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troyinindy
troyinindy
Participant
March 15, 2017
Question

Hearing mic in headset while recording & setting levels

  • March 15, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 7753 views

Hello all.  I am a parent of a 15 year old who is trying to basically emulate a radio station with his friends.  They are trying to set their recording levels in Audition, as well hear themselves talk when recording into Audition.  Is any of this possible?  I've tried to help them to no avail.

Recording levels- I told them to use the Windows Control Panel adjustment.

To hear themselves while recording...no success.

Anyone know?

Thanks

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    1 reply

    ryclark
    ryclark
    Participating Frequently
    March 15, 2017

    This all really depends on the audio interface that is being used. Is the headset plugged directly into the computer? Is it USB or separate 3.5mm jacks for mic and headphone? If using the onboard soundcard then you are at the mercy of Micrsoft and Windows. What you need to be setting the playback is 'Stereo Mix' or similar in order to be able to hear playback and the incoming signal.

    It is much easier if you are using an external USB audio interface that has separate mic inputs and headphone outputs rather than a combined headset.

    Bob Howes
    Bob Howes
    Inspiring
    March 16, 2017

    Ryclark is spot on--the easiest (but not cheapest) way to do this would be to get a USB interface containing "Direct Hardware Monitoring".  This will allow you to hear the mic before it even gets to the computer.  As an example, something like an Alesis i02 sells for about $100 and lets you do this.

    Failing that, you can hear what Audition is recording by doing your programmes in Multitrack sessions (there are other good reasons to do this as well) and click on the little "I" symbol in the control box at the left end of the track you're recording in.   But...and it's a big but...your sounds will be doing a round trip via your computer which will introduce latency (delay) in the signal  It'll depend how sensitive your son is to this whether you can get away with it or not--but above a certain delay time it's almost impossible to keep talking if you voice comes back too far after.  You can minimise latency to a degree with the control in Edit/Preferences/Audio Hardware. 

    Unfortunately, if you're using the built in sound card on your computer, you'll almost certainly be limited to what's known as MME drivers which involves your Windows in the audio path and limits how low you can go without getting glitches on your recording.  All you can do is experiment.

    stefan_gru
    stefan_gru
    Inspiring
    March 20, 2017

    Troy: Bob Howes explains it pretty well above. You can always monitor (input) directly in Multitrack. I asked a colleague of mine who knows Audition very well and he suggests that if the latency is too long (and you’re hearing a slap-back echo) that you can lower the buffer settings (in Preferences > Audio Hardware). But like Bob said, there's a risk of possible dropouts and digital errors.

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