latency in recording

[marilynfleming]

Interesting that "StreamMix" recording removes 99% of the latency, while "Mix" -- which I thought was supposed to be better -- has very obvious latency.
Scenario for the attached recording(s)

Player 1 is playing clarinet, player 2 playing metronome (not the JamKazam metronome, but the Korg variety that sits on the stand).
Mid-way through we swapped roles. The point of this was to see if we could effectively play together. The Mix recording is almost exactly what were trying to play. Stream mix is slightly off.

I could load the two individual player files (not attached) into my DAW and synchronize them manually by time $fting my own file slightly.

Both players on wired internet. I was on windows with a studio one USB audio interface, and my personal mix was used for the recording (if I understand it right). Other player was on a mac with no audio interface.

[SteveW]

I think StreamMix is recorded in real-time on your PC, so it should have exactly the same latency between players as you hear in your headphones while you are playing.

[marilynfleming]

I think StreamMix is recorded in real-time on your PC, so it should have exactly the same latency between players as you hear in your headphones while you are playing.

That's exactly what I observed.  So what's the value of the Mix?

[GDJ]

Since the recorded mix files give you separate tracks for each player (and their separate tracks), you also get the streammix which everyone is recorded in, and as you noted lower and hopefully unnoticeable latency.Ppersonally I'm not a fan of the streammix file and like the option of the separate mix files to bring into the DAW and have final say over them. It is true this extra work since you have to account for latency and line things up. This is usually by milliseconds and eventually you get the hang of it. I also find these individual tracks are more clear and can be panned, mixed anyway you like.

[lconway]

I think StreamMix is recorded in real-time on your PC, so it should have exactly the same latency between players as you hear in your headphones while you are playing.

In our experience, the stream DOES NOT have the same latency as heard in headphones during the session. ONE TRACK ALWAYS TRAILS the rest badly, by far more than any modest latency we experience in real-time. It does not appear to be packet loss as I can export to DAW and time-$ft the offending track and all tracks stay together through the end of the song.

On a positive note, I have now had ONE recording finalize with a complete and final mix - at last.

[Johannes]

You might want to look at the thread "Recorded Tracks not synchronised".

[marilynfleming]

My current strategy is to ignore MIX, pull the individual participant tracks plus the STREAM-MIX into my DAW. I use STREAM-MIX solely to manually sync the participant tracks. This would be a pain if I was doing more than 3 parts, but it's tolerable for duets and trios. Even if the stream was synced, using the DAW lets me to balance the volume and panning better. I don't think either mix or streammix are dealing with panning at all, and I can't figure out volume adjustment when playing live. What I want to hear when I play is not what I want to hear in a recording.

[SteveW]

My current strategy is to ignore MIX, pull the individual participant tracks plus the STREAM-MIX into my DAW. I use STREAM-MIX solely to manually sync the participant tracks. This would be a pain if I was doing more than 3 parts, but it's tolerable for duets and trios. Even if the stream was synced, using the DAW lets me to balance the volume and panning better. I don't think either mix or streammix are dealing with panning at all, and I can't figure out volume adjustment when playing live. What I want to hear when I play is not what I want to hear in a recording.

Like you, I ignore the auto-generated mix and use the individual tracks with names that begin 'LocalTrack'. As you say, the mixed track can be useful for synchronisation. In a long session, when individual tracks are not yet synchronised, it can also be useful as a reference for finding which song is which.

By working with the individual tracks, even basic things like using different eq on each track can give a big improvement on the automated mix.

[bullmoon]

I think StreamMix is recorded in real-time on your PC, so it should have exactly the same latency between players as you hear in your headphones while you are playing.

That's exactly what I observed.  So what's the value of the Mix?

Mix is supposed to upload the locally recorded audio and then mix them. The audio should have no dropouts, since recorded locally, as opposed to where the streammix might because at least one of the tracks is streaming to the recording.  My issue lately has been that the mix is not good in that the levels are not good, so my stream mix sounds good level-wise.  I need to figure out how to get the mix right on the mixed audio file.