Audacity Latency Setting on Macbook Pro

[Pat Anderson]

Running Audacity 2.0.2 on a late 2011 Macbook Pro.  Right now using the internal microphone, using one earbud to listen to first track while laying down second track.  I have a Samson USB microphone on the way, not sure if that will make any difference

I set the latency correction setting by trial and error, but it seems to be pretty close at -330. May be some tweaking but it seems awfully close. 

Is this anywhere close to what other folks have found?

[4efs]

Welcome to MOs Pat!

 "set the latency correction"... Oh, how I wish I knew what you were talking about...I was going to ask you if you knew the numbers for all those slots in Audacity to get a nice subtle reverb....
(Trying to figure out how to make a recording I am happy with is getting very near the top of my list!  )

Say, I have a relative named Pat Anderson but I am thinking he's about 10 years your junior....
Unless perhaps you are related Chuck and Mike?

Anyway, your photos are gorgeous, and your lifestyle sounds glorious, thanks for sharing and I hope you enjoy your MO very, very much!
4efs - Oregon Coast 

[Pat Anderson]

OK, here goes on "set the latency correction"!

To multitrack on Audacity, you lay down one track, then listen to it through headphones while recording the second track. I use one earbud to listen to the first track.

The hitch in the gitalong is that there is a delay between the time the sound of the second track goes into the mike and when it actually gets recorded on the hard drive.  When you play the two tracks back together, the second track lags noticeably behind the first track, kind of like an echo - that is "latency." 

Audacity has a setting in the Recording Preferences window to set the "latency correction." I think it is in milliseconds, and it moves the second track to start a specified number of milliseconds earlier to compensate for the latency.

Thanks for the kind words on the photos. We need to get down to the Oregon coast, so much great scenery there, but most likely in 2014 when we retire - for next year it will be the same old drill, 2 week vacations!

[4efs]

Hey thanks!  I think I need to put that new mic on my wish list.
 Setting something to zero sounds like something that might work for one such as I!  !

[ubizmo]

Audacity has a setting in the Recording Preferences window to set the "latency correction." I think it is in milliseconds, and it moves the second track to start a specified number of milliseconds earlier to compensate for the latency.

I never noticed this setting, but I'll experiment with it.

What I've done instead is to drag the second track "back" manually a little bit after recording. To do this, I first zoom way in, so that a small correction is, well, small. So I move it a bit and then listen; if it's still not right I move it again.

[Pat Anderson]

It may not have been in the older versions, the current version is 2.0.2.  On a Mac (and I assume on Windows) You can set a value in the Preferences | Recording | Latency Correct box.  It is probably "Properties" rather than "Preferences" in Windows.  The default value is -130, a negative value reduces latency, and I had to ratchet it back to -300 or more to come close, around -330 seemed best but it still as not exactly right and I still found myself needing to use the slider.

The latency problem is totally eliminated though by using the Samson GO USB microphone and plugging the headphones into the mike (the mike has a headphone jack next to the USB jack). Then you can set the Latency Correction to zero, and the tracks are all perfectly in sync, no correction needed.