Corrupted Audio

MatthewEverett-Gates wrote on 11/30/2025, 10:28 AM

The audio corrupted (cracking up) at end of music video project: 4/7 in to 7 minute video. What can cause this?

Worked fine on previous renders, then adding the last 2 minutes of edit* (and incidentally having had issue with ghost audio on a track, which I copied video objects off of and deleted to solve) it corrupted.

Googled for answer; turned off hardware acceleration in Windows settings, replaced audio file in project, checked section where problem starts (indeed dense video effects and 4 layers + audio), moved audio track to bottom of stack, tried to render audio to wav and import but MAGIX Import window doesn't see that.

Original mp3 file is good. 48K, 32 BIT (no float), 320kbps, length 6:45; Cubase 13

Using: MAGIX Movie Studio 2025 Suite version 24.0.1.249 (UDP3), UG code 8485 KA1

Frankenstein rig: ASRock B75M, 8GB Ram DDR3, Intel i7-3770, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 4GB GDDR 5, Win10, motherboard audio. (Motherboard graphics is Intel HD Graphics 4000, 32MB)

*It rendered fine yesterday, including through the problem time point. (double checked file just now)

Comments

CubeAce wrote on 11/30/2025, 2:09 PM

@MatthewEverett-Gates

Hi.

Try slightly increasing the audio buffer settings in program settings. The setting will go up in blocks. Going too high will affect latency on playback within the program. It's probably been caused by using 32bit audio which is somewhat more demanding than using 24bit and that your CPU is probably doing much more work than your GPUs.

Ray.

johnebaker wrote on 11/30/2025, 5:21 PM

@MatthewEverett-Gates

. . . . problem starts (indeed dense video effects and 4 layers + audio) . . . .

Do you get a short chirp of 'clicks' or, for want of a better description, a quick 'brr' .

What is the sample rate for the audio portions of the video clips, and have you tried replacing the MP3's with 48kHz samplerate WAV format?

I am getting a semi random 'chirp / brr' in the current projects i am working on, so far I have narrowed down the issue to be where a 44.1kHz and 48kHz Sample Rates (SR) audio crossfades with 2 or more other video audo tracks (48kHz sample rate).

Conversion of the 44.1 Hz MP3's to 48kHz SR audio clips, in my case AAC encoded, so far looks promising.

John EB
Forum Moderator

MatthewEverett-Gates wrote on 11/30/2025, 6:19 PM

Thanks! I fixed it, but didn't identify the exact problem.*

More chirps: extreme breaks in volume (decrease) with static sounds there. No continuous 'brr.' Note, my mix/EQ is not good, though no peaks at all (top at about -3db; typically -6~9db).

"44.1kHz and 48kHz Sample Rates (SR) audio crossfades..." is good info. Some objects of stock footage had audio, but I'm not sure that was it- I don't recall any that I used in the end actually had audio. However, in 1st draft I duplicated a live video recording with camera audio, too many times, and some of those short objects still had their audio (similar quality per settings on cam, but probably different codec). My source is 48kHz, and worked in the end (still not sure why I couldn't see the WAV file in Imports when I tried to replace audio track with that).

*I solved the issue by deleting all objects from the previous splice without layers/transition, to the next one; about 3:23~4:23 in 7:03 video (24 seconds before audio started cracking. This after trying to delete individual objects about 10 times without identifying the cause.
I re-edited the minute of video, adding the same clips, but with better arrangement; not sure how to describe this because I don't know what taxes the system or stops it, yet: e.g., eliminated overlapping objects that were unused, used same-track object transitions where there was no laying, and less effects (omitted motion templates). Some stock footage had 1020 height, which I resized (before and after problem).

Still interested in what causes this so I can avoid it next project: differing audio source problem is good info. I still have the project save with error(s)- for now I think less stacking and more reading the manual is best, considering my low-power system.

Kind Regards,

Matthew

MatthewEverett-Gates wrote on 11/30/2025, 6:39 PM

Ray, I had increased audio buffers from 6 to 9 (max), without solving issue (forgot to post that). Using 32bit source, but have yet to identify the camera audio which was left in some vid objects.

I have to go over the problem project file, though I dread it, and detail the parts to show at least what not to do as compound set of things.

CubeAce wrote on 11/30/2025, 8:12 PM

@MatthewEverett-Gates

Hi Matthew.

This may take a while and a few more questions / steps to get sorted.

You say you are using Cubase 13? Does that mean you are using a separate audio interface? If so are you using that with Movie Studio?

It's possible to also play with Movie Studio's other audio settings and try altering them.

Those settings work for me most of the time but not always. The image just shows things that can alter how well the audio plays back. I tend to try to go for low buffer counts and higher sampling rates where possible.

Is the project residing on your C: drive or another drive? If another drive, is it an internal drive or external USB drive?

I am still of the opinion that while some systems could cope with a 32bit audio file it is an unnecessary strain on your system when dealing with video editing as the audio is not dealt with in a similar manner to a daw. I can for instance use 32bit wav files within Movie Studio but it is a strain on my system and there is no real benefit in dynamic range of an exported render over using 16bit files. The fidelity of the file relies more on the sample rate of an audio file while the bit depth gives it its available dynamic range. I agree with John that using different sample rates in one project also doesn't help and best kept to 48kHz.

There may be time gaps in replies from both @johnebaker and myself if you reside outside of the EU.

I am turning in for the night now. Hopefully John may have a few additional ideas or questions as well.

Ray.