PowerDirector adding clicks/pops at audio clip boundaries (PD16) [SOLVED]

legendofzub

Newbie Joined: Jan 07, 2015 20:12 Messages: 20 Offline

Solved by

Apr 27, 2023 14:41

Yes, it sounds like an issue of not splitting at a zero crossing, but I don't think it is.

My projects tend to have a lot of audio cuts. Hearing pops/clicks due to mismatched waveforms would not be strange. It would be nice if that were fixed on export, but it's a complicated problem to solve in the background, although I thought it was strange that the pops occured at different splits and with a different amplitude every new export. I figured PD was just (unsuccessfully) trying to fix it.

Under the assumption that it was the zero crossing issue, I faded each clip to -inf both in and out. There were still pops. So I Made sure they were at -inf for at least a full frame for each clip start and end. Inexplicably still pops on export. I extended each and crossfaded each clip. It seemed to help, but there were still some feint pops on export. Making sure to apply a very aggressive noise gate to the audio before exporting as a WAV to use in PowerDirector on top of all of the other steps seemed to fix it.

I'm starting a new job (to clarify, editing videos is my hobby, not my job. The new job is just restricting the time I have available for the hobby), and won't have time for all of that work for small clips, so I decided to just try it with the noise gate, and the result was very bad. So I opened the MP4 in Audacity just to see how the waveform looked at a particularly bad boundary, and decided to also produce a WAV with PowerDirector to see if it would be better.

The waveforms were shocking. It was not a matter of mismatched waveforms. PowerDirector was ADDING clicks. In the attached images, the upper muted track is from the MP4, and the lower track is the WAV. As you can see, the area surrounding the click is very quiet, but there is an abrupt, click at the cut, often a half square wave. As you can see, the amplitude and length of the click is not at all consistent.

Is there a way to fix this, or will I need to export any track with cuts, import it to Audacity, go through it to remove any audible clicks, re-import it, and then produce the video file?

EDIT: It looks like the issue was caused by a mismatch between source and export/production audio sample rate. See my May 25th, 2023 response for more info.


Filename	click2.PNG	Download
Description	Longer, quieter click in MP4
Filesize	24 Kbytes
Downloaded:	6 time(s)


Filename	click1.PNG	Download
Description	Click only in WAV
Filesize	25 Kbytes
Downloaded:	5 time(s)

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at May 25. 2023 15:15

optodata

Senior Contributor Location: California, USA Joined: Sep 16, 2011 16:04 Messages: 8630 Offline

Apr 27, 2023 14:57

There have been issues like this with various PD versions over the years. The first thing I'd do is to make sure you have the final update for PD16, which is build 3424 from 2018. You can download the patch from here.

If the issue persists, try using Handbrake or similar free 3rd-party app to convert the audio to WAV instead of MP3 on all your existing clips. Ideally you'd also be able to change the recording format on your device so you wouldn't have to convert each clip going forward.

In the past when I had this problem, I was able to use audio fade-outs and then unlinked the audio from my clips to extend one past the start/end of the other clip so that the fades were inaudible, but the fact that you can't do that implies that maybe something else is going on.

Another option is to change the output audio profile and see if producing with LPCM or Dolby Digital or AAC (any format other than the one you're currently using) makes a difference.

Last option is to see if using the GPU for producing is somehow causing the issue. Disable hardware decoding from Preferences | Hardware Acceleration and uncheck the Fast video render technology box before you produce.

legendofzub

Newbie Joined: Jan 07, 2015 20:12 Messages: 20 Offline

Apr 27, 2023 15:17

Quote There have been issues like this with various PD versions over the years. The first thing I'd do is to make sure you have the final update for PD16, which is build 3424 from 2018. You can download the patch from here.

If the issue persists, try using Handbrake or similar free 3rd-party app to convert the audio to WAV instead of MP3 on all your existing clips. Ideally you'd also be able to change the recording format on your device so you wouldn't have to convert each clip going forward.

