Topic: Clip removal

[charles]

Anyone know how to mask minor clips throughout a track using Wavelab 5?

[charles]

So...nobody has any reccomendations? There's got to be something that can be done here.

[macroint]

So...nobody has any reccomendations? There's got to be something that can be done here.

If they're minor (and not causing distortion), why not leave it?

[charles]

Well....they're not that minor. They are causing some occasional distortion.

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

I assume that the clips are longer than a few samples.  This is tedious and may not be what you want to do but it will work.  You may still hear some distortion of the sound but it will sound a lot better than clipping sounds.

Bring your recording into an audio editor. Using the waveform shaping tool, manipulate each instance of clipping so that the plateau region is reshaped to have a curve that matches the curve you would expect to see if the clipping had not occured.   Your goal is to eliminate all those sharp corners and to reconstruct the original wave as closely as possible.

This does work.  I've done it and got good results.  It is tedious and you would be better served to get another source. But if this is the only tape of the performance, then you can do it and get satisfying results.


Assuming a 16-bit source

1) import the 16-bit source to a project that uses 32-flt data
2) massage all the clipped regions as described above
3) export the waveform as a normalized 16-bit recording

[charles]

Thanks a lot man. + T. I'll give it a try. Do you know the name of the waveform reshaping tool in Wavelab?

[macroint]

Bring your recording into an audio editor. Using the waveform shaping tool, manipulate each instance of clipping so that the plateau region is reshaped to have a curve that matches the curve you would expect to see if the clipping had not occured.   Your goal is to eliminate all those sharp corners and to reconstruct the original wave as closely as possible.

Depending on the number of occurances, that can be alot of work...you can always decrease the volume a hair. As long as you don't increase/decrease too much, you won't have any problems.

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

I agree that it is a great deal of tedious work.  But just decreasing the volume isn't going to repair the main fault of the recording, which is the discontinuity of the wave form at the points where it hits the rail and goes DC.


Charles, I don't use wavelab so I can'thelp you with that.  Audacity should work for this.  I used cool edit.

[charles]

Yeah...I went the volume route many moons ago.....to no avail. I'm working on the reshaping now.

[lds490]

I don't use wavelab, but I have had good results using the clip restoration function in Adobe Audition.  You can download a 30-day trial version for free.

[charles]

I have Adobe Audition....but I never use it. It has a "clip restoration" function? Damn...I'll have to check that out. +T

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

I don't use wavelab, but I have had good results using the clip restoration function in Adobe Audition.  You can download a 30-day trial version for free.

Nice.

[charles]

hey lds.....got any specific instructions on using that clip restoration function?

[Brian Skalinder]

FWIW, I've found the CEP/Audition clip restoration works best if applied to a range surrounding the clipped section that starts with the 0 centerline sample closest to the beginning of the clip, and ends with the 0 centerline sample closest to the end of the clip.  For example:

             _____
  ~         /CLIP1\                 ~
 / \       /       \               / \           + dB
/   \     /         \             /   \   /   ____________ <--- 0 center line
     \   /           \           /     \ /     
      \ /             \         /       ~        - dB
       ~               \_______/
                         CLIP2
===========================================
0....|...10....|...20....|...30....|...40.. <--- COUNTER / TIME (arbitrary units)
===========================================

So, for a slight clip, CLIP1, apply clip restoration to the range before and after the clip, starting and ending at the 0 center line.  In this example, the range:  10 - 21.  If, for example, you started your clip restoration range at 8 and ended at 19, it sometimes produces audible artifacts.  More info on heavily clipped areas a little bit later...

[dklein]

I've tried a coupla waves plugins for something similar x-click and x-crackle.  They aren't specifically for clipping but if you've heard clipping...

Nice thing is you can test and monitor real time to see how it's doing.