What is this click/pop?

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JohnnyCosmo

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I posted here before somewhere, but without an example. Can anybody listen to this really small sample and help me figure out what the problem is?

Crackle Example by Ortolan Soup on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

As far as I can tell it's random. I'm certain it's not me just accidentally hitting something with my plectrum or anything, because it happens in all sorts of places. It's really getting on my nerves though, having to try and edit problems like this out.

Thanks in advance for any help!
 
Do you have compression on that? It either sounds like drastic over-compression or the result of recording too hot. What level are you recording at?
 
No compression, and not hot at all; meters weren't even half way, and nothing was cranked.

I don't mean the attack of the plectrum on the strings by the way, but the sort of... pop at 1 second. If you look at the waveform as having 8 peaks, it's just after the third.
 
Bad cable maybe? Hard to say not knowing your recording chain.
 
At the moment I'm using a Rode NT1a into an EMU0404 USB interface, into a Mac running Reaper 4 (if it helps).
 
I must say it sounds like a short or something, to me. Something breaking up on the strong string hits. The NT1a can be harsh in the upper mids, but I have never heard mine do that. Hopefully the capsule hasn't been damaged. Any recent dropping of the mic? I would go through your connections, and change out cables first. Start at the source, and rule out each piece of the chain as the cause.
 
I've not dropped the mic at all. I'll try switching the cable tomorrow, but could you explain "I must say it sounds like a short or something, to me. Something breaking up on the strong string hits" a little more? I'm not sure I'm following you well.
 
It just sounds like when voltage is increased (stronger level of signal introduced to the mic), something breaks up (short, clip, pop). If you are not running through any type of compression, or effect, then it is more than likely a short in the signal somewhere.
 
I tried a different cable, but I still seem to be getting the clicking. I'm not sure if it correlates to a strong level of signal or not, but I'll test it when I next get chance.

Any other ideas in the mean time?
 
I've tried a few of different cables and microphones but I'm still getting this problem. Some more information though - the clicks are occurring in both channels if I'm recording in stereo.

What should I try next?
 
I had the same mic and it did something close to that, on the track I would record with the rode, the track would only have the lower half of the track when it would make that noise it wasn't a even sound wave. Check your individual tracks and please let me know if thats the case with you too, I am interested in seeing if this is a common prob with this mic.
 
What do you mean by 'lower half of the track'? Do you mean one side (Left or Right) of a stereo track (which are displayed one on top of the other in the timeline window)? Because if so, you might be recording in stereo when your setting should be in mono. I'm not sure though. My clicking is happening across microphones and I can see the click on the sound wave, so I don't think we're having the same problem.

Back to the issue: I've messed with the buffer/block size settings in Reaper, but I highly doubt that's my problem since when recording one track it rarely takes up one percent of CPU power. I might try a recording in Garageband later, to eliminate the DAW completely. After that, I guess only the EMU-0404 USB interface is left (but I'm not sure how I can test it).

In the mean time, I'm still looking for suggestions...?
 
It sounds like a digital pop to me. Maybe the EMU's AD converters.

Try this. Unplug the USB cable from the EMU & Mac. Plug a 1/8" cable from the headphone jack of the EMU to your Mac's line input and record. See if you still get the pops/clicks.
 
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