Clicking/popping noise at start of every new clip?

Rehdarh

Active member
Hi,

I am currently editing a project in Davinci Resolve, and I notice that when I put two individual clips side by side in the timeline, there is always a popping or cracking noise at the start of each clip. Does anyone know how I may fix this? I am still very new to NLE editing software so hopefully it isn't too technical.

Thank you so much.

The best,

Rehdarh
 
Usually in Final Cut this isn artefact of compressed audio in use.
Try converting the clips to .aiff@48kHz.

Al
 
Thank you for your reply,

I'm not quite sure what compressed means. I know that I took my original .m2ts audio files and "re-wrapped" to .wav format using this program called ffmpeg so that Resolve could accept them. I am not sure if this ended up "compressing" them or not. I am almost done my project, but still have those popping sounds. Do you know if it is still possible to convert my clips to the format/hz that you suggested without having to re-edit all my sound files? I'm also not quite sure how to do that conversion to that in the first place haha. Thanks a lot for your help.

The best,

Rehdarh
 
This is usualy a result of editing AVC compressed video and AAC compressed audio from a non-production grade source. What was the original footage shot with?

The solution is to transcode video to a DI format like Prores, DNXHD, or Cineform and transcode audio to 16 bit 48Khz uncompressed PCM .WAV format. Do this before importing into Resolve.

These are common issues that affect all pro level NLE's to one degree or another. Streaming grade H.264/MP4/AVC codecs so common to low end cameras and mobile devices were not designed for editing.
 
This is usualy a result of editing AVC compressed video and AAC compressed audio from a non-production grade source. What was the original footage shot with?

The solution is to transcode video to a DI format like Prores, DNXHD, or Cineform and transcode audio to 16 bit 48Khz uncompressed PCM .WAV format. Do this before importing into Resolve.

These are common issues that affect all pro level NLE's to one degree or another. Streaming grade H.264/MP4/AVC codecs so common to low end cameras and mobile devices were not designed for editing.

The original footage was shot with my sony a6000 which originally output my footage in .m2ts format. The .m2ts format was then re-wrapped to a .mov format so that I could import it into Davinci Resolve. I was told that I should "re-wrap" it with ffmpeg, because rendering it to another format compresses the footage and that is something I want to avoid. My audio was recorded on a Tascam MKII and it output it in a .wav file. I do not know what number Khz it was, but when I look at the properties of the file it says the bit-rate is 1411kbps.

Is it possible to transcode, or re-re-wrap (if it is the case that those two words mean the same thing) my video/audio into the DI format/bit rate and Khz without having to re-do my project?

Thanks for your help,

The best,

Rehdarh
 
Last edited:
Is it just a single pop/click? Or does it extend for a few frames, or even seconds, into each clip after the edit?

My audio was recorded on a Tascam MKII and it output it in a .wav file. I do not know what number Khz it was, but when I look at the properties of the file it says the bit-rate is 1411kbps.

Not that it will make a huge difference, but which Tascam mkII? There are several Tascam recorders that have a mkII.

You should know the audio settings on the recorder: they matter. Either 16-bit or 24-bit WAV, 48kHz. Audio for video runs at a native 16-bit/48kHz. Resolve should have no problem playing 24-bit files on the fly, but if your sample rate is something other than 48k it can cause problems.

Another question: you rewrapped your camera files, but what was your process for importing the sound files and syncing them with the video?
 
Try rendering it out and see if it is there in the export.

Also you can 'cure' it by using small audio transitions between clips.. which you might be doing anyway for a smooth audio experience.

Also check the tips above about changing the format of the audio.

S
 
Is it just a single pop/click? Or does it extend for a few frames, or even seconds, into each clip after the edit?

It is just a single pop/click right when the playhead hits the video clip. I just double checked just the audio files, and it appears to me it is not the case that this sound occurs when the playhead runs over a new audio files - Just the video clips.
 
It is just a single pop/click right when the playhead hits the video clip. I just double checked just the audio files, and it appears to me it is not the case that this sound occurs when the playhead runs over a new audio files - Just the video clips.

Okay, so I'm now curious if you have the camera's audio also playing in the timeline.

Again, what was your workflow for bringing the sound files in (from your Tascam... which Tascam?) to sync with your video in Resolve?
 
Try rendering it out and see if it is there in the export.

Also you can 'cure' it by using small audio transitions between clips.. which you might be doing anyway for a smooth audio experience.

Also check the tips above about changing the format of the audio.

S

I had rendered my project out in a couple of exports, one being very low quality, and the popping sound is still there then. I experimented with using small audio transitions very briefly and it did slightly make the popping sound a little quieter, but still not to an acceptable level. I may revisit that solution again; I just felt it was a kind of a "tacky" way of solving it and that there was possibly a more correct way of solving the issue, but it may in fact turn out to be the simplest way to do it so we'll see.

