Is Audio Interface Latency Ruining Your Recordings?

Are you experiencing latency in your recording studio? The tips in this video will help you optimize your studio for low-latency recording!
Thanks to ‪@RMEAudio‬ for sponsoring this video!
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[@ramonnapolano6308]

Knowing most of the stuff already, I still watch every video. There's always something to gain from hearing different explanations and experiences. Keep up the good work! I'm looking forward to learn more ^^

[@AudioUniversity]

Thanks, Ramon!

[@KevboKev]

I record keyboards, and I can't handle anything above 10 ms. Some might say that's impossible to differentiate 0 ms from 10 ms, but being a piano player, I can totally "feel" the difference from 6 ms to 12 ms, for example.

[@AudioUniversity]

Thanks for sharing, Kev. Like I said, individuals will experience latency differently and tolerance varies.

[@llll-lk2mm]

same, it's really irritating. drummer here.

[@itsabearpelt]

Same with visual Hz. Just depends on the person.

[@arasanhu7993]

Same, guitarist here, its so impossible

[@rohanphilip7483]

Bruh the latency even slows down the keyboardist's fingers!!

[@NICANATE]

Ayyyy REAPER DAW gang‼️ I always loved that 5 seconds it gave to think about my choice to "proceed to program" long after the free 30 days

[@helmanfrow]

I automatically watch anything with RME in the title.

[@AudioUniversity]

Thanks for watching!

[@joejohnson8966]

Same

[@gaborberes968]

Finally understood what buffer size is. Thanks a lot!

[@ilhandogukanersan]

You have the most informative language and effective communication skills I have ever seen on KZbin. I didn’t even lost my attention for 1 second. Thanks and keep up the good work.

[@emiel333]

Another great video, Kyle! Although I know most of the stuff, I still enjoy watching your videos because you go into details about any subject. Keep up the good work!

[@AudioUniversity]

Glad to hear it, Emeil! Thank you for watching. You'll see a brand new video on reamping guitars, posting tomorrow morning (6AM EST). Let me know what you think!

[@Herewerampage]

yeah i’ve got no clue what im doing

[@user-rs8sp7wh6b]

most informative advertisement ever

[@franciscovidal5530]

Just changing to ASIO helped me a lot. New on recording guitar, thanks a lot!!!!!!!!

[@gumbilicious1]

I ended up running a completely separate monitor path because my interface doesn’t have direct monitoring. My mics go to XLR splitters, one goes to interface and the other goes to a mixer for monitoring. It’s an expensive solution, but now I have a dedicated monitoring system that is independent of my recording which is quite nice

[@AudioUniversity]

Nice. Thanks for sharing this setup!

[@evallesg]

Hi Kyle, I really appreciate all of your videos, even though I might know what you are speaking about it's always good to return to topics in an organized and rational way. I'm a happy owner of an Apollo Twin (USB) and RME Babyface Pro fs as well, actually I've owned Babyfaces since their first version, the one with that horrible breakout cable, still their sound, stability, sturdiness is unbeatable. As for the Apollo, I think their plugins are great but far too expensive .... Keep on going with this fantastic job! Happy holidays!

[@AudioUniversity]

Thanks, Ernesto!

[@liothomasart]

Solid RME. The Lewit Connect is very dope too and simple to use.

[@AudioUniversity]

Agreed!

[@colasko8006]

I like your vids because when i see you I know you know what your talking about. Thanx again

[@helamanavalos9806]

just saw the price for the RME Babyface Pro FS, I think Im gonna stick with my scarlett solo for a while :'D

[@loucifer8009]

One way to fix latency is inside your DAW by muting the return signal of the track you are recording on. This allows to hear the direct signal only. Once the part has been recorded simply unmute the track to hear the result.

[@tylermmxtcp]

no shit

[@YoungBlaze]

@@tylermmxtcp Hey! BEHAVE!

[@user-vu7we3jv8k]

Hi Kyle. I really enjoy your videos very much and I have learned a lot. I have noticed something you might want to consider looking into. When you make a cut and you usually go to a tighter shot or the opposite the black level of your shirt seams to change a lot. I don't know if you have two cameras or you just crop in but I think it is something to consider. Thank you for the value that you give through your channel. I use it in my audio engineering for live events.

[@AudioUniversity]

Thanks for the tip! Glad you’re enjoying the videos.

