Recording directly to timeline

daryl wrote on 7/8/2004, 6:38 AM
G'day all. I had a rather odd thing happen yesterday, recording directly to the timeline on VV5. I was recording voice only, using an AKG condenser mic, very accurate. We recorded about 45 seconds worth, and stopped to verify the audio, it was terribly distorted. I took the mic and did a quick "mic check", it was crystal clear, then the person doing the voicover did a quick check, again, clear. We did another 30 seconds or so, distortion. I fired up my old SoundForge 5, recording was great, no problems at all. Loaded the wavs into VV5, edited no problem. Audio settings were identical on both, 44K 16b stereo. Any ideas why we could record 5 seconds but not 30? I was shooting for the convienence of using VV5 for the whold thing.

Comments

Spot|DSE wrote on 7/8/2004, 6:45 AM
What drivers, what are your buffer settings, what did the meters say, how did the monitors sound during record?
daryl wrote on 7/8/2004, 7:29 AM
Thanks Spot.

Direct Sound drivers (SB LIve E60), meters were good, recorded at approx. -4, did not monitor during record, this is the first time to record audio of length directly to timeline, my use is mostly video editing, I had my monitors on but there was no audio during record, I went by visual, meters and wave on timline at least told me that there was a good level coming in. Which buffers are you referring to?
cosmo wrote on 7/8/2004, 7:39 AM
Options > Preferences > Audio Device Tab: Audio Device Type. Play with this drop down if you like. The Windows Classic Wave driver is generic and works OK with a lot of stuff. You should see your SB driver in that list too - that outa be your first try. Problem is, SB drivers aren't too good and LOTS of folks(including me) have been unable to get them to work properly for recording. I use an M-Audio Delta 410 which is an ASIO compliant card. In my preferences area I see the M-Audio ASIO Driver and that's what I use.

Buffering and Latency also play a role here. As you change your driver choice watch the buffer/latency numbers. I know latency you want as low as possible and the buffering probably too, though I'm not 100% sure. Spot can fill in the gaps.

Good luck...if you're planning on doing a lot of voiceover work you should probably upgrade the soundcard to something other than SB.
daryl wrote on 7/8/2004, 7:52 AM
Thanks cosmo, 'ppreciate the info. I don't expect to be doing much audio in this manner, I've used Soundforge in the past with no problems, it's a good fallback for times like this.
I'll play with the drivers and see what happens.
cosmo wrote on 7/8/2004, 7:57 AM
SoundForge sounds like still a decent option for you. Be nice to get Vegas running though. It's a great recording application.
TheHappyFriar wrote on 7/8/2004, 1:24 PM
I recorded a 2 hours graduation on my comp (using V4) no problem. You by chance wearn't trying to combine stereo wires into mono on the way t your computer, were you?