This is a bug that’s severely bothering me and causing my vocals song covers to sound worse that they already sound. Back when I did vocals covers on my Windows 7 desktop computer and the Windows 7 legacy versions, I had no problems. But lately I’ve been having this issue. Just today(Nov. 7th, 2020), I was trying to record a cover of ABBA Medley 2017 by De Toppers, but after finishing recording the cover, I played it back to see if it was decent enough to save to mp3, but my singing was slightly off-sync with the custom backing track I was using, like where the backing vocals said “Half past twelve”, when I said that same part(which was at the very beginning of the medley), my vocals was heard slightly after the backing vocals sang it instead of in-sync. Is there an easy fix for this, or is it a more difficult issue that needs a patch or something?
If you still have the raw performance recording (Project) with your voice on its own track, it’s a simple matter of selecting that track alone and push it into sync with the Time Shift Tool (two sideways black arrows).
If you don’t have your voice as its own file or a Project with all the individual tracks, you’re dead. We can’t split a mixed performance sound file back up into individual voices, instruments or sounds.
As your computer fills up, it’s good to check your recording latency adjustment as it can move as your machine slows down. This might be a good time. Make a click track as a backing track. Jam your headphones against your microphone and record a second performance. Your new latency correction is the track miss value combined with the existing correction value in Audacity > Edit > Preferences > Devices > Latency.
Then check it. Nobody ever gets it right the first time.
This is a bug that’s severely bothering me
Probably not as much as it’s bothering us. You should have a care about how you throw around that “Bug” word. That’s automatically assuming incompetence on our part. That’s like meeting someone for the first time and inquiring whether their parents ever got married. Not a good start. It’s not.
Koz
It’s possible for your voice track to start in sync and be off at the end. That can be much more serious as the computer drops notes here and there during the recording or other time damage. That can be another symptom of slowing down because of filling up or overload.
Doesn’t have to be an overloading hard drive, either. How many other things do you have running when you record your show? Always start a performance with a clean machine. No Photoshop pictures or spreadsheets hiding in the background.
Or worse yet, leaving Skype or Zoom running in the background. Really bad idea.
Koz
One more. MP3 files come with their own built-in timing errors. Stick with WAV or other uncompressed filetypes for audio production. Never do production in MP3.
Koz
Ok. Thanks
Tried .wav files with the same few seconds issue as mp3 files. Can you look into it and see if it’s actually an issue with Audacity or if not, any settings modifications that I can do to hopefully fix it since it seems to happen with both mp3 and wav files?
How were you doing that?
Did you import the backing track and then “overdub” your vocals to a second track?
(If you’re not sure what “overdubbing” is, see: Tutorial - Multi-track Overdubbing - Audacity Manual)
I added the mp3(and the recently tried wav format) file to Audacity via dragging the file from the folder it’s located in into Audacity and then splitting the Stereo to Mono, and then did Shift+R to start recording my vocals with the mp3(or recently wav) custom backing track from www.karaoke-version.com or Instrumental with or with backing vocals or the other person in a duet, trio, or quartet(depends on the type of song and num. of singers that have more than 1-2 singers, like the “A Whole New World Instrumental/Karaoke (Female Only)” from the 1992 Disney’s Aladdin(used a YouTube vid to wav converter to create the file, so the file name is “[ONTIVA.COM] A Whole New World Instrumental_Karaoke (Female Only)-HQ”, which I think was increased to High Quality by “ONTIVA.COM”, which might be why the “-HQ” was added) playing so I know when to sing and can hear the song and backing or other lead vocals so I can hopefully get the timing for my vocals just right, which I rarely to somewhat sometimes have perfect timing on when I have to do my vocals. I’m sorta a perfectionist, so when I mess up on a lyric, blank out and miss my cue, or It doesn’t turnout in a way that I would like it to, I start over from the beginning. But even with .wav files the few seconds off sync still persists no matter if I use mp3 or wav.
Why do you split stereo to mono?
Part 2 of 2 of my reply: You guys have to look into this, as when I recorded them on Windows 7 versions before the final Windows 7 Audacity update, there was no few seconds off sync with my vocals. I did update the Windows 7 Audacity I think prior to getting my gaming laptop delivered to the house(I use it for both gaming and voiceovers +vocals covers) and had the same issue I’m currently having.
So I don’t think it’s a problem with the file format anymore, as it’s happened with both mp3 and wav formats like I’ve mentioned, and it’s not any of Audacity’s settings(I had tried a few different things with the settings with no successful results).
If you guys look into it, please let me know about any progress, any possible temporary workaround that you guys discover or figure out, and when it’s fixed if it’s an issue with Audacity itself. Also I use use my gaming headset as the input and output for mic and sound. My PnP USB Microphone gives feedback in playback when I use it to record my vocals, plus I currently don’t have my glasses, so I couldn’t use the PnP USB Microphone due to me not being able to see the lyrics in Notepad.
And I’m SUPER sorry this is SO huge and long. Had to explain everything about the situation o help you gather enough information to figure what’s going on and fix it if needed. Had to split the posts from one big post to 2 smaller posts And I saw on YouTube or somewhere that I should split it stereo to mono. Could that be the problem and I’m wrong about everything else?
Did anyone look into it? I need an update on the situation.
I’m trying to understand exactly what you are trying to do. I got lost at: “and then splitting the Stereo to Mono”
Why did you do that?
what koz said. See: Latency Test - Audacity Manual
Follow the directions on the whole page. Yes, I know, there is a lot there, but just do it. That should get you to almost perfection. 
If you are then off by a tiny amount, you will know how to correct it with the Time Shift Tool.
I hope this helps. 
Thanks SOOOOOOOOO much! I got a perfect cover of Glee’s version of Mama Mia recorded and ready to show my friends!