Cheapist way to record your guitar on to your computer

[ColdVayne]

I just got my Diezel herbert ( omg best amp i have ever played ) and i want to record it on to my computer but i have very little money left and i want to record onto my computer so i can send my fellow band mates stuff i come up with , so they can come up with theyre stuff, so when we go to practice theyre prepaired. Does anyone know of any way to record onto your computer with at least good quality for a 100$ or less.

[Budman68]

Re: Cheapist way to record your guitar on to your computer

I'm pretty satisfied with guitar tracks pro from cakewalk. If you already have a decent soundcard, that's really all you'll need. It comes with a LOT of extras like drum loops etc.
guitar tracks pro
If your near a Guitar Center store, they are $99.00.

Dave->

[Newc]

Re: Cheapist way to record your guitar on to your computer

So you want a nice expensive amp to sound like a 10 watt Peavey Rage? [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img]
Save some more money and get a decent sound card and a decent set of playback monitors that you can hook to your PC. Regular computer speakers will not reproduce the amp's tone, and you'll be fighting with it in post-production to get it to sound the same, and when the other band members hear it, it'll sound different on their computers.

Newc

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: Cheapist way to record your guitar on to your computer

Congrats on the Herbert!!!!!

Very cool! I'll be waiting to hear it!

[Budman68]

Re: Cheapist way to record your guitar on to your computer

Newc, I think he just wants a basic srcatchpad, so to speak, with some decent features(am I right Coldvayne?). This way you could send ideas(mp3's) back and forth to your bandmembers, which I think is a great idea.

dave->

[ColdVayne]

Re: Cheapist way to record your guitar on to your computer

Originally posted by budman68:
Newc, I think he just wants a basic srcatchpad, so to speak, with some decent features(am I right Coldvayne?). This way you could send ideas(mp3's) back and forth to your bandmembers, which I think is a great idea.

dave->

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah exactly , thanks Budman , i will definetly pick that up , it seems really great. Thanks also Newc ,and also do you know a great mic to record with when i go to record my guitar so my band can make a cd , i need a mic for my guitar and one for my vocals.

[Infernal Death]

Re: Cheapist way to record your guitar on to your computer

Ok now ColdVayne got suggested having a software and a soundcard.
But how do you plan on "connecting" your amp to your pc ??
Please don't say so that you want to connect the line out of the amp to the line in on your soundcard. Like Newc already told it will sound like a Peavey Rage or even worse.
Believe me it's not a great feeling playing with your killer tube amp in your room and after recording it listen to the record. It will sound absolutely nothing like the sound you heard while playing.
Like Newc already mentioned it's a good investment if you buy studio monitors for playback. But if you really only want to record ideas for your fellow bandmates i guess that's maybe a little overkill.
But recording directly will make your riffs and the stuff you come up with sound terrible and i think that's not your intention.
I would suggest you buy a Shure SM57 mic and a inexpensive mic preamp like the Audiobuddy. Both are around $80. I know that's more than your budget but i think it's the most cheap way to achieve good sound.
IMO this is a really basic setup and it's quite good. Means that if you ever plan on getting a little more serious into recording this stuff still will work.

As for the mics. Well like mentioned above the Shure SM57 is THE guitar mic. For vocals well it kinda depends. If you plan on playing with the whole band while recording it's best you use a dynamic mic like the Shure SM58 for vocals. But normally in studios you use condenser mics for recording vocals. But they are not a wise decision if the whole band is playing and the different bandmembers aren't sonically seperated because condenser mics are very sensitive so you will always pick up drums and guitars and other stuff with them when you recording with them together with the whole band.
But normally you get better results with a condenser. But beware a condenser mic needs 48v phantom power so you need a separate mic preamp which supplies those 48v. A normal soundcard doesn't supply this voltage.

Flo

[Alexi7]

Re: Cheapist way to record your guitar on to your computer

Download Cool Edit 2.0 or N-track Studio. Record thru your mic, and you're there. I mean, i get very good results recording through my ****box 433 celeron with 64 meg of ram, and a primitive as hell soundcard. If you have a better system you'll get better results. After all, you'll be recording drafts and such to send to your mates, you dont need anything too complex, or to spend any money (though Cool Edit can do heaps of **** if you take the time to learn it).
Cheers

[pro-fusion]

Re: Cheapist way to record your guitar on to your computer

Yeah, if you really want to capture the sound of your amplifier on a recording, you either have to mic the cabinet or get a speaker simulator that has a 'dummy load' built in so you can plug the speaker outs from your amp into the simulator--and then the simulator into the mixer/sound card. But these type of simulators aren't cheap. The Palmer simulator (which Satriani has used on his last couple of albums) goes for at least $400. Alternatively, there are cheaper speaker simulators that do not have the dummy load (and cannot thus accept speaker outs), that you would plug the preamp output on your amp (if you have one) into. These don't simulate the drive of the power amp, though, and are not as realistic.

The cheaper option would be to get a mic and small mic preamp.