GuitarHero/RockBand fans... side project anyone?

[John Colvin]

On Thursday, 12 December 2013 at 18:31:58 UTC, Joseph Rushton 
Wakeling wrote:
> On 12/12/13 19:15, Iain Buclaw wrote:
>> You know, I've never had that... but then again I haven't had 
>> the
>> fortune of being in a band where distance between the first 
>> and back
>> musicians is > 200 metres.  (Because sound doesn't travel 
>> *that* slow
>> ;)
>
> Well, it's not _just_ about the speed of sound, there are also 
> things like the speed of attack of different instruments and so 
> on.
>
> Then again, ever been to a performance of one of those pieces 
> that ask for some musicians to be placed in different locations 
> round the back of the concert hall for spatial effects?  Things 
> can get fun with that ... :-)
>
>> Only in the recording studio - if the time it takes for sound 
>> to leave
>> your instrument, into the microphone, through the walls into 
>> the
>> studio booth, into the mixer (and assuming digital) from the 
>> mixer to
>> the sound card, to the DAW software mixer which is taking the
>> recording and mixing it in with the playing tracks (optional 
>> live
>> effects processing being done) back to the sound card, to the 
>> mixer,
>> through the walls into the studio room, into the headphones of 
>> the
>> receiver playing the instrument...  is greater than 22ms, then 
>> the
>> person playing experiences a delay in the time he plays to the 
>> time he
>> hears himself in the song.  If that happens, you are not in a 
>> good
>> situation. =)
>
> So, if your latency is 22ms, think of how that corresponds to 
> sound travelling in space: you only need to be separated by 
> about 7.5m for that kind of delay to kick in.

Delay between people isn't really the problem, it's delay in 
hearing yourself that's the killer. Although 22ms is the normally 
quoted limit for noticing the latency, it actually depends on 
frequency. Even regardless of frequency, i typically find that 
anything less than 64ms is ok, less than 128ms is just about 
bearable and anything more is a serious problem for recording a 
tight-sounding performance.