Simple and Best Way to Record Guitar

projectmayhem

Harro!

I've been playing guitar for about 10 years now and I am just now getting around to wanting to actually record my music. I dont really know anything about it but I do know that I want these things:

Easy
Under 200$
No extra cables to buy if possible

I have a gaming desktop which I am sure can handle recording music, Gibson SG, Marshall 250dfx amp. I'm not to sure what else I need. I saw this while looking around online and I 'think' its what I am looking for

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

If anyone has any advice on that product or any other products, that would be awesome =D

Khavall

Do you have a good mic of any kind(I like using a dynamic mic for guitar, but condenser will also work)? And XLR cables?

What you're going to want to do is, if you have the MobilePre and a Mic, is go from a mic to the preamp, and into the recording software(I recommend http://www.reaper.fm/ It's not free, but you can pretty much indefinitely keep in on trial and not actually pay). The mic should either be draped or placed in front of the amp when you're playing(Some people recommend putting the mic off to the side a bit, probably not going to matter that much for just basic stuff).

If you don't have a mic, a Shure SM57 or 58 are about $100 online, which'll be all you need. Also, if you don't have an XLR cable, you'll need one.

Now, if you want to do this without going through the mic, or if you can't afford the mic or don't want to get an XLR, you can go direct from the guitar to the MobilePre. This is going to sound atrocious, so what you'll want to do is probably find virtual amp plug-ins. These are never going to quite sound as good, but they'll at least make it better than direct.

Now, one final alternative, which won't work on most amps, is if you have an output jack in the amp. If you do, and I think that amp should, then you should just be able to go direct from the amp to the MobilePre. I'd still use a mic if you have one, but if you don't I'd definitely go with the output over trying to do a virtual amp.



And if you decide to go super crazy, the absolute best way would be to have a dynamic mic in front of the amp, and a condenser mic a little farther away, and use both channels. But then you'd need a the mics and cables for them. And be going into protools.

projectmayhem

Wow thank you! I had no idea. How good are mics at keeping out ambient nose like me sniffeling for example? Would I still need the mobile pre if I git a Mic?

wmelon

projectmayhem wrote:

Wow thank you! I had no idea. How good are mics at keeping out ambient nose like me sniffeling for example? Would I still need the mobile pre if I git a Mic?

well it really depends on the mic and how you have it set up. Most microphones that you're going to buy for this will be cardioid microphones. What this means is that they pick up things well directly in front of them and somewhat off to the sides as well, but don't pick up things well from directly behind the microphone. That's not to say it WON'T pick up things from behind, but they'll be much quieter than things from the front and sides.

An easy solution for that might be to put your amp and mic in a different room from you physically.

You'll still need some form of digital audio interface such as that mobilePre to get the audio into your computer regardless of what you end up using to get the signal to it.

I've had some good luck using the Blue USB Microphones. Not quite up to studio quality, but great for a home studio.

Dark Raven X

Personally, I feel it's a bad move to use a mic and record an amped guitar. The resulting sound is utterly unflexible, you'll need a new take with tweaked settings if you don't like how it sounds in a mix, and that quickly becomes impractical. I much prefer simulated amps on the computer. So lemme give ya a quick and dirty guide on that! I will assume for the sake of completeness that you don't know what the hell I'm talking about and will try to keep it simple.

First thing you need is a Digital Audio Workspace (DAW) - this is a program that handles everything, inputs, recording, playback. I use Cubase, but that's a paid program. A very good free alternative is Reaper; http://www.reaper.fm/

Here's where we split, cause you got a choice quality wise. The Expensive route is what I use now, but I used the Ghetto route for months, and quite liked it:

Expensive route;

You need an interface. This is a piece of hardware that takes the sound direct from the guitar into the computer. This eliminates 'latency' - that is the delay between you hitting a note and it being picked up by the PC. This can be pretty critical if your non-interface setup has too much lag when you play. The interface also cuts out any ambient noise and serves as a more complex soundcard than the one built into computers, and it expands the range of options for your playback setup. I personally recommend the Line 6 UX2; http://www.amazon.com/Line-6-POD-Studio-UX2/dp/B001EKECC2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326204907&sr=8-1

BUT! I guess this is your entire budget right here. I can assure that getting an interface at some point is a fantastic investment if you're gonna be doing a lot of recording. This particular model is aimed at guitar, but it's also set up for vocals via microphone. I chose the UX2 after a lot of research, I think it'd fit you perfectly too.

Ghetto route;

This is lower quality, but you put a bit of time into it, you can get fantastic results. Get a standard audio cable, you know the type; one that terminates in a standard headphone jack. Get one of those that ends in a headphone jack on both ends, and stick a 3/4 inch adapter jack on the end (usually included with a new set of headphones) and plug the one end into your guitar, and the other directly into your Mic port on the PC.

You now have clean guitar signal running direct through your PC's mic port. How well this works varies widely person to person, but it is always worth a shot; you may get lucky and end up with a crystal clear signal with no ambient noise and no lag! ;D

Now comes the fun nerdy part; time to create an artificial amp inside your DAW. If you're using a Line 6 interface it comes with software to do this for you. If you're using the headphone lead, we get creative!

