cubase recording latency

[marios.blythe]

hello guys.. next month i will record a band and its the first time that i actually ''tracking''..i know how the thing going etc BUT i have a question..i am using focusrite 2i4..i will rent a good di box from a friend of me..the question is:
if i put my daw and my usb interface at 1ms and record just di WITHOUT monitoring my guitar/bass and listen just from the real amp head,i will have latency problems or not?i ask this because i will travel to the band city and i want everything to be fine..note that i will monitoring only metronome or superior drummer (if i have problems with supperior i will freeze the channel)
well sorry for my bad english and thanks in advance for your answers

 

[Skaldir]

If you're away 3 meters from the speakers there is a latency of 9ms.
Do you think 1 ms will matter?

 

[Bay Studio]

^This is a good point haha. You´ll always have a tiny amount of latency when recording digital. If you don´t want latency, go the 100% analog way. I went from analog to digital, and also got "freaked out" a bit over the latency in the digital world. But, that´s long ago. 7-9ms won´t do any bad at all. If the instrument/vocal you´re recording is in sync with what you/he/she are/is playing, then i wouldn´t worry.

 

[mairomaster]

Be careful with such a low setting, the drivers could become unstable and you can get crackling sounds in the recorded material that are not easy to correct. I use my Scarlett 18i6 at 2ms, eventually at 4ms if the project is heavy and I want to feel a little more safe. However that's not the real latency that you are getting. The value reported in Cubase is closer to the reality.

 

[LeSedna]

The human brain can not recognize latency below 10ms anyway, so you will be fine !
In my humble experience, using a 64 to 256 buffer, in order to get around 5 ms latency will be a good compromise between low latency (good enough to not be noticed by the musician) and driver stability

 

[JeffTD]

The human brain can not recognize latency below 10ms anyway, so you will be fine !

Uhhh... yeah, yeah it can. It DEFINITELY can.


FWIW I track around 3-4 most of the time and never notice an issue.

 

[Skaldir]

However that's not the real latency that you are getting. The value reported in Cubase is closer to the reality.

That's true. Most companies don't add the ad/da conversion latency to their values.

 

[marios.blythe]

so,in other words,2ms is fine right?

 

[botus99]

so,in other words,2ms is fine right?

Try it and find out!

2ms and under is my preference. 3ms starts becoming a distraction, 5ms starts to suck, yadda yadda

 

[MarcelCSFocusriteNovation]

so,in other words,2ms is fine right?

Hi Marios,

Thanks for your thread.

2 ms is about the time it takes for a snare sound to reach a drummer's ears.

Feel free to check our answerbase or contact us via email or phone should you need any further support.

 

[TonyS.]

Uhhh... yeah, yeah it can. It DEFINITELY can.


FWIW I track around 3-4 most of the time and never notice an issue.

+1 10ms is a no go for me.

 

[Fbarre]

Why don't you monitor the incoming signal via the focusrite mixer? Doesn't it have a function to monitor it before it goes through the converter so that you don't have any latency?

 

[MarcelCSFocusriteNovation]

Why don't you monitor the incoming signal via the focusrite mixer? Doesn't it have a function to monitor it before it goes through the converter so that you don't have any latency?

Hi Fbarre,

Thanks for your post.

Yes, the 2i4 comes with a "direct monitoring" switch, which enables you to hear the direct input of what is being tracked.

 

[DrumWerks]

"The human brain can not recognize latency below 10ms anyway, so you will be fine!"

Is that based on science or your experience? I agree with JeffTD that the brain can hear much below a latency of 10 ms. I've recorded with a few drummers that had excellent time and they could basically know if they were ahead or behind the click within 3 ms. This was consistent too, not lucky or gauging by feel. Every time they felt they were rushing/dragging, they identified it correctly. And, when it was brought up for microscopic inspection, they were calling it right up to 3 ms. They heard it for sure (or were incredibly lucky).

Not that it really matters too much - anything around 10 ms latency is not going to throw anyone off terribly (well, mortal musicians anyway).