Guitar Recording on Computers

[Lightbulb Sun]

I've decided that soon, I'm going to begin doing recordings. Not really for anything too special, more so for myself and the experience.

My friends recommended a Lightsnake USB guitar chord but if I'm correct, it's a direct connection from the guitar to the computer.

I don't want just a guitar sound that I modify on the computer, I want something that allows me to use my amp and then add some effects maybe on top.

I know there was something on programs, but not exactly the mics, cables etc.

Sorry if there was a thread out there I could've bumped, I guess I'm not really in the mood.

If you need any extra info, make a post inquiring what you must. I hope I can help you help me. Thanks for your time and thank you to any help ahead of time.


P.S:
I've noticed that some members here do have their own bands/recordings and I must say all are exceptional. Keep up the good work! I hope I can reach such a level sans a band.

 

[hezagenius]

Depending on how much money you want to spend, a lot of the sound processors have MIDI outputs that can plug into your computer. If you don't have a MIDI jack on your soundcard, you can buy adapters. Sound processors can be purchased at reasonable prices (~$100). They won't be as good as the high end stuff but it should be adequate.

As far as hooking up the amp to the computer, I'm not really sure. Your amp would need to have an "out" jack. You could have the 1/4-inch cable come out of the amp, use a 1/4-inch to 1-inch adapter, and run the 1/8-inch line into the microphone jack on your soundcard.

You will also need recording software. Plenty are available at reasonable prices. Cakewalk is decent.

 

[Ermz]

What you're likely after is a Shure SM57 and an audio interface that comes bundled with a scaled down DAW, like the M-audio or Presonus gear. I'd look into the cheaper 2-channel offerings that M-audio and Presonus do, find one that suits your price range, buy yourself an XLR cable, then use the mic (and a mic stand!) on your amp. The cheaper interfaces should come bundled with a copy of Cubase LE which you can use to get you started.

Whatever you do, don't connect the speaker out of your amp to the soundcard, under any circumstances.

 

[Lightbulb Sun]

I found that on the Lightsnake, it could go directly from my amp to my computer. I don't want to damage the computer in any way or anything like that, but would that work? I'm only making this music for me and for a couple friends to hear so I don't exactly need top quality or sound quality.

 

[Frosties]

Whatever you do, don't connect the speaker out of your amp to the soundcard, under any circumstances.

Why not?

 

[Kenneth R.]

What you're likely after is a Shure SM57 and an audio interface that comes bundled with a scaled down DAW, like the M-audio or Presonus gear. I'd look into the cheaper 2-channel offerings that M-audio and Presonus do, find one that suits your price range, buy yourself an XLR cable, then use the mic (and a mic stand!) on your amp. The cheaper interfaces should come bundled with a copy of Cubase LE which you can use to get you started.

Whatever you do, don't connect the speaker out of your amp to the soundcard, under any circumstances.

This is probably the best advice for a beginner.

"Why not"? You'll blow it out.

 

[EkstatikParataxis]

What amp do you own?[and of course: do you use any effect devices? ] Micing an amp is a science of its own...
And how much money do you want to spend? These are the two basic questions.

 

[Arjen W.]

If it's just for some casual home recordings, anohter cheap solution would be something like a Line 6 Toneport GX. Have no experience with them myself, but you basically get the Pod sounds in software form, it's cheap, easy and should get good results. You might need the Metal Shop add on though.

 

[Lightbulb Sun]

My plans, at the moment, is to start with Audaticity, a free program, and get a Lightsnake that can directly connect my amp to my computer w/effects. If I want to upgrade after that, I will.

Feel free to tell me that what I'm doing is a horrible choice, I can take it.

 

[Don Corleone]

ermin and the others, heres a question while we are at it:

yesterday i sat down with my friends for our first drum looping ever...and we did it on fruity loops...i think thats what it's called, "FL Studio"? It was nothing professional but something we wanted to email to our drummer so he could get a basic idea on what we wanted to do in the song.

but the thing was, the more effects (keys) and drums we added, the more distorted sounds emitted from the speakers... sounds like clipping...we tried to see if they came from the speakers itself, but we could still hear them on headphones. finally we decided it was because of the small external soundcard. i think it's an edirol uaex or something. i have 1,24 GB RAM, so it cant be because of that, can it? so did we overload the soundcard or something? does this mean we have to buy a better soundcard?

 

[EkstatikParataxis]

Do you use an ASIO driver? maybe you set the buffer to small, so that your cpu can´t handle the sound-data in such a short time.
Try to increase the buffer in the ASIO settings to get rid of the cracking. (But nortice that you increase the latency time by this)
What soundcard do you use? If its on board you probably have to think about getting a better one...

 

[Gustav Perdition]

I've been running my amp's headphone out to my on-board soundcard's front line in for years. I slap some Voxengo Boogex on the guitar track, and lo and behold it sounds good. Hell, compared with most bm bands it sounds divine. My amp is a Roland Cube 30, so I guess whatever comes out of "headphone out" is line level. At least, I think it's called 'line level'.

If you're having trouble with ASIO and are too cheap to upgrade your shit (I know I am), google ASIO4ALL. Sweet ass drivers.

You should check out the Andy Sneap forums. Run some searches and stuff. It's a goldmine of information even though lots of posters are into shit like Devildriver and Caliban

 

[Don Corleone]

Do you use an ASIO driver? maybe you set the buffer to small, so that your cpu can´t handle the sound-data in such a short time.
Try to increase the buffer in the ASIO settings to get rid of the cracking. (But nortice that you increase the latency time by this)
What soundcard do you use? If its on board you probably have to think about getting a better one...

just checked it: i have an external soundcard...edirol ua-1ex. it's pretty small compared to the ones i have seen at other people's homes. how do i increase the buffer in the asio driver?..aaaaand whats an asio driver? im quite an ignoramus on such stuff, sorry!

 

[EkstatikParataxis]

just checked it: i have an external soundcard...edirol ua-1ex. it's pretty small compared to the ones i have seen at other people's homes. how do i increase the buffer in the asio driver?..aaaaand whats an asio driver? im quite an ignoramus on such stuff, sorry!

Go here ( http://www.asio4all.com/ ) and download the Asio4All driver... install it and set it as audio driver in FL-Studio. Then try again. That should help you to get rid of the cracking.

 

[Don Corleone]

thanks, will do and let you know ekstatik!

 

[Ermz]

That crackling happens when the audio buffers underflow because the CPU can't fill them up in time. Cheap soundcards with bad, or no ASIO drivers will cause this.. as well as slow CPUs. Make sure in fruity loops your soundcard driver is set to 'Edirol ASIO' or whatever they call their ASIO driver. Check the buffer size. Maybe experiment with larger sizes like 1024 and 2048. Edirol's control panel may display the buffer size in latency rather than size, so go with figures like 10ms+ until the audio gets stable again.

Re: recording with a mic rather than direct in.

Going direct in with your guitar and using software processing is the more convenient, easier etc. way of doing it for people who are demoing or just starting out in recording. You will get better sounds, quicker, and be able to just put your ideas down faster. When you involve a mic, real amp & room into it, things can get messy in a hurry. There are many principles to understand before just shoving a mic in front of the speaker and hoping for the best. Going direct in takes out some of the guess work of recording audio.