clicks on the sub track

Performance & Techniques Music Production
1

clicks on the sub track

they keep showing up at random spots in my tune. It’s not the attack or release and it happens even when the track is solo’d. i removed all effects and modulations and it seems to be the spot in the track that clicks and it’s driving me nuts.

does anyone have any suggestions? they are really disruptive to the tune otherwise id just try to work around them

using ableton as a daw and massive for my sub

thanks

2

Sounds like you are peaking. Do you have an eq on there with your sub 150 and under and make sure its not blowing limiters. Also is it side chained to your drums?

3

Every time this happens to me with my bass or sub its always a release thing on my sidechain compressor. I lengthen the release and it goes away. If you’ve checked that and it’s not, i’m not totally sure what it could be. Is it coming through in the over all mix? If it isnt…meh…don’t worry about it too much.

4

This is usually a sidechain problem for me. I have a bit of a long release on the sub, lowpassed at ~150hz. If you’re in ableton using the default compressor, use the fm1 model, it should help a little. Other than that, lengthen the release until it stops clicking.

The click itself is caused because the waveform gets cut off by the sidechain, then cut back on at high volume, creating a square jump in the sound.

5

I don’t have a sidechain on my sub :confused: it comes through the whole mix and is very obnoxious. i thought it was a clipping issue but not amount of volume modulation does anything to get rid of it. at this point i am debating just resampling the sub at another point in the song and using the audio clip.

6

You’ll get more click that way. This click is where you restart the oscillator then, causing a nice fat line across the overall sub wave. How are you generating the sub?

7

2 stacked sinewaves with a few minor effects in massive like dimension expander and some EQ. ive tried everything i can think of im so confused why it keeps making the clicks. ive tried removing everything except the sinewave(s) and its still there :confused:

8

Try using only one sinewave for the sub, should be all you need. Maybe it’s some kind of weird phasing-problem, who knows :slight_smile:

9

I hate massive for subs, not sure why since its just a sine wave but ah.

10

I can make some fat subs out of massive. Just gotta mess with some weird parameters

11

It’s the sine wave cutting off. Imagine drawing a sine wave on a piece of paper, then cutting it off a quarter up the slope. That will cause a click as the speaker resets to zero. That’s why working with your release and attack to get them both pretty even is important.

EDIT: Rephrased, halfway up the slope would actually mean no click…

12

good point, now that i think about it the other time i’ll get clicks like that is when shortening a kick drum sample to tighten it up. If you go to far and cut the wave off it starts to click just as you said.