Simple set up to record counting with playing in Audacity

[MarcV]

Hey all,

I am simply trying to record my guitar and my counting over backing track into audacity on the PC.
Will the following work?
(Please respond like I am a fifth grader because I am when it comes to this stuff.
Note I do not care about studio quality sound. Just want accurate recordings for playback and submissions.)

Behringer UM2 audio interface with Rode VideoMic me plugged into mic input and my guitar into the inst input:
(Understood that the Rode will need 3.5mm to 1/4" adaptor to connect to Behringer)

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/UM2usb--behringer-u-phoria-um2-usb-audio-interface

https://www.amazon.com/Rode-VideoMi...ne&qid=1586702216&sprefix=rod,aps,160&sr=8-20

2nd question:
I can record my guitar into audacity without the audio interface but seems to be latency issue that is a show stopper.
Will audio interface correct this?

BR,

Marc

 

[dvs]

That setup should work fine. But with or without the interface, you will need to set the latency correction in Audacity for your setup. The correction amount will probably be different between the audio interface compared to using the onboard audio I/O (e.g., your computer's mic/line input).

Instructions are here - https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/latency_test.html

 

[MikeS]

My 2 cents
Option 1) (Easiest) Set your phone on a stand, push the record button, start the backing track, start playing & Counting.
When you are done, share the file on Dropbox, get the link & post it in the forum.
Option 2)
Drop the track into audacity
Have you vocal mic & Guitar plugged in to your audio interface Press record
Play & count
With this option you may have to adjust for latency (The start of the backing track may not be exactly in time with your playing.)
To do this in Audacity, select Edit/preferences then in the Devices area adjust your latency.
I'll attach mine, but your will probably need to have a different latency amount.

MikeS Latency

 

[MarcV]

That setup should work fine. But with or without the interface, you will need to set the latency correction in Audacity for your setup. The correction amount will probably be different between the audio interface compared to using the onboard audio I/O (e.g., your computer's mic/line input).

Instructions are here - https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/latency_test.html

Hi DVS,

Thanks for pointing me to latency test. I knew where the latency settings were but had no idea on how to adjust with latency test.
Much better now for tempos up to about 100 bpm in audacity. However at faster tempos like 120 bpm there still seems to be some weirdness. It is good enough so that I can play along recording still sounding like it is dragging.
Any ideas?
Also do you think that the interface improve on this (don't have the interface yet, it is on order).

Mike,

Thanks for your input also. Yep all set for doing videos and posting to youtube (easy solution).
However looking for solution where I can do everything through headphone connections so as not to bother the family .

 

[PapaRaptor]

Not to knock Audacity (hey, it works and it's free), but just about any commercial DAW software will generally correct for latency with much less hassle than Audacity. I'm not suggesting you run out and buy Pro Tools. Presonus offers Studio One Prime as a free download, which will get you everything you get with Audacity and a whole lot more. Basic recording (like you would do with Audacity) is very close to no learning curve. If you're interested in doing more than just recording your practices, it provides a solid platform on which you can learn a lot about audio recording. It also gives you an upgrade path to Studio One Artist and Studio One Pro, which are both paid software.

Avid makes ProTools|First which is available for free download from Avid. I'm mentioning this only out of fairness. I've used both Studio One Prime and ProTools|First. In my personal opinion, ProTools|First is worth about what you pay for it. Studio One Prime is a far superior product. However, if your interests lie in working towards professional recording skills, ProTools is still the big dog in that field and ProTools|First will at least provide you with some skills you can carry over if/when you choose to make the jump to ProTools paid product. That said, between Studio One and ProTools, Studio One is my preference.

The other thing to consider is if you are planning on buying an audio interface, most of them come with some commercial software. Focusrite products come with ProTools|First and PreSonus products come with Studio One. Lately I've noticed that PreSonus has upped their game, offering Studio One Artist (their mid-grade, paid product) along with their interface. Right now, the PreSonus AudioBox USB 96 two channel interface is $99.95 at Sweetwater, GC and Musicians Friend and comes with Studio One Artist. Studio One Artist is normally a $99.95 stand-alone purchase.

