Audacity help

[Sandie-Jenkins]

i've had it for a while and i use it regularly, but when i try and record a vocal track, or a second guitar, i'll play right with the track and it still won't align right. does anyone else have this problem, and is there a possible solution.

[Mynor]

It could also be just your computer. It won't pick it up at the speed that it needs to for you to align it.

I'm not really sure how to fix it though, I've had the same problem before.

[lew_1987]

I've had this problem. The recording speed must be different to the playback speed. The only 2 ways to fix it are:

1. Record in small sections, and then combine all the tracks into a mix.
2. After recording, select different sections and use the 'speed' effect. Also delete little bits of silence in between vocal phrases (or whatever) to line the tracks up right.

I don't think there's a lot else you can do. One thing I did once, was import a click track for the song, and play along to the that. Even though the tracks I recorded were out of sync with the click track, they ended up in sync with each other. So then you just delete the click track. Good luck

[Sandie-Jenkins]

I've had this problem. The recording speed must be different to the playback speed. The only 2 ways to fix it are:

1. Record in small sections, and then combine all the tracks into a mix.
2. After recording, select different sections and use the 'speed' effect. Also delete little bits of silence in between vocal phrases (or whatever) to line the tracks up right.

I don't think there's a lot else you can do. One thing I did once, was import a click track for the song, and play along to the that. Even though the tracks I recorded were out of sync with the click track, they ended up in sync with each other. So then you just delete the click track. Good luck


thats to speed up a certain part, right? isn't that kinda cheating?

[lew_1987]

thats to speed up a certain part, right? isn't that kinda cheating?

Sorry... I mean the 'Change Tempo' effect, I got mixed up. It changes the speed without changing pitch. Well... if you want to call it cheating, then you could call a click track cheating. It's not like you're playing a really fast solo at half speed and then speeding it up to full speed.

[Sandie-Jenkins]

Sorry... I mean the 'Change Tempo' effect, I got mixed up. It changes the speed without changing pitch. Well... if you want to call it cheating, then you could call a click track cheating. It's not like you're playing a really fast solo at half speed and then speeding it up to full speed.

yeah true. alright man thanks alot, you've been alot of help.

[Tristan Needler]

Your problem is almost certainly caused by what is called latency. It's the delay that occurs within your soundcard when it records the audio. There are two ways to solve the problem: buy a real audio interface, or check and see if you can change the buffer settings in Audacity (I think you can).

If the track is just delayed then changing the speed at which the track is played back won't fix anything.

[Mikey Spa]

I agree with Tristan's advice.

However, I've been using audacity for a while now and you can adjust the starting points of the vocal tracks and the the otehr tracks you record by adding blank filler noise. You can mess around with that and see if it helps. I mean you won't be able to get it perfect, but pretty damn close.

[turd-burglar]

I think it is just the computer, I have this problem all the time and i just have a count in on all the tracks so that i can align it after recording, then silence it after I'm done.
On my other computer it didn't do that, so I'm assuming it's just the quality of the computer.. Because mine sucks..

[tomgreen680]

i've had it for a while and i use it regularly, but when i try and record a vocal track, or a second guitar, i'll play right with the track and it still won't align right. does anyone else have this problem, and is there a possible solution.

I had the same problem. To be honest Audacity is a pretty shitty program. So I went searching for a better one and now I use Acoustica Mixcraft. This program is easily 10x better. Its really easy to pick up fast. Plus it couldn't be easier for recording and mixing. I highly recommend it for home recording like I do.