most of the time).

I tried the OP's method in Amadeus Pro and I'm happy with the result. Amadeus Pro has its own vinyl audio repair tool but it works much like the rest in that you zoom in on the loud 'click' and select only that area to repair. In some cases, it was more prominent in one channel, so I experimented with only repairing one channel but I ended up preferring to repair both channels because it sounds more natural.

Amadeus Pro has a nice feature where it can find the maximum sample for the selected area. So my workflow goes like this:

1. Select all
2. Analyze menu > Find Maximum (or Command + Option + P)
3. Preview the peak to make sure it's a clap and not music (usually obvious from the waveform)
4. Select only the peak (both channels sounds more natural)
5. Press 'r' to repair.
6. Rinse, lather, repeat until I hit music
7. Normalize

If you have a ton of claps, then this would be too tedious of a process. I only found about 20 claps that were louder than the loudest music sound, so it went pretty quickly and sounds natural to my ears.

Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: ilduclo on February 18, 2016, 06:24:30 PM
I've found applying limiting or compression to only the applause sections -- rather than the file in its entirety -- works quite well.  There's often a quiet(er) musical moment at the end of songs, but before applause...and after applause, but before the start of songs.  This allows me to compress the applause down to the level of the music at the time the applause starts, which is often -- but not always -- lower than much of the rest of the music.  $0.02

For example, you might have a file with applause peaking at -3 dB, music peaking at -9 dB, but the music immediately before and after a section of applause only peaks at -15 dB.  In this case, apply compression / limiting to the applause section only, knocking it down to -15 dB.  Whereas if you apply compression / limiting to the entire file, the lowest you could knock down the applause would be -9 dB.

thanks, it works!
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: fandelive on June 12, 2016, 06:08:03 AM
Here's another method I recently came up with, when declicker doesn't work : Removing Pops and Clicks In Adobe Audition CS6 (Voice Over) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajo40QvcfI0).

Not exactly the easy way but this will work in some harder to resolve cases.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: nassau73 on June 20, 2016, 08:40:02 PM
When it comes to dealing with loud applause during a quiet concert, I've tried a number of these suggestions and have found there is really no "easy way" to get rid of them.

So I've been using an extremely labor intensive method in Audition - Auto Heal.

This requires that you select and process each individual hand clap. But I've found it to be extremely effective and virtually unobtrusive on shows I want to preserve for my own future listening pleasure.

As an example, I recently attended the Anders Osborne/Luther Dickinson acoustic show at the MACC here on Maui. There was a guy sitting two seats away who insisted on clapping louder and longer than anybody else. He was so loud that he hurt my ears even through my ear plugs!

Attached is a capture of what the applause looks like in spectral view. Following is a capture of how narrow the auto heal selection can be. For anyone whose DAW does not contain auto heal, what it does is replace the selection with a bit of audio from each side of the selection. I've found that even if the "clap" is occurring during the performer's comments after the song is over, there is still no discernible effect on the comment.

Once again, this is very labor intensive and in the case of that gentleman sitting two seats away - I counted between 40 and 80 claps after each song! However, once the claps are eliminated, it's possible to boost or normalize the remaining audio and not be blown away by applause when listening in headphones.

Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: voltronic on June 20, 2016, 09:45:58 PM
This sounds like it was a real pain to do.  Would you mind posting an excerpt of your original and letting us take a crack at it?
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: hoserama on June 20, 2016, 10:28:46 PM
If you're going to put in the time and labor for the auto-heal, you could just select the frequency of the clap itself. Claps are usually 800hz-3k range, so you could just select those freqs and time and hit the auto-heal. Make sure you bind the auto-heal feature to an easy key command (I use Shift-1).

Although for claps, I generally just use a tweaked declicker from Ozone RX. Auto-Heal and RX's spectral repair work well for static in wireless recordings.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: nassau73 on June 21, 2016, 01:07:13 PM
This sounds like it was a real pain to do.  Would you mind posting an excerpt of your original and letting us take a crack at it?

