So i have the second to latest version of audacity. I still am having trouble fixing latency issues. I am using the default mic with my laptop until my ordered mic comes. There are no updated videos on youtube that help me with this. Plz help
Turn off “Software Playthrough” (Transport menu)
trouble fixing latency issues.
There’s two sets of Latency. Which one are you having trouble with? Or is that the problem?
Unless your microphone or microphone system has provision to run your headphones, you will not be able to hear yourself in real time.
Koz
I am not sure. I am pretty new to audacity and the whole concept of recording audio to be honest. I just need a guide to basically walk me through it, as all of the tutorials I have seen are outdated.
all of the tutorials I have seen are outdated.
Isn’t that fun? That’s the main reason we don’t publish videos. They’re impossible to keep up. It’s not like changing one word in a print tutorial. You have to reshoot it.
Describe your job. Straight performance singing? AudioBook reading? Overdubbing multiple instruments?
The two latencies are Recording and Overdubbing. Overdubbing is the one you set so your second track exactly matches the first. Not too late or too early. And the third track matches the first two, etc. Drums, Lead Guitar, Voice…etc.
Recording latency drives people nuts. You can’t hear yourself in real time while you’re performing. Your headphone voice will always be late because of the trip through the computer. That one is fixed. You can’t easily change it.
That’s why when you need to do high-end work or precise overdubbing, you have to be using a microphone or mixer or sound system that offers “zero latency monitoring.” In general, your headphone sound can’t come from the computer.
So those are the two. Which one are you complaining about? Both?
Koz
I am generally looking to have multiple tracks simultaneously playing, so I guess the overdubbing latency is the one i have trouble with. My first track sounds good. But when I try to add melody on another track it goes 1.24 - 2 milliseconds after. How can I fix this?
This is what my screen looks like when I add a rhythm track and record it. As can be seen it is around 1.4 milliseconds late.
It looks to be considerably more than 1.4 ms. More like 120 ms (1 ms = 0.001 s, 100 ms = 0.1 s).
The instructions for correcting this in Audacity 2.2.2 (the current version of Audacity) are here: http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/latency_test.html
My guess, based on that picture, is that you will need to reduce the “Track shift after record box” setting by about 120. So if the setting is currently -130, (minus 130), then try reducing it to -250 (minus 250).
Audacity 2.2.2 was released earlier this week. Updating is highly recommended as it has some important bug fixes. It is available here: https://www.audacityteam.org/download/