In the past when I had this problem, I was able to use audio fade-outs and then unlinked the audio from my clips to extend one past the start/end of the other clip so that the fades were inaudible, but the fact that you can't do that implies that maybe something else is going on.

Another option is to change the output audio profile and see if producing with LPCM or Dolby Digital or AAC (any format other than the one you're currently using) makes a difference.

Last option is to see if using the GPU for producing is somehow causing the issue. Disable hardware decoding from Preferences | Hardware Acceleration and uncheck the Fast video render technology box before you produce.

That was a very quick reply. Thank you.

Unfortunately, I am on build 3424, and I record my mic with Audacity and always export it as a WAV already.

I'll try changing the output audio profile for my next project and seeing if disabling hardware decoding helps if that doesn't... I'm not very hopeful, though... I'll let you know if any of those fix it. Otherwise, I'll just start exporting before silencing breaths and handle both the breaths and clicks in audacity after.

It's really weird that it adds a click in the waveform, though... Could it be an issue with the audacity sample rate or something? I don't know how PowerDirector handles audio.

optodata

Senior Contributor Location: California, USA Joined: Sep 16, 2011 16:04 Messages: 8630 Offline

Apr 27, 2023 15:30

I'd recommend working with an existing project and making changes now so you'll be prepared for the next session.

Sure, change the audio bitrate in Audacity and see if that helps.

In my experience, this issue was usually intermittent and would often show up in a different place if I produce the project again, so it was really hard to know for sure if things were going to work properly or not.

legendofzub

Newbie Joined: Jan 07, 2015 20:12 Messages: 20 Offline

Apr 27, 2023 15:58

Quote I'd recommend working with an existing project and making changes now so you'll be prepared for the next session.

Sure, change the audio bitrate in Audacity and see if that helps.

In my experience, this issue was usually intermittent and would often show up in a different place if I produce the project again, so it was really hard to know for sure if things were going to work properly or not.

I get your point, and agree that it is inconsistent regarding how which cuts are affected on export, but the reason it's an issue for me is that each of my projects has dozens if not hundreds of cuts, so I'm confident there will be clicks regardless. For instance, the video the waveforms in the images were from had 10-20 audible clicks and 3-5 REALLY bad ones for both the MP4 and WAV files.

The projects are all in my free time regardless, so it's not like I'll be worrying about missing a deadline or anything. It's just a matter of whenever I get it ready to export (it's already recorded).

optodata

Senior Contributor Location: California, USA Joined: Sep 16, 2011 16:04 Messages: 8630 Offline

Apr 27, 2023 17:34

If none of my suggestions work, you might want to think about getting a newer version as I haven't experienced that particular problem in a few years.

You can download the free version (PD Essenntials) and import any of your existing projects and see how they turn out. The trial version has many limitations, but for your purposes it should be a decent test, You can learn more here.

legendofzub

Newbie Joined: Jan 07, 2015 20:12 Messages: 20 Offline

May 25, 2023 15:11

Just an update after a few more projects: it looks like the issue was somehow caused by audio sample rate mismatch. I haven't gotten any pops or clicks between clips even without fading/crossfading the boundaries as long as I export at ~the same sample rate (the original Audacity project is always 44100 Hz, and the WAV profile I've been using with success in PowerDirector mentions 44 kHz; they might've just rounded for the description, or the 0.2% mismatch isn't enough to cause noticeable issues).

I have not tried adjusting the video export profile to directly produce the MP4. It might be possible, though, if anyone is having this same issue. In my process flow, I do two exports anyways (the second just to add an end screen rather than worry about scaling and moving each element). If the resulting audio has any issues that would require a re-export, audio only takes a few seconds while a video export would be another half an hour, and since the second video pass doesn't require cutting the audio, there is no risk of new clicks being added.

On another note, since I'm doing it this way, I've also started leaving all of the breaths in for the original edit, and just edit them out using audacity while the video exports. I find the audacity envelope tool to be much better for that, and if that 0.2% mismatch ends up letting a pop through, I can just get rid of that in the process.