Restoration and cleaning.

Hi. Anybody can answer me if there is in the world any software able to eliminate or decrease 99% all the clicks, cracks, etc. of the old vynils, without sacrificing the clean audio track? I am using Audio Cleaning Lab 11, then Izotope but so far the audio I has been restoring still shows many clicks, cracks. Maybe I didn't use all the power of my software (maybe) to continue eliminating more clicks.

It comes to my mind the idea of getting a more expensive software, but if this software will not decrease the clicks at the most, the 99%, (even using all the power tools), it is not worth to waste the money, don't you think so?

If you know the existence of that "ideal" software, maybe I can do an effort to get it because I want to restore old recordings of the 70's, even of the 50's (78rpm records). What can you say about all this? Thanks a lot.

Plenty of people here who would claim that CEP/AA was one of the best softwares for this sort of work - and that includes me.  OK, some softwares are better at one part of the process than another, but CEP/AA is, I would argue, the best all-round software and if the budget is tight, this is the one to go for. 

This brings me to a couple of generalisations. 

! - You need to clean the records physically, as well as you can.  This alone will lessen the load on the software and there's no point at all in trying to clean things electronically, when all they need is a good physical workover.

2 - There isn't a software in the world that will do this sort of thing automatically, by simply pressing a button.  If you want to restore old recordings, then you are going to have to work at it. 

3 - The quality of the kit you use to make the initial transfer into the digital domain is as important as everything else. If you are going to be working on 78's, you will need a selection of different stylii in order to get the best transfer possible.

4 - The more you do, the more experience you will gain and the quicker the job will be finished.  Even so, expect to spend considerably more than the running time of the track on cleaning it up.  There are no shortcuts, if you want to do the job properly.

5 - You have to understand that, even within a single recording, you may have to apply different restoration processes to different parts of that recording, depending on what problems you find.

Several of us here are using CEP/AA to do this work commercially.  I'm mainly involved with LP's and tape, Andrew Rose is the acknowledged expert on 78's.  If you have a problem, someone here will likely know how to overcome it, but it's mainly down to you to fully understand the processes you are using and why - this really only comes with a lot of practice.

I use Adobe Audition's declicker - in AA3 the "Automatic Click Remover" - it's significantly better IMHO than anything else I've used, including some very expensive audio software (though I admit I've never tried CEDAR), usually in conjunction with Waves X-Crackle. Thereafter it's manual de-clicking for anything that remains. Right now I'm working on an acoustic 78rpm string quartet recording from the mid 1920s, and very click-free it sounds indeed!

One tip: if you're working with mono source material (ideally using a mono stylus), be it LP or older, always declick the stereo output of the recording before summing the two channels to mono. It works much better this way!

Thanks a lot. But what CEP/AA means? It's a software, right? I searched it on the web but I didn't find it.  Maybe means Cool Edit Pro??  The one which became now Adobe Audition? Thanks again.

Maybe means Cool Edit Pro??  The one which became now Adobe Audition?

Got it in one .

It isn’t very hard to get rid of all clicks, pops and crackle, except those from very large scratches, without any manual intervention. At that point, however, with many LPs, you are overdoing it and decreasing the quality of what remains. Still, with LPs in good to moderate condition, the correct auto processing will often leave only a few audible clicks on the entire album. If you aren’t able to get there, you have a good clue that you don’t know your software well enough.

Quite a bit of detail has been published on this forum on using the software to the best advantage for this task. Most of it was a while ago, much of it is in the Syntrillium archive, but most is likely to still be useful.
http://audiomastersforum.net/synforum/

(Moderator Comment:  Link changed to one that works )

I use Adobe Audition's declicker - in AA3 the "Automatic Click Remover" - it's significantly better IMHO than anything else I've used, including some very expensive audio software (though I admit I've never tried CEDAR), usually in conjunction with Waves X-Crackle. Thereafter it's manual de-clicking for anything that remains. Right now I'm working on an acoustic 78rpm string quartet recording from the mid 1920s, and very click-free it sounds indeed!

I fully underline Andrew's comment. I have hardly found any LP, respectfully treated and phyically cleaned, that would not sound almost like the master tape after treatment by the "Automatic Click Remover". Supposed you use a good catridge with a sound stylus.

Most of this has already been well addressed by others, but No matter what automatic solution you use, the audio will be affected to some degree.

A clean file starts with cleaning the record. 

The tools in Audition are exceptional, but takes time and patience to get optimal results.  There are times when you will have to de-click manually. 

I uses three programs for de-clicking and de-noising: Audition, iZptope RX, and Click Repair.

If all you want to do is declick, and you are concerned about sound degradation, you could try manually removing each click, and it would literally take you months ans tons of patience!  De-crackling is a different story.

The new declicker in Izotope's RX2 has finally replaced AA3 as my declicker of choice - it really is very good indeed.

Using freeware, you could try Audacity. It has click removal and some others. Not as good as Izotope of course, but maybe worth a try depending on the material.

This thread dates back to March 2010 and limakid has not appeared since then.  Either he has sorted out his problem - or he has given up.

Either way, this is no reason to resurrect a thread with a recommendation for a software that is not really this forum's concern. Yes, I am aware there are users here who run Audacity, but it's hardly the best solution for restoration work, is it?

i don't know, Graeme - people still read and search the forum...

i don't know, Graeme - people still read and search the forum...

  Maye so, but I still don't think that recommending Audacity for this sort of work is very practical.