So I’m recording a solo on a new track and I want it to be in sync with the rhythm track, but the solo starts somewhere around beat 3. If I set up the click track, and measure the space between the rhythm track and the first note of the solo to address latency, will that allow me to start the solo anywhere and be in sync with the click? I hope that makes sense.
It’s obviously an older version, and my Audacity doesn’t seem to be able to do any of the things this guy’s doing other then recording the rhythm track, but it’s what I want mine to do, nice and easy.
You can’t change machine latency. You can’t listen to the computer and do overdubbing. You have to listen to your interface, microphone, or mixer. Or don’t listen to the mix.
Yes, the latency setting is so your new track matches the backing track. There’s an easy way to figure out the correction. Go into record and jam your headphones against the microphone.
The latency is the difference between them.
There is a caution. If your latency moves, then this may not be the best computer for overdubbing. There are not a lot of fixes for that.
Manually set the Recording Latency? Audacity will run on all three computer platforms and all configurations and most ages. There’s no way to pick a standard value, so Audacity guesses at an overall average and it’s up to you to correct the preference as needed.
By the way, once you do find a “miss” value, applying it to the correction is a trick. You are required by the laws in your state or county to go the wrong way the first time and make it worse. That’s why you always do it twice. Subtract or add the difference of the negative discovery value to the existing number, which is negative. Go ahead. I’ll wait.
You don’t have to listen to your own theatrical mix and you don’t have to set Recording Latency. You can record cold and you can always stop at the end of a pass and line up the new track with the backing track with the Time Shift Tool (two sideways black arrows). And do that to each new track.
If you do hear yourself correctly and your new track and backing track do line up, I call that “Perfect Overdubbing.”
