Hi guys, I have been trying to record my vocals and acoustic separately using a free version of audacity.  I have found however that there is an annoying delay between the input of the sound and actually hearing it from the speakers.  This means that i have found it difficult to sing in time with any previously recorded guitar piece I have done.

Does anyone know anyways I can solve this problem?  I am reluctant to record both at the same time because my guitar work tends to suffer while i'm singing.  And I would also like to adjust the volume of both vocals and guitar to get the right balance.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

It's because there is a latency delay from either due to your soundcard or the settings in audacity. If you are using a stock sound card that came with the pc, it could be the problem. If it's just the integrated sound that you are using on a laptop, it almost certainly is the problem.

You can try to reduce the buffer size in audacity (must be in preferences or audio settings or something like that), but reducing the buffer size can cause playback problems (look at this:http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?t=1527&f=15)

Try downloading the Asio4All drivers aswell.

What audio interface are you using?

I'm afraid Ram is right. I could be your setting in Audacity. Hope it's that.
If it isn't then it's probably your soundcard or could also be a lack of Ram.
 I would say that I think the usual culprit is the soundcard.

Could you not record your guitar using a metronome set to whatever bpm you want, then record vocals the same way. Then you just shift how they overlay one another until it sounds right in the mix.

If audacity is anything like reaper there'll be a built in metronome

Might be a work around until you figure out the problem

Peter

No the problem would be that to hear the metronome you would also hear the guitar - not matching (because of the delay) what you
are actually playing amd it all gets confusing. You end up not being able to play in time at all because of the delay.
I used to have the same problem with my old computer. Which Is why I scrimped and saved for a very good one with all the right
stuff in it.  Took ages.