In order to eliminate clicks in words in Pro Tools, and I use either the Pencil Tool or cut out a cycle of the waveform.
What would software tool would you recommend?
I'm all about iZotope RX. It's such a lifesaver for me. I do everything from lowering the noise floor on recordings, removing clicks and clipping, to removing a cough from a live music performance (I actually got that one to work perfectly!! I'll have to see if I can find the original and final to let you guys A/B the two).
(source: izotope.com)
If it's something really tiny and don't want to spend time in RX (it can be very time consuming for more complex fixes), I'll go with the old pencil tool trick.
Try these:
Waves X-Click and X-Crackle
Note: Izotope has a full-featured demo that you can audition before you buy to see if it will work for your needs.
(source: waves.com)
(source: waves.com)
I started out with the pencil tool like the other guys until where I work bought iZotope RX. To clean up clicks etc it is an amazing tool and worth every penny if you can buy it.
I check if the job can be done with iZotope RX. It works very well. If I have more serious problems I use the pencil tool in Sony Sound Forge.
Editing out a cycle using protools in shuffle mode is efficient. Unless you are working with picture.
I switch to the Pencil tool only when the above method doesn't cut the mustard.
When i really want to get that click out manually, i cut and paste. Each phoneme tends to have a repeating wave cycle, so i zoom in til i see the wave and grab one of the cycles before or after, and paste it over. A small crossfade may be necessary. The pencil tool only lowers the amplitude of the click, it doesn't completely get rid of it.
It's only really good for glitchy clicks, as clicks recorded in the space will have a reverb tail.
Slice out the click, then cut and time stretch (TCE) the region before to cover the whole and xfade.
For quick "one click" click removal, the old Sonnox Declicker is outstanding - haven't used their new one, though...
For "musical clicks" I like to use iZotope's Spectral Repair - amazing flexibility in certain situations.
Can't beat good old room tone fill for a lot of clicks... it all depends on the time you have and the "type" of click you're dealing with.
Unfortunately, I don't have the budget to try out any nice plugins, but pencil tool in a pinch.
If editing in Protools then I'll mainly cut out cycles over using the pencil tool, but I'll use that if needs be. If I'm working to picture, then I just take a little more time to check that the sync's not been compromised. After all - picture work is mainly FPS and cutting out a cycle is tiny samples.
If I have a really clicky piece then I'll use Audition as I've recently been introduced to the spectral editing tool which is, on one hand, cheating (ie not using your ears) and on the other as fast as lightning.
I'll have a proper look into XClick though :)