Editing Causes Distortion?

[ido1957]

Not sure where this goes but here goes. I downmixed to Sound Forge (Stereo) and had a wav file.

I edited some peaks, simply zooming in on the section and cutting out the peak part of the sound wave. After editing out the peaks, there were three or four spots with distortion - always on a kick drum/bass note.

I was trying to cut out some peaks so I could up the volume a bit. It gave me the ability to up the volume by a couple of dbs.

I re-edited just upping the volume and trimming the ends, and the distortion was gone. I couldn't get quite as much volume as I left the peaks in but it was not bad.

If anyone knows why this would occur, please let me know. Maybe it was something else but that was all I did differently this time.

Is cutting the peaks a normal process? I've actually done this before and I didn't get the distortion on the kick/bass.....

I use a compressor on the mixdown (Triple C) but not a limiter....

 

[scrubs]

altering the waveform = distortion

whether the result sounds good/bad, better/worse, or audible/not audible is debatable.

 

[danny.guitar]

What do you mean by "cutting" the peaks out?

If you compressed them, then that could possibly cause distortion (assuming it wasn't done right).

I usually use volume envelopes on the big peaks to smooth them out naturally. Then I normalize it.

 

[ido1957]

What do you mean by "cutting" the peaks out?

If you compressed them, then that could possibly cause distortion (assuming it wasn't done right).

I usually use volume envelopes on the big peaks to smooth them out naturally. Then I normalize it.

Cutting the peaks - I open the .wav file up in Sound Forge. It shows the waveform (I think that's what you call it) the thing with the peaks. I highlight a peak that is much higher than the rest of the song, then click on zoom. It zooms in on the waveform in finer detail. I highlight just the part of the wave that is too high and then click "cut" and it deletes that part of the waveform. Then the peak is gone and I can up the volume on the whole track closer to 0db. I do this so that if I up the volume it doesn't pas the 0db mark and clip my meters.
The Compression was done before the .wav file was created, and there was no distortion on the original .wav file I mixed down.
I've heard of volume envelopes but have never used them. I'm trying to up the volume of the whole track, not just one instrument, as I mix down on a mixer to computer (not ITB).

Hope someone out there can explain this phenomenon.....

 

[Ford Van]

I can. You are cutting out parts of the audio! The distortion you hear is the change of the difference of the audio that is unnatural.

You are literally REMOVING the audio.

What you want to be doing is adjusting the velocity (volume) of the wave form in those parts. I am sure Sound Forge has some type of volume pencil type of thing where you can redraw the volume of those peaks.

 

[mixsit]

I can. You are cutting out parts of the audio! The distortion you hear is the change of the difference of the audio that is unnatural.

You are literally REMOVING the audio.

What you want to be doing is adjusting the velocity (volume) of the wave form in those parts. I am sure Sound Forge has some type of volume pencil type of thing where you can redraw the volume of those peaks.

And on top of that, cuts are generally done at a zero crossing where they are less likely to 'click. Cuts elswhere might need a bit of cross-fades.

 

[ido1957]

Ok - I found the pencil tool and I already know how to highlight and adjust volume. I'll read the help file about using the pencil tool. Just playing around it redraws the lines, but I'll need more time to figure out how it works/sounds.
Thanks for the helpful information!