Here's a short snip from the end of set 1with the full applause:

http://www.filedropper.com/taperssection-sample

Here's that snip after editing:
http://www.filedropper.com/taperssection-edited
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: voltronic on June 21, 2016, 02:50:54 PM
This sounds like it was a real pain to do.  Would you mind posting an excerpt of your original and letting us take a crack at it?

Here's a short snip from the end of set 1with the full applause:

http://www.filedropper.com/taperssection-sample

Here's that snip after editing:
http://www.filedropper.com/taperssection-edited

Thanks.  Did you try this first in Audacity?  I actually found it pretty easy to get a decent result using the method described in my OP.  I did have to raise the Max Spike Width to 40, and it needed two passes to do a decent reduction.  But I was able to knock the claps down to where I could amplify by +7 dB (leaving 0.2 dB headroom).  A third pass didn't help further.  I could have knocked the claps down even more with limiting, but I wanted to show just what Click Removal could do by itself.
http://www.filedropper.com/taperssection-sampleaudacitydeclick2pass (http://www.filedropper.com/taperssection-sampleaudacitydeclick2pass)
http://www.filedropper.com/taperssection-sampleaudacitydeclick2pass7db (http://www.filedropper.com/taperssection-sampleaudacitydeclick2pass7db)

Then I tried your original file in iZotope RX4, and no surprise - it gave me superior results.  I used the Vinyl Record preset, again as described in the OP with no changes to default settings.  This allowed me to get a bit more reduction, so I could amplify +9.1 dB (again, 0.2 dB headroom).
http://www.filedropper.com/taperssection-samplerxdeclick (http://www.filedropper.com/taperssection-samplerxdeclick)
http://www.filedropper.com/taperssection-samplerxdeclick91db (http://www.filedropper.com/taperssection-samplerxdeclick91db)

All told, I spent about 5 minutes working in each program.  Now, not everyone is going to want to shell out for RX, but I suggest you try the tools in Audacity before you spend so much time and effort doing it the other way again.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: nassau73 on June 21, 2016, 05:15:38 PM
This sounds like it was a real pain to do.  Would you mind posting an excerpt of your original and letting us take a crack at it?

Here's a short snip from the end of set 1with the full applause:

http://www.filedropper.com/taperssection-sample

Here's that snip after editing:
http://www.filedropper.com/taperssection-edited

Thanks.  Did you try this first in Audacity?  I actually found it pretty easy to get a decent result using the method described in my OP.  I did have to raise the Max Spike Width to 40, and it needed two passes to do a decent reduction.  But I was able to knock the claps down to where I could amplify by +7 dB (leaving 0.2 dB headroom).  A third pass didn't help further.  I could have knocked the claps down even more with limiting, but I wanted to show just what Click Removal could do by itself.
http://www.filedropper.com/taperssection-sampleaudacitydeclick2pass (http://www.filedropper.com/taperssection-sampleaudacitydeclick2pass)
http://www.filedropper.com/taperssection-sampleaudacitydeclick2pass7db (http://www.filedropper.com/taperssection-sampleaudacitydeclick2pass7db)

Then I tried your original file in iZotope RX4, and no surprise - it gave me superior results.  I used the Vinyl Record preset, again as described in the OP with no changes to default settings.  This allowed me to get a bit more reduction, so I could amplify +9.1 dB (again, 0.2 dB headroom).
http://www.filedropper.com/taperssection-samplerxdeclick (http://www.filedropper.com/taperssection-samplerxdeclick)
http://www.filedropper.com/taperssection-samplerxdeclick91db (http://www.filedropper.com/taperssection-samplerxdeclick91db)

All told, I spent about 5 minutes working in each program.  Now, not everyone is going to want to shell out for RX, but I suggest you try the tools in Audacity before you spend so much time and effort doing it the other way again.

Thanks for the information - very helpful.

