Blake Hodges

Q: Audio Clicks and Pops appearing in clips

In the final stages of editing a project that truly tests your machine, I am now running in to a mysterious problem.

 

I am nearly completely finished with a semi-complex project. Just in recent hours, certain clips have started developing "Clicks" and "Pops" that are very, very distinct. This might be fine.... if I were able to correct them. But conveniently, it appears that Final Cut Pro X does not give you this capability.

 

Is there a way to correct Clicks and Pops in FCPX? If not, is there some explainable reason why my audio is creating these problems slowly and surely? (the source media does not have the clicks)

 

Thank you for your insight!

Posted on Jul 22, 2011 9:15 PM

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Q: Audio Clicks and Pops appearing in clips

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  • by djoliverm,

    djoliverm djoliverm Sep 17, 2011 6:33 PM in response to RJDUBB
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 17, 2011 6:33 PM in response to RJDUBB

    Of course it has EVERYTHING to do with the problem! From what I see in the posts, it seems that the actual effects are also compressed MP3s. If they were uncompressed AIFF or WAV files then we wouldn't be having the issue!

     

    I understand your anger, just as I am angry, but we all at least have to understand the inherent problem which is that FCPX in Lion cannot handle compressed audio, but has no problems with uncompressed audio. What we've suggested are workarounds that can get you by in the mean time, since apparently Apple is taking their sweet time with this. I personally have projects with deadlines due so I have no choice but to work around the issue at the moment. But of course I can't wait until all of this is fixed and cab just use FCPX like it was meant to be used.

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Sep 18, 2011 12:52 AM in response to djoliverm
    Level 10 (118,408 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 18, 2011 12:52 AM in response to djoliverm

    Get it. So the processing through AE really has nothing to do with audio problems.

     

    I don't get why you're bouncing for audio connected to video. FCP will process it for you. The only time you need something outside of FCP is if you have separate audio tracks, which you should process before you bring into FCP. You can do it in the QT pro player, in Compressor, in MPEG Streamclip, in iTunes, and a host of other apps, most of which can batch process if you need to.

     

    Any audio that comes into FCP as part of video can be optimized on import.

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Sep 18, 2011 12:56 AM in response to RJDUBB
    Level 10 (118,408 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 18, 2011 12:56 AM in response to RJDUBB

    iMovie can do a lot of things professional cannot. It can worked with mxued video files like DV Stream. It can make trailers and flying maps. It's a different app. Why do they all have to work the same?

     

    FCP is supposed to be a professional application. This is the way professional applications work. You use high quality, high data rate video and high quality uncompressed audio. That's how you get good results.

  • by djoliverm,

    djoliverm djoliverm Sep 18, 2011 8:05 AM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 18, 2011 8:05 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

    That's all perfectly fine, but just because FCPX is a "professional" application (which the jury is still out apparently with this new version with all the talk of it being "iMovie Pro") doesn't mean that it shouldn't be able to handle something as simple as this. If anything it should be able to handle anything that is thrown at it. Going by this, then it means that you can't use footage from an iPhone 4 (one of their own products) because it uses compressed audio and it isn't considered professional. Well without third party apps, you can't choose to use uncompressed audio when recording video on the iPhone 4. Being professional should mean it can handle ANY type of footage, not be an excuse to just pass over file types that are deemed "amateur."

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Sep 18, 2011 9:19 AM in response to djoliverm
    Level 10 (118,408 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 18, 2011 9:19 AM in response to djoliverm
    then it means that you can't use footage from an iPhone 4 (one of their own products) because it uses compressed audio

     

    Not so. As I said media from a camera has the audio decompressed when it's imported rewrapped into QuickTime. This happens with iPhone video as well. It is not compressed audio in FCP.

  • by djoliverm,

    djoliverm djoliverm Sep 18, 2011 10:09 AM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 18, 2011 10:09 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

    Tom, with all due respect, I thought we all agreed that FCPX introduces clicks and pops when importing clips with compressed audio (like the iPhone 4's AAC audio). The manner in which FCPX handles the audio and converts it to an uncompressed format is what is causing all these issues. Do you have an iPhone 4? If you do, I challenge you to drop a video recorded on it through its native camera app (no third party apps where you can select to record audio as uncompressed by using frame rates lower than 30) and see if any of these problems appear. I have a video on YouTube that does exactly that, and this is the problem everyone's been having. What I clearly meant by my statement is that you can't natively use iPhone 4 footage (or any footage that records audio in a compressed format) because FCPX destroys the audio when it's imported. Drop any footage from a DSLR that records as uncompresed audio and you have zero issues.

     

    So to be clear: it doesn't matter that all audio is converted to uncompressed audio when imported, it will introduce clicks and pops if the ORIGINAL audio was in a compressed format. If it was in an uncompressed format, you're all good to go. I've spent days trying every imagineable combination of codecs and what not to see if I can replicate the results and that is my conclusion.

