Hi all. Using Ableton in some upcoming shows to run a vocal mix, which works great - it's electronic music so am able to get very close to the sound of the records, with a lot more flexibility than I'd get on the desk, and lots of automations, etc.
However, despite using very low or zero latency plugins, by the time the vocal's back on the track, there's latency of around 150ms. The singers mic monitoring is direct via the audio interface, so she has no latency in her IEMs.
Current fix, which feels sketchy but works, has been to shift the singer's monitor mix tracks + metronome back by 150ms, meaning her processed vocals land in the perfect position in the mix. She's monitoring solely via IEMs, and these are large venues where the main PAs often have substantial delays anyway so not places where you'd want to hear the house system anyway. However, this solution feels like a hack job and requires a bit of trial and error to figure out latency.
Is there a more elegant solution anyone's used? Currently Ableton buffer is 256 which is about as low as I can go.
Latency fixes for live vocal bus?
Re: Latency fixes for live vocal bus?
I think the singer will not like your solution.
The singers hear their voices in their head while singing, so even 1ms of latency is weird.
If it’s reverb or delay it’s perfectly fine, but if it has some clear vocals in it it will be very strange for the singer to have a delayed version of her voice, especially 150ms.
150ms will feel like a Skype conversation with issues.
What is causing the 150ms latency ?
Can’t you separate the latency inducing fx from the rest and mix direct monitoring, fx bus and 150ms latency bus separately ?
The singers hear their voices in their head while singing, so even 1ms of latency is weird.
If it’s reverb or delay it’s perfectly fine, but if it has some clear vocals in it it will be very strange for the singer to have a delayed version of her voice, especially 150ms.
150ms will feel like a Skype conversation with issues.
What is causing the 150ms latency ?
Can’t you separate the latency inducing fx from the rest and mix direct monitoring, fx bus and 150ms latency bus separately ?
Re: Latency fixes for live vocal bus?
I think the singer will not like your solution.
The singers hear their voices in their head while singing, so even 1ms of latency is weird.
If it’s reverb or delay it’s perfectly fine, but if it has some clear vocals in it it will be very strange for the singer to have a delayed version of her voice in her IEM, especially 150ms.
150ms will feel like a Skype conversation with issues.
What is causing the 150ms latency ?
Can’t you separate the latency inducing fx from the rest and mix direct monitoring, fx bus and 150ms latency bus separately ?
The singers hear their voices in their head while singing, so even 1ms of latency is weird.
If it’s reverb or delay it’s perfectly fine, but if it has some clear vocals in it it will be very strange for the singer to have a delayed version of her voice in her IEM, especially 150ms.
150ms will feel like a Skype conversation with issues.
What is causing the 150ms latency ?
Can’t you separate the latency inducing fx from the rest and mix direct monitoring, fx bus and 150ms latency bus separately ?