digital distortion removal

[davidamyers]

Hello. It's been a while but since I haven't been able to find any kind of answer to my question, I figured TAXI is the next place...so here goes...Is it possible to remove digital distortion from a drum track? I have tried EQ, Compression, Transfering it to Melodyne,...Nothing works. Anybody out there ever successfully fixed a problem like this. I sure would appreciate it. Thanks,
David

[Len911]

I presume you mean clipping??

The solution is dependent on what your options are for your situation. The easiest, and probably not why you are asking the question, is to re-record or re-render the track.

If that's not possible because you don't want to lose the performance, or timing, there is drum replacement software, or you could use the sample editor within your daw, by using hitpoints and very accurately replace the distorted sounds with new drum samples.

There are also spectrum editors and restoration software, probably not as effective in what you are trying to accomplish.*

Ultimately, you could use a hex editor to edit the audio file itself and just change the 1's and 0's, not very practical, but the most accurate, though I don't think anyone would ever see reason for that sort of punishment,lol!

Yeah, eq and melodyne might alter the frequencies and frequency level of the distortion, but not the envelope of the sound, and compression would be dependent on the accuracy of the frequency and envelope accuracy of the previous. If you could even eliminate the distortion, you would end up with a "hole" in the sound.

*Sony's SpectraLayers Pro, might have a more intuitive and easier way of presenting what can be done with spectral editors. There is an overview video on the site. However, you are only eliminating the distortion/sound, not correcting the distortion/sound.
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/spectralayerspro

[jonnybutter]

Izotope's Declip works pretty well, although stuff like this is very program dependent (i.e. it may or may not work on your track). You can download a free fully functional trial and try it on your track. Nothing to lose, right? In fact, RX is on sale until I believe April 28th (no, I don't work for Izotope!). The most inexpensive bundle of audio repair plugs includes de-clip and is here: https://www.izotope.com/en/products/aud ... g-in-pack/

[mojobone]

Declip works pretty well if you have a few overs; if the whole track was too hot, there won't be any saving it, even with a visual/spectral editor that lets you paint out undesirable noises/sounds. You might be able to make the sounds less objectionable, but I doubt you'll get rid of them entirely.

[jonnybutter]

I suggested it because he's talking about a track with a lot of transients (a drum track). Of course if the audio on the track is gross distortion square wave you can't fix it, but I have had some decent results with drum tracks, since it is often just some hits or parts that are a bit over.

$100 is not bad for the four plugs - I edit a fair amount of VO, so the declicker gets a lot of use too. Also not 'magic', but does speed things up.

[mojobone]

I suggested it because he's talking about a track with a lot of transients (a drum track). Of course if the audio on the track is gross distortion square wave you can't fix it, but I have had some decent results with drum tracks, since it is often just some hits or parts that are a bit over.

$100 is not bad for the four plugs - I edit a fair amount of VO, so the declicker gets a lot of use too. Also not 'magic', but does speed things up.

Oh agreed, iZotope's bundle is a great deal, particularly if you don't have any restoration plugs to begin with; I just meant that there's a difference of degree between digital clipping and digital distortion. Sometimes it's better to punt and use trigger software to recreate the track.