About removing distortion

[James_AvA]

Hi everyone. I am using garage-band, and in a song I've recorded, the vocal track has distortion. All the other tracks are ok and don't have distortion. I have already done the mixing for the song, and I need to get rid of the distortion on the vocals.
Normally, I would lower the volume of all the tracks, but I already did so much work on the automation on all the tracks that it is not possible, because if I were to lower the volume, the automation would be deleted.
I was advised to lower the main volume on the top right, I did that, by a lot, but there is still distortion in the vocals. How would I get rid of the distortion? I looked at some distortion plugins, and they made the vocal sound terrible. Pls advise. Thanks in advance.

[RichardT]

The first thing to check is whether the distortion is on the recording or has been added by processing in GarageBand.

Do you have the original raw audio file of the vocal recording? If so, double click on it to listen to it in Apple Music. Does it have the distortion?

If not, then you’ll need to track down what’s happened to it.

If so, then it’s harder to fix. The simplest option might be to re-record it.

If that’s not possible, you could try Izotope RX, that has an anti-distortion processor. I have RX, but I’ve not used that module myself.

BTW, Depending on your DAW, there will almost certainly be ways to alter the track volumes without destroying automation. I don’t know GarageBand, somebody else here might though.

[James_AvA]

Hi thanks for the reply. I think the distortion occurs because of level of sound of recording. In the track of the vocal, it goes to the red area, which is why I have the distortion. I exported the song to disk and used the 'wav' way to do so seeing that it is the highest quality, and it got into iTunes, and the distortion is still heard there.
I would be very interested in learning a way to alter the track volumes, without destroying automation. I don't know any such way.
I looked into Izotrope RX. It seems there are different versions. Which one do you recommend, that will get rid of the distortion. Many thanks.

[resistorman]

Plugins can only help so much, I use Izotope De-clip and it works well for many things. However, it doesn't produce miracles, if the vocal is badly distorted it won't be able to repair it. I would suggest you re-record the vocals with proper gain staging and think of this as a lesson in proper recording techniques.

[RichardT]

Hi James,

It sounds at first sight as if something is happening in GarageBand, probably that the gain on the vocal is too high.

That’s why you need to listen to the raw audio file, not one you’ve exported from GarageBand.

[James_AvA]

Plugins can only help so much, I use Izotope De-clip and it works well for many things. However, it doesn't produce miracles, if the vocal is badly distorted it won't be able to repair it. I would suggest you re-record the vocals with proper gain staging and think of this as a lesson in proper recording techniques.

I noticed that aspect of the plugin where you de-clip the track on a video explaining it. Does the elements version, which is the cheapest and also within my budget include it or would I have to opt for the standard version, for instance?
When you say gain staging, I am assuming you are referring to the volume of the track, that it shouldn't be high when recording and mixing, is that correct.

[James_AvA]

Hi James,

It sounds at first sight as if something is happening in GarageBand, probably that the gain on the vocal is too high.

That’s why you need to listen to the raw audio file, not one you’ve exported from GarageBand.

Hi. The vocal is too high, yes, and I would normally lower the vocal as well as the other tracks, so that it is balanced, but if I do that, the automation work I have done, which is a lot of work, would be deleted on garage-band. I wonder if there is a way to lower the volumes of the tracks, without it affecting the automation.
When you mention the raw audio file, do you mean isolating the vocal track and listening to just that? Many thanks.

[RichardT]

If you want to adjust the track volume without affecting automation, one way is to use a plug in that allows you to set a level difference between the input and the output.

Have a look for ‘gain plugin’.

[Mike Stranks]

In a rush today so no time to answer as I would wish...

The OP clearly needs lots of advice about gain-staging, tracking levels etc etc. There's also a suggestion that he may not be tracking with WAVs...

Could someone do a back-to-basics intro for him?

... and if it is the track-as-recorded that's distorted (it appears to be so) then if the distortion is so obvious that it can be heard in the mix, there's really only one solution... 'Take 2'...

[Arpangel]

How are you getting your vocals into GB?
Make sure the gain staging on your interface/mixer is OK, sounds like you’re getting too much level into GB to start with.

