A click is a

sonic artifact In sound and music production, sonic artifact, or simply artifact, refers to sonic material that is accidental or unwanted, resulting from the editing or manipulation of a sound. Types Because there are always technical restrictions in the way a ...

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by ...

and

music production A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

Analog recording artifact

magnetic tape Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic storage made of a thin, magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928, based on the earlier magnetic wire recording from Denmark. Devices that use mag ...

recordings, clicks can occur when switching from magnetic play to record in order to correct recording errors and when recording a track in sections. On

phonograph records A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...

, clicks are perceived in various ways by the listener, ranging from tiny 'tick' noises which may occur in any recording medium through '

scratch Scratch or scratching may refer to: Science and technology * Scratch (programming language), an educational programming language developed by MIT Media Lab * Scratch space, space on the hard disk drive that is dedicated for only temporary stor ...

' and '

crackle Crackle or crackling may refer to: Foods * Cracklings, the tissue remaining after lard and tallow have been extracted from animal fats ** Pork rinds in American English, pork scratchings in British English when served in small pieces as a snack ...

' noise commonly associated with

analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analo ...

disc recording methods. Analog clicks can occur due to dirt and dust on the grooves of the vinyl record or granularity in the material used for its manufacturing, or through damage to the disc from scratches on its surface.

Digital recording artifact

digital recording In digital recording, an audio or video signal is converted into a stream of discrete numbers representing the changes over time in air pressure for audio, or chroma and luminance values for video. This number stream is saved to a storage ...

, clicks (not to be confused with the

click track A click track is a series of audio cues used to synchronize sound recordings, sometimes for synchronization to a moving image. The click track originated in early sound movies, where optical marks were made on the film to indicate precise timi ...

) can occur due to multiple issues. When recording through an

audio interface An audio interface is a piece of computer hardware that allows the input and output of audio signals to and from a host computer or recording device. Audio interfaces are closely related to computer sound cards, but whereas sound cards are opti ...

, insufficient

computer performance In computing, computer performance is the amount of useful work accomplished by a computer system. Outside of specific contexts, computer performance is estimated in terms of accuracy, efficiency and speed of executing computer program instructio ...

or audio driver issues can cause clicks, pops and dropouts. They can result from improper clock sources and

buffer Buffer may refer to: Science * Buffer gas, an inert or nonflammable gas * Buffer solution, a solution used to prevent changes in pH * Buffering agent, the weak acid or base in a buffer solution * Lysis buffer, in cell biology * Metal ion buffer * ...

size. Also, clicks can be caused by electric devices near the computer or by faulty audio or mains cables. In

sample Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...

recording, digital clicks occur when the signal levels of two adjacent audio sections do not match. The abrupt change in gain can be perceived as a click. In

electronic music Electronic music is a Music genre, genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or electronics, circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromech ...

, clicks are used as a musical element, particularly in

glitch A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system, such as a transient fault that corrects itself, making it difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, in circuit bending, as well as amon ...

and

noise Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference aris ...

music, for example in the '' Clicks & Cuts Series'' (2000–2010).

Speech noise

In speech recording, click noises (not to be confused with

click consonants Click consonants, or clicks, are speech sounds that occur as consonants in many languages of Southern Africa and in three languages of East Africa. Examples familiar to English-speakers are the ''tut-tut'' (British spelling) or '' tsk! tsk!'' ( ...

) result from tongue movements,

swallowing Swallowing, sometimes called deglutition in scientific contexts, is the process in the human or animal body that allows for a substance to pass from the mouth, to the pharynx, and into the esophagus, while shutting the epiglottis. Swallowing ...

, mouth and saliva noises. While in

voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations. ...

recordings, click noises are undesirable, they can be used as a sound effect of

close-miking There are a number of well-developed microphone techniques used for recording musical, film, or voice sources or picking up sounds as part of sound reinforcement systems. The choice of technique depends on a number of factors, including: * The w ...

ASMR Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a tingling sensation that usually begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine. A pleasant form of paresthesia, it has been compared with auditory-tactile synesthesia ...

and pop music, e.g. in ''

Bad Guy A bad guy or villain is a type of character in fiction and other narratives. Bad Guy or Bad Guys or ''variation'', may also refer to: Film * ''Bad Guy'' (1937 film), a film starring Virginia Grey * ''Bad Guys'', a 1986 film starring Adam Bal ...

'' (2019) by

Billie Eilish Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell ( ; born December 18, 2001) is an American singer-songwriter. She first gained public attention in 2015 with her debut single " Ocean Eyes", written and produced by her brother Finneas O'Connell, with who ...

Click removal

audio restoration Audio restoration is the process of removing imperfections (such as hiss, impulse noise, crackle, wow and flutter, background noise, and mains hum) from sound recordings. Audio restoration can be performed directly on the recording medium (for ...

and audio editing, hardware and software de-clickers provide click removal or de-clicking features. A

spectrogram A spectrogram is a visual representation of the spectrum of frequencies of a signal as it varies with time. When applied to an audio signal, spectrograms are sometimes called sonographs, voiceprints, or voicegrams. When the data are represen ...

can be used to visually detect clicks and crackles (corrective spectral editing).

References

External links

Click and pop removal techniques
Audacity tutorial {{DEFAULTSORT:Clicking noise Noise (electronics) Acoustics Sound Audio engineering Sampling (music)