How to remove all peaks over 0dB?

WaveLab
1

I have a long recording (around 10 hours, 32 Bit) here, that is overall fine, but has some peaks way of (over 300db), that needs to be removed.

How can this be accomplished?

  1. Find all peaks above 0dB (around 200 in number) and mark them.
  2. Remove (really delete) those peaks from the data automatically (i. e. per menu like “remove marked datapoints” or something alike)
1 Like
2

Really over 300 dB? WOW! Sounds like the end of the world…

A lot depends on what the audio is how best to proceed. There are ways to do voices that are different from what you can do for music. Can you tell us what the audio is? Thanks!

3

The >300db (one was 517 dB :-)) comes from electric impulses. Nothing to worry about.
So, how to remove (delete) all peaks above 0db?

1 Like
4

What is the audio - music or spoken word?

5

Neither, it’s kind of “noise”.

So, how to remove (delete) datapoints above 0db (or any other given level) ?

6

Limiters are designed for this purpose—for example, WaveLab’s Peak Master or a brickwall limiter.

But a peak of 517 dB—what is its origin? When you record audio from an analog source, the A/D converter caps the level at 0 dB maximum, since the signal must fit, for example, within a 24-bit range.

Alternatively, could this be generated by a software instrument? In that case, the instrument may have a bug.

Or is the issue a corrupted file? If so, manually restoring manually these “peaks” would be the appropriate solution (WaveLab has tools for this).

7

Hi PG,

recording of combustion with special equipment. recording 32 Bit, Mix-Pre II.

There are some electric bursts, that causes exactly 1 peak at a time.

So, is it possible to (bulk-)delete selected datapoints above a certain dB-level or not?
No interpolation, no FFT-stuff here, no nothing, just a plain delete of a datapoint (or several, i.e. marked for instance).
(Yes, the sound file will become shortened, of course.)
(Nope, nothing wrong with the equipment.)

8

The audio file here in 32 bit float sounds good with Limiter set to
“Kill the transients” in WaveLab Pro

the rest of wavs sound like very bad recordings…

regards S-EH

9

So, it is not possible to simply remove (delete) simple selected (those above 0dB) datapoints in the dataset with WL 12?
I do not want to overcomplicate things here.

Again:

  1. Select all datapoints, that are above 0dB.
  2. Than delete those points from the dataset.
    Is it possible in simple terms to do this in WL12 or is it not?
    If it is, how?

We’re not talking about rocket science here, again… just a simple editing feature.

Sure, I could write a short programm for this, working direktly on the raw data.

Well, I thought, this is possible in WL12…

10

I can’t imagine any AD converter throwing data like that. Are you recording a power transmission line?

1 Like
11

Simple question again:

How to remove single selected datapoints above 0dB in WL12 ?

Of course, it is not a “regular signal”, it’s kind of a sparky glitch.

12

Save the file as 24-bit and all peaks over 0dB will be deleted. For better or worse.

13

Really? Then they clip. I want them removed from the dataset.
So, it’s not possible to do this in WL 12 easily? Or is it?

14

Insert a limiter with the digital ceiling at 0.0dB and render a new file.

I don’t think anyone really understands what you’re asking to do if these are not reasonable answers.

WaveLab is an Audio Editor, not a dataset editor.

15

Ok, I try again.

Make a Global Analysis. Find all the peaks above 0dB. Mark them. Than remove them from the dataset.

What is so difficult to understand?

16

Use a dataset editor, not an audio editor.

17

I think PG already answer it’s possible to remove with a Limiter plugin or?
or use MatLab or other deep math program…
regards S-EH

18

Yes, this is going to be a little off from your actual question, but if you want to avoid doing this by hand and the limiter suggestions don’t work for you, the most elegant way I think of for doing this is with iZotope RX’s “find and replace” function. It will zap the offending instances automatically. I use it when I need it, and it can be very effective.

Here’s AI’s description of the function… would have written it myself, but am in the middle of a project! Hope this is helpful, if not specifically addressing the fine details of your question.

To address at least one of your issues specifically: You could try WL’s Declicker module (part of the Restore Rig, in the Steinberg “Restoration” folder). iZotope’s version of the same is my first line of defense against these sorts of annoying artifacts, and if used carefully can be very effective and absolutely transparent. For what it’s worth, I just tried WL’s, and it’s pretty good!

Chewy

Says AI:
In iZotope RX, you can find and replace sounds using the Spectral Repair module and its Replace tab, or through the Find Similar tool. The Spectral Repair module allows you to isolate and replace unwanted sounds by visually identifying and selecting problem areas, then replacing them with similar sounds from surrounding regions. The Find Similar tool can help locate and replace similar instances of a sound, allowing you to fix multiple issues simultaneously.

19

Are you asking to remove pieces of time that contain levels over 0dB?

Or remove just the peaks that exceed 0dB but not remove any time from the file?

Either you’re asking for something impossible, or asking the question in a way that is confusing to everyone in this thread so far.

20

Remove those datapoints above 0dB

So the file becomes indeed a bit shorter.