[@northwiebesick7136]

The one thing that I've seen that really gets to me, is if I'm doing anything with my PC requiring a microphone, if I'm using the windows microphone monitoring setting, I tend to talk funny,(think slow-mo but for audio) and I'd love to know how to combat the speeding up or slowing down of my voice, because I'm hearing it in the headphones... I mean, obviously I'm not talking about in a musical capacity specifically, since I don't use a musical program or anything, but still, if I was doing it on my own without anyone else to monitor my levels, then I'd want to know if it was possible, and how to manage it *Edit* To be clear I'm talking about a wired or wireless microphone/receiver hooked directly to the PC mic port

[@Henry14arsenal2007]

Please make a video about recording through guitar processors via USB hooked directly to the computer. What would be the best practices? Is there any downside or advantage compared to recording through an interface?

[@Noone-of-your-Business]

2:00 - _Someone_ is using Reaper. Good for you! 👍

[@cupakm]

Hi there. Nice video. Being kinda fan... RME interfaces achieve stable RTLs on 32 samples buffer size too, in properly setup Linux environment via USB and CC mode - the older gen converters (like Babyface gen. 1) perform at 3.8 ms, the newer ones (like UCX II, or Babyface Pro FS) do run at 2.77 ms @ 48 kHz. Connecting them via ADAT to a PCIe card like RayDAT does improve the latency by negligible amounts: 3.6 ms the BF1 and 2.72-ish the UCX II. No matter USB or PCIe, with a proper USB controller they work like a charm, although such small buffer sizes tend to burden the CPU a little more, so aim for a fanless CPU cooler to avoid noise.

[@Welshmanshots]

Thank you for this, after reinstalling windows i had forgot what i had my buffer size set to and just kept it at a default of 256 but i just recently started getting audio delays like a god 5 second delay which was throwing me off and i have a 1st gen Scarlett which is quite old but has done well for the 5 years i've had it but lowering it down to 96 has even improved the sound quality.

[@AudioUniversity]

Glad to help!

[@jeffallen3382]

I just got the Focusrite Solo interface. I was having problems with the clicks/pops. I found out I was running out of RAM on my older pc. Clearing out old unused programs and cached data cleared up my RAM and gave me more tonise. This eliminated all the clicks/pops I was having.

[@AudioUniversity]

Thanks for this tip, Jeff!

[@jeffallen3382]

@@AudioUniversity you're welcome!

[@teashea1]

Well done. However it would be helpful to tell people how much latency is noticable by most people --- Just about no one can detect latency of 8ms or less.

[@AudioUniversity]

Thanks for watching, Thomas!

[@HumanThoughtExpression]

And I'm over here thinking that 4ms feels like a slap back delay to me, finding it impossible to record guitar with it.

[@djashjones]

If you trigger VST's with a electronic drum kit then RME is the number 1 choice.

[@frankbaron1608]

os some interface, i think some focusrite for example, you can change the routing of your headphones and where there are two sockets, you could route one set to your wet signal and another to your dry signal. then you get the best of both worrlds although you will need a second set of headphones. :)

[@AudioUniversity]

Thanks for watching and sharing this tip, Frank!

[@BillAnciaux]

You are such a good teacher! Thanks for this video. If you could only keep one of those RME interfaces, which would you choose and why? Price not being a factor.

[@AudioUniversity]

I like both for different reasons. The additional analog IO makes the Fireface UCX II my main studio interface. The portability makes the Babyface Pro FS my go-to when traveling and doing work on-location.

[@vanitysage927]

I just figured out an easy method just record a section take that audio in your music program and slide the audio slightly back to match it up to the beat, it's more work but it can be done.

[@reginaldabraham2909]

Very well explained....Thanks 🤙

[@AudioUniversity]

Thanks!

[@ebormajaw8064]

Thanks for your video,I found it very interesting 👍

[@AudioUniversity]

Thank you! Glad you liked it.

[@julianwiltz6904]

Thank You!

[@seppy3272]

is there a way to do this with external hardware? Lets say I have an external pre-amp, vocal processor and interface. Is there a way to monitor the effects on the of the vocal processor without recording the effects permanently?

[@dpalaoro]

You can use a separate mixer.and set up a monitoring mix before your desired signal reaches the daw.

[@fragwagon]

I've tried everything, finally had to get rid of the stuff for an old tascam. The lag just drove me insane

[@GMCrelan]

can you cover the advantages and disadvantages of cheap wireless guitar system?

[@AudioUniversity]

That’s a great suggestion. Thanks!