[James_AvA]

If you want to adjust the track volume without affecting automation, one way is to use a plug in that allows you to set a level difference between the input and the output.

Have a look for ‘gain plugin’.

Hi. I thought about doing that just now. I am aware of the gain plugin. I think I'll just lower the gain of each track a certain number maybe by 8db and see if that will work. Hopefully it will, because I will avoid deleting all the automation in this case.

[James_AvA]

How are you getting your vocals into GB?
Make sure the gain staging on your interface/mixer is OK, sounds like you’re getting too much level into GB to start with.

Hi. The interface is fine, I found that sweet spot, right before it turns red. So it's fine in that way.

[James_AvA]

In a rush today so no time to answer as I would wish...

The OP clearly needs lots of advice about gain-staging, tracking levels etc etc. There's also a suggestion that he may not be tracking with WAVs...

Could someone do a back-to-basics intro for him?

... and if it is the track-as-recorded that's distorted (it appears to be so) then if the distortion is so obvious that it can be heard in the mix, there's really only one solution... 'Take 2'...

Hi. I'm aware of the mistake I made. I'll just learn from it and keep the volume down on the track in the future when recording and avoid the red mark in the tracks when recording. I am a beginner after all, you live and learn.

[Kwackman]

This article on "Gain staging" is 10 years old, but the info still is good.
https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques ... w-software

{Edited to ad}
and another, slightly more modern and shorter.
https://www.soundonsound.com/sound-advi ... -structure

[James Perrett]

Hi. The interface is fine, I found that sweet spot, right before it turns red. So it's fine in that way.

That's probably much too high. You don't want to be working anywhere near the red.

And while RX can work miracles sometimes, with distortion you are unlikely to be able to remove all the fuzz. The best solution is too re-record with proper gain and level control.

[James_AvA]

Hi. The interface is fine, I found that sweet spot, right before it turns red. So it's fine in that way.

That's probably much too high. You don't want to be working anywhere near the red.

And while RX can work miracles sometimes, with distortion you are unlikely to be able to remove all the fuzz. The best solution is too re-record with proper gain and level control.

I looked at it, I was wrong with what I said. It isn't near the red, it's about in the middle, the 'sens.'

[James_AvA]

In this site,
https://www.flexclip.com/learn/fix-distorted-audio.html
it recommends using Premier Pro and audacity software to get rid of distortion. Which one would you recommend for this purpose? I think audacity is the better choice.
The site also mentions a way of doing it manually. It talks about on step 2 finding a blue circle with a small 'I' symbol on the lower right portion of the screen. I cannot find that symbol. I am using an imac on garageband. I was told that maybe that is an old version of garage-band, and that's why I cannot find that symbol. Any help on following those steps would be appreciated.
Having said that, I think I may opt for the Izotope RX.
There are several versions of the software. Does the RX 10 elements have that feature of de-clipping the distortion? It is more in my budget, rather than paying for the RX 10 Standard. Regards.

[Mike Stranks]

In this site,
https://www.flexclip.com/learn/fix-distorted-audio.html
it recommends using Premier Pro and audacity software to get rid of distortion. Which one would you recommend for this purpose? I think audacity is the better choice.
The site also mentions a way of doing it manually. It talks about on step 2 finding a blue circle with a small 'I' symbol on the lower right portion of the screen. I cannot find that symbol. I am using an imac on garageband. I was told that maybe that is an old version of garage-band, and that's why I cannot find that symbol. Any help on following those steps would be appreciated.
Having said that, I think I may opt for the Izotope RX.
There are several versions of the software. Does the RX 10 elements have that feature of de-clipping the distortion? It is more in my budget, rather than paying for the RX 10 Standard. Regards.

Read the article again...

It talks about removing distortion which has occurred when recording using those three pieces of software, and how to deal with it in each case.

... and this:

https://www.izotope.com/en/shop/rx-10-elements.html shows you what is bundled in RX Elements. It includes De-Clip...

Can I return to something you said in an earlier post? When you record your tracks, prior to mixing and processing, in what format are you recording? Needs to be .WAV at 44.1KHz 16-bit as a minimum... Most of us here work at 24-bit...

