Pretty n00by Guitar Question

[Xzyliac]

So I think I am finally good enough to start sharing my shredtacular (and admittedly long) solos and improv guitar via MP3 stream on my blog. I'm self-taught and wanted to get some critiques.

So how could I record my electric guitar to PC and preserve the quality?

Note: I have Audacity.

[gh2masterwellalmost]

So I think I am finally good enough to start sharing my shredtacular (and admittedly long) solos and improv guitar via MP3 stream on my blog. I'm self-taught and wanted to get some critiques.

So how could I record my electric guitar to PC and preserve the quality?

Note: I have Audacity.

Well, I certainly don't have a trained ear, but on something basic like WMP you can ram the quality of MP3/WMA up to the top, but it'll mean more MB

[newwaytodie]

I'd like to listen.

Audacity is great for freeware. You can set the bit rate to 320 so that should be CD quality. How do you have it connected to your PC? Are you using a certain sound card? What type of audio input/output are you using?

[Eman311]

It sounds like he doesn't even have it connected to his pc yet.

[newwaytodie]

Um, well then....

What are the options for hooking it up? Composite L/R stereo audio input? USB sound card with a 1/4 jack? There are so many options...

[newwaytodie]

Personally... I have one of these:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackUSB-main.html

But only because my PC's sound card sucks ass. If you can afford a quality sound card, there are some that are designed specifically for home recording. (amatuer enthusiast stuff of course) I'm pretty sure they're not that expensive.

[Xzyliac]

That's what I was looking for. Thanks.

[Eastwood]

I have Magix Studio... It has a his filter, equalizer, simulated effects... I'm happy with what I get out of it. Plus you can edit the sounds to make your regular guitar sound like a bass... and it has a drum kit in it... plus vocals... its $80 at Best Buy

[tf5_bassist]

Personally... I have one of these:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackUSB-main.html

But only because my PC's sound card sucks ass. If you can afford a quality sound card, there are some that are designed specifically for home recording. (amatuer enthusiast stuff of course) I'm pretty sure they're not that expensive.

The M-Audio gear is pretty choice stuff, for sure. I own the Fast Track Pro (http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackPro-main.html), and it's amazing.

Any sort of "recording device" will work well, something that's geared towards guitar. M-Audio's got some seriously dirt-cheap usb adapters for guitar, and Apple sells one for their Garageband software as well, and that's pretty decent as well.

You could always take the 1/4" mono guitar cable and put an adapter on it to reduce it down to 1/8" to go into the line-in on the back of your computer. Downside is this:

You've got your line-in option, and your mic in option (on most machines)... Line-in is a SEVERELY low voltage signal, and therefore works best for running something like a cd player, mp3 player, minidisc, game console audio, etc, something else that's at the same line-level signal. guitars (and especially basses) are so freakin' quiet it's ridiculous, because there's no power coming out of the guitar (unless your instrument has a passive/active switch and a 9volt battery, in which case, complicates things in the opposite direction lol). So... not a great option, but it works.

The mic in has a tiny, weak, and severely ****ty pre-amp built into it, basically because as with a guitar's pickups, there's no power coming from a mic, so it's pretty quiet. I've had SOME decent results going into the mic input, you just have to watch your level EVERYWHERE--playback, recording input, guitar, effects pedals, etc.

if you're running from a headphone-out on an amplifier or sound console, line-in should be fine. if you're running from a line-out/aux send/effects send/tape-out on a console or amp, then line in is also adequate. give them all a shot, depending on your gear, cabling, and available adapters.

That being said, your best shot may be to use a decent quality audio mic (preferably a good USB mic) and mic up your amp (acoustic guitars, this is probably your only option). There's no sound better than an amplified guitar, because a direct input sounds flat, weak, tinny, and severely lacks midrange. Play with mic placement to get the loudest sound possible without clipping (distorting unnaturally in the recording loop) the sound.

All this being said... here's the IDEAL GUITAR RECORDING SETUP:

Guitar > Effects pedals and processors > amp setup > good quality microphone properly placed in front of said amp > quality recording interface > computer > DAW software (Audacity, Sonar, ProTools, Audition, N-Track, Mixcraft, etc)

This is the best option because as i said before, recording direct SUCKS, unless you have a Line6 POD or something similar that can do amp modeling. Trust me, the amp's more important to recording than most people think. The mic captures the movement of the air from the amp, how we hear it, and therefore can produce a better tone than just recording direct. Going through a good recording input device will give the mic the proper preamp, keeping noise as low as possible, and keeping the color of the guitar tone as nice as possible.

However, most people live in apartments/with other people, and can't crank their **** up to that magic number to get the most rocktitude out of their recordings... So. That being said... if the uploading attachymentythingy on this forum actually works, there's a zip-file attached to this post with an mp3 of a song I did while sleep-deprived with a Powerbook on loan from Apple when i worked there, running Garageband from iLife '06. Just my guitar and bass, direct into the Fast Track Pro, and then tweaked and effect'ed in Garageband (which coincidentally has THE BEST internal effects of any software anywhere. no contest).

Maybe later I'll post the second sleep-dep recording, done on my PC, with the exact same rig (although using external distortion pedal) through Mixcraft (the closest that the PC has to compete with Garageband), and you'll see the difference. :/

Hope this isn't too long and boring, and that it helps you (and maybe some others out there). :D

Meh. uploader only allows 97k zip files... so... It's uploading to my Pownce profile right now. If you have Pownce you can go see it at:
http://pownce.com/louwheeler/notes/615020/

Otherwise, download it here:
http://fileho.com/download/90e750324692/dark.mp3.html