Thank-you,

Rehdarh
 
Okay, so I'm now curious if you have the camera's audio also playing in the timeline.

Again, what was your workflow for bringing the sound files in (from your Tascam... which Tascam?) to sync with your video in Resolve?

The sound files were already in .wav format so I did not need to re-wrap them to make them compatible with Resolve. They were recorded by my Tascam DR-60D MIK II and I had synced the audio waveforms of those files to my video manually in the mediapool of Resolve by linking them together. I think that was it as far as my audio-sync workflow if I remember correctly. One other thing is for some reason the synced audio was only playing in the left ear, so I set both Source Channels to "linked channel 1" and the solved the issue.

From what I can tell the camera's audio is not playing in the timeline. The reason why I think this is because when I select just a video clip and click clip attributes, then go to the audio tab, there is nothing there.

Thank-you,

Rehdarh
 
Last edited:
Is it just a single pop/click? Or does it extend for a few frames, or even seconds, into each clip after the edit?



Not that it will make a huge difference, but which Tascam mkII? There are several Tascam recorders that have a mkII.

You should know the audio settings on the recorder: they matter. Either 16-bit or 24-bit WAV, 48kHz. Audio for video runs at a native 16-bit/48kHz. Resolve should have no problem playing 24-bit files on the fly, but if your sample rate is something other than 48k it can cause problems.

Another question: you rewrapped your camera files, but what was your process for importing the sound files and syncing them with the video?

Just looking at my recorder settings now. It says the format is WAV 16bit and the Sample is 44.1k.
 
Just looking at my recorder settings now. It says the format is WAV 16bit and the Sample is 44.1k.

Okay, so I think there are a couple of things possibly going on here. First, ALWAYS record at 48k, not 44.1. I don't use resolve, so I don't know its capabilities in realtime audio conversion. but it's having to make that 44.1k>48k conversion on the fly. This can ve a cause of popping/clicking. You can even use iTunes to convert your 44.1k WAV files into 48k WAV files, but expect there to be a slight hit in quality (may or may not be audible). For future projects, record at 48k.

The other issue may be a "zero crossing" issue. Audio, as plotted in a waveform, has positive and negative movement, with the X axis being time and the Y axis being amplitude. Where the waveform crosses the X axis from positive to negative, or negative to positive, is the zero crossing. If you edit your clip exactly on the zero crossing, which is damn near impossible in an NLE, there's no problem. If you cut where the waveform is above or below zero, you might get a pop. This is where adding a short cross-dissolve between audio regions can help. If there's no adjoining audio region, add a short fade-in or fade-out.
 
My fs7 pops in resolve - either I do t know how to handle the audio (settings wise) or resolve does not. Typically I might get a pop when cutting from a quiet interview to one with a lot of background noise - I "cure" the hard cuts with transitions or underlaying wild track or suchlike in w second track
 
Okay, so I think there are a couple of things possibly going on here. First, ALWAYS record at 48k, not 44.1. I don't use resolve, so I don't know its capabilities in realtime audio conversion. but it's having to make that 44.1k>48k conversion on the fly. This can ve a cause of popping/clicking. You can even use iTunes to convert your 44.1k WAV files into 48k WAV files, but expect there to be a slight hit in quality (may or may not be audible). For future projects, record at 48k.

The other issue may be a "zero crossing" issue. Audio, as plotted in a waveform, has positive and negative movement, with the X axis being time and the Y axis being amplitude. Where the waveform crosses the X axis from positive to negative, or negative to positive, is the zero crossing. If you edit your clip exactly on the zero crossing, which is damn near impossible in an NLE, there's no problem. If you cut where the waveform is above or below zero, you might get a pop. This is where adding a short cross-dissolve between audio regions can help. If there's no adjoining audio region, add a short fade-in or fade-out.



Hmm,

I'm taking another look at my timeline again and I notice something.

When a series of video clips, which have no audio, are layered above an audio file (like one single long audio file) then the video clips have a pop. When I mute the long audio file I have below them, the popping doesn't happen. The long audio file I'm talking about is this sound file of a song I got off the internet that i re-wrapped in .wav format. However, I replaced it with a dialogue file recorded with my tascam and with the same specs I told you about, and the same problem occurs.
 
So it seems that the problem is not the video clips...or the audio files..but when the video clips are layered over the audio files.
 
So it seems that the problem is not the video clips...or the audio files..but when the video clips are layered over the audio files.


Sorry for the many posts but I keep finding that my previous description of the problem is inaccurate. I said that I didn't think it was the audio or the video specifically that was the problem, but rather that they are layered over eachother. Well I exported my project and I realized that the problem is actually an audio problem. There is clipping when the playhead crosses over video clips, but only in the timeline. When it is exported, the transitions into other VIDEO clips do not cause any popping noises, but they do persist in transition in audio files....
 
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