Any amount of latency in the audio recording system causes a delay between what the talent is performing and when they hear back what they're performing. In order to perform, many musicians, actors, and other talents need to hear themselves (especially when overdubbing). Low audio latency is critical when monitoring any kind of recording. To learn more about sound and audio, check out my article What Is The Difference Between Sound And Audio? On top of that, sound only travels so fast within a medium, which also causes a delay (though sound is not technically audio). Analog signals transmitted through cabling.In addition to the digital audio latency factors mentioned above, audio latency is also affected by transmission time, which includes: Digital audio latency is caused by analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion as well as buffering and digital signal processing.Īudio latency, generally speaking, refers to any amount of delay between the moment an audio signal enters a system and when it leaves that system. What is digital audio latency? Digital audio latency is the short period of time it takes for digital audio to enter and then leave a system (measured in milliseconds).
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In this article, we'll dive deeper into each of the aforementioned methods of reducing digital audio latency in microphones.īefore diving into how to solve the latency between a microphone and a computer (and the playback system), we should define what audio latency is. Monitor the microphone directly from the audio interface.Reduce the number of digital audio hardware devices.Disable all audio plugins in Digital Audio Workstation.Engage Low Latency Monitoring in Digital Audio Workstation.Decrease buffer size in Digital Audio Workstation.Let’s talk about the methods of fixing microphone audio latency. Head a delay in monitoring is incredibly distracting for the performer and can be terribly annoying for the audio engineer to fix. Audio latency is one of the most frustrating issues to deal with when tracking digital audio.