     

    Try this for example: on a project that you know for certain is working fine (i.e., no clicks and pops since all the audio was originally in an uncompressed format), export it as an MP4 file (which uses AAC for the audio). Now import that clip into a fresh timeline and tell me that it doesn't produce clicks and pops in Lion. Depending on the exact AAC codec you use, you get slightly better results, but the clicks and pops are always there.

     

    If you cannot replicate these issues at all with compressed audio and you're running on Lion, I welcome you to share with us all your secret since apparently Apple themselves don't have a fix as of yet. Very frustrating indeed. ;(

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Sep 18, 2011 10:45 AM in response to djoliverm
    Level 10 (118,408 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 18, 2011 10:45 AM in response to djoliverm
    I thought we all agreed that FCPX introduces clicks and pops when importing clips with compressed audio (like the iPhone 4's AAC audio).

     

    Who's we Kimosabe?

     

    Correctly imported video from an iPhone doesn't have AAC audio.

     

    002.png

  • by djoliverm,

    djoliverm djoliverm Sep 18, 2011 11:00 AM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 18, 2011 11:00 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

    Ok that's fine that it shows as uncompressed once imported, but do you have clicks and pops once it is on the timeline and FCPX does background rendering or analyzing of any sort? That's what the issue is.

  • by djoliverm,

    djoliverm djoliverm Sep 18, 2011 11:17 AM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 18, 2011 11:17 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

    Hey Tom, so here is a clip I had from my iPhone 4, showing how Finder and Quicktime view the info for the file, and finally how FCPX shows the info for the file once "properly" imported (no other transcoding done, just import the original clip in FCPX). Can you please explain to me what I'm doing wrong since I see AAC as the audio format for the video clip?

     

    Screen Shot 2011-09-18 at 2.06.25 PM.pngScreen Shot 2011-09-18 at 2.07.04 PM.pngScreen Shot 2011-09-18 at 2.06.55 PM.png

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Sep 18, 2011 11:45 AM in response to djoliverm
    Level 10 (118,408 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 18, 2011 11:45 AM in response to djoliverm

    No clicks and pops in the Timeline or on export.

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Sep 18, 2011 11:46 AM in response to djoliverm
    Level 10 (118,408 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 18, 2011 11:46 AM in response to djoliverm

    That clip was not imported into FCP from the camera. Imported into iMovie? iPhoto? Aperture?

  • by djoliverm,

    djoliverm djoliverm Sep 18, 2011 11:52 AM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 18, 2011 11:52 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

    Aperture; that clip has long gone been deleted off my phone after a clean software restore not from a backup. I'll try your method of importing clips directly from the iPhone into FCPX, and see what happens, but if this is the case, it's just another work around like what I've said before. FCPX should be able to handle any file type you throw at it, especially if it's cheaper cousin iMovie has no issues.

     

    Can you try importing a file through Aperture/iPhoto that has AAC audio, and dropping it on the timeline and see what happens with the audio?

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Sep 18, 2011 12:14 PM in response to djoliverm
    Level 10 (118,408 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 18, 2011 12:14 PM in response to djoliverm

    I'm sure it will click and pop. I've always said never use still applications to import video.

  • by djoliverm,

    djoliverm djoliverm Sep 18, 2011 12:22 PM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 18, 2011 12:22 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

    Awesome, we're all on the same page then. Now, with that being said, what excuse does Apple have when iMovie or Premiere can handle this workflow without a hitch? More importantly when there were no issues in Snow Leopard, only with Lion? This workflow which according to you is not professional (and I'll agree that it isn't, but it's the most practical) used to work just fine in SL.

     

    And what about those situations when you have no choice in the workflow? When you get a file that was already imported in a program like Aperture. What then? It's just inexcusable. You and me are fine since we've both figured out ways to work around the issue, but what about the masses who encounter this issue and have no idea where it's coming from?

  • by Pancenter,

    Pancenter Pancenter Sep 18, 2011 9:42 PM in response to djoliverm
    Level 6 (10,018 points)
    Audio
    Sep 18, 2011 9:42 PM in response to djoliverm

    djoliverm wrote:

     

     

    Awesome, we're all on the same page then. Now, with that being said, what excuse does Apple have when iMovie or Premiere can handle this workflow without a hitch? More importantly when there were no issues in Snow Leopard, only with Lion?

     

    Most likely, Lion has changed task priorities with video/rendering being given the "Lion's" share of the resources. Decompressing an Mp3 usually only take's 1 or 2% of the total CPU available so you have to attribute it to bad resource (including RAM) management. Most alarming is something so obvious wasn't caught in Beta testing. Somewhat disconcerting is that it seems to be an acceptable procedure to sell beta software to customers.

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