Day22

Tue 2010-06-01 19:17

My audio production & engineering knowledge took a massive step forward in a single moment today.

I'd long wondered why there was a certain amount of latency between recording & playback, which manifests itself in the instruments sounding out of time with the song's tempo, even though played in near perfect synchronization & for the most part maintaining their own tempo.

I have an external soundcard which is supposed to compensate for this latency, however I learned that some devices mis-report the latency values depending on the software interpreting the signals; this is where a delay offset function is required to "zero" the tempos.

I discovered this after deciding to re-record a bass track that sounded noticeably out of synch. It still sounded out, even though I _knew_ I was playing it dead on. After finding & applying the correct offset for the fresh recording, I was amazed by the resultant difference: it was fucking tight.

The not-so-good realization was that I would have to re-record most, if not all, of the guitar & bass parts I'd already spent months laying down. This thought dismayed me initially, compelling me to quit for the night & contemplate the consequences of my enlightenment.

Fortunately, the vocals are well in synch already - having to re-do them might've done me in =p

Thinking about it now, I don't mind so much. At least it's just mindless playing, whereas the composition, mixing & production (ie the complex parts) are done & dusted. I'm so glad I made detailed notes, used appropriate track labels & saved presets as I went. Sometimes it pays to be anal.

It seemed to be the most logical solution.