Why am I Getting a Mic Delay?

[dlt123]

Hi, I sure hope somebody can help me figure this one out. I am trying to make a few radio station sweeps and station ID spots for my radio station, but I am getting a weird delay/echo when I talk through my mic.

I am using Live 5 with a RME Multiface sound card and a Studio Projects C1 mic. My mixer is an older Mackie LM-3204 Pro Tour Line mixer and the mic is using phantom power supplied by the mixer.

What is happening is when I talk into the mic, it takes a few microseconds before I hear it in my headphones or speakers. I first thought maybe I was getting a loop back from my speakers going back into the mic, but now have my speakers turned off and am using headphones only.

I am still hearing a small delay through my headphones when I talk into my mic which really throws me off when trying to make my radio spot.

Does anyone know why this is happening and how I can get this delay to stop?

I've tried setting my latency buffers lower in the ASIO setting for my sound card and also in the audio preference section of Live, but I still have the delay when using my mic.

Any help is greatly appreciated and thank you in advance.

Dennis

 

[DonF]

Does your Multiface user manual have a section about zero-latency monitoring? I think that's the key to solving your problem.

Don

 

[dlt123]

Does your Multiface user manual have a section about zero-latency monitoring? I think that's the key to solving your problem.

Don

Gosh, I've had my Multiface so long I don't think I know where my manual is...

You do bring up a good point, I will do a search for my manual and if all else fails, I'll search the RME site download it. I may be able to find a fix there.

Thanks,
Dennis

 

[dlt123]

A solution for you Live DAW users...

Alright, I think I have it fixed for now... and thought I would post this on for other Live DAW users...

I checked my Monitoring settings in Live 5 for my audio tracks and I noticed that they were being sent to my Master and when I set them to Ext Out the latency improved immensely. Probably not the actual fix, but its workable now.

I still have to set my audio tracks back to Master when I render, but that's a small price to pay to rid myself of the delay during recording.

So for you Live DAW users, this might remedy a delay when recording with your Mics if you experience it like I did...

Hope this helps,
Dennis

 

[Robert D]

What is happening is when I talk into the mic, it takes a few microseconds before I hear it in my headphones or speakers.

psssst....... I think you meant to say milliseconds.

 

[dlt123]

psssst....... I think you meant to say milliseconds.

you're right... even though it felt like microseconds.