When the audio is late! (ncy) 🕧

Audio latency is the time delay that you hear whilst recording an instrument. The delay is between the live performance of the musician or vocalist being recorded, and this recording then playing back from the hard drive and through monitors or headphones.

Consider the time it takes for your input audio or DIN MIDI signal to:

– enter your audio interface
– go through the analog to the digital conversion process
– enter your computer and your DAW
– travel back into your audio interface
– go through the digital to analog process
– play through your speakers or headphones

This is quite a hefty lot to do, and some things can cause delays throughout these processes.

Potential causes of audio and MIDI latency include:

– Your audio interface settings
– Poor computer specifications (RAM and processor)
– Settings in your DAW
– Faulty cables
– Speakers and headphones
– A plugin chain

When you’re recording, the signal travels through the audio inferface into the DAW; latency will happen if the timing of your hardware and your software don’t quite match up.

Otherwise, recording using a MIDI keyboard would usually mean the input signal travels through your DAW and the instrument itself, also considering any plugins. This would all be happening whilst the MIDI input is sharing the audio buffer within your DAW with the rest of the project. Any other apps you may have open are asking for CPU and RAM processing power too. These can all affect how long it takes for your input to reach its destination.

Audio latency could affect every recording, meaning it might be out of time, and you might have to start over.

You can avoid latency by recognising the cause. Click here for more on how to reduce audio latency.

If you have any further queries, feel free to get in touch with us!

See also:
What is FLAC?
How do I add audio?
Why won’t my audio file upload?