Crackling on audio / 1/2 of inspector meter clipping

[dscoyne 0]

On playing back a vocal recording, I'm  hearing consistent crackling in the background.   I am still using Sonar Platinum 64, and will probably download CbB based on all the positive comments, but right now this is a problem I have never encountered before, and want to finish this project.  I'm using the same mic as previously without problems.

In looking at the Inspector for that track, I see that the vertical meter is divided in two.  The meter on the right side is clipping;  the one on the left is not close to clipping.  I don't understand the purpose of two sides to that meter which indicate different decibels.

So I have 3 questions:

Is the clipping probably the reason for the crackling sound?

What are the 2 sides of that meter each indicating?

What suggestions do you have to get rid of the crackling?

Thanks for any help.

[tonemangler 47]

4 hours ago, dscoyne said:

What are the 2 sides of that meter each indicating?

The 2 sides of the meter represent the relative volumes of the left and right sides of the stereo field.  With a mono signal panned in the center both sides should remain equal.  When panning you will see the left and right segments react accordingly.  This is called a segmented meter and is the default, however you can change this in Preferences under Customization -- Audio Meter.

 

5 hours ago, dscoyne said:

The meter on the right side is clipping;  the one on the left is not close to clipping. 

This would indicate the the signal is panned to the right with too much gain.  If this problem is part of the recording it would be represented in the stereo waveform.  If it's a  mono recording and the waveform is not clipping then it seems to me that there is gained applied somewhere and it's panned to the right.  Obviously you would hear it coming from the right side unless you are monitoring in mono.  Other than that I'm not sure what could cause this behaviour.  Good luck.

[dscoyne 0]

Thanks for reply, but I have not seen any panning to either side indicated in the Inspector.    Continue to have the problem.