No, I did not try the click remover in Audacity but I did use it originally in Audition 3.0. I got similar results as the sample done in Audacity. However, the presence "main" loud clap is was/is still too prevalent for me when listening in headphones. I never tried knocking the claps down even further using limiting primarily because of lack of experience, so I'll try that next time.

I'll be interested to hear the results when the applause starts as a song is fading out rather than primarily on artist comments as in the sample I originally posted.

BTW, I usually use the Audition click remover with satisfactory results. However, none of the more automated processes I tried this time with my limited skills was satisfactory so I decided to bite the bullet and do the individual cleanup route.

I do have to say that I am impressed with the results you achieved using iZotope. After hearing your sample, I remembered that I have the basic iZotope music and speech cleaner that came with my Pinnacle Studio video editing package. I gave that a try after hearing your samples. It didn't seem to do as thorough a job as your version or the individual auto heal process I did - however - it did seem to get things to a manageable level with the slider set all the way to 10 (now if it only went to 11  ;D )

Thanks again for your insights.

Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: obaaron on July 17, 2016, 11:51:41 PM
so my wsp show from last night has clapping, whistling throughout what method do you guys recommend? Using audacity....thx
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: voltronic on July 18, 2016, 07:26:48 AM
so my wsp show from last night has clapping, whistling throughout what method do you guys recommend? Using audacity....thx

Nonstop or periodically?  Maybe if you post part of a track we can give it a shot and see what works.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: ipietri on September 08, 2016, 05:27:23 AM
I use "handles" in Wavelab audio montage - see images before and after
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: LoveBuzz81 on March 25, 2017, 12:24:36 PM
How can you attenuate/filter only frequencies that are above a certain db level?  (for quiet performances with clapping 10 db's louder than the music.). This should be straightforward... not sure how to execute this with Logic or Audacity.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: Sloan Simpson on March 25, 2017, 01:27:55 PM
Limiter
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: LoveBuzz81 on March 25, 2017, 01:57:39 PM
Limiter

Any particular type of limiter?  Basically I want to filter all frequencies/sound -6db and louder and then normalize the wav file.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: Sloan Simpson on March 25, 2017, 02:21:20 PM
Limiter

Any particular type of limiter?  Basically I want to filter all frequencies/sound -6db and louder and then normalize the wav file.

Any limiter will do that, though some have more control than others over how it's accomplished. I use FabFilter Pro-L.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: LoveBuzz81 on March 25, 2017, 05:48:55 PM
Limiter

Any particular type of limiter?  Basically I want to filter all frequencies/sound -6db and louder and then normalize the wav file.

Any limiter will do that, though some have more control than others over how it's accomplished. I use FabFilter Pro-L.

Hmm, I'm trying a noise gate but it's only filtering sound below a certain threshold rather than above.  I'll check out some other plugins.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: voltronic on March 25, 2017, 07:23:50 PM
How can you attenuate/filter only frequencies that are above a certain db level?  (for quiet performances with clapping 10 db's louder than the music.). This should be straightforward... not sure how to execute this with Logic or Audacity.

My preferred way in Audacity:

1. Highlight the area with loud clapping.
2. Effect > Hard Limiter
3. Set Residue Level to 0.7  Basically this softens the limiter somewhat making it not sound offensive like a limiter often does.
4. Set dB limit to -12 or so.  You may have to set it a little bit lower than you think because changing the Residue Level makes your setting here less than a "hard" limit.
5. Hit OK, then decide if that does what you wanted it to without actually limiting the music.  You will have to go back and forth and undo / redo a couple of times to get it where you want.  Make sure to leave Residue Level at 0.7, but adjust the dB limit.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: LoveBuzz81 on March 25, 2017, 07:46:42 PM
How can you attenuate/filter only frequencies that are above a certain db level?  (for quiet performances with clapping 10 db's louder than the music.). This should be straightforward... not sure how to execute this with Logic or Audacity.

