Lining up tracks to be in time - any tips?

Bimple · Post by **Bimple** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 1:29 pm

I am recording the initial tracks sent from a synthesizer (and in a box kind of thing), and am then laying down guitar and vocal tracks. I am using a Behringer UCA202 USB input device. When I record the guitar or vocal tracks and then playback there is a slight drift in the recording, and I can manually line up the tracks by listening and then carefully moving the guitar tracks, and then listening again, but this sometimes does not produce perfect results, and is a pain. Are there any tips for ways to achieve this easily and more accurately?

JustOneOldMan · Post by **JustOneOldMan** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 2:19 pm

The 'drift' you're talking about is latency during the recording process. Using ASIO drivers, like ASIO4ALL (or WaveRT in Vista) might help somewhat with the latency issue if you're not already using it.

There really isn't an automated way of lining up the recorded tracks, it has to be done manually as you're doing now. Also, there are times when you might notice that the longer a recorded track is, the more drifting you'll notice over the length of the track.

A lot of the problems with latency also have to do with the system you're using it on, too. Higher end systems using ASIO (or WaveRT) will produce less latency...

Bimple · Post by **Bimple** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 5:26 pm

thanks much - thats what I figured - I wish there was a way to beat match a guitar track with a master track. I see the beat match button but I tired using it , and am not sure how to do that, or if it is even possible

JustOneOldMan · Post by **JustOneOldMan** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 7:56 pm

No problem, Bimple. The Beat Match is primarily to attempt to match the tempo of a track being inserted into the project with the project tempo. Won't really help you at all with lining up the tracks.

Once you get used to the amount of latency you have and have adjusted a few recordings to match the other tracks, it gets pretty quick and easy. Just another step you have to take. The biggest problem is with longer recorded tracks that sometimes seem to 'stretch' over the length of the track, as mentioned in a couple other posts here. Where the longer the track is the more out of time it seems to get. Then it's a multi-step process to align the tracks...

Bimple · Post by **Bimple** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 8:29 pm

thanks again - I am getting the hang of it. I was reading the manual and discovered teh keyboard shortcuts and they help alot - works much better than trying to nudge it with my mouse.

Does the latency of longer pieces get reduced if I zoom out and view the entire song instead of letting mixcraft scroll through several pages as I am recording sounds?

Also - I noticed that the preferences where I choose the wav/asio etc lists my latency - is that pretty exact? can I simply use the keyboard shortcuts to punch that in - for example if my latency is 43ms - can I just hit ctrl and -> 2 times and then ctrl + shift + -> 3 times and expect that to line up, or is that too easy?

JustOneOldMan · Post by **JustOneOldMan** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 9:18 pm

Bimple wrote:thanks again - I am getting the hang of it. I was reading the manual and discovered teh keyboard shortcuts and they help alot - works much better than trying to nudge it with my mouse.

Ya, there's a lot of little things you'll learn to make things easier.

Does the latency of longer pieces get reduced if I zoom out and view the entire song instead of letting mixcraft scroll through several pages as I am recording sounds?

Nope, changing the zoom factor won't do anything to change latency or the track itself. Just lets you get in closer to your work.

Also - I noticed that the preferences where I choose the wav/asio etc lists my latency - is that pretty exact? can I simply use the keyboard shortcuts to punch that in - for example if my latency is 43ms - can I just hit ctrl and -> 2 times and then ctrl + shift + -> 3 times and expect that to line up, or is that too easy?

Might help you get close, but it's not exact. You'll still have to do the 'move and listen' shuffle...