In Wavelab 6 there was something called Waveform Restorer in the Process menu which made it simple to select around a click and have it interpolate to fix the click. It could operate on both channels or just one channel. I generally used the 3ms setting. But Waveform Restorer is no longer in Wavelab.
Since Wavelab 6 I’ve used the Auto Error Detection function (but not in “Auto”) to do the same thing manually, generally using the 3ms Correct Button. But I just noticed it can’t do just one channel (unless I’m missing a setting, but I don’t think I am). It looks like you can select a one channel selection, but it applies the interpolation to both channels. It seems the only way I can do one channel is with the pen tool, but I much prefer Interpolation.
Can Waveform Restorer be brought back? It was so simple and easy.
Or enable single channel fix in Auto Error Detection? The only problem with the Auto Error Detection module is it’s very complicated, which is great for me to analyze an entire album for clicks, but not simple for a simple click fix. Waveform Restorer was so simple and fast for that.
Actually while I’m asking, I should say I use my own method for fixing isolated clicks like this, by creating a small segment in the montage around the click, clone and substitute, edit audio, and remove the click on that small substitute audio file using ED&C, and then the fix file will be in the clip after save. That gets around having to re-save the whole long audio file for just that one click, since it’s a “destructive” process on the audio file. It seems like many steps, but it’s very quick when you get used to it.
The program I came from before Wavelab (Sonic Studio HD) basically did the same thing behind the scenes in the EDL, so the user was operating entirely in the EDL, “non-destructively” they would call it, because it created a small de-click file which it would intelligently pair with the main audio clip/file, and play the de-click file at it’s particular point in the track, invisibly, without splitting the clip (!), only marking the point in the clip where the click was. You never saw the declick file unless you went into the file system, and you never left the EDL to perform the declick. You just gated around the click/noise in the Clip and issued the declick command. To undo the click fix, you just gated again and selected undo. The program would then delete the small click fix file and play the original clip/file with the click. If it’s still the same way in it’s newer version (Soundblade), that would be how Soundblade now works.
Bob, I’m not at my PC now, but I’m almost certain those restorer functions are still there in the current WL. They are indeed somewhere in the Audio error detection section. I still regularly use the 3ms repair option (applied manually).
Thanks Arjan. That’s what I regularly use too, the 3ms “Correct” button in Error Detection and Correction. But I noticed today after seeing a question elsewhere that it doesn’t operate on left only or right only, it seems to operate on both channels no matter what. So I went back to Wavelab 6 and found the same thing in Wavelab 6 Error Detection and Correction (no left only or right only operation, even though it looks like you’re selecting only one channel). The only thing that does left only or right only interpolation is the Waveform Restorer in Wavelab 6. And I always missed the simplicity of Waveform Restorer anyway. So I think the only left only or right only option in Wavelab 8 at this point is the pen tool, which I prefer not to use.
edit:
Or montage track Virtual Split, which is a little more complicated than I think this should go to get rid of a click.
Bob’s second post reminds me of how awesome it’d be if Wavelab had the Pro Tools equivalent to AudioSuite where a VST plugin doesn’t need to be loaded into an insert slot and managed in order to be active or inactive and routed etc., kind of like some of the utility type stuff in the Process menu.
I have never used WL6 but one thing I love about Pro Tools, and one of the reasons I still use it for my analog chain processing and general cleanup before sequencing in Wavelab is because of AudioSuite. It’s so easy to have the iZotope RX4 Declicker (and a few others) open as an AudioSuite plugin and then process only very tiny sections of a song that have a noise, click, or need other repair work.
There’s something slightly cumbersome about inserting something like RX4 Declicker in the global master section to process WAV files when doing restoration style work. Especially when you are juggling between a few different plugins to do restoration work like RX Denoiser, RX Declicker, DeClipper etc.
It would be great to see something exactly like AudioSuite for Wavelab where the plugin just lives offline and can be applied to certain sections of a file…and it’d be even greater if it could be applied right in the montage.
