M-audio and Adobe Audition 1.5 pop problems

Dave Andrews · **Voice Talent** Joined: 10 Jan 2007 Posts: 23

I've been recording with my mic and headphones plugged directly into my laptop. It gave a low end hiss that I couldn't get rid of, so I decided to go with a preamp.

Well, I got an M-Audio Firewire 410 and hooked it up today. The base sound is much cleaner, but I have a new problem. Now there are tons of clicks and pops that weren't there before.

I can't figure out the problem. I adjust the harware pot, the M-Audio mixer settings, the Adobe Audition settings, the M-Audio sample rate...

It keeps doing it. Now I feel stuck. Without the preamp I get hiss, with it I get clicks.

It also just stops recording audio randomly in the middle of recording. Sometimes after 2 or 3 seconds, sometimes after 15 or more seconds. Sometimes it makes it all the way through.

I'm wondering if the computer can't keep up with the preamp.

I have a laptop with an AMD Turion 64x2 1.6ghz dual processor and 2 gigs of RAM.

Any ideas?

Dave Andrews · **Voice Talent** Joined: 10 Jan 2007 Posts: 23

As I see the problem more, it almost seems like a problem with the computer keeping up with what the preamp is sending to it. I notice that I can't hear these pops at all until playback. It also gets to the point of sounding more like distortion sometimes.

Between this and the fact the it suddenly stops feeding sound into Adobe Audition, even though the recording is still happening, it almost seems like a pipeline or memory problem. It's not likely to be memory, since I have 2 gigs, but that's about what it seems like.

George Karnes · **Voice Talent** Joined: 26 Dec 2006 Posts: 905

Dave-
Do you have a different computer you could try it on?

Colin Campbell · Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007, 06:10 (GMT) Post subject:

Go to the Adobe site and look for optimization tips for Windows XP running Audition. It is ALL ABOUT tweaking the cache settings in Audition. Strangely you have too much RAM and you need to tell Audtion about it. Plus there are a ton of other tweaks.

Dave Andrews · **Voice Talent** Joined: 10 Jan 2007 Posts: 23

George, I do have a desktop I can install everything on if I need to, just for testing purposes. I can't use it professionally because it makes too much damned noise...

Colin, that's interesting. Thanks, I'll check it out.

Dave Andrews · **Voice Talent** Joined: 10 Jan 2007 Posts: 23

Wow! They did have quite a few suggestions on the Adobe site.

It said to have the virtual memory set to 1.5x the RAM and mine was only at 1.0x.

It also said if you have over a gig of RAM (I have two) to set the Wave cache in AA to 128 megs. It was defaulted to a puny 16 megs.

I've made those two adjustments. There were quite a few other suggestions that I'm pretty much okay on, but that Wave cache was a biggie.

I did notice that there is a box to click in the settings that says "use system's cache", but Adobe's instructions didn't say to click that, so I've left it blank for now.

I'll give these a shot tomorrow and see if it makes the difference I need. I'll try to remember to post my results here for others.

Colin Campbell · Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007, 07:56 (GMT) Post subject:

Adobe Audition is not the best stuff in the world and it takes a LOT of tweaking to make it work well. When you do, It can give you good service. I use it and have a love-hate relationship with it. I want Pro Tools M-Powered but alas, you have to buy at least some sort of hardware to make it work. I am drueling over the Projectmix I/O from M-Audio and the Pro Tools M-Powered for a total of about $1300, but I need to get some jobs first. So... it's Audition 1.5 for now. FYI... I just had a chance to install Audition 2.0 for free... and so far IT SUCKS. Hard to understand and much more jittery and jumpy than 1.5. Adobe is killing the product they bought from Syrillium.

Dave Andrews · **Voice Talent** Joined: 10 Jan 2007 Posts: 23

If I can't get AA 1.5 to do what I need, I guess I'll check out Pro Tools. A free demo of it came with the Firewire 410.

This, of course, is assuming there's a version of it for Windows. I didn't even check.

Colin Campbell · Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007, 08:08 (GMT) Post subject:

Yes, Pro Tools is all about Windows now, despite its Mac roots. You know I have done extensive research for over a year now, and for multi-track editing and production software, there is no real good option. It all sucks. While I don't have any personal experience with Pro Tools... from all that I have heard, for what we do... it is the best alternative. AA sort of sucks.

Allen Scofield · **Voice Talent** Joined: 13 Jul 2005 Posts: 181

Might I suggest you try Sound Forge. It's nowhere near as heavy as AA and is perfect for vo work.

Frank Frederick · **Voice Seeker** Joined: 29 Dec 2006 Posts: 142

One of the simplest "tweaks" for getting rid of pops, clicks and jitters with AA is to get rid of all the junk in your Start-up Menu.

I suggest you learn how to use 'msconfig' to do this, but be careful, it can cause other problems if you are not a little knowledgable about it use.

Adobe is headed into a different world that Syntrillium, they have bought into the world of MIDI and feel that is a good thing. By doing this 'home music studio' concept Adobe has abandoned their roots. Let's hope Adobe gets it's 'act togehter' with yet another version - soon.

Persoanlly, I am not a big fan of ProTools. Yes, I am forced to use it in another part of my life, but - I am not happy about it. For music, and because of it's popularity - for video and film 'sweetening' it works well, for voiceover - it is more than overkill.

That said, I also use Sony Vegas, the new audio engine in Vegas 7 is sweet. However, as stated about PT (or as I call it: ProFools), it is definately overkill - much more program power than a voiceover talent needs.

Optomizing your PC to work with audio and video should be the primary concern of voiceover talent regarding their computers. Additional tweks which are simple - include:

1- having an external hard drive for the recording of audio files,
2 - turning off any program which uses system cache when you want to record,
3- and making sure there are no bottlenecks with anti-virus programs or firewalls.

I do believe that Chris Wagner will be mentioning/discussing some of these fixes during VOICE 2007 in Las Vegas. Voice 123 is a Premier Sponsor of the event and will also be represented.

Good luck on your problem,

Toodles

Frank Frederick
"The Voice" tm

Colin Campbell · Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007, 23:38 (GMT) Post subject:

It should be pointed out that Sound Forge is only two track or stereo, not a multi-track program.

Todd Ellis · Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007, 00:22 (GMT) Post subject:

Colin: When I first upgraded to AA 2.0 from 1.5, I felt the same as you. I felt they tried to make it too "pro-Tools-ey" and gummed it all up - but after several months - it's growing on me. There are some very useful short-cuts (especially in the multi-track). Give it some time - maybe it'll turn you around too. btw - I also think Pro-Tools is the ultimate in overkill for straight VO.

Colin Campbell · Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007, 00:36 (GMT) Post subject:

Ah... I am curious about this "straight VO" we are referring to. I am a producer by trade so I need the ability to deliver the full product when called on. If I can't do that, I feel restrained.

Bill Oxley · **Voice Talent** Joined: 23 Oct 2006 Posts: 8

For a multitrack, I've been using SAW Studio Basic ($300) for the past two years or so, and I found it to be bulletproof. 24 track and superb support from owner Bob Lentini. Large usergroup, too. And a very thorough online tutorial, free. Be patient. It'll take about ten hours to learn the basics.

I record with a Neumann TLM 103 into a Symetrix 528e, into a Mackie, into a DigitalAudioLabs Deluxe, into a Sony VAIO running SoundForge 8.0. I'll take the sound file from my v/o and put it into SAW for post.

Thanks

www.billoxleyvoiceovers.com