Music Vocal Mismatch Issue

Joe J Thomas · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007, 14:46 (GMT) Post subject: Music Vocal Mismatch Issue

Hello Pros!

I know many of you are musicians and singers, and I've run into a snag.

I'm working on my editing and singing skills, and am attempting to record some songs.

The problem: vocal track gets out of sync with the music.

The details: I'm playing the music with Sony Acid while recording the vocals. Then I take the vocal track into Sony Acid, and match up the beginning of the vocals with the proper place in the music. By the end of the song, the vocals are a little behind the music (1 second or so).

What gives?

I'm running a Windows-XP (shudder) Media Center. It's a Sony liquid cooled machine. Should have more than enough horsepower to play the song and record at the same time.

Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi - You're my only hope!
Joe

Cameron Thomas · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007, 16:03 (GMT) Post subject:

Hmm, I tried something like that a while back in Cool Edit and it worked ok...I just played the song through any media player and then recorded into CE.

Can you splice the audio?--say perhaps a little before it gets out of synch and just move it ahead a little? Maybe do that a few times throughout in between phrases to keep it up to speed. Not sure if that helps or not.

Good luck,
Cameron

Joe J Thomas · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007, 16:12 (GMT) Post subject:

Freddie Molina · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007, 16:13 (GMT) Post subject:

I think it is related to the software, have you tried on other sound editing programs?

Joe J Thomas · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007, 16:18 (GMT) Post subject:

Freddie Molina · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007, 16:31 (GMT) Post subject:

Any multi track, you could even try audacity.

Maybe the audio card is running heavy with the recording and the playback, try playing it from a different source.

Colin Campbell · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007, 16:33 (GMT) Post subject:

Don't know about Acid but AA will do a time shift (no pitch change) to "sqeeze" a track or clip. Doesn't sound good if you try to do too much but for that small lag it probably would work OK.

My guess is you had latency in monitoring when you put down the vocal. What's your interface?

George Karnes · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007, 16:42 (GMT) Post subject:

Joe-
Try playing the music on another PC while you record it on your "voice" machine.

Joe J Thomas · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007, 17:03 (GMT) Post subject:

Colin Campbell · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007, 17:14 (GMT) Post subject:

To do overdubs you need some latency free monitoring. I have a convoluted setup that works well but is hard to explain....

I split the output of the mic processor to go both to the sound card and a little mixer. I also feed the mixer with the ouput of the sound card. I then monitor off the mixer with headphones. So my voice is coming to me in analog before it goes anywhere and I can hear the tracks play back off the PC the same way they will always play.

Make sense?

Alan Simmons · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007, 17:19 (GMT) Post subject:

Hey Joe,

What are you using to record your vocal? You may be able to go in and adjust your buffer sizes and cut down the latency dramatically. I had a similar issue last year, but mine was due to my ancient computer (which I've since replaced with a Gateway running Windows Media Center). Have you tried recording the vocal straight into Acid?

Joe J Thomas · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007, 18:04 (GMT) Post subject:

Colin: I get what you mean. I'm just thinking if it's a sound card issue it may not matter. I'm listening off of the sound card output directly now. And would latency cause a slower or faster pacing?

Alan: It's always the easy solutions that make me go "Duh!". I'll try recording in Acid now. If it works, I can always do some post edit later...

Thanks guys!

More to come,
Joe

Joe J Thomas · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007, 18:41 (GMT) Post subject: Audio sample for you...

Ok, to illustrate the issue, I've posted a sample below.

The Left channel is the original audio. I played it over the speakers and recorded via the mike. Playback and Record were both done with Acid to eliminate the software aspect of the issue.

You can see the recording seems to be faster than the original. It is about 0.5 seconds off for each minute of play. By the end, it's a good 1.5 seconds ahead...

Please take a listen and tell me I'm not crazy!
(well, about this at least)

Joe

Colin Campbell · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007, 20:29 (GMT) Post subject:

I'm not sure I understand the difference in how the two files were created.

Joe J Thomas · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007, 21:05 (GMT) Post subject: