Audacity Forum

forgive me if this has been covered before, i am a newbie to the forum. is there anyway to get around the delay when using a usb microphone? should I trade in the usb mike for a regular one..get a mixer,or what...i can't record with the half second delay. thanks...dan stokes

Some USB microphones have a headphone socket built into the microphone. This allows the recording to be monitored without any delay.

A partial solution is to use a program that supports ASIO (if ASIO drivers are available for your microphone). Audacity can not be shipped with ASIO support due to licensing restrictions but you could do the initial recording using other software such as Cubase, Sonar, Reaper... and then do the editing with Audacity. ASIO does not totally eliminate the delay, but will often reduce it to an acceptable amount.

Another solution is to turn off monitoring altogether - as long as the backing tracks are not too loud in your headphones you should be able to hear yourself sing clearly without it coming through the headphones. Many professional singers prefer to record this way and cover only one ear with the headphones.

Otherwise you would need to use a conventional microphone. If you use it with a mixing desk, or with a USB microphone pre-amp that has a headphone socket, then you can plug your headphones into the desk / pre-amp to monitor your voice.

Thanks Steve..that covers that question well...I'm gonna go with the blue yeti mike that has the headphone jack. I appreciate your response. Dan