[@shubhamlad2102]

Good one

[@AudioUniversity]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Chancekizzar]

'Super helpful video for understanding the concepts, I'm still not totally sure how to sort out my setup. I'm running directly into a scarlet 4i4, and then trying to either play in a standalone program like Bias FX2 or STL Tonehub, or even trying to just play into Ableton Live. I for the life of me cannot sort out my drivers/reducing latency below 4.0ms :( I'm probably going to call Focusrite support in hopes they can sort me out, because I've spent multiple sessions trying to adjust all of those settings you mentioned and can't get anywhere. :(

[@KidneysHurt]

Honestly, latency is just super annoying when I'm recording

[@thaexception3406]

Informative

[@osvaldoconcepcion5188]

Thank you for this video. Any suggestions on how to reduce latency on iPad GarageBand when recording guitars and vocals?

[@teddym2808]

Of course, DPC latency is crucial here. If you have a setup with a motherboard that has a reliable, low, DPC latency, you'll have much better results running your audio interface at its lowest buffer size without pops/clicks, which happen when the DPC spikes, or of course even on a good system, when you've reached the CPU's ability threshold due to plugins, etc. Also, besides 2 DAWs, all others these days automatically shuffle record armed/playback tracks on different buffers, with only record armed tracks truly being used with the low latency buffer size that the user has chosen in the DAW.

[@petersinol]

Thank You. This is the video I’ve been searching for. So to clarify my concerns I would like to ask. Midas m32 mixing console with built in inferface is resticted to only 48 khz sample rate. If I would like to play/record rehersals with my band (3 guitars and 1 electronic drum module) only through the DAW with neural dsp plugins on guitars does this interface won’t couse latency problems? I have read that 96 khz is needed to use interface as bands practice rehersal gear with no problem. I have m1 mac studio. May buy m32 but I want to be certain of this. Second option is just rme ufx for begining and later expansion. What do You think? Thanks again.

[@MatthaeusEbonah]

So,the issue I'm having lately is its like my computer is getting old. I got it about a year ago. I exclusively use it for music. No entertainment, no browsing the internet. But every time I hook up to the internet everything wants to update. So I'll take a better part of the morning to let my OS,DAW and Plug-ins update. But it seems like my CPU runs slower and slower the more I update it.

[@blue_mountains28]

Rme if your out there... please 🙏 can you integrate a pad on the instrument inputs on the babyface Pro to gain down hot guitar puckups to stop them clipping... could you do it as a upgrade / update to total mix? Great video by the way... rem and there drivers are a game changer in terms of latency

[@AudioUniversity]

Thanks, Allan!

[@ggWasNp]

THANK YOU. By default, Reaper selected the incorrect driver. :)

[@woodenbeast9337]

Great Content

[@AudioUniversity]

Thanks!

[@nathanav1634]

Have a Boss Nextone Artist, comes with a USB port which, when I connect it to the PC, has up to a 1s lag when recording the audio. I don't use an interface, always figured I don't need one as the amp has a USB. Before I shell out for one and fine tuning its settings, is an interface 100% necessary? Also is a decent mic setup through an interface better than running your amp jack direct to the interface? Want to get the best possible tone when recording, but it's a bit of a minefield in terms of options and cost!! Thanks

[@b.z9940]

how can i record my e-guitar with my babyface pro fs in ableton with zero latency?

[@JohnnyRawks]

So we get around the delay in monitoring by monitoring directly from the interface, rather than monitoring from the track in the DAW. But the problem still exists that every track we lay down will be 'out of time' to some extent with the bed track(s), and that sucks. You would think that a DAW would be able to figure out exactly what the latency is, and then shift the incoming track automatically to offset the latency. Is that a thing?

[@CiKSON]

I just wanna point something out: I'm not sure when in the editing process you do your color correction, but the final result is that all color adjustments are lost when a zoom occurs, as well as when text appears on screen Also, maybe your highlights are slightly too bright. These occurrences are consistent in each upload. Other than that, great video as always. I only would have loved to know some of the best CPUs for low latency performance.

[@AudioUniversity]

Thanks for the tips, Cickson. I don’t do any color correction. Glad you’re enjoying the videos though!

[@CiKSON]

@@AudioUniversity That's so strange, you can see a blatant color shift in the footage during moments like these: 1:23 & 5:05 It's especially apparent when looking at the black levels. It could be an artifact of one of your editing plugins, if you use any

[@AudioUniversity]

Could it have something to do with the fact that the original size is only 1080p, zooming in makes it sub-1080p, and then I render the video in 1080p?

[@CiKSON]

@@AudioUniversity That doesn't seem likely, as color information should be independent from the resolution info. It also doesn't explain why the color shift occurs with regular edits like adding text on screen. What editing software do you use? It could be possible that it has some automated processes shifting your color gradient

[@northwiebesick7136]

I saw that zoom color change, and if I had to guess, just based on most other content creators I watch, the perceived color warmth changes have more to do with the fact that he's zooming into a highly colored/lit object, being the face, and having less of the darker background in the frame... But it's just a guess, and I'm not that well versed enough in video editing to say for certain what the issue might be...

