Computer Recording Question Need Info

[jh45gun]

I got a question some one told me that to record a sound clip all you had to do is use the Mic input on a computer. I am guessing a regular mic used for stage work with an andapter would work right? Better yet I was thinking was my New Vox DA5 has a line out SO would that work going from the line out of the amp into the mic input on the computer with me playing guitar through the amp and haveing a mic plugged into the mic channel on the amp so I could do vocals too?

[StuH]

You'd be better off using an external pre-amp for your mic and guitare; and going through your line level input on your soundcard. Stay away from the mic input.

Regarding a mic direct into the mic input, you will only have success using a computer mic.

Your soundcard can work for you but you would be doing yourself a favor if you bought an audio interface designed for digital audio recording. They are fairly inexpensive.

Cheers

[jh45gun]

Originally Posted by StuH

Your soundcard can work for you but you would be doing yourself a favor if you bought an audio interface designed for digital audio recording. They are fairly inexpensive.

Cheers

OK GOT any suggestions?

[StuH]

Do a search through this section of the forum. There are at least three threads on audio interfaces, all with different opinions on what is a good one.

I'm using a presonus firebox and have had really good success with it but there are alot of good ones and possibly cheaper alternatives to that.

You would want something that has at least one HiZ instrument input, and a mic input that can supply 48v phantom power.

[64Strat]

You first have to establish a $ budget and tell us what it is. Without knowing that and what your recording goals are, it is impossible to make reasonable suggestions.

[jh45gun]

Originally Posted by 64Strat

You first have to establish a $ budget and tell us what it is. Without knowing that and what your recording goals are, it is impossible to make reasonable suggestions.

What ever I can do on the cheap I am on a pretty tight budget and right now maybe this is not the time to worry about it as I got a small loan to pay off quick for my amp purchase.

[64Strat]

Originally Posted by jh45gun

What ever I can do on the cheap I am on a pretty tight budget and right now maybe this is not the time to worry about it as I got a small loan to pay off quick for my amp purchase.

What is cheap? $100, $1000, $10000? people have different perspectives of "cheap".

You really haven't explained what your recording goals are yet. Demo cd's? produce an album? just messing around?

Is it going to be.....
- just you?
- guitar? electric and acoustic??
- a 5 pc band?
- are you going to be doing whole songs with drums, keys, etc.
- vocals?


Do you have a fairly high performance desktop pc? depending on your goals, you may need a new one to do quality recordings.

Stage mics will work but usually are not as good as large diaphragm condensers, small diaphragm condensers, ribbon mics, etc.

Need good mic preamps. a few audio interfaces have decent preamps, most do not. Your end result will only be as good as your weakest link in the recording chain.

Going to need good recording software. learning curve is steep.

You need to do your own research also, there are some pretty helpful websites out there. For me, Sound On Sound has always been a go to place for quality information.
http://www.soundonsound.com/

And Tweakheadz has this section on home recording rigs....
http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm

[jh45gun]

Originally Posted by 64Strat

What is cheap? $100, $1000, $10000? people have different perspectives of "cheap".

You really haven't explained what your recording goals are yet. Demo cd's? produce an album? just messing around?

Is it going to be.....
- just you?
- guitar? electric and acoustic??
- a 5 pc band?
- are you going to be doing whole songs with drums, keys, etc.
- vocals?


Do you have a fairly high performance desktop pc? depending on your goals, you may need a new one to do quality recordings.

Stage mics will work but usually are not as good as large diaphragm condensers, small diaphragm condensers, ribbon mics, etc.

Need good mic preamps. a few audio interfaces have decent preamps, most do not. Your end result will only be as good as your weakest link in the recording chain.

Going to need good recording software. learning curve is steep.

You need to do your own research also, there are some pretty helpful websites out there. For me, Sound On Sound has always been a go to place for quality information.
http://www.soundonsound.com/

And Tweakheadz has this section on home recording rigs....
http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm

Some one asked me to post at an other forum my guitar playing/singing. I just want to make a simple clip or two of a couple of songs nothing fancy and I do not want to put a bunch of money into it. There must be a reasonable way with guys posting guitar clips and vid clips on the net all the time I have to suspect they are not all spending a ton of money. Right now I need to pay back a small loan of three payments for my PA 100 I just bought before I could spend any money on recording stuff and to be honest I do not want to spend any if I can help it or very little.

[64Strat]

Originally Posted by jh45gun

Some one asked me to post at an other forum my guitar playing/singing. I just want to make a simple clip or two of a couple of songs nothing fancy and I do not want to put a bunch of money into it. There must be a reasonable way with guys posting guitar clips and vid clips on the net all the time I have to suspect they are not all spending a ton of money. Right now I need to pay back a small loan of three payments for my PA 100 I just bought before I could spend any money on recording stuff and to be honest I do not want to spend any if I can help it or very little.

Then my suggestion is to become buddies with somebody that is already setup to record and have them give you the clips you need. Or, you could go to a small studio and pay the hourly rate to get it done.

Those two are the cheapest solutions.

