will a headphone extension cause a delay?

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Hard To Kill Records
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will a headphone extension cause a delay?

Post by Hard To Kill Records » Sat Apr 06, 2013 1:52 pm

I'm doing a DIY recording at my house for a 3 piece band. The problem is that everyone needs to hear the vocals, but they're going to be pretty far away for the headphones to reach from the board. If I use extension chords on the headphones, is it going to cause a delay?
Thanks for any help!
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Post by rhythm ranch » Sat Apr 06, 2013 2:14 pm

Not that any human would notice.

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Brian Dorn
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Post by Brian Dorn » Sat Apr 06, 2013 3:09 pm

The further away you are, the more delay there will be. If you want to test it, run a click to the headphones, record the audio coming out of the headphones into a mic, and then record that to a different track on the computer. If the audio looks/sounds like it's too off, then you have a problem. If it looks/sounds fine, roll with it.
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Post by dfuruta » Sat Apr 06, 2013 5:33 pm

the signal on the extension cords is moving roughly at the speed of light (or, close enough for AF purposes), so, no. there will be no practical difference, even if you put them a mile or two away.

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Nick Sevilla
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Re: will a headphone extension cause a delay?

Post by Nick Sevilla » Sat Apr 06, 2013 7:32 pm

Hard To Kill Records wrote:I'm doing a DIY recording at my house for a 3 piece band. The problem is that everyone needs to hear the vocals, but they're going to be pretty far away for the headphones to reach from the board. If I use extension chords on the headphones, is it going to cause a delay?
Thanks for any help!
It will not cause any delay.

Hook it up, and have fun!!!
Howling at the neighbors. Hoping they have more mic cables.

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Post by vvv » Sat Apr 06, 2013 11:17 pm

It depends how long it takes you to put "the extension chords on the headphones". :twisted:
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dfuruta
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Post by dfuruta » Sat Apr 06, 2013 11:42 pm

extended chords might cause a delay with rock musicians, actually, but it'll be fine if you're working with jazzers

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CraigS63
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Post by CraigS63 » Sun Apr 07, 2013 8:04 am

One year per light-year of cord distance, about one nanosecond per foot, I think.

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Marc Alan Goodman
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Post by Marc Alan Goodman » Sun Apr 07, 2013 9:17 am

People have said it sarcastically so far, but just so it's clear, electricity moves really, really fast. Not quite light speed, but faster than anything else on this planet.

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Nick Sevilla
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Post by Nick Sevilla » Sun Apr 07, 2013 10:15 am

"Propagation speed is affected by insulation, so that in an unshielded copper conductor ranges 95 to 97% that of the speed of light, while in a typical coaxial cable it is about 66% of the speed of light.[1]"

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of ... #section_1
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Post by drumsound » Sun Apr 07, 2013 5:02 pm

Brian Dorn wrote:The further away you are, the more delay there will be. If you want to test it, run a click to the headphones, record the audio coming out of the headphones into a mic, and then record that to a different track on the computer. If the audio looks/sounds like it's too off, then you have a problem. If it looks/sounds fine, roll with it.
He's not asking about distance of the singer from the other players, he's talking about extension cables for headphones.

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Gregg Juke
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Post by Gregg Juke » Sun Apr 07, 2013 11:26 pm

The only delay will be due to the musicians constantly, inadvertently yanking their headphones out of the extension cord.

GJ

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The Real MC
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Post by The Real MC » Mon Apr 08, 2013 1:22 pm

Want the math?

The shortest delay that the human ear can detect is 20ms (0.02 sec).

It takes one nanosecond (1*10^-9 seconds) for an electron to travel 14 inches of cable.

0.000000001 seconds = 14 inches

Multiply both sides by 20,000,000

0.020 seconds = 280,000,000 inches = 23,333,333 feet = 4419 miles

In other words, for the human ear to detect the latency of an analog signal between two cables would require one cable to be 4419 miles longer than the other. In actuality you will NEVER hear the signal out of the longer cable because the capacitance/foot rating will degrade it to nothing.

I used this same math to debunk cable length delays on more than one discussion forum.

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Post by Hard To Kill Records » Mon Apr 08, 2013 7:30 pm

I'm actually a "she". Wow, I really love Tape Op, but am so disappointed to get such snarky remarks. Not everyone knows how to record, but I'm trying to learn and do something artistic. Thanks anyway.
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Post by Snarl 12/8 » Mon Apr 08, 2013 7:52 pm

Welcome to the TOMB?!

Don't get all butt-hurt about it! Your question was pretty thoroughly answered and then people had a weenie lit bit of fun at your expense. If your post count is low you're going to get a bit of hazing on any board you go to, but I can almost guarantee that you'll get the best recording advice, the least snarkily-given, here as opposed to any other forum on the internets. YMMV, of course.
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