Vinyl Clicks: Remove with De-click

You digitized a record — and dry clicks and crackle rain over the music. That is not mandatory "vinyl character": some noise is vibe, some is groove and chain damage. Here is how de-click works, how it differs from denoise/de-hum, and how to clean a transfer online.

Click, crackle, hiss, and hum are different problems

Vinyl transfers often mix four issues:

1. Click — a single short impulse (dust, scratch). Sounds like a dry "tick."
2. Crackle — a dense sprinkle of tiny clicks, surface "sand."
3. Tape/surface hiss — constant broadband floor (weaker on vinyl, stronger on cassette).
4. Hum — mains buzz at 50/60 Hz and harmonics.

De-click targets 1–2. Hiss and hum belong to denoise and de-hum. A product walkthrough of the modules is on the audio restoration landing page.

How de-click works in plain language

The algorithm looks for abnormally sharp spikes: a second difference of the waveform boosts impulses and suppresses smooth tone. The threshold is built from the median and MAD spread: higher sensitivity lowers the threshold and admits more repair candidates. Only short runs (on the order of ≤3 ms) are fixed; the click is replaced with a smooth interpolation from neighboring samples.

What de-click does not do:

• it does not wipe constant hiss — that needs spectral denoise;
• it does not remove mains hum — that is de-hum;
• it does not rebuild clipped peaks — see the declipper;
• it should not polish the whole track into dead silence — a repair artifact is worse than a rare click.

A vinyl cleanup order that works

1. Transfer with headroom. WAV/FLAC, no input clip. Clean stylus and proper anti-skate beat any plugin.
2. Rumble / high-pass. Cut turntable infrasound (often around 30–40 Hz) so the limiter is not fed floor thump.
3. De-hum. If you hear constant mains buzz, notch it before impulsive cleanup.
4. De-click. Start at medium sensitivity → A/B quiet passages and hats. Raise only if clicks remain.
5. Soft surface denoise if you want — without a sterile studio void.
6. Mastering. Platform LUFS/True Peak comes after the noise floor is even.

In Magic Master that chain is bundled as the Restore old recording intent: open in the app.

How to verify transients still live

• Quiet spots and pauses. Clicks should vanish or become rare; no watery dropouts.
• Hi-hat and percussion. Attack stays sharp; chewed hats mean sensitivity is too high.
• Vocals and bows. No metallic consonants — a classic over-clean tell.
• Level-matched A/B. The brain hears a quieter file as "cleaner" — compare honestly.
• Wave/spectrum. Impulse spikes are smoothed; the broadband top is not combed out.

If after cleanup the track is still a dynamics brick, that is over-compression, not vinyl crackle — see dynamics restoration.

Common mistakes

• Maxing de-click "just in case" — kills percussion.
• Trying to kill crackle with one low-pass — you lose the record's air.
• Mastering before de-click — the limiter stamps clicks into loud moments, and interpolation then hurts the music more.
• Confusing a vinyl click with ADC clipping — clips need the declipper, not de-click.
• Keeping "all the noise for vibe" when clicks mask soft notes — keep character with soft denoise and remove impulses surgically.

In short

• De-click repairs short impulses (clicks/crackle), not constant noise.
• Order: rumble → de-hum → de-click → soft denoise → mastering.
• Listen to hats and pauses; conservative sensitivity is safer.
• Online without a DAW: audio restoration and the Restore old recording intent.
• Sibling articles: de-hum and cassette restoration, tape hiss / denoise.

Your first basic master per day is free; PRO restoration modules use the same token model.