Taking it one step farther, it’d be great if the montage had playlists like Pro Tools so that you can quickly flip between a cleaned up version of a song, and the original incase you need to get part or all of the original file back, or just try and idea without losing your previous work.
Another problem with the Auto Error Detection panel is it consumes too much screen space. That space is needed for blown-up waveforms when inspecting microscopic ticks and such. The former Waveform Resorter was very small and could be placed out of the way.
jperkinski, do you know if Pro Tools playlists are making multiple full-length soundfile copies under the hood for each different version, or can they reference just one main audio file with smaller fix pieces? Or is it all done in memory using the same plugins or processing for each playback ?
Are playlists unique to Pro Tools or are there other programs that use the same concept?
Playlists (and duplicate playlists) in Pro Tools reference the same audio file so you are not writing new files by simply creating a new or duplicate playlist. Pro Tools only writes a new file if you AudioSuite a section. For example, if I highlight a 1 second section and apply RX4 DeClicker, it writes a new file for that section (with 2 second handles for crossfade purposes) but it doesn’t write an entire new file. I use the Beat Detective tool window to easily apply crossfades at the start and end of my short edited section.
Even if you slice an audio region and move it around to double the length of a part or remove a section of song, Pro Tools doesn’t write a new file at this time, it just works with the original file even though you’ve rearranged it in the editor and does the crossfades and new file placement/arrangement on the fly. Much like how the WL montage can do now.
PT only writes new audio files if you AudioSuite a section with a plugin (RX4 module, EQ etc.), or consolidate a selected area to create a continuous file rather than have a bunch of edits.
After I have a song cleaned by using AudioSuite on some sections (sometimes just 1 edit, sometimes dozens), then I consolidate a smooth continuous file that is properly faded at the end, and trimmed at the front leaving about 200ms pad of true digital silence (this makes the album sequencing in Wavelab easy because the files have a built in 200ms pad of true digital silence so I can have Wavelab put the markers right at the file start which is easy, and then I don’t have tracks that start too abrupt. Of course some albums need special sequencing but it’s a great starting point.
So, after all the files are printed, cleaned up, and named, that’s when I bring into Wavelab to sequence and finalize things.
I believe others DAWs have a similar concept to Pro Tools playlists but since I was so familiar with Pro Tools from my album recording and production days, it seems like a natural choice to do this kind of editing work and the analog play/capture.
For playback and capture into my analog chain, I like to use plugins on the way out to it, and I like having all the plugin settings (and automation!) for each song in one easy session that can be recalled in one instance (no reloading of the master section per file and remembering if I saved something correctly or where I last saved before a crash). I also love having all the original files on one playlist for easy access, and then any processed versions on new playlists. It’s easy to splice versions into each other and create a master version because everything is in the exact same place on the timeline. It’s also easy to get back to the starting point if needed. Sometimes I’ll remove a noise that somebody really wanted in there, and it’s so easy to get back to it with playlists because they’re all in sync and easily accessible.
When I first got Wavelab I tried using it for all steps of the album mastering process but I felt very limited and restricted when it came to the analog processing I/O stage, and the spot editing of clicks and pops using RX4 because managing/juggling what plugins in the global master section get rendered to a section is a little tricker than the simple but effective AudioSuite feature in Pro Tools. It just felt very clumsy.
For me, Pro Tools is the perfect workshop to make a mess and create the masters for an album getting them 90% there because I can easily get everything back all in one window. Once that is done I bring the songs into Wavelab to make everything pretty and look nice, and set the final limiting/dither and any small tweaks per song if needed.
Wavelab is very impressive with album sequencing, master file rendering, and tagging files with all applicable metadata. Sometimes if I miss a noise or edit, I’ll do it on the Wavelab edit side to be quick, but I don’t prefer it for intense work because it’s not so easy to splice playlists if you need to get back to an original part for a section.
The other thing I like about this workflow is that by the time my files are in Wavelab, they’re fairly dialed in so Wavelab isn’t doing a lot of real-time plugin rendering to make master files which saves time when it comes to making small changes to a master for a client or making all the alternate master formats.