[jh45gun]

So your telling me the guys that post clips here all the time have fancy expensive set ups?

[Tim Armstrong]

In general, most guys have put a couple hundred bucks into computer recording gear, yeah.

However, if you have a line in on your soundcard (or computer, if yours has integrated sound on your motherboard instead of a soundcard), you can run a mic into your live show mixer, and run a line out to an adaptor to a stereo mini plug, and using free recording software like Audacity, you can record fairly usable tracks quite cheaply.

Tim

[64Strat]

Originally Posted by jh45gun

So your telling me the guys that post clips here all the time have fancy expensive set ups?

no, but since you're saying you don't want to pay anything or next to nothing, I'm telling you that it is cheapest to use other peoples stuff for free or pay for a few hrs of studio time from a small studio. A pc audio card and some software is more than that, plus you would have to learn how to use it.

How important is the quality of the recording to you?

[Jahmbie]

Originally Posted by Tim Armstrong

In general, most guys have put a couple hundred bucks into computer recording gear, yeah.

However, if you have a line in on your soundcard (or computer, if yours has integrated sound on your motherboard instead of a soundcard), you can run a mic into your live show mixer, and run a line out to an adaptor to a stereo mini plug, and using free recording software like Audacity, you can record fairly usable tracks quite cheaply.

Tim

+1 on Audacity for freebie software.
Here is my suggestion for a cheap/quick and dirty USB interface that is better than any computer's built-in mic/line input.
http://www.roland.com/products/en/UA-1EX/
YMMV. Good luck.

[StuH]

Originally Posted by Tim Armstrong

In general, most guys have put a couple hundred bucks into computer recording gear, yeah.

However, if you have a line in on your soundcard (or computer, if yours has integrated sound on your motherboard instead of a soundcard), you can run a mic into your live show mixer, and run a line out to an adaptor to a stereo mini plug, and using free recording software like Audacity, you can record fairly usable tracks quite cheaply.

Tim

This is a good solution.

Get a half decent audio interface sometime in the future if you find you enjoy this stuff.

[Tim Armstrong]

I'd note that I lasted for, oh, about a week before I started buying better gear!

Heck, I just bought one of those groovy EH 12AY7 mic preamps about an hour ago...



Tim

[64Strat]

Originally Posted by Tim Armstrong

I'd note that I lasted for, oh, about a week before I started buying better gear!

Heck, I just bought one of those groovy EH 12AY7 mic preamps about an hour ago...



Tim

my experience with the "on the motherboard" sound chips for recording is not good. You can get some pretty good PCI audio sound cards though. M-Audio for example, makes a few that sound pretty decent.

[jh45gun]

Thanks Tim So instead of my mixer to do it easy could I use my Vox DA5? of course I have not tried the mic channel yet so that might not be that great but I could use a high impedence mic and run it though one of my Digitech RP's for effects.

[Tim Armstrong]

I'd try every option you can think of, just remember that if it was easy to get really good results on the cheap, well, we'd probably spend less on recording gear!

Tim

[StuH]

The Vox DA 5 specs says it has a line level output, so you can use that.

[64Strat]

just a heads up, the line-in on a pc mobo audio chipset (and by the way, you've never disclosed what type or brand of computer you have) tend to have no headroom. So they overload real easy, especially with uncompressed live feed from guitar and/or vocal.

The other recording software that has somewhat of a cult following because it is very low cost, is Reaper. From what I've read, it has it's flaws compared to the recognized software leaders that cost much more but I also understand it does a pretty good job. $60 for a discounted license. From what I can tell, Reaper appears to have many more features than Audacity. Again, it depends on what your goals are in the longer run.
http://www.reaper.fm/

[jh45gun]

Thanks 64 strat, Tim and Stu H. I also have a Biamp mixer for my small PA that has lines out plus several Digitech pedals my Bass Player has messed with this before so maybe I will wait until he comes over he also plays guitar and drums but maybe we will try it with the drum machine on my digitech and plus delay ect on the vocals and keep it low using head phones.

[bloos66]

Hi jh45gun,

I use a Line6 Toneport UX2 for recording guitar and mic with great results. I also played around with recording the guitar straight into the PC with very poor results.

If your VOX DA5 has a line-out then by all means give it a try. Use Audacity for recording, it's free. You can record the guitar first in the first take, the vocals in the 2nd take. You'll soon find out whether or not the quality is sufficient. There's a quite good free recording software available (forgot its name) that allows you to plug in VST effects. You could always download some free guitar modelling software, a free EQ, perhaps a Reverb and play around with that. I'd say that the results will be ok for a rough demo. If not, then there are 1000s of options out there.....

[winny pooh]

I second a cheap m-audio unit, a buddy of mine got a fast-track off ebay for peanuts and it is small and can take a direct or line input. In your case, you are more likely to get better sounds using a mic on the amp or maybe Amplitube 2 as a plugin for guitar stuff.

[jh45gun]

64 strat My computer is a "Parts Built" computer with a 1 gig duron chip and running 2000 pro. Probably about 6 to 7 years old now.