One single transient spike is bothering me

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rokket
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Rokket

Rokket

Trailing Behind Again
I am remixing and old song that I did, and I have everything well balanced, but during playback on the second time the chorus comes in, I get a single spike that goes to .3dB, the rest of the song is perfectly level. How do I find the track that is causing it, and once I do, how do I fix it? Compression? What attack and release should I use? I think it may be in the backing vocals or the bass, as they are the only tracks that the wave form is a little radical in that spot.
Please help! This is driving me bonkers!
 
Here is a shot of the waves. It's a bit hard to see due to size restrictions...
 
The way I'd do it is in a computer editor. Zoom in on just the offending transient, highlight just that event (zero crossings on either side of the peak) and apply a compressor until you've beat it into submission. This way it's practicly invisable to the ear.
 
If you really can't figure out which track it is, it might be the combination of all the tracks at that particular moment. which means you can run the compressor on your mixed-down file at that one point. (not on the whole song!) another alternative to the compressor would be to just manually lower the volume with an envelope. sound forge has what is called a dynamic fade, which lets you draw an envelope and apply it to a section of music. of course, if you can mute tracks one by one, and find that the spike doesn't occur, then that is the offending track.
 
You can just use the volume handles in Vegas.
 
I just go into Wavelab, highlight the segment, and turn it down until it fits.
 
Thanks! I think I can get it. I did solo each track and can't find which one is the offender, so it may be what Falken said, and the combination is causing it. It's not noticeable when I play it back on CD, so I wonder if I should even bother? I will keep plugging at it...
 
I like to get a good, consistent envelope and then boost up to about -0.5dB (OK, I normalize) then compress.
 
Just zoom in on the transient (in the mix) and highlight it like trackrat said. Just turn it down (with volume or gain). There is no need to use a compressor. If there are a few of these in a song, you can tap them down and turn the entire mix up (normalize) without resorting to compression.
 
As long as the spike is very brief, I would do what Farview suggested. Using a compressor right there could change the tone and attack of that brief instant (although realistically it is probably so fast that no one would be able to tell). I would just highlight and drop it 2 db or so in volume.
 
Rokket said:
Thanks! I think I can get it. I did solo each track and can't find which one is the offender, so it may be what Falken said, and the combination is causing it. It's not noticeable when I play it back on CD, so I wonder if I should even bother? I will keep plugging at it...
Click to expand...

You mean you don't hear any clipping on playback? What brings it to your attention in the first place?

Just wonderin cuz I find these in my live recordings. I only deal with them, via Cakewalk volume envelopes, if they cause clipping.
 
I'd just do it the easy way: Find out what the difference in db is between the spike and the other smaller spikes, throw a limiter with the smallest possible attack on the master bus and set the threshold to the difference you just figured out. A 30 second job.
 
I automate issues like that....do it to vocals all the time..sometimes they get too loud, and i don't compress them, just bring them down a few clicks then draw them back up to fit the wave shape.
 
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