Why Are My Mics Falling Out Of Sync?

Question

Hey! So I'm recording audio for a youtube channel, and we're using two exactly identical Blue Snowball mics, plugged in to USB. They each have their own direct 3.0 USB slots. We use an ASIO driver so that we record to one track, with one mic in the left channel, and one in the right. I'm using Adobe CC, on Windows 10.

Here's the initial problem. Roughly every 5 minutes, one mic always falls just a LITTTTLE behind. I'm taking .5 seconds, enough to give an odd echo. So over a 30 minute period, it's even worse. Right now, I just pop into multitrack and agonizingly fix it, but we have 0 idea why this is happening. It normally occurs about an hour into recording, and then

The second problem is that every now and then, that same mic that falls out, makes everything it records sound like it had a robotic filter put through it. It's very distorted, metallic, and rough. And it ramps up, it'll start with a small crackle, and eventually just builds into an unusable mess. I'm not SURE if this problem is related, but I'm putting this in here just in case.

So far we've tried unplugging EVERY OTHER USB device, and still no luck. We've tried it in USB 2.0 ports, and still no luck. Any suggestions would be great!!

SteveG_AudioMasters_ · Answer

That's the basic problem with using two USB mics - there's absolutely no sync between them. Each has its own clock source, and these have a fairly loose spec, and the drift is inevitable, I'm afraid - no getting around it at all, as there is no physical sync input, which would be a basic requirement. Basically, they're only really intended to be used on their own.

If you want two mics to be recorded in sync, then you need to use 'normal' mics, not USB ones, and make sure that they are connected to a single digitising device - like a mixer which has a USB stereo output. There are several of these around, and they would handle this sort of task with ease; also, they don't cost too much.

I'm sorry - this probably isn't what you want to hear, I'm afraid - but this is the way it is with USB mics.

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