My preferred way in Audacity:

1. Highlight the area with loud clapping.
2. Effect > Hard Limiter
3. Set Residue Level to 0.7  Basically this softens the limiter somewhat making it not sound offensive like a limiter often does.
4. Set dB limit to -12 or so.  You may have to set it a little bit lower than you think because changing the Residue Level makes your setting here less than a "hard" limit.
5. Hit OK, then decide if that does what you wanted it to without actually limiting the music.  You will have to go back and forth and undo / redo a couple of times to get it where you want.  Make sure to leave Residue Level at 0.7, but adjust the dB limit.

I don't see Hard Limiter under effects in Audacity.  I'm using Noise Gate in LPX w/ the duck feature.  Not too effective.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: Sloan Simpson on March 26, 2017, 09:16:31 AM
Limiter

Any particular type of limiter?  Basically I want to filter all frequencies/sound -6db and louder and then normalize the wav file.

Any limiter will do that, though some have more control than others over how it's accomplished. I use FabFilter Pro-L.

Hmm, I'm trying a noise gate but it's only filtering sound below a certain threshold rather than above.  I'll check out some other plugins.

Do you use a hammer for screws? Wrong tool.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: mandodon on June 14, 2017, 12:34:41 PM
Just recorded some at a bluegrass festival where there is clapping and yelling after some solos or in the middle of solos while songs are being played. Any advice for that? Just limit the whole recording?
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: voltronic on June 15, 2017, 06:52:52 AM
Just recorded some at a bluegrass festival where there is clapping and yelling after some solos or in the middle of solos while songs are being played. Any advice for that? Just limit the whole recording?

Don't limit the whole recording; just limit those sections.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: Sloan Simpson on June 16, 2017, 09:32:03 AM
I'd run the limiter across the entire set. If you don't want it to limit the music just set the threshold above the music's peaks.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: Sloan Simpson on June 16, 2017, 10:14:18 AM
Just re-read the thread, almost everything in here looks needlessly time-consuming IMO. Using a limiter VST plugin in Reaper (I use FabFilter Pro-L) I'm able to find my threshold within seconds while the music plays and I can observe meters and see what's being limited and what isn't. I haven't made a selection regarding clapping in at least a decade. I spend a few seconds setting up a limiter at the end of my plugin chain, render and enjoy  :shrug:
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: nak700s on August 10, 2017, 06:28:24 PM
I have always highlighted each clap and reduced the gain of that clap. Works great and sounds very natural. But this seems like the way to go ;)

I do the same thing...1/100th of a second at a time.  I don't believe in compression, and find this to be the most natural sounding solution.  I'd like to know if the suggestions here are as natural sounding... Please let me know if you try them, considering we both seem to be of the same school of thought.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: Sloan Simpson on August 11, 2017, 05:18:06 PM
All of these techniques are reducing dynamic range, or compression. Some just choose to do so manually.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: opsopcopolis on August 13, 2017, 10:03:21 AM
All of these techniques are reducing dynamic range, or compression. Some just choose to do so manually.

Yup. Manually pulling all the claps is just doing exactly what limiter would be doing.

Also +1 for Fab Filter. Love that thing
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: ol' dirty taper on June 23, 2022, 05:36:06 PM
Would someone with Fab Filter or similar be able to walk through their process? Having a hell of a time finding the right settings on a tape I have.

Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: opsopcopolis on June 28, 2022, 05:17:10 PM
Would someone with Fab Filter or similar be able to walk through their process? Having a hell of a time finding the right settings on a tape I have.

