I'm hoping to get some feedback on the settings I used in ClickRepair. I uploaded a 90 second clip here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/xzyqobw2z0dh80b/alternating.flac It is a 24/96 flac clip of Radiohead's Exit Music (For a Film) where I alternated between ClickRepair on and off every ten seconds. I'd appreciate any thoughts regarding noticeable artifacts introduced in the ClickRepair sections as well as the general sound quality of the transfer. Using ClickRepair v3.5.3 with the following settings: Declick: 20 Decrackle: off Reverse: checked Method: Wavelet x2
Vinyl transfer Sounds good to me. Nice quiet noise floor and blooming dynamic range. I could hear some very minor clicks and pops in the sections where ClickRepair is turned off, but I couldn’t detect any other contrasts between the processed and unprocessed portions. With the quiet acoustic guitar strumming and the quite loud and reverb-heavy vocals as the only instruments, this makes for a somewhat idiosyncratic sample. I may be a biased listener because I’ve been using ClickRepair for a long time to make clean digital copies of noisy old vinyl, and I’ve never detected any distortion being introduced by ClickRepair. With the DeClick setting so low (20), I’d be surprised if any detectable artifacts are creeping in. I ordinarily use the default setting of 50.
You want real click repair, use iZotope RX Advanced. Incredible system. Even the $300 version works amazingly well. Free programs like ClickRepair are great for what they are, but they're tinkertoys compared to this stuff.
IZotope RX Thanks for the link. That’s rolling out the heavy weaponry. I take very mild umbrage at calling ClickRepair a tinkertoy. I think you may be confusing it with some of the other options out there. For one thing, it’s not freeware; a license costs $45. There’s some elegant, non-trivial coding under the hood, and it’s a serious audiophile tool. Lots of cool stuff to read at the author’s site: http://www.clickrepair.net/ But you’re right, if you really want to nuke the planet, the iZotope packages look like the way to go.
I usually use settings of 1 or 2 and then take out the remaining few ticks with Cool Edit/Audition. I think the highest setting I've ever used is 15. I would also agree that ClickRepair is a fantastic piece of kit for the price. I downloaded the trial of iZotope and had a play and (for my needs, i.e. basic needledrops) couldn't find anything I couldn't do with ClickRepair and Cool Edit Pro. (That's not saying there isn't though!)
Thanks for all the comments, guys. I picked this excerpt because of the acoustic guitar and overall quietness of the track. I figured it would make any alterations in the sound more obvious. I've also noticed in the past that declicking software often has problems with acoustic guitar and removes elements of it. Many moons ago I used the declicking and denoising plugins in Wavelab... back in the v3 days I guess. So far, I've been really happy with ClickRepair. My results really depend on the material though. On some tracks, even a setting of 1 on ClickRepair will alter the sound noticeably but for most, I can't hear any effect if I get the settings right. Vidiot, I've heard lots of good stuff about the iZotope software so I'll see if there's a demo available and if I come into some extra cash, may pick it up. I'd really like to hear your opinions on my sample since you don't seem too impressed with ClickRepair. Let me know if you hear any unwanted artifacts. Btw, I lived in Northridge back in the early 90s... worked at the Tower Records back then. That was a fun time!