[RichardT]

We still don’t know if what you recorded was distorted or whether it’s the gain applied in GarageBand or some other processing there.

If you can find the original file you recorded it will be a massive help.

From another forum:

If you control-click/right-click on the Garageband project and Show Package Contents, recorded audio tracks are located in /Media/Audio Files/.

[Arpangel]

How are you getting your vocals into GB?
Make sure the gain staging on your interface/mixer is OK, sounds like you’re getting too much level into GB to start with.

Hi. The interface is fine, I found that sweet spot, right before it turns red. So it's fine in that way.

That "sweet spot" isn’t a good idea, not just before it turns red.
You need to leave a greater margin than that, I record at -18dB on my DAW meters, that equals 0dB on my mixer's output meters.
You can afford to do that these days, recording at 24 bit for example, it’s not an issue.

[The Red Bladder]

1. What Arpangel said.

2. Don't use Garageband. Use a proper DAW - CuBase, Reaper, Pro Tools or Logic. For a newbie, I would recommend Reaper.

3. You cannot remove distortion once it has happened. (Maybe one day, someone will come up with some magic reconstruction software - but it ain't happened yet and as the solution is to know what you are doing, would be of little practical value, except perhaps for historic recordings.)

[James_AvA]

In this site,
https://www.flexclip.com/learn/fix-distorted-audio.html
it recommends using Premier Pro and audacity software to get rid of distortion. Which one would you recommend for this purpose? I think audacity is the better choice.
The site also mentions a way of doing it manually. It talks about on step 2 finding a blue circle with a small 'I' symbol on the lower right portion of the screen. I cannot find that symbol. I am using an imac on garageband. I was told that maybe that is an old version of garage-band, and that's why I cannot find that symbol. Any help on following those steps would be appreciated.
Having said that, I think I may opt for the Izotope RX.
There are several versions of the software. Does the RX 10 elements have that feature of de-clipping the distortion? It is more in my budget, rather than paying for the RX 10 Standard. Regards.

Read the article again...

It talks about removing distortion which has occurred when recording using those three pieces of software, and how to deal with it in each case.

... and this:

https://www.izotope.com/en/shop/rx-10-elements.html shows you what is bundled in RX Elements. It includes De-Clip...

Can I return to something you said in an earlier post? When you record your tracks, prior to mixing and processing, in what format are you recording? Needs to be .WAV at 44.1KHz 16-bit as a minimum... Most of us here work at 24-bit...

Hi I'm not sure what is meant. by the .wav being at 44.1Khz. I don't know how to measure that or where that is measured and controlled. When you say 16-bit are you referring to the track volume?
I downloaded the Elements version and will try to see if it can get rid of distortion.

[James_AvA]

We still don’t know if what you recorded was distorted or whether it’s the gain applied in GarageBand or some other processing there.

If you can find the original file you recorded it will be a massive help.

From another forum:

If you control-click/right-click on the Garageband project and Show Package Contents, recorded audio tracks are located in /Media/Audio Files/.

I found the files but because the recordings were done separately, as opposed in one take so there are many files.

[James_AvA]

How are you getting your vocals into GB?
Make sure the gain staging on your interface/mixer is OK, sounds like you’re getting too much level into GB to start with.

Hi. The interface is fine, I found that sweet spot, right before it turns red. So it's fine in that way.

That "sweet spot" isn’t a good idea, not just before it turns red.
You need to leave a greater margin than that, I record at -18dB on my DAW meters, that equals 0dB on my mixer's output meters.
You can afford to do that these days, recording at 24 bit for example, it’s not an issue.

On my interface, it turns out it is not like that at all, there is a lot of space to go until it turns red. But on my interface, there are not numbers such as -18db available, it's just a knob you turn.

[Wonks]

You need to monitor the recording level on the DAW. The input gain knob doesn’t set an absolute level. The level depends on many things like the output of the mic, the volume of the recorded source and the distance of the mic from the source.

With the same gain knob setting, a quiet voice may register a maximum level of -25dBFS, a louder one -8dBFS. In one instance you’d want to increase the gain, in the other, you’d want to reduce it.