[LittleRed]

Hey guys, hoping someone can help me out here as it's really starting to irritate me!

I got a new Dell laptop in September, and I find that certain songs/albums crackle when I try to play them on ITunes. I can hear the track playing but there is a strange crackling over the top.

I thought it might have been something to do with the speakers, but having imported the songs onto my IPod too, they do exactly the same! Like I say, it doesn't do it on all the songs/albums, just certain ones!

Anyone got any ideas as to how I can rectify it? I would greatly appreciate help! Thank you!

[Gofre]

Are these albums you've downloaded or burnt from CDs? My last laptop had a problem with the disk drive and when it burnt music the files came out with static.

[carbondummy]

Maybe you've downloaded some bad quality songs? Try and download from a different site? Unless you buy these songs, in which case play around with the equalisers on itunes and see how it changes? Open itunes>>View>>Show Equalizer

[Tizmo]

If you ripped them from discs, are the discs dirty or scratched?

[LittleRed]

Thanks for the tips!

They're all from discs, but I have other albums from discs that don't do it, so don't think it's a problem with the drive. Don't think the discs are dirty/scratched either, I'm at uni atm and all my CD's are at home so can't check, but they all used to be fine on my old laptop (a compaq)

[Tizmo]

As carbondummy mentioned, you can also play around with the equaliser. Try turning the preamp down a bit to see if that will help.

[LittleRed]

Right, just checked the equaliser, everything's set to 0 atm, is that good or bad?

[Gofre]

(Original post by LittleRed)
Thanks for the tips!

They're all from discs, but I have other albums from discs that don't do it, so don't think it's a problem with the drive. Don't think the discs are dirty/scratched either, I'm at uni atm and all my CD's are at home so can't check, but they all used to be fine on my old laptop (a compaq)

Then the problem lies with how the disk is being burnt, meaning it will be either the disk or the drive, even if it's not happening every time. However given that it's happening to multiple CDs, the drive is the far more likely of those options. It may just need cleaning, which can be done with a CD drive lens cleaner. They can be bought for less than a tenner off eBay or Amazon.

[LittleRed]

(Original post by Gofre)
Then the problem lies with how the disk is being burnt, meaning it will be either the disk or the drive, even if it's not happening every time. However given that it's happening to multiple CDs, the drive is the far more likely of those options. It may just need cleaning, which can be done with a CD drive lens cleaner. They can be bought for less than a tenner off eBay or Amazon.

Thanks for that, will definitely give it a try

[Tizmo]

If the equaliser is at 0, then that is at the normal level, so it is good.

May I ask which albums they are? One possibility is that they are just poorly recorded....though that should not be the case with a record from a professional studio.

[LittleRed]

(Original post by Tizmo)
If the equaliser is at 0, then that is at the normal level, so it is good.

May I ask which albums they are? One possibility is that they are just poorly recorded....though that should not be the case with a record from a professional studio.

Yeah, my boyfriend said he thought it had something to do with the way they'd been recorded, but why didn't this affect the sound quality on my old laptop, any ideas?

Anyway, the albums it affects are:

Damien Rice - Both 'O' and '9'
The Flaming Lips - At War with the Mystics
Joy Division - The Best of Joy Division
Muse - Absolution (I've not put my other Muse albums on yet so don't know whether they'll be the same)
The Ramones - Hey! Ho! Let's Go: The Anthology
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication & Stadium Arcadium (again, not uploaded the rest yet, but I'm seeing a trend)
The Smiths - The Queen is Dead (and interstingly, not the Hatful of Hollow album...)
Th Young Knives - Voices of Animals & Men

They're all quite rocky albums, but I have lots of other rocky albums on my laptop and they are fine! Any further thoughts?

[Tizmo]

Well, I can say for sure that Absolution by Muse is recorded well. I have no crackling on that album. However, on the song Hysteria for example, don't mistake the bass guitar for crackling! That is just distortion on the bass guitar and is meant to be like that.

On Californication however, I get a bit of crackling as well. That is because the album is poorly mastered...

Read more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Califor...quality_issues

Have you tried playing the discs on another player, like in the car or somewhere else in the house? If you have, do you have crackling there?

Could you post your import settings from iTunes?

[LittleRed]

(Original post by Tizmo)
Well, I can say for sure that Absolution by Muse is recorded well. I have no crackling on that album. However, on the song Hysteria for example, don't mistake the bass guitar for crackling! That is just distortion on the bass guitar and is meant to be like that.

On Californication however, I get a bit of crackling as well. That is because the album is poorly mastered...

Read more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Califor...quality_issues

Have you tried playing the discs on another player, like in the car or somewhere else in the house? If you have, do you have crackling there?

Could you post your import settings from iTunes?

No, I don't get crackling on anything else, as I say I've never had problems with the albums before! So it's something to do with my laptop, I'm just not sure what! It's not like a bit of crackling, it overtakes the entire track, you can just about hear the track underneath it but it is completely intolerable to listen to! It's a mystery! How do I post the import settings?

[Tizmo]

Well, basically just the post the sample rate and bit rate your are ripping to.

Have you tried ripping other CD's, that you have not ripped yet at all?

[LittleRed]

(Original post by Tizmo)
Well, basically just the post the sample rate and bit rate your are ripping to.

Have you tried ripping other CD's, that you have not ripped yet at all?

Ahhh sorry I'm so stupid and I don't even know how to view those figures?!

& yeah, I put a couple of CD's onto this laptop that I didn't put onto my old one and they play fine!

[Tizmo]

In iTunes, go to the preferences. Under the "General" tab there is an option called "Import Settings".

Though if other discs play fine, there is no crackling, then surely it is not an import problem. If it would be an import problem, other discs would have problems as well.

Have you tried cleaning the discs that have problems? Try cleaning them and reimporting.