How destructive is Automatic Click Remover?

[melbendi]

I've digitized a number of old LPs, which have audible clicks throughout many of the songs.  How much reservation one should use when using the Auto Click Remover tool?  Is it a bad idea to select the each entire track and apply the Auto Click Remover, or does the Auto Click Remover often have to sacrifice a bit of sound quality, effecting parts of the track that are not clicks?  I know, if I can't tell it doesn't matter, but I'm just wondering, technically, if this is how it works?  Thank you for your help!

[SteveG_AudioMasters_ · Accepted solution]

Clicks have (fortunately, or it wouldn't work at all) a sonic signature that's quite distinctive, and this is relatively easy to detect. They  are also pretty unlike any form of musical sound, either in their shape or duration. This means that within reason, you won't have a problem with what's extracted. You might though have a problem with what isn't, though, as anything larger than yer average 'click' won't get fixed.

Personally I wouldn't use the Automatic Click Remover. I'd far rather use the Click/Pop Eliminator - the process-based one. You get far more control, and generally much better results. Also if you're de-clicking records, you'll find that not all clicks are equal, and there's one trick that can often help a lot. Convert your stereo to a Mid/Side (there's a preset in the Channel Mixer), and you'll find generally that there are far more clicks in the Side channel than the Mid. So you can treat them separately, to some advantage. When you're done, convert back to normal stereo, and you should get a result that's technically better, and may even sound better!

[melbendi]

Wow, thanks, Steve!  Thank you for sharing all this info.  I really appreciate your help and your technical expertise!   I'll try that process.

[Tobi5FC2]

Thanks this was helpful! What is the difference between the diagnostic click remover (process) and the automatic click remover? Is the process one less destructive? Would appreciate your insight. 

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

The automatic click remover is very basic - it only allows you to control two parameters, and is essentially a single-pass application. And you have to guess at the settings too. The process click/pop eliminator is far more sophisticated, and allows you to alter far more about what the process is doing. It also allows you to set the discrimination far more accurately. The biggest difference in many ways though is that it's a multi-pass system that can take out pulse patterns, and it can detect other things too, like crackle. It takes longer to set up, and to work best it has to analyse the whole file before it processes it, but the overall results are much better, if you're prepared to put the effort into analysing your material first. In general, it's much better for complex clicks.

If you find that the Automatic Click Remover is working fine for you, then by all means use it - but for me the process-based diagnostic one has always worked much better.