GuitarHero/RockBand fans... side project anyone?

[Iain Buclaw]

On 13 December 2013 03:12, Manu <turkeyman at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 13 December 2013 04:52, John Colvin <john.loughran.colvin at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> 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.
>
>
> Latency between recording musicians has a strange effect of gradually
> slowing the tempo down. Ie, if both musicians are playing with headphone
> monitors or something, and there is a small latency in the system.
> If you are playing together, but then you feel a 20ms latency between you
> and the other musician, you tend to perceive yourself as playing slightly
> too fast, and then adjust by slowing a fraction, the same thing happens in
> the other direction, so you're both constantly slowing by a fraction to
> maintain perception of synchronisation, and the tempo gradually slows.
> It's almost an unconscious psychological response, quite hard to control in
> the studio.
>

You could argue that it makes the musicians *real*. :)

It is however one reason why I prefer recording all musicians playing
together rather than in isolation.  I love the sound of music from the
60s/70s, in which the musicians that made those records never worked
to click tracks. The result is that their timing is all over the place
- speeding up, slowing down, what have you.  I love it, it gives you a
feeling of excitement, and it sounds great.  :)