Recording @ Home

[sam_at2001]

Hiya guys

Ok, heres my problem. I've been trying to hook up my guitar to my PC but it sounds rubbish. I have tried putting it directly to the line in, but it is unbelivably quiet. I have tried going from my guitar, into my amp, and the amp into the computer, and that too is really quiet (even when the amp is on full blast). Is a new sound card my answer? (the one I have at the moment came with my computer so its bound to be crap - I have no idea what kind it is). If so, should I go for the Audiophile 2946 or the Audigy Pro card or another one? (I've been looking around the site and these two seemed to come up more than any other) - I live in the UK by the way, so does anybody know a cheap(ish) place to get them from? The main use I will be using the sound card for will be recording my guitar, and I want CDs/mp3s to sound good too

Also, I'm sort of refurbishing my PC at the moment - new graphics card, new sound card, and I want to get some new speakers too, looking in the £30 range. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.

[glynn]

Well, you might want to try increasing the gain on the line in on the soundcard, if you have the volume icon in the lower right hand corner (you may have to enable this icon, go to the control panel, sounds and multimedia, and click the show volume on taskbar option), double click on it, then click on options, and make sure all of the controls are enabled. Then slide the line in volume up to the top, that should get you more level.

If that has already been done, the problem may be that your amp is putting out less than a line volume, and may need to go into the mic in (if the sound card has one).

The guitar going direct would need some kind of direct box to get the level up before the sound card, the signal would be too weak to be usefull on its own.

A POD or similar device is very usefull for direct recording like this, I have heard good things about the v-amp, and I use a PODxt myself, into a M-Audio delta 1010. I have also used the 1010LT, and they are both quality cards

Here is a small jam done for the petrucci forum, done with the pod direct.

G

[Timanator]

Very nice playing Glynn!!!!!

The POD dont sound too bad, real generic 80's guitar soundish. Great fo rock!

[glynn]

Thanks for checkin it out!

Yea, the pod does the 80's guitar hero stuff pretty well, and its a lot nicer to the fam when you record at night

[sfx70]

Hi there
What distorsion sound (amp) did you use on the POD?
I'm finding it very hard to get a nice smooth yet crunchy sound on this unit.
Something that I can emulate Petrucci's solo sound or Vai's solo sound.

[glynn]

Originally Posted by sfx70

Hi there
What distorsion sound (amp) did you use on the POD?
I'm finding it very hard to get a nice smooth yet crunchy sound on this unit.
Something that I can emulate Petrucci's solo sound or Vai's solo sound.

I used the Soldano amp sim, greenback cab, 10:00 on the bass, mids at 12:00, treble at 2:00, gain about 2:00

I think the Soldano is the way to go.

[track7]

Dude, i think that if you want really nice sound quality recordings of guitars then the only way is mic'ing up your amp.

The pods and co. are the other good option but honestly if you've already got a good amp and good effects etc then its a cheaper optin to buy a GOOD mic, a 20 dollar boom stand and then a mic pre-amp to go into your soundcard.

Soundcards are much of a muchness unless you get into the 200+ mark so the one that came with your pc will undoubtably sound just fine so long as its 44khz 16bit etc.

For electric guitar I use the Sure SM57.. THE mic used on nearly all guitar cabs on every studio in the world probably!! That mic cost me 70 pounds so it will probably be about 70 dollars where are you at? hold on...ha ha mirmingham uk. My home town how weird! Ok so if you're recording distorted electric stuff sitck the SM57 in fornt of it run it into a Spirit Notepad mixer, that can be bought for about 100 pounds, and just use a couple of leads and connectors to hook it all up. Crank your amp when the family is out and you will get serious sound to hard disk.

I also use a Rode NT1 which is a bloomin' good mic for the money. But that is a condensor and i dont use it for electrics...just vocals and acoustics...well sometimes I room mic the cab with the rode but thats just for natural ambience.

Here is a sound recording i did of my Mesa Boogie Nomad recorded in the manner i described above.

http://www.dbeebee.btinternet.co.uk/PullMeNomad.mp3

this next clip i was just learning the lick so the recording quality wasn't priority but it still came out pretty well same process as above

http://www.dbeebee.btinternet.co.uk/TGPintrolick.mp3

Mic Mic Mic....and get a pod afterwards when you can afford one for those late night demos...

hope this helps track

[gemini8026]

Both of your clips sound good.


I would be happy with either setup. I just sold off my sansamp psa-1 for a PodXt, so im hoping to get the same results

[A_Paganini]

I recently got a Guitar Port for the PC. My studio uses it for scratch while the drummer is laying down tracks. Sounds good, and there are artist settings (vai is one of em) that will give you settings that are close to what is on the record. Check that out, I think the avg. street price is around $160 or so. (I'd reccommend win2K or XP... 98se had some probs and ive never tried ME)