[J-Moen]

Recording today for the first time in Reaper, I loaded up my backing, put my headphones on, and found some decent reverb settings to record with my blue yeti.... Well, I came up with the dirty take below, and I had intended to do more - but I spent 90% of my time trying to fix the timing issues until I realized it was snapping 50ms at a time. So this recording is after I shifted about +20ms on my recording in order to make it match the backing:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rnYQ45GYnjD1HT0SkXx3nhfpihn0RJeV/view?usp=sharing

Why on earth am I hearing the backing track 20+ ms early? At first I thought I had latency in my mic, but that would have made it so I had to move my recording the other direction. You may still be able to hear that i'm slightly off the beat or early at times as I didn't try super hard to match it up. Just a confused home recording newb in need of help!

 

[HeavyWeather77]

Hey, J -- I'm not a Reaper user, but confounding latency issues can arise in any DAW, unfortunately. There are a number of potential culprits, and the root of the issue usually lies somewhere in how your devices talk to each other (i.e., your Yeti turning the vibration of the capsule into electrical signal, then into digital information your computer can understand, then sending it to your computer through USB, then your computer processing it). It's a complex process so lots of things can happen to jam it up.

Fortunately, many issues can resolve themselves in a similar way to your broadband modem and wireless router: a power reset! Shut down your computer, unplug your Yeti, give everything 30 seconds. (If you're on a Macbook, look up how to do an SMC reset without taking the battery out.) Boot everything back up and see if it's back to normal!

 

[J-Moen]

Hey, J -- I'm not a Reaper user, but confounding latency issues can arise in any DAW, unfortunately. There are a number of potential culprits, and the root of the issue usually lies somewhere in how your devices talk to each other (i.e., your Yeti turning the vibration of the capsule into electrical signal, then into digital information your computer can understand, then sending it to your computer through USB, then your computer processing it). It's a complex process so lots of things can happen to jam it up.

Fortunately, many issues can resolve themselves in a similar way to your broadband modem and wireless router: a power reset! Shut down your computer, unplug your Yeti, give everything 30 seconds. (If you're on a Macbook, look up how to do an SMC reset without taking the battery out.) Boot everything back up and see if it's back to normal!

Thanks Brian! Much appreciated - I'll do the wonderful old reset and hope things square away!

 

[mmichel]

Recording today for the first time in Reaper, I loaded up my backing, put my headphones on, and found some decent reverb settings to record with my blue yeti.... Well, I came up with the dirty take below, and I had intended to do more - but I spent 90% of my time trying to fix the timing issues until I realized it was snapping 50ms at a time. So this recording is after I shifted about +20ms on my recording in order to make it match the backing:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rnYQ45GYnjD1HT0SkXx3nhfpihn0RJeV/view?usp=sharing

Why on earth am I hearing the backing track 20+ ms early? At first I thought I had latency in my mic, but that would have made it so I had to move my recording the other direction. You may still be able to hear that i'm slightly off the beat or early at times as I didn't try super hard to match it up. Just a confused home recording newb in need of help!

If your mic has a delay and you're either listening to it via direct monitoring (zero latency) or not monitoring at all, then when you play in time with the backing track, your mic input will be delayed by the latency relative to the (on time) backing track (20ms in this case), which is equivalent to "hearing the track 20 ms early".

You can set the latency in reaper to get around this (so that you effectively hear the track delayed by the same latency). You should also be able to reduce the latency by adjusting the buffer size if you're using an ASIO driver (which you should definitely be doing if you care at all about latency).

 

[J-Moen]

If your mic has a delay and you're either listening to it via direct monitoring (zero latency) or not monitoring at all, then when you play in time with the backing track, your backing track will be delayed by the latency (20ms in this case), which is equivalent to "hearing the track 20 ms early".

You can set the latency in reaper to get around this (so that you effectively hear the track delayed by the same latency). You should also be able to reduce the latency by adjusting the buffer size if you're using an ASIO driver.

So, I started out with the record monitoring on for my mic. But the monitoring sound was delayed and was throwing me off, so I turned monitoring off. But The delay was backwards from that in that my recording was coming in before the backing track, even though I was playing in time.

If there is a way for the direct monitoring to play in time with the backing and not be delayed so I can hear my playing over the backing in real time, that would be ideal. Maybe the reset will help that? Just the basic plug and play driver for my USB yeti mic, but I will spend some time checking my system for latency.

