I have some kind of vocal chain eg waves tune, comp and if I engage the monitor button what I hear is fantastic.......obviously latency and more latency coupled with direct signal. I use a Scarlett 18i8.
How can I capture that sound. Because whatever options I choose in record options it never sounds as good as the sound before recording. Any ideas?
if you record your voice on that track, it will sound exactly the same as what you were hearing while monitoring, minus the latency. You could right-click the track's rec-arm button and set the track to record its mono or stereo output. In this case, all fx in the track's fx chain will get recorded into the file (be sure to bypass the fx chain after the recording to not apply the same processing to the recorded file again during playback).
It's much more flexible not to record incl. fx because you will be unable to tweak (reduce) them during mixing. Instead, you'd probably have to re-record everything.
If you put the fx into Input Fx Chain or if you record track output instead of input, you'll get the fx printed to the recording. But if they are in the normal Fx Chain, you'll hear them doubled on playback. Probably the reason it sounds different before you record is because you're hearing the processed sound together with the sound of your actual voice resonating in your head. On playback it's just the processed sound. You might as well try doubling your part onto a second track. That tends to thicken up the sound in a similar way.
to recreate the exact same sound you may add a delay plugin into the chain. This will give you similar thick-sounding sonic results than what you heard during live-monitoring (perceiving the latency effect).
Ive tried all that and delaying the track never gives it the same sound. Its weird but what I hear sounds good therefore it is good. It sort of makes me want to record it in 3rd party recorder to see
to record the exact same signal you are hearing you would have to record the headphone mix you are listening to on a new track. You can do this by splitting the headphone output of the Scarlett with a headphone splitting adapter. The adapter will allow you to listen to the signal on your headphone and simultaneously record the duplicated signal provided by the splitting adapter using a cable that has one stereo headphone jack on one end and two mono jacks on the other end. Plug these two ends into two line inputs of the Scarlett and record the signal but without turning on monitoring on that track (would cause feedback!).
Record without any FX and if the recording then doesn‘t sound like the original, get a better microphone ... mic choice and EQ can make a huge difference.