presetting recording parameters

I play classical guitar and use Audacity to playback pieces to hear and, hopfully, to correct my mistakes. While my recordings are okay - I didn’t expect them to be wonderful using a USB mic in my study and not a studio - but wondered if there was a way to preset some effects, bass/treble etc so that my recordings sound reasonable and not merely adequate. I edit tracks, post recording, and make them sound reasonable, but I’d like a reasonable sound for each recording I make. It doesn’t appear that preferences allow the use of presets. Any answers? I’m new to Audacity but have searched for an answer and have not yet seen an option.

Audacity will not apply corrections, effects or filters in real time. Start, Stop,Timer Record and Silent Sense are about the only tools that work while you’re recording.

Depending on what you’re doing to it, you may be able to make the studio environment work better and not need the corrections. For one thing, we can’t take out echoes and reverb, so recording in a room with bare wood floors is never going to come out well.

Koz

Hi Koz, Yes, that was what I suspected. Thanks for your response.

I’m also interested in the question of having a preset for the tracks while recording, especially reverb. It’s really motivating to sing when the reverb is already inputted on the track enhancing the sound and feeling of space. From what I understand, it is not possible to have any preset (equalizer, reverb etc.) for an Audacity track recording.

So I tried to find an interface with a reverb and learned that you can purchase one from Universal for less than 1000 dollars, but it requires a driver that is not supported by Audacity ASIO for windows (Universal Audio: https://www.thomann.de/de/universal_audio_apollo_twin_usb_duo.htm)

All the other Interfaces that have reverb are over 1.000.-€ and also need an ASIO-Driver.

Are there plans to adapt Audacity for ASIO? Do you have any additional advice?

Audacity is open source software. That means that the source code (all of it) is freely available to all, and that is guaranteed for all time by the GPL license.

ASIO is closed source and is owned by Steinberg. It may be used at no cost, provided that the source code is not made public (it has a “non-redistributable” license).

It is therefore not possible for Audacity to be distributed with ASIO support without violating one or other (or both) license.

For much less than $1000 you could get a little mixing desk with built-in effects, or a little mixing desk plus a hardware effects unit. These would allow you to add reverb (and/or other effects) to your vocals (and/or instruments) totally independently from your computer.

[u]USB mixer with effects[/u].

One thing to be aware of with USB mixers, is that most send the stereo (or mono) mix to the USB port so they don’t work like a multi-channel interface for multitrack recording, in case you ever wanted to do that. (Audacity is also not a great multi-track application.)

Another option would be a [u]hardware reverb[/u], but they (usually) run at line-level so you’d need a preamp or mixer to boost the microphone signal.

Or, many mixers have effects “sends” and “returns” so you can plug-in an effects unit.

It’s really motivating to sing when the reverb is already inputted on the track enhancing the sound and feeling of space.

Yes. In pro studios it’s very-common to give the singer some reverb in their headphones. In a pro studio, the actual recording may be “dry” (without reverb) to give the mixing engineer more flexibility later.

Now it’s three months later and I still can’t solve these problems (and in addition I keep having to recreate a login to Audacity and new passwords everytime. The advice to get “hardware” or a “little mixing desk” actually translates into a lot of material names listed under “console” “interface” “mixers” and I don’t even think I understand what to look for as I started my post with a summary of the material available that fits my reverb issue but still requires that Windows ASIO driver is necessary.

I have a Yamaha MG16 XU to use as a mixer for playing live. It has a reverb and a USB, but it can only receive signals. It doesn’t send signals.

I have an old Firewire for an interface but it has no reverb. I also have a presonus Audio box USB - also with no reverb, but I think it will work as a pre-amp for a line level hardware reverb.

I think I’m completely lost and with an amateur understanding of the basic equipment and technical components, I can’t solve my problem. it’s really discouraging.

Before I switch to a new recording software with great regret, anybody have a last piece of advice? Most of my tracks are recorded individually one at a time.