I won't get to test until tomorrow though, quiet hours for my pregnant wife starts early ?

 

[mmichel]

So, I started out with the record monitoring on for my mic. But the monitoring sound was delayed and was throwing me off, so I turned monitoring off. But The delay was backwards from that in that my recording was coming in before the backing track, even though I was playing in time.

If there is a way for the direct monitoring to play in time with the backing and not be delayed so I can hear my playing over the backing in real time, that would be ideal. Maybe the reset will help that? Just the basic plug and play driver for my USB yeti mic, but I will spend some time checking my system for latency.

Sorry, I included a typo in my previous post that has now been fixed.

In any event, the first thing that you should try to do is to switch to using an ASIO driver for your Blue Yeti (if you have one available). You can do this in Reaper by pressing CTRL+P (or going to Options --> Preferences) then selecting the Audio --> Device menu. At the top of this menu (under "Audio system") you should be able to select from the available drivers. If your Blue Yeti does not come with an ASIO driver, I would suggest that you download the universal driver from ASIO4ALL.

After doing this, you should probably be able to adjust your input montoring latency (by adjusting the ASIO buffer size) so that the latency is very small. In some cases, your DAW might not be able to correctly figure out your input latency from the hardware settings. In this case, you can adjust the monitoring latency manually (see here for an example of how to do this in Reaper).

In terms of direct monitoring, this is a feature that is typically built into the audio interface itself, not in software. On the Scarlett devices, for example, you can just set a hardware switch to directly send the signal from the mic to your headphones (i.e., without any DAW processing). I don't know whether this feature is built into the Blue Yeti, but if it were, it would probably require your plugging your headphones into a port on the mic itself (this is another advantage of a real audio interface over a USB mic).

 

[J-Moen]

Thanks mmichel! I will look into the driver, as always better updated drivers! Didn't realize how much my tech troubleshootings apply to DAWs. Anyways, I'll report back on what I'm seeing tomorrow after I get my updated drivers, reset and latency check done.

The mic does have a direct audio out, but then I wouldn't have the backing output as I don't think I can select the mic as an output source for audio. I'll have to spend some time figuring out best solutions for monitoring with before I start playing to see what I can do.

 

[adamk]

Same topic: latency but different situation.

I have a cable box and us HDMI for video but have an analog stereo system which which I connect to the box from its digital optical port to a D to A converter then preamp/power amp.
Problem is the HDMI signal processing takes 180 ms longer to get to the picture than the sound from my analog audio amp so I had to get a digital delay to slow down the audio.
So now I have to turn on the box/monitor/A to D/delay and preamp/power amp.
A regular circus.

 

[lesacks]

... found some decent reverb settings to record ...

I'm no expert etc. But where are you applying the reverb? To what?

 

[J-Moen]

I'm no expert etc. But where are you applying the reverb? To what?

Reverb was applied to the saxophone recording track before I recorded.

 

[Fader]

Try turning off the reverb during tracking. Add it afterwards. That will help with your latency issues and give you more control over the reverb on playback. Good luck.

 

[jman1977]

Generally not a good idea to add reverb (or any other plugin) while tracking as that will definitely add latency, unless have an interface like a UAD Apollo that was specifically designed for no/low latency tracking with plugins (it has built in DSP chips that offloads some of the processing from your computer). Also, don't monitor through your DAW but instead directly monitor through your interface (if your interface has that capability). Come to think of it, are you using an interface or is your mic plugged in directly to your computer via USB?

 

[lostcircuits]

So, I started out with the record monitoring on for my mic. But the monitoring sound was delayed and was throwing me off, so I turned monitoring off. But The delay was backwards from that in that my recording was coming in before the backing track, even though I was playing in time.

If there is a way for the direct monitoring to play in time with the backing and not be delayed so I can hear my playing over the backing in real time, that would be ideal. Maybe the reset will help that? Just the basic plug and play driver for my USB yeti mic, but I will spend some time checking my system for latency.

I won't get to test until tomorrow though, quiet hours for my pregnant wife starts early

As others have said, you can turn off the effects completely and listen to yourself straight. But, the latency of the hardware (including SW processing) is in the µsec range, if you have a really old system you could be looking at 1-2msec and that is not noticeable. It sounds more like you mentally average to the effects or your timing is off to begin with. No shame in that, playing with a new recording setup does this king of thing to you until you get used to it, been there, done that myself where I was trying to troubleshoot system latency until a friend simply came and played straight on the beat with the exact same setup. So it was just plain old me who's internal metronome got out of whack but after figuring out that part, it was a very quick learning experience to get to where I needed to be.

