Remove clicks, pops and impacts from an audio recording
When to use De-click or spectral attenuation, and how to preserve speech.
De-click
Target short clicks, digital spikes and pops.
When should you choose this tool?
A short sharp click often appears as a narrow waveform spike and a vertical spectrogram line. De-click targets brief defects. A desk impact with a long tail or microphone rubbing against clothing may require a different treatment.
How it changes audio
It detects short departures from surrounding audio and estimates repairs from neighbouring samples. Natural speech onsets are also abrupt, so higher sensitivity does not automatically mean greater accuracy.
What do the parameters control?
- Sensitivity
- 0–100%. Higher values admit more repair candidates. Reduce it if sharp consonants become dull.
- Maximum click width
- 0.1–10 ms. Limits the width of brief events eligible for detection. Do not treat a long noise as an ever-larger click.
- Repair widening
- 0–1 ms. Extends the repair around a detected event. Increase if the edges remain audible, while checking neighbouring useful audio.
- Repair strength
- 0–100%. Controls the blend between original audio and estimated repair. Partial repair can preserve a more natural transition.
Try a short passage
- Zoom into the click and select a short passage with surrounding speech.
- Start Preview. Adjust sensitivity first, then width if needed, comparing Input, Result and Residual.
- Check the repaired event in the full sentence. Apply creates a separate reversible step.
What to listen for
Residual should mainly contain brief impulses. If it contains whole speech fragments, narrow the selection or ease the settings.
Limits of the method
Continuous crackle, wind bursts and long impacts are different problems. Speech masked across time and frequency cannot be reliably reconstructed.
Preview covers a short passage. After applying, review the full treated section; you can undo the step from history.