[@levionmusic]

Just compared my new RME Babyface FS pro with Forusrite solo. Surprisingly in Logic Focusrite demonstrated lower latency than Babyface. I recorded the metronome from Logic and looked visually at the wave. Quite a weird result in the DAW. At the same time, RTL Utility shows better results for the Babyface. Why is that?

[@AudioUniversity]

Do you have delay compensation turned on inside your DAW?

[@levionmusic]

@@AudioUniversity no, it's set to 0. Same adjustments for both soundcards in the DAW. Also turned off the FX in the Totalmix.

[@dopeod1]

So I have latency in all daws when i try to record. I used for an example bandlab web, after doing the test (im using zoom v3 vocal procesor but i used to have similar numbers while just using the USB mic plugged into mi PC directly) will tell me that the latency is around 171 ms. Then re do it, it might tell the same number, but after doing it again the nombre may be 180ms, or 182, then 175... it even dropped to 112 ms once, then re made the test and went up again. What could be the problem here ?

[@colasko8006]

Thanx

[@ramonfw]

If I plug the monitors into the computer's audio out instead of the interface's output, I will reduce delay, right?

[@sanjayrhythm]

Sir best daw rhythm arrenge

[@AudioUniversity]

It’s a matter of preference! Try watching some tutorial videos of different DAWs and see which one you like best.

[@Jowdanicus]

I need help: My audio interface's (IK Multimedia Axe I/O) reported latency constantly chnges. I've tested using the RTL utility, reainsert, as well as just recording a kick sample from the input to output of the interface and checking the difference in samples on the timeline in reaper. And with these individual tests there can be a difference of up to 80 samples the next time I run it. This is all usually at 48kHz sample rate and 64 buffer size. So that 80 sample difference translates to a difference of over 1.5 ms latency. Is this normal? If not, does anyone know what could be the issue?

[@secallen]

Thanks, but what's with the crane?

[@MrBurakOzel]

Quick question, does reducing the buffer size negatively affect the audio quality of guitar track recording?

[@AudioUniversity]

No. As long as you’re not exceeding the processing limitations, you shouldn’t hear errors or any other difference in audio quality.

[@MrBurakOzel]

@@AudioUniversity Ty

[@schwarz-musikproduktion]

Could anyone tell me, why my cpu usage is just 50% but still with highest buffer (RME UCX i Use) I have projects with extreme drop outs and can't even play my projects. Yes a lot of plug ins but why is my system (CPU) not using his full capacity spectrum?

[@BigDeeEsco]

W video. Thank yoouuuuuu

[@iuutoob]

Could you add a link to the latency app? I'm going back to the video now to make my own note on it.

[@AudioUniversity]

Here is the link: oblique-audio.com/rtl-utility.php Thanks for watching!

[@Xtn1Insecticide]

I’m not worried about latency with recording in atm but I am wondering how to correct in the mix, so say I have a 10ms latency delay, do i then need to shift my track by 10ms to sound right before mixing?

[@AudioUniversity]

Most DAWs have automatic delay compensation for DAW and interface latency. If the latency is caused by an external device (outboard delay, etc.), you may need to shift the region or calculate the delay compensation within the DAW prior to recording.

[@Xtn1Insecticide]

@@AudioUniversity ok cool I’ll check the book. Thank you. What if i play out of the interface say from a channel output or headphone jack and record back into an input, apart from hardware delay, is this a different scenario for the DAW that might need time alignment? I appreciate

[@AudioUniversity]

Many DAWs have a hardware insert feature that will automatically account for this delay.

[@Xtn1Insecticide]

@@AudioUniversity thanks bud!

[@TheRichardHartog]

Greet lessen..thanks😊

[@1BillyPeterson]

I switched to Mac. Just about solved the latency issue. However, my flipping screen is broken because of Apple's faulty design.

[@christopherharv]

Is there such a thing as over-correcting for latency and introducing... early-cy? Ha, I can't think of another name for it. I think this might have happened during my last guitar tracking. Somehow my playing wound up sitting a bit early on the track. A little of which is due to my performance but performance doesn't account for all of it. I'm using a new direct input setup, whereas on previous recordings I mic'd a cab, and it's only with the new set-up I'm getting this early-cy

[@leonsunu1209]

I just yesterday got my audio interface (a scarlett 2i2 3rd gen). I hooked it up to my pc, plugged the speakers (Bose companion 2 series III) in and everything was good. Sound was coming smooth and without noticable latency. Then i activated my neural dsp plugin and BOOM i had horrid latency... put the buffer size down to minimum, still not really playable in the faster regions... from this video and the fact i had practically 0 latency without the plugin (i ran it as a standalone) i conclude that my CPU is too slow to process the sound? I need help lmao

[@christopherharv]

So is "buffer size" basically just synonymous with sample size? And it's taking 32/64 samples per what? How does buffer size differ from bit depth?