As always, record, listen, record, listen ... repeat!

 

[J-Moen]

Thanks for the input guys. However, The delay wasn't coming from the recorded track. The delay was on the backing which had zero reverb - I believe this may have been reaper trying to offset to allow for a delay, but it ended up off a ways. I'll probably still turn off the reverb and add it after - I was just told it makes it sounds better to do it while recording rather than in post production.

My mic plugs directly in via USB with whatever drivers it automatically came with - currently. Working to buy a preamp and new mic very soon. And as I stated before - I would plug directly in to monitor, but there is no way for me to have the backing playing into my ears and monitoring at the same time - unless i play it through the system.

 

[J-Moen]

As others have said, you can turn off the effects completely and listen to yourself straight. But, the latency of the hardware (including SW processing) is in the µsec range, if you have a really old system you could be looking at 1-2msec and that is not noticeable. It sounds more like you mentally average to the effects or your timing is off to begin with. No shame in that, playing with a new recording setup does this king of thing to you until you get used to it, been there, done that myself where I was trying to troubleshoot system latency until a friend simply came and played straight on the beat with the exact same setup. So it was just plain old me who's internal metronome got out of whack but after figuring out that part, it was a very quick learning experience to get to where I needed to be.

As always, record, listen, record, listen ... repeat!

I thought the same thing - I definitely blamed myself for it. So I tested, and just tried to play one loud note right on 1 of the first bar... it was super early. I did it again right when the backing hit one, super early. Definitely something pushing things to the right.

 

[jman1977]

It all adds up. Anything you add to the process that requires processing power (e.g., effects, other plugins) will add latency. The more powerful your machine, the better it is able to offset the latency. How's your computer's processing power?

Someone suggested checking the buffer size. Lower the buffer size when tracking. You can increase it when mixing. Also, make sure that in Reaper you have disabled the audio input device since you're not using an interface right now. I'd recommend getting an interface before getting a preamp -- a lot of interfaces have built-in preamps. Interfaces help reduce latency as well (some even virtually eliminate latency, but it all depends on your budget). For home recording purposes you don't really need a dedicated preamp.

 

[J-Moen]

Well, I feel dumb. I just found out today that I had disabled my microphone as an output a long time ago - which also made it hidden from a selection. So, I now have my headphones running to my mic monitor, which also plays my backing and allow for direct monitoring - Huge improvement. I've never been able to listen to myself while playing before except what I hear on the other side of my headphones.

Second - I installed the new driver, reset my device, took off reverb, and did a vocal test just counting 1-4 on about 10 bars. Perfectly on time and I could hear it to boot! Just changed my whole recording game! Not sure what option actually corrected the issue, but it is no longer there, so thanks everyone for the help!

Current system is about a 6 year old Intel Core-i7 laptop processor 2.7ghz 4 cores. Shouldn't have any major problems in that department - but its not longer an issue. Will let you know how my practice session goes later today!

 

[lostcircuits]

Well, I feel dumb. I just found out today that I had disabled my microphone as an output a long time ago - which also made it hidden from a selection. So, I now have my headphones running to my mic monitor, which also plays my backing and allow for direct monitoring - Huge improvement. I've never been able to listen to myself while playing before except what I hear on the other side of my headphones.

Second - I installed the new driver, reset my device, took off reverb, and did a vocal test just counting 1-4 on about 10 bars. Perfectly on time and I could hear it to boot! Just changed my whole recording game! Not sure what option actually corrected the issue, but it is no longer there, so thanks everyone for the help!

Current system is about a 6 year old Intel Core-i7 laptop processor 2.7ghz 4 cores. Shouldn't have any major problems in that department - but its not longer an issue. Will let you know how my practice session goes later today!

I am doing all my stuff on an AMD Opteron system from 2006 with registered ECC DDR2. Latency is in the µsec range at worst so your hardware is more than adequate.

 

[J-Moen]

Everything is working great now after all those simple resets and updates. I'm very impressed. My tone even sounds more clear to me - maybe just because I'm finally listening to myself play instead of muffled by the headphones. Really excited for this! If anyone cares to check it out, I just posted a new video after I made this recording today!

 

[ZootTheSim]

Never used Reaper myself, but . . . have you tried more cowbell?