Recorded Audacity tracks are off sync
Question:
I use audacity and i’m trying to record…heres my procedure:
1) i import my instrumental
2) I record via microphone
3) I play back
When i play it back, my recording is always off beat to the instrumental..I know for a fact its not me…I also put my headphones on real low so that the mic cant pick it up..i clean my RAM(and i got enough) so that my pc wouldnt lag the slightest bit but something happens that causes my recordings to be delayed.
Answer:
If your recorded Audacity tracks aren’t in sync, and are delayed by the same amount over the entire course of your recording, I have a few suggestions:
- In Preferences -> Audio I/O, select “Play other tracks while recording new one“. I assume this is what you’re doing when you say you playback through the headphones. If you’re not doing this already, this will greatly improve track sync.
- Verify the Sample Rates are the same for what you’re recording.
- Use the Generate menu and the “Silence” tool to insert blank space in front of the “shorter” audio segment. This will push it forward in your timing to get rid of the lag. Using fractions of a second will allow you to fine-tune this very closely to match up your two tracks so they sync with each other.
Hopefully some combination of these fixes will get your Audacity tracks to sync properly.
Red:
I was having the same problem. I even would record two separate but identical click tracks with my instrumental and vocals individually. Separately they were exactly on beat with the click track. When played back together they were slightly off-beat. This experiment proved that it was not my poor timing that was the problem. I still can’t figure it out so I just do what the other comment suggests and place a miniscule amount of silence before one track. A little annoying, yes, but not life-threatening.
17 January 2008, 10:37 pmDavid:
always offf
28 January 2008, 6:51 pmZark:
Does anyone else have a real answer to this problem?
5 March 2008, 8:02 pmI have the same issue, it’s clearly due to the fact that Audacity is weak, that the ASIO driver is wrong, or that some setting on either the sound set-up on the PC or within Audacity itself is messed up.
Adding silence to “bump” the track into sync is ridiculous.
Somebody must know how to actually correct this problem?
christine:
I have the same problem, but it can’t be improved by adding “silence” in the front. The problem is that the two tracks seem to be on different speeds. I record one while listening to the other (originally a click track), but the end result is that the vocal track, although it starts together with the guitar or piano, eventually ends up a WHOLE beat or two AHEAD of the instrumental.
It is ridiculous.
8 March 2008, 2:40 amNado_Rankx:
im having the same problem, as soon as i start playing back it is always a second or two sloer than the riddim
10 March 2008, 8:09 amDuckyBrown:
Same issue here. Ive been reaserching this on the web and it must be that audacity is just weak. If anyone comes up with a real solution to this problem, PLEASE post it.
13 May 2008, 5:46 pmDuckyBrown:
actually…..after I generated the silence and went to sample rate and made it the high quality insted of fast, that actually did help a lot. Try it.
13 May 2008, 5:55 pmDuckyBrown:
never mind….im about to download another audio editing program.
13 May 2008, 7:25 pmAnonymous:
hi ducky brown, i got the same problem. what program did u download instead of audy. let me know pleaseeee im so bored of not being able to amke my music!
19 May 2008, 1:27 pmAnonymous:
try changing your sample rate to 48000 hz. worked for me.
22 July 2008, 7:49 amangeli_kpop:
Yay! Thanks for posting this up! Mine was off sync bcuz the sample rates weren’t the same!~ ^^!
24 August 2008, 2:45 pm