unwanted echo during record

[crash98]

I have recently installed Pro Tools Free. All seems to be well except that when recording to an audio track I get an echo. It happens with a brand new file with no plug-ins plugged in. At first I thought it was feeding back from the speakers to the mic but I plugged in headphones which cuts out the speakers and it still echos.

I don't have any external sound epuipment hooked up. I'm just trying it out with a mic plugged into the sound card mic port (SB128).

How do I get rid of the echo?

Thanks

[audiotracker]

Mute the track you are recording to as you record.

[Rock_Artist]

Just for knowladge.

The echo you're refering to is called Latency. it's occuring because until audio data gets into soundcard, being converted into digital information, being sent to computer I/O, being sent into digi drivers and from there to Pro Tools and then being output back to the SB takes time...
On Digi hardware the latency can be low as 128samples on semipro systems (AM3/Digi001) while on TDM you can enjoy even 10samples or even lower (128samples is something like 0.010sec or something) on the SB or other soundcards using Pro Tools free you usually get 4096samples so guess what is the echo now [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]...

[crash98]

It isn't just a delay. I actually get an echo, that is, the sound gets re-recorded and comes back again and again. I discovered that if I pan the channel all the way to one side (it isn't always the same side) then the echo goes away (I still have the latency, but that is a separate issue).

[QuikDraw]

You probably do not have the Microphone Input specified in your Windows mixer. I don't remember what it's called on the SB128, but on the SB Live there is a setting called "What You Hear". That setting records everything that the soundcard hears rather than just the one input source that you want. You are probably using that setting.

Double-click your speaker icon in the system tray (bottom right corner of the screen, where the clock is). From the Options menu, select Properties, then select Recording. Then select Microphone as your recording source. That ought to take care of it.

Mike

[crash98]

Thanks to all who responded. I got the echo to stop simply by muting the channel during record. I can then record without the echo. There is still delay/latency but since it is muted I don't hear it during recording.

[JoelOnVacation]

quote:

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Originally posted by crash98:
Thanks to all who responded. I got the echo to stop simply by muting the channel during record. I can then record without the echo. There is still delay/latency but since it is muted I don't hear it during recording.

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You don't hear the echo DURING the recording, but is the newly recorded track time aligned with the monitored track AFTER the recording?

Joel

[albertawf]

I ALSO USE THE SB!LIVE SOUND CARD AND GET THE SAME ECHO PROBLEM. AFTER TRYING DIFFERENT SETTING, I FIND THAT THE FIRST SOUND IS FROM THE MICROPHONE INPUT ( REAL TIME SOUND ) AND THE ECHO IS FROM THE "WAVE" CHANNEL ( THAT IS THE SOUND FROM MICROPHONE THROUGH THE SOUND CARD, PT AND THEN OUTPUT TO THE SPEAKER ). IF I MUTE THE MICROPHONE, I ONLY GOT THE DELAY OUTPUT SOUND. SO WHAT I AM DOING NOW IS TO MUTE THE "WAVE" CHANNEL TO RECORD A TRACK BECAUSE I HAVE TO RECORD A TRACK IN REAL TIME. THE RECORDED TRACK IS MATCHING WITH OTHER TRACKS. HOWEVER, I CANNOT HEAR ANY EFFECT BY THE PLUG-INS I ADDED ( BECAUSE I ONLY HEAR THE INPUT SOUND ). THIS IS MY PROBLEM. IS IT THE PROBLEM OF MY COMPUTER OR IT IS NORMAL.

MY COMPUTER SETUP: CELERON 300A OC 450, 256M RAM, 440BX MOBO