I guess my standard process is set the output ceiling (usually at -.1db), move the look ahead up (I don't stress to much about actual look ahead time as long as it's not uber short) and then raise the gain while looping a loud section until I have the amount of reduction I want.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: nassau73 on June 29, 2022, 12:54:25 PM
In the years since I first replied to this thread, I've acquired RX and find that the De-Click module does a great job.
For dealing with obtrusive clapping in aud recordings, it can eliminate many claps entirely.
For most applications, I set it for the Multi-band (random clicks) algorithm drop down menu. For most instances Sensitivity at 6.5, Widening at 1.7 and skew at 0 works for me.
If that's not working well enough, you can check the "Output Clicks Only" box and adjust the settings so you're hearing only the clicks (claps) that would be removed without affecting the music.
Sometimes you might want some of the claps remaining as when the audience is clapping along with the music and you want to keep the live audience "feel" but don't want the overpowering claps of the person just a few feet away from your mics. In that case, when adjusting the skew, I've been able to attenuate the loudest claps but still keep the audience participation.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: nulldogmas on June 29, 2022, 01:06:58 PM
In the years since I first replied to this thread, I've acquired RX and find that the De-Click module does a great job.
For dealing with obtrusive clapping in aud recordings, it can eliminate many claps entirely.
For most applications, I set it for the Multi-band (random clicks) algorithm drop down menu. For most instances Sensitivity at 6.5, Widening at 1.7 and skew at 0 works for me.
If that's not working well enough, you can check the "Output Clicks Only" box and adjust the settings so you're hearing only the clicks (claps) that would be removed without affecting the music.
Sometimes you might want some of the claps remaining as when the audience is clapping along with the music and you want to keep the live audience "feel" but don't want the overpowering claps of the person just a few feet away from your mics. In that case, when adjusting the skew, I've been able to attenuate the loudest claps but still keep the audience participation.

Seconded all of this. RX De-Click is kind of crazy magical. (And works well on crackle from bad mic cables, too, if you tweak the settings a bit — for that I raised the frequency skew a bit and widened to 2.4.)
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: opsopcopolis on June 29, 2022, 03:19:26 PM
all the izotope stuff is crazy black magic fuckery. De-noise/hiss has saved something I thought near unsalvageable more than once
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: DavidPuddy on June 29, 2022, 03:37:31 PM
My favorite use of RX is removing the clunk of beer cans being thrown away
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: nulldogmas on June 29, 2022, 06:30:16 PM
all the izotope stuff is crazy black magic fuckery. De-noise/hiss has saved something I thought near unsalvageable more than once

I just had an RX experience so otherworldly that I had to give it its own thread:

https://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=199994.0
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: wehideandseek on November 11, 2023, 11:24:46 AM
Does anyone have any hacks for using WavePad Masters Edition?
Recorded David Sedaris the other night & ran hot to get the best vox on tape & naturally brickwalled numerous clapping sections.
In addition, would click/pop be best for punctuating laughter or some other method?
Thanks!

Other topics on applause:
https://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=199207.0

https://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=199207.0

https://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=163783.0
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: nulldogmas on November 11, 2023, 06:27:38 PM
If it was brickwalling, sounds like you want to de-clip first, then de-click to reduce the clapping that remains. I'm not familiar with Wavepad to instruct you in how to do that there, though.
Title: Re: Attenuating clapping in live recordings - the easy way
Post by: captainentropy on January 01, 2024, 12:09:29 PM
For the last couple of years I've been using Wavelab Pro 11 and iZotope RX 10. As stated, iZotope is wizardry for most things, IME. But like a number have said using plugins like de-click, de-noise, etc. reduce other sounds beyond the clapping, especially if you don't isolate a section. I never got Limiter to work like I wanted and compression was too difficult to get right (probably because I'm a dummy on how to use them correctly). So, I mainly use iZotope for the Spectral Repair and De-hum works really well for stuff like line noise or constant HVAC hum, etc. (The Repair Assistant is amazing too.) For clapping, since it typically rises then falls at the end of a section or song, I use the envelope tool in Wavelab: isolate the section where the clapping volume rises, open the Envelope tool (Process tab in the Audio Editor) then using the left-side handle thingy reduce to a level that makes sense and fits smoothly with the song and crowd response. It usually takes me a few tries until the reduction sounds seamless with the surrounding audio, but I've always been satisfied with the results. I used to use Audacity, but, since audience recordings are seldom ideal, I just had to get some better software to fix my fuck ups :banging head: and audience/venue cockups :angry2:.