Subject:Vocals & Instrumental Latency

Posted by: selumi

Date:1/3/2007 10:47:05 AM

I have a simple yet frustrating problem. I am trying to sing on a track that I opened but there is a lag in the milliseconds between my vocals and the music! Why is this and how do I correct this!?!?

Subject:RE: Vocals & Instrumental Latency

Reply by: DKeenum

Date:1/3/2007 4:01:23 PM

What kind of sound card are you using?

BTW, fill out your system specs. so we can look at them when you report a problem.

Subject:RE: Vocals & Instrumental Latency

Reply by: selumi

Date:1/4/2007 12:42:40 PM

Hey Friend, I have the Dell XPS M1210

the specs are:

Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor T7200 (2GHz, 4M L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB)

2GB Dual Shared Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)

80GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7400 TurboCache™

Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy ADVANCED HD Audio

So, what do you think is causing the latency between my vocals and the instrumentals and how can I fix this anoying/frustrating problem?


Thank You!

Subject:RE: Vocals & Instrumental Latency

Reply by: shredheadinstead

Date:1/4/2007 10:51:35 PM

I know for a fact that Soundblaster sound cards are not designed for recording audio-there for gaming, and playback only. Not sure abot the one you have, but I'm pretty sure it's your soundcard. If you have latency buffer settings within the soundcard itself, adjust them toward the "Low" point; usually all the way to the right. Left is high. Go into OPTIONS>PREFERENCES>AUDIO and adjust the setting from there. Other than that, I'm pretty sure you're going to need to buy another soundcard. Just my advice. Could be wrong, but it was worth a try.

Subject:RE: Vocals & Instrumental Latency

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:1/5/2007 5:00:39 AM

> the specs are:

He meant update your PROFILE to include your specs so that you don't have to repeat them in every post you make.

You need to use ASIO drivers to record with low latency. I'm not sure if the integrated SoundBlaster cards have ASIO drivers but go into Options > Preferences > Audio Device and under Audio device type see if you can select Creative ASIO. If there is no option for ASIO then that's your problem. You might try installing a driver called ASIO4ALL but I would just ditch the SB card and get a pro sound card (who knows what Dell did to cripple this card to increase their profits). Anything from M-Audio or Echo will do nicely.

~jr

Subject:RE: Vocals & Instrumental Latency

Reply by: selumi

Date:1/6/2007 1:54:39 AM

Hey Bro,

Thank you very much for your feedback. I corrected the latency. But now I have another problem. Every vocals I record sounds like mono and crappy. I bought an Edirol USB audio adapter and installed it and everything. Sony Music Studio 6.0 can only sample at 48kHz at its max @ 16bit, therefore I have to set my box to that sampling rate. I paid $240 for this box and it still gives me the same crappy audio IN MONO!! :0(

Any advice???

Subject:RE: Vocals & Instrumental Latency

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:1/6/2007 7:43:50 AM

> Every vocals I record sounds like mono and crappy

How many mouths do you have? Your voice is a mono instrument. If you want stereo, try doubling your part (i.e., sing it twice exactly the same way onto two tracks) and pan one performance slight left and the other slightly right. Because it is not humanly possible to give an exact performance twice, the inconsistencies will be perceived as a much thicker stereo voice. This is what we use to do in the recording studio. Today people are lazy and double things digitally, but for my money, there is nothing as thick as actually singing the part twice. Listen closely to all the old Beatles records and you'll hear all of the vocals doubled in this way.

Then get yourself a plug-in like BBE Sonic Maximizer or iZotope Ozone 3 and and add some stereo widening to the vocals. Obviously a little reverb also helps to smooth out the vocal sound so it's not so in-your-face.

Also what Microphone you are using? It doesn't matter how good your sound card is if the mic is crap. Your sound is only has good as your weakest link. Get a good condenser microphone. I like the Audio-Technica AT4033 ($399) but if you don't have the kind of money to spend the AT2020 ($99) is quite impressive for the price. Make sure the Edirol you bought has phantom power for these mics.

~jr

Subject:RE: Vocals & Instrumental Latency

Reply by: selumi

Date:1/6/2007 9:05:18 AM

Hey JR,

On the Music Studio 6.0, the track has 2 lines, and when I record audio, it is only recorded on the top line while the bottom line remains flat. How can I record on both lines simultaneously so it the output audio won't just come out of one speaker? Is there a setting that I can adjust on the music studio?

~Sal

Subject:RE: Vocals & Instrumental Latency

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:1/7/2007 7:35:21 AM

Hey Sal, Oh I see. It's the same problem actually. You are recording a mono instrument in stereo and only getting one channel. You don't want both lines to record. That would just waste disc space because the same signal would be recorded on both tracks and it would not be stereo. What you want to do is enable the track to correctly record in mono so that you only have one line in the middle.

When you press the Record button and get the Record dialog, look way at the bottom for the Record device. You should change this to the option that says (Mono, Left Channel). Then ACID will record in mono and the wave form will be just one line in the center. You would do the same thing for a guitar or any mono instrument.

~jr