[@thrasosthrasos7353]

Buffer size (in bytes/bits) is bit depth times sample size. Actually buffer size is specified in bytes (sample size is just shown to user do be simpler - to avoid multiplication). When buffer is filled (last byte in it) computer should process that bytes. In that process buffer is emptied and new cycle of filling buffer is started.

[@andreamodenese97]

My pc is very bad in terms of sound recording and to have a decent sound I experience a lot of latency. Can an external audio card like the scarlet model help me?

[@AudioUniversity]

It could allow you to listen to the microphone directly, but you won’t hear the effects in your DAW. I explain this in the video.

[@andreamodenese97]

@@AudioUniversity thank you for the fast reply! I’m not sure i completely understand. In my case I plug a midi cable to my pc, and play the piano while connected to a vst. So in this case I’m going to hear less latency using an external card ?

[@AudioUniversity]

No. The audio interface (external sound card) won’t improve latency when using a MIDI controller connected directly to the computer via USB.

[@andreamodenese97]

@@AudioUniversity is there something that can help except lowering the buffer and samples?

[@AudioUniversity]

No. The only way to reduce latency is to reduce the buffer size.

[@osvaldoconcepcion5188]

Thank you for this video. I recently got the donner interface and I’ve noticed some annoying latency when recording electric guitar in GarageBand. I’m using the m1 iPad Pro so it shouldn’t give this latency. Any suggestions on how to correct this? Thank you so much.

[@SaltSpirits]

you’re using an ipad bruh there’s gonna be latency

[@electricwhiterabbit]

I'm surprised that the UA interface latency was that high. What that the USB or the Thunderbolt version?

[@AudioUniversity]

Thunderbolt.

[@electricwhiterabbit]

@@AudioUniversity Wow, I thought that they had really good RTL specs. Very surprising.

[@AudioUniversity]

That is a really low RTL in my opinion!

[@electricwhiterabbit]

@@AudioUniversity Not when compared to the RME. It was a average RTL like many of the other usb interfaces.

[@AudioUniversity]

Thunderbolt definitely has its advantages, but I was surprised to see how much can be done with USB! Check out this video: 3 Reasons Why I’m Switching Back To USB | Thunderbolt vs USB Audio Interfaces kzbin.info/www/bejne/rpDLfJeLa7Jkmdk

[@Bradleybrookwood]

What is the round-trip latency for the audient ID MK II audio interface and how good truly are the preamps in that audio interface? sweetwater tells me that this is a great audio interface but I just want to make sure that I'm being told the truth and I'm not getting smoke blown up my ass just so they can sell a product. Also how do I set it up so that logic pro never enables the car audio driver? Do I need the core audio driver in logic pro? Every time I go into recording preferences to turn it off and click apply to try and lower the latency it always comes back on when I restart logic pro.

[@andrewptraining]

Reaper gang

[@TheTylrBllmn]

But but but the RME is supposed to be super low latency already noooooooo don't make me do more work lmao

[@dmitrii4799]

1. How to use the low latency only for the guitar and have another latency for the drums, keyboards ? I don't need low latency for them !!!! Stupid thing, why don't they do that? 2. Record the audioclick by placing your pickups near the speakers to get the delay. Time difference will be obvious.

[@AudioUniversity]

You need to be able to hear them in time with your input.

[@dmitrii4799]

I should buy additional PC just to monitor guitar only plugin for recording? 😊

[@dmitrii4799]

Can I have 2 soundcards on one PC?

[@AudioUniversity]

It sounds like you could benefit from freezing your other tracks. Using multiple interfaces is possible, but not recommended. Even if you could have different interfaces or computers running separately, your guitar wouldn’t be printed in time with the other instruments. I’d recommend one of the methods in the video.

[@dmitrii4799]

Freezing can save, but not always.. I like to play using VST virtual drummer Toontrack, use different midi grooves, switch between them and play. I can't freeze them. I don't need low latency for them.

[@PriinceJaleel]

First Comment 🙏🏽100

[@AudioUniversity]

Thanks for watching!

[@griffini19]

It’s not only the time delay with latency there is also phase relationships to co consider. I deal with latency in single samples (or single words, not milisecomds) then phase align by ear. Latency of a few milliseconds is Obvious to a professional.