Cheapo recording issues with electric guitar

Discussion in 'Guitar Gear Talk Forum' started by guitardoctor, Jan 30, 2010.

  1. guitardoctor

    guitardoctor Will Rx for food

    Hi guys!

    Recently I wanted to record something from my Electric guitar so I tried the following as a dirt cheap solution:

    Guitar to amplifier and then to my computer's line in through an AUX cable and using a adaptor to convert the amplifier output to 3.5 mm.

    Well, the dirt cheap solution sounded like shit. The output sound was noisy, heavy and distorted and sounded very low.

    The only way I could get even a half decent tone out was with my amplifier low and mids set almost to zero. Even then the sound is not that good. On the other hand, if I connect my headphones to the same output on the amplifier using the same adaptor, it sounds fine.

    So the question is: anyone ever tried this "quick fix" and did they face a similar problem.

    For now I think I'll try changing the aux cable and trying again. What do you think?

    Thanks in advance
     
  2. lazy_headbanger

    lazy_headbanger New Member

    I tried the same thing but with the MG10CD and that too at high gain, the amp anyway sounds noisy at high gains so it was quite obvious with the setup
    But the recording quality was pretty fine with cleans

    Am not an expert but you can try the following:-

    1.Don't set the gain too high
    2.try replacing the Aux cable
    3.Put your effects in the setup output (if you have one), maybe it can suppress some noise

    Maybe your soundcard isn't fit for recording if you are getting latency in your recording.
    But recording with an amateur practice amp isn't such a good idea anyway
     
  3. guitardoctor

    guitardoctor Will Rx for food

    Gain was set to zero (I was recording in clean)
     
  4. ambush

    ambush _RASTA_man_

    Some onboard soundcards can be very noisy. My realtek card used to give me pretty decent sound though. Maybe there is too much interference. Do you use a crt monitor?
    They are said to cause noise in recoeding. Maybe it even a problem with the cable or even the trs adapter.
     
  5. guitardoctor

    guitardoctor Will Rx for food

    Yeah it's an onboard sound card... And I use a laptop, so the screen is not a CRT.

    I don't think there's a problem with the adaptor because it sounds fine when used with a pair of headphones. The problem comes when I connect the output to my PC using the aux cable.

    The aux cable is also like 4 metres long... Maybe I should look for a shorter one.

    So, how do other people whose PC sucks record their music? Is there something like a (cheap) standalone recorder you can connect to your amp? If yes, what do you use?
     
  6. ambush

    ambush _RASTA_man_

    You could always buy an external sound card. They start from 5000 onwards.
     
  7. lazy_headbanger

    lazy_headbanger New Member

    buying a recording interface is a decent option. I bought the POD studio GX and with the POD farm, its great!
     
  8. Harsh Kumar

    Harsh Kumar The Official IGT Jester

    Recording tips for beginners

    1. Use good cables
    2. Avoid adapters
    3. Line out your amp, do not use headphone out
    4. Mic the amp if necessary
    5. Keep the amp volume low
    6. Increase the system volume
    7. Increase the amp volume slowely
    8. Record a few tests before a full take
    9. Make sure you are not peaking <the sound is not bursting>
    10. If micing is creating a problem, than just go record direct* and put fx later
    11. For multitrack recording download latest ASIO drivers to reduce latency

    * Recording directly can create affect your soundcard adversly as your pick up can create harmfull frequencies for your system. Using an interface will cure this problem completely

    PS: Marshall MG10CD does not have a line out. Micing it is a better option!! Or just go in directly!! Put FX via any sound software plugin
     
  9. flood

    flood New Member

    mic the amp if necessary... micing the amp is the best way i've heard so far; i've gone direct into the PC's built in audio, used audio interfaces and then amplitube/NI-GR but nothing so far has sounded as good as using an SM57 on the speaker. the only bad part was that the preamps of the firebox don't supply enough juice for processing dynamic mics; so it is very advisable to use a decent preamp (even the audio buddy will do) when using dynamics.

    i think the best investment dedicated beginners can make otherwise is in a basic firewire interface.
     
  10. rickkkyrich

    rickkkyrich Guest

    how much does it costs?
     
  11. lazy_headbanger

    lazy_headbanger New Member

    I got it for 7.5k

    Got the follows stuff with it as well:-

    POD farm
    Riffworks T4
    Abelton live
     
  12. Harsh Kumar

    Harsh Kumar The Official IGT Jester

    micing the amp is the best way to preserve the precious tone of a guitar but since these are cheepo tips they are meant for cheap recording and using mics in the house can be really troublesome for most. !!

    n hey flood! i pm'ed you, plz reply!
     
  13. guitardoctor

    guitardoctor Will Rx for food

    Interesting. So, how much would a decent mic cost? I don't think the shitty Logitech I use for chat would be good enough, eh?

    Also, why would micing in the house be troublesome?
     
  14. guitardoctor

    guitardoctor Will Rx for food

    By the way, Harsh, are you a doc?
     
  15. Harsh Kumar

    Harsh Kumar The Official IGT Jester

    I am not a doc

    Decent mic: SM57 is for 6k, i use a sennheiser which i got for 6k
    It's difficult in the house to mic n amp coz, there are a million disturbances in the house.
    I remember recording an awesome take when the bell rang and the mic did catch some of it!

    If you have a good environment than it's awesome!!
     
  16. flood

    flood New Member

    that's weird. my SM57 does not pick up much ambient sound beyond it's pattern (it's a unidirectional microphone, i assume your sennheiser is too). my rode nt-1a condensor picks up pretty much everything though, so i have to have stuff dead quiet if i plan to use that.

    micing the cab pwns everything, with the right amp and the right tone. heck, i even had a kustom and some boss gt-6 POS or something sounding halfway decent with the SM57. time to invest in a decent mic preamp, i think.
     
  17. guitardoctor

    guitardoctor Will Rx for food

    Well my hostel room is pretty quiet... I'll try micing my amp as the next step... Let's see how it goes.
     

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