Audio clicks

[mu84]

Ok, Im taking my DV video, putting it into Premiere, reducing the gain to 20% and overlaying an mp3 at 75% gain. There are a couple of transitions in the video before the mp3 starts (i don't know if this affects it), but after I compresss it into an AVI, the mp3 makes "clicking/cracking" noises while it plays and gets louder.

depending on where along the timeline I start compressing, the finished AVI randomly doesn't click.

does anyone know what the cause of this problem is? how to remedy it?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Akribie]

Your problem is because MP3 and Premiere don't mix very well. You will do much better by converting all audio to WAV before import into Premiere.

 

[mu84]

Thanks for the reply.

i converted the mp3 to a WAV and it still clicks...

 

[Akribie]

Is the WAV file clean and without clicks if played in another application? What is its peak volume - very loud?

What version of Premiere?

What are the sampling rates of your audio compared to that of the project?

If using non-Pro Premiere, what setting do you have in audio preferences (if using non-Pro version) for rate conversions and have you tried pre-rendering the audio before playing out (reduce unrendered audio tracks to one and then render)?

What maximum level are you reaching on the timeline audio output (use the audio mixer)?

Is there anything else you can offer to help diagnosis?

If using Premiere Pro, have you read

http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/317366.html

?

 

[mu84]

1. yes, the mp3/wav does not click at all. I converted with DBPoweramp, and i normalized the audio...not sure if this helped. I did not have the option to adjust the volume of the actual file itself, though.

2. premiere 6.0

3. I'm not sure if I understand what you mean by this, sorry.

4. I've tried to compress using all the different audio type conversions at 44000 and 48000 and that does not seem to make a difference. Typically, I've been compressing the video, leaving the audio uncompressed at 44000. I usually don't have the gain for the video audio or the music higher than 75%, but even if I turn it way down, it does not seem to make a difference. I have tried pre-rendering the video with the audio, just the audio, and exporting the audio and then rendering (this method seems to produce LESS clicks, but it still clicks).

5. Once again, I'm fairly new, so I'm unclear as to what you mean.

6. The only other thing I noticed is that when I was trying to figure out how to remedy the problem, if I was compressing a small portion of a segment that DID click, it would randomly render without the clicks...unfortunately, it never did when I rendered the whole segment.

Thanks again for your time, Akribie!

 

[Akribie]

OK. By the sound of it you are using mixed sampling rates in your project and you haven't changed Premiere audio defaults, which are biased towards speed not quality in such cases. Audio rate conversions stress the CPU during realtime replay and are a common source of problems like yours.

Go to Project/Settings/Audio

Change the option for Enhance Rate Conversion to BEST

If that doesn't fix it, then also change the number of files before creating audio previews down to ONE.

It is always best to have the same sampling rate for all audio in a project and for that to match the project settings. If your project is set to 48k, then use your audio program to generate a 48k version of the WAV file before using it in Premiere.

To judge maximum audio levels in the output, go to Windows\Workspace\Audio to see the audio mixer, and play the timeline whilst monitoring the output level using the Audio Palette VU meters. If it close to the top, then reduce the master volume somewhat to see if that eliminates the crackles.

If you are using Premiere 6.0, you are strongly recommended to get the free 6.01 update from Adobe, or maybe 6.02 if you have problems with 6.01 under Win XP. 6.01 fixed quite a few subtle bugs.