Cracks with SPDIF recording

  • Any crackles/pops in the audio can be zoomed right into. They are normally just a sample or two long. You can highlight them and just reduce the gain of that selection massively and the crackle will normally disappear on playback.

  • What about the buffersize DAW ?

    Maybe dropout clicks because off buffer under run or cpu overload ?
    Did you use a backing track with a lot of processor load while recording?


    Only a Idea ..

    As said before, I didn't change anything on the buffer settings on Logic Pro. I only checked the "low latency mode" to avoid having a huge latency.

    I have done a lot of recordings before with other gear and never had any issues of this kind, so I really doubt the problem is my computer's CPU.

    The backing track was just a single audio file so once again, I doubt it took a lot of CPU power. Thanks for helping me trying to find, anyway.


    BTW, I just tried to play again with the same setup, and this time, Logic Pro wasn't even launched. As a result, I still got some cracks here and there while playing. So I think we can say that the DAW is definitely out of the problem.

  • Any crackles/pops in the audio can be zoomed right into. They are normally just a sample or two long. You can highlight them and just reduce the gain of that selection massively and the crackle will normally disappear on playback.

    Thanks, I will try that! Maybe this would be a way to save my recordings...

  • To me the playing is the fun part. I'd just play it again. I spend so much time dealing with software, troubleshooting issues, doing all kinds of stuff that isn't music. When I get to the actually playing part, I play it awhile. I might do 30 takes of something if I just feel like it and am having fun.


    So unless you were playing the most inspired of your entire life, I'd consider just having fun and do it all again. You'll probably like the new takes better and can try different things until you figure out what's causing your issue.

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  • To me the playing is the fun part. I'd just play it again. I spend so much time dealing with software, troubleshooting issues, doing all kinds of stuff that isn't music. When I get to the actually playing part, I play it awhile. I might do 30 takes of something if I just feel like it and am having fun.


    So unless you were playing the most inspired of your entire life, I'd consider just having fun and do it all again. You'll probably like the new takes better and can try different things until you figure out what's causing your issue.

    Actually, I think I did the absolute best I can do on these takes. The composition isn't going to change now and I would just feel irritated and tired if I had to put them to the thrash and play them all over again. I'm actually pretty tired already...

    Edited once, last by Xisale ().

  • I tried to zoom on the track and I was actually able to see a crack were it appears. Here is a screenshot.

    The problem is that many times, they happen in the middle of a note/chord, so if I'd lower the gain on this part, the there would be a weird blank instead...

    You need to zoom in on just the transient that is the crackle. It will be just a very very short spike. You only reduce the gain on this one transient and nothing else.

  • Honestly I could barely hear it in your clip. I wouldn't worry about it. Move on, add drums and bass and vocals or whatever, you'll never hear it.

    I certainly wouldn't mess with fixing it. Retrack or move on. Check your recording next time before you get too far down the road.


    Typically these kind of spikes can happen when you edit if you don't check your crossfades. You'll especially hear it on bass and kick drum.

    Only you will know these are there when you're done with the track. If you listen back to classic records and solo the tracks, there's all kinds of crap on them.

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  • I tried to zoom on the track and I was actually able to see a crack were it appears. Here is a screenshot.

    The problem is that many times, they happen in the middle of a note/chord, so if I'd lower the gain on this part, the there would be a weird blank instead...


    Don't try to cut it you have to redraw it.
    Checkout this Video

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    Be the force with you ;)

  • Which version of the 6i6 are you using? The software looks different to mine which is the 2nd generation.

    A brace of Suhrs, a Charvel, a toaster, an Apollo twin, a Mac, and a DXR10

  • I tried to redraw the waves but the problem is that the cracks don't appear as very tiny and clear pick as shown in the video but rather than what you can see in the picture I posted above. So if I try to redraw all of this mess, the crack is replaced by some kind of white noise. That's not really better :/


    Which version of the 6i6 are you using? The software looks different to mine which is the 2nd generation.

    I have the first generation one. The software is called Scarlett MixControl.

  • I tried to redraw the waves but the problem is that the cracks don't appear as very tiny and clear pick as shown in the video but rather than what you can see in the picture I posted above. So if I try to redraw all of this mess, the crack is replaced by some kind of white noise. That's not really better :/


    I have the first generation one. The software is called Scarlett MixControl.


    I thought that, it’s just that with my macos I’ve just had to update the Scarlett software and it occurred to me that that may be your issue. I hope you get it sorted.

    A brace of Suhrs, a Charvel, a toaster, an Apollo twin, a Mac, and a DXR10

  • Honestly I could barely hear it in your clip. I wouldn't worry about it. Move on, add drums and bass and vocals or whatever, you'll never hear it.

    I certainly wouldn't mess with fixing it. Retrack or move on. Check your recording next time before you get too far down the road.


    Typically these kind of spikes can happen when you edit if you don't check your crossfades. You'll especially hear it on bass and kick drum.

    Only you will know these are there when you're done with the track. If you listen back to classic records and solo the tracks, there's all kinds of crap on them.

    I have actually done a premix with the drums and the bass and I could hear some of them. Maybe I'm just too much of a perfectionist.

    The problem is definitely not the cross fades, though. There wasn't any cross fade in the clip I sent here (nor editing or whatnot)


    You are absolutely right nonetheless: I will move on and be extra careful next time.

    Yet I would still like to find the solution to be able to record with SPDIF in the future.

  • I would try monitoring directly through your sound card and max the buffer size. That's what I do. Also allows the DAW to run a huge amount of native plug-ins.

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  • A quick thing you can try is to slice the audio into a new region at every noise pop and do a small cross fade. I’ve done that before and it’s works well and is fast.

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  • I just tried many things:


    Recording in 44,1 Khz: Doesn't change a thing. Interesting fact: Even if I record in Analog, I still get some crackles, but they seem less obvious than in SPDIF.


    I tried to turn the SPDIF volume knob down a little but it didn't change a thing either.


    Then I thought this might be due to some clipping in the input section. I have noticed that the DI tracks sometimes clip if I hit the strings really hard. But even if I turn the clean sens to -5db, these crackles still happen.


    So in conclusion, I get these crackles, whatever I do. Maybe they come from some things in my playing. I have noticed that they seem to appear more in my rythm playing, especially when I play heavy palm mutes and sudden dynamic changes. But they don't seem to appear much on my solo tracks. Maybe this comes from the profile used too.