82 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
82 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
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title = "Performing on time"
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description = "How to help yourself recording in time with the rest of the session material"
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chapter = false
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weight = 3
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Normally, to record an instrument or a vocal part live, you place the playhead
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to some position, arm a track for recording, toggle the overall record mode
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and then roll the transport whenever you are ready. Recording will start at
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the playhead position, and you will listen the audible part of the session
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material that also starts at that point. There are two important
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considerations here.
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## Using a metronome
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You might not yet have the beats part of the material to guide you when you
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are recording. So if performing to a metronome to pace yourself is something
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you are comfortable with, you can enable the metronome on the transport
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toolbar (or press the **\`** shortcut).
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If the metronome clicks are not audible, go to _Window > Audio Connections_,
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click _Ardour Misc_ on the left and see if the _Click out_ ports are connected
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to the Master bus. This will make the metronome clicks play through the same
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output as the rest of your session.
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{{< figure src="en/click-out-ports.png" alt="Click out ports connected to the master bus" >}}
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There are also a handful of customization options for the metronome on the
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same-name _Preferences_ dialog page: doing (or not) an emphasis on the first
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beat, adjusting gain for metronome clicks, loading your own regular and
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emphasized clicks, enabling metronome only when recording.
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## Pre-listening to the session material
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To perform a part better, it helps listening to a part of a composition that
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comes directly before this new soon-to-be-recorded instrument/vocal part
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begins. You have three options here:
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1. Record with preroll.
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2. Record with count-in.
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3. Begin recording far in advance.
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The first two options are similar. Here is what they do.
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Preroll (_Transport > Record w/Preroll_ or **Shift+<**) means Ardour will
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start playing audible session's material ahead of the point where you want to
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begin recording, then when the playhead reaches the original point where it
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was located, actual recording starts. By default, Ardour goes 2 bars back for
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preroll. You can configure this in the _Preferences_ dialog on the _Transport_
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page.
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Count-in (_Transport > Record w/Count-in_ or **Shift+>**) means that Ardour
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will play two bars worth of metronome clicks, _then_ start recording.
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In both cases playing exactly on beat is crucial if there should be MIDI notes
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or audio content right at the beginning of the first recorded bar. If you play
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it even slightly ahead of time, any content to the left of the original
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playhead position will be lost because it starts before the actual audio or
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MIDI region is created.
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If you have a problem playing on time, moving the playhead to the left to
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start actually recording a new audio/MIDI region earlier will give you both
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the time to sync in and perfectly preserved content to edit.
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<!-- ## TODO: latency correction??? -->
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## Continuing
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At this point, you may want to skip directly ahead to the [Arranging
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Tracks](../../editing-sessions/arranging-tracks/) section to learn how to
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arrange the regions into a composition. If you plan on doing more complicated
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Recording than what we have discussed here, in particular with a multichannel
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soundcard, or from other JACK-enabled audio programs on your computer, you
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should also have a look at the [Understanding
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Routing](../understanding-routing) chapter.
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Next: [ARRANGING TRACKS](../../editing-sessions/arranging-tracks/) or
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[UNDERSTANDING ROUTING](../understanding-routing)
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