Mastering, crackles after export (crying for answers)

[xGannon]

So I finished a track, exported to master, sounded great, mastered, exported, now the audio file has slight crackle in some parts. I've used similar mastering settings like this and it's never done this before, I've tried all bit-depth outputs, made no difference.. When I try different mastering settings, sometimes the crackle is quiter or louder, but still there.. Is this because of xport settings after mastering?
The thing is aswell, it happens on a certain sort of bass, where the track is at it's most minimal. It can't be bass itself, in production of the track there was absolutely no crackles, I made sure of that. The weird thing too, I exported it to one wav file, no crackles so far.. exported it again with NO mastering settings and the crackle is still there in mp3 or wav file mode, wtf!!! this is blowing my mind. any got any ideas what it could be? like It can't be heard in the project whilst mastering even when fully mastered, always after the export? this track should of been uploaded like two hours ago ffs:( Soundcloud


Also I shoud add it isn't vinyl like crackle, it's almost like when you roughing about with a mic, or when you listened to something recorded in the wind... idk I'll tackle this tomorrow


Update: I seemed to of fixed this but the hiss/crackle is removed only is wav format which was there in both mp3 and wav before, hope that helps someone who wants to answer why this has happened. I went back to th project and fixed a couple comp settings on sub basses and bass, and removed some frequencies around 400 hz, and apparently it now works for wav only, oh well that's good enough!

after some research I think I may of been experiencing alias frequencies around the 400-500 hz range, idk how this started but its a bitch! I just hope this doesn't happen again, will upload the tune later tonight and reply on this thread, and in the dub&feedback forum


I thought I fixed it:( I cannot believe this, it sounded great before I uploaded it to soundcloud, but after upload, it became audible again... Tbh i don't care about it, its for like 5 seconds and the point of this track is to showcase my ideas and sound design, and just my general skill, not mastering, so here it is! Soundcloud

thinking about it I think my mistake was the bass it appears on, I bounced it to audio with a limiter still turned on (I always produce with limiter on, but never export audio with on), I obviously forgot to turn it off, and trying to save cpu I deleted the patch...

so learn from me, don't Bounce audio with a limiter on, cause when it comes to mastering and you add another limiter you may get problems

[Banesy]

No thats the secret...you have to limit-saturate-limit-saturate-limit....maybe one more limitor just in case the 3rd one misses anything.

On a serious note...what mastering software did you use? I found that I used to push ozone maximizer too hard and would get some crackles only when exporting the final wav but not in the playback in the daw. Never figured out why it was never in the playback and only in the exported file but better mixing has made that an issue of the past.

[Electric_Head]

7 limiters minimum.

Do you even compress?

[Banesy]

Oh no, compression ruins the sound

[Trichome]

99% of these problems can be fixed by not pushing limiters/compressors/etc ridiculously hard.

exactly why I use a soft clipper instead of a limiter.

[Banesy]

Haha you have 420 followers. Umm….yeah…I have been curious about using soft clippers instead of limiters. In Ableton, the new glue compressor has a clipper option and I have been experimenting with that a bit by ending my FX chains with it and enabling the soft clipping.

I am curious in what context you use the soft clippers. Do you put them in your mix channels and mastering or do you just master with one on the end? I had a look at Figure's track that he posted on Splice a while back and I noticed that he ended his master channel with an Ableton saturator that had clipping enabled.