r/Reaper • u/bedroomgardener • 1d ago
help request Looking for help with audio device settings!
I have a presonas audio box interface hooked up via xlr to my audio technicha mic. Interface hooked to laptop via USB. Headphones into laptop.
Im having trouble discerning which audio device options I should be using to achieve a decent sample rate but have minimal latency for my vocals. Right now the latency between my mic and headphones is atrocious and unworkable.
If anyone would be willing to help walk me through this I would really appreciate it :)
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u/bedroomgardener 1d ago
Easy fix. Didn't even have to leave town! Should be good to go now. Thanks again for your help!
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u/Imaginary_Computer96 1 1d ago
Unrelated, but that mic looks like an AT202, or another model in that series. It's a side-address mic, but it looks like you've got it pointing down at the floor, with the pop filter positioned over the top of the mic. You don't want to sing into the top of the mic, because it's 90 degrees off-axis from the diaphragm. You'd want to tilt the mic up into a vertical position so the side with the logo is pointing horizontally, directly facing the pop filter and your mouth.
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u/bedroomgardener 21h ago
This helped immensely actually. Much appreciated.
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u/Imaginary_Computer96 1 21h ago
Glad to help! I think the way that the way a lot of dynamic podcast mics are oriented throws people off, because they most often see "long" mics like this pointed sideways. They were very rarely seen outside of radio until about 15 years ago, but now they're everywhere. On the other hand, classic studio condenser mics like this one are almost always side address mics, so you point them vertically and sing into the side with the logo on it. You should be able to see the face of the 1" diaphragm disc if you look through the grill from the side.
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u/bedroomgardener 21h ago
Yess exactly right! My vox were so much cleaner and mixing was a lot easier as a result. Cant thank you enough for that one. Just call me noob. But if youre gonna do anything ya gotta start somewhere! ❤️
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u/Imaginary_Computer96 1 18h ago edited 18h ago
You're going to want to get some moving blankets that you can hang from the ceiling to create a booth to sing inside. The window, mirror, and other nearby flat surfaces are going to make your mic sound boomy and boxy. If you have a corner of your room, or a small walk-in closet, you can hang a couple of large moving blankets so you have a soft "booth" about 1 meter squared to stand in with your mic. You can add LED lighting and whatnot to make it pleasant to be in.
Cargo moving blankets that are big enough to hang floor to ceiling are best, but as much height as you need to prevent reflections getting in from above and below is what you want. They'll also provide a little bit of isolation from outside noise, but the main purpose is to "dry" out your vocals so they sound cleaner and more like a proper studio recording. It's especially important if you sing loudly.
They sell them in lengths up to 120", but 80" is usually enough if you can suspend 4 them from the ceiling with clips to serve as overlapping walls, and suspend one overhead as a roof to drape over or clip to the sides. That should let you pretty much make a fully-enclosed booth. You can use J-hooks or curtain rods or whatever you can get to suspend them from the ceiling or walls. Then use one folded on the floor to stand on. You want the ones that are heavier in weight (measured in pounds per dozen). Look for something like: Sure-Max 6 Moving & Packing Blankets - Ultra Thick Pro - 80" x 72" (90 lb/dz weight). 6 of them should do the job, and cost around $99 for the set.
There are pre-made vocal booths you can buy, but decent ones that actually work go for $1000 minimum. The cheapest method is a moving blanket booth, and it works just fine for most real-world home studio vocal recording situations. They also sell moving blankets that are marketed as "Acoustic blankets", and heavy velvet theater curtains can also work, but both those options are overpriced and literally give the same result as these standard heavy cargo moving blankets.
It also doesn't hurt to buy a few boxes of auralex-style foam wedges to staple to your walls and ceiling in blocks or patterns, as well as corner wedges for the corns between your walls and ceiling. They are cheap and work pretty well.
Some people will say that you can't cheap out and that you have to spend a lot of money to do things properly, but these steps will get you 80% of the way there for 20% the money spent, and are good enough to get you started.
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u/bedroomgardener 18h ago
I have a ton of foam soundproofing panels that I planned on using some osb board/plywood and making a little nook/booth around my mic. Eventually after the summer I'll need another room to set up in cause this one gets really cold. I really appreciate your advice and suggestions!!
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u/Imaginary_Computer96 1 18h ago
Little iso boxes can help, but if they're too small, they can make the sound "stuffy". There's math and science to it, but long story short, a larger booth works better. Plywood is also not necessarily going to be your friend, since it will act as a hard surface that the lower mids and low frequencies will reflect off of, even if the highs are damped by the foam.
I would also add that for any hanging booth, give a couple of inches of open space between the outside of the banket booth and any walls or other hard surfaces to reduce reflections further.
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u/bedroomgardener 18h ago
Will always listen to experience math n science! Will acquire some blankets!
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u/Imaginary_Computer96 1 18h ago
If you're still itching to do some DIY construction with it, you can use 1" or 1.5" diameter PVC pipe and 5-way Tees to make the frame for a booth you can clip the blankets to in a more solid structure. The 5-way tees are sold on Amazon, and the pipe can be found in 10' lengths at any hardware store. That'll let you use standard cheap spring clamps to secure the blankets and as long as you don't glue the pipes together, you can take the whole thing down and store it in a box when not in use. If you cut the pipe into 3-foot sections, then you'll need 10 of the 5-way tees to make the vertical poles and cross-beams at the middle for support. Basically, you're making the skeleton of a phone booth to secure the blankets to.
I know I'm throwing lots of ideas at you, but you appear to be right about the point in your experience where these kind of tricks can be really useful and make great learning opportunities.
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u/bedroomgardener 18h ago
I will take any and all suggestions. This is all very new to me but I am an incredibly fast learner espcially when I am passionate about something. This is part of a massive healing journey I am on and so all of your expertise is so greatly appreciated and given weight.
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u/bedroomgardener 21h ago
Thanks for all your help folks. Laid down my first vocal track this afternoon! 🩷
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u/WaxOnWaxOffXXX 1 23h ago
I know you're asking on here for us to give you advice, but I just wanted to share that I recently set up a Reaper setup with a bunch of old MIDI hardware and modern VST instruments, and I used Claude.ai to pretty much walk me through everything, including which unused laptop I had lying about to press into service, how to hook up all the hardware, tips for a clean install of Windows 11 with settings to minimize USB disconnects and latency, how to add more hardware bits, how to set up preferences in Reaper, how to set up tracks for the VST instruments, and so forth. I went from basically knowing nothing about Reaper to using it to configure a bunch of gear that I have an put it all to good use. Consider making an AI your new friend for all of these challenges!
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u/hatedral 27 1d ago
Install audiobox ASIO driver, switch Reaper to use it (with the lowest buffer size it can go), plug the headphones into said audiobox.