Full disclosure: I primarily use Cubase, which used to be the king of bundled software. From what I can find about the only company that still offers Cubase DAW bundled with their interface hardware is Steinberg,

 

[dvs]

Hi DVS,

Thanks for pointing me to latency test. I knew where the latency settings were but had no idea on how to adjust with latency test.
Much better now for tempos up to about 100 bpm in audacity. However at faster tempos like 120 bpm there still seems to be some weirdness. It is good enough so that I can play along recording still sounding like it is dragging.
Any ideas?
Also do you think that the interface improve on this (don't have the interface yet, it is on order).
...

This might get complicated. But this is what I've figured out, and it mostly works for me.

I assume you're playing the backing track in Audacity, recording a track of your playing back into Audacity, and then playing them both back together. Setting the latency should bring the two tracks into sync when the recording is finished.

No Interface:
To make everything work "properly," when you're recording you need to have a way to hear the backing track and your guitar at the same time, but avoid recording the sound of the backing track along with your guitar. You don't want both the backing track and your guitar on the recorded track. I'm not sure if that's possible using the computer's built-in mic. It should work ok if you're playing the backing track on the computer speakers and recording your amp with a dynamic mic like an SM57 placed close to the amp speaker (an inch away or less). If you are recording in a way that picks up both, it's not a show-stopper. In that case, you just have to mute the original track on playback, and you lose some flexibility in terms of what you can do with that track in Audacity. But if all you want to do is hear what you played and post it for the forum, this'll do it. The recorded track with you and the backing track will be "in sync" regardless of how you set the latency correction. (If it's not, then it wasn't latency that was causing the disparity ;-). If your track is not quite in sync with the original backing track after Audacity does it's thing, the latency correction might be a few milliseconds off. You'd only hear that when you are playing back identical signals in the two tracks (as you would if you were playing the backing track along with your recording that includes the backing track). I imagine that in that case you will hear a tiny amount of delay, no matter how fastidious you are about setting up the latency.

With an interface:
You simply press "record" in Audacity and play along. The guitar is recorded in a separate track, by itself, and all is right with the world.

In Audacity, "loopback" should be off, output set to your USB Interface (whatever it's called), and set the input/mic to USB Interface also. Headphones would be plugged into the interface, and "monitor" set to ON. If monitor is OFF, things will work but you won't hear yourself playing in the headphones.

 

[MarcV]

Thanks to both, great ideas.
Any thoughts (experience with) on the Berringer U-Phoria UM2 and the Tracktion software it comes with?
This is the one I have on order because it is cheap

 

[MikeS]

I have a U-Phoria UMC 202HD I used it for a while and it worked fine for me. The only reason I stopped using it was that I bought a Presonus Studio Live AR8 USB mixer and it provides more control & features.
Though I tried the U-Phoria to plug its USB into my phone so that I could use an external mic when recording video and it didn't work for me.

 

[MarcV]

Just a follow up. I went ahead and got a Presonus AudioBox USB 96 bundle (includes interface, headphones and mic) with Studio One software. $189 from Sweetwater.
Worth every penny: some frustration at first getting right driver loaded, recording exporting, etc but basically up and running in a day or so making recording and exporting to music file for upload to group.
Thanks again for all the input

 

[Dewesq55]

Thanks to both, great ideas.
Any thoughts (experience with) on the Berringer U-Phoria UM2 and the Tracktion software it comes with?
This is the one I have on order because it is cheap

I know you decided to go with Presonus, but I wanted to answer this anyway. I bought a Behringer U-phoria UMC-22 about 2 years ago and downloaded the Tracktion Waveform 8 that v came bundled with it. I have been very happy with both the U-phoria interface and the Waveform DAW, FWIW.