Create an Audio track in the DAW. An Audio track records sound from your selected source - either the interface or your mic port. To contrast, an Instrument track uses a 'virtual instrument' to convert MIDI notes to sound.

With the Audio track selected, hit record and you will record the clean guitar sound. :O

Now, hit Inserts underneath the Audio track. This will open a menu of installed VSTs and Plugins. These are things which artificially alter sound. In the case of guitar, we want an artificial amp. Cubase comes with a bunch preinstalled, but they're not worth your time. The best option, IMO, is KeFIR - but that is hard to find / download.

Here's a list of good amp sims; http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1233892

The simple version is, these plugins convert your clean guitar to distorted (or indeed just enhance the clean sound to be even more 'real' ) and are far more flexible than a simple straight up audio recording of an amp distorted guitar.

Some samples of the Ghetto route and artificial amp VSTs on my old Ultimate Guitar page; http://profile.ultimate-guitar.com/Dark+Raven+X/music/play968041

Reading this post back, I realize I began rambling at some point! Sorry about that! You should do some more reading on the following things though, understanding how they work and building up a library of software that you enjoy using.

DAW - Digital Audio Workspace. You will need one of these, paid or free.
Interface - this is optional, but heavily recommended!
Amp sims - these are hugely up to personal preference! I recommend you check em out though!

romanqwerty

I've been doing this for a while now. When i first started i bought a Shure SM57, XLR cable and a cheap yamaha preamp/usb interface and it works like a dream. I bought all of this in a bundle that was $199 but that was many years ago.

Dark Raven has some very good advice if you want to play with your sound digitally via amp modelling. I went the other route since i have an amp that love the sound of so i just wanted to get that sound into my computer. The SM57 + interface is such a gigantic leap up from microphones that plug directly into your sound card that i cant recommend it enough. I haven't really found noise to be a big issue. There is a little 50Hz buzz if i leave the mic near my computer but that is easy to cancel out or just clip as it usually isn't audible over any other sound playing.

Vortigern

I'm gonna flat out disagree with Dark Raven on the mic'd amp route. It's one of many methods for recording your guitar and it's tried and true. Recording anything well requires a bit of knowledge, a bit of gear, and a lot of playing around until you find what you like.

You can either mic your amp/guitar, or you can DI it, but regardless you're going to need an interface and your soundcard (ie soundblaster or onboard) probably isn't going to give you decent results. So starting with something from M-Audio isn't a terrible idea, though I'm not up on the most recent generation of M-Box stuff. What you want is 1 or 2 decent preamps in the unit. I'm not a huge fan of the pre's in the MBox line from the past or Behringer (relatively cheap brand too). Focusrite makes decent pre's, and I like Presonus gear too. Both have small starter boxes.

The Presonus AudioBox Studio kit has everything you'd need to get started. Software, hardware, everything.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AudioBoxStu/

A $200 budget is definitely looking at the low end, but that's far from suggesting it can't be done or you can't get great results.

Before you go dropping $600 on DAw software, try some free packages. Reaper is free effectively, though it will have a steeper learning curve than Audacity. I'd recommend Audacity to start with if you're 100% recording software inexperienced. ProTools is the industry standard, and I personally use it, but it's also a lot of work to get up to speed with it by comparison.

Bobby Owsinski has written a LOT of good books on the subject of bands and recording. His guitar specific book (http://bobbyowsinski.com/Ultimate_Guitar_Tone_Handbook.html) would probably be a good read for you. I drum, so I have his drum recording book. I also have a few others since I engineer live sound and some studio projects too.

My 2 cents worth.

MushroomStick

$200? I'd watch ebay /craigslist for a deal on one of the Pods with a usb out.

Dark Raven X

Vortigern wrote:

I'm gonna flat out disagree with Dark Raven on the mic'd amp route. It's one of many methods for recording your guitar and it's tried and true. Recording anything well requires a bit of knowledge, a bit of gear, and a lot of playing around until you find what you like.

Oh yeah, for sure. I didn't mean to come across all 'matter of fact' ish. I just meant I personally don't like to mic an amp! I'm usually recording on my own, so it's a hassle to get comfy playing, then stopping to adjust everything. With the all software approach, I don't have to move from the PC.

And if you're on a strict budget budget, my ghetto method using carefully picked freeware will be far cheaper than even one piece of good hardware.

I should have also pointed out, for balance, a lot of people flat out don't like the amp modelling sound; there's a huge scope for you to customize, but it will always be synthetic (though models are getting better every year! ;D)

EggyToast

Yeah, it's important to note that there's a lot of options for recording an instrument, and they cover a range of styles AND budgets. It's much cheaper to plug your guitar into your computer, recording a clean (and boring) direct input, and then add amp modeling digitally. You can simulate a wide range of amps, without having to spend money actually buying amps and different microphones.

But you can also buy a single mic and do a lot of things with that from recording your amp directly. Where you put your mic, the type you have, and so on, can affect the sound, and that can be an interesting part of the recording process.

One thing to point out is that "audio computers" have a different set of priorities compared to "gaming computers." You believe your computer to be very powerful because it is good at gaming, and maybe outputs surround sound, etc. Audio is all about inputs and processing, though. To use a direct example, your gaming computer does not use the onboard video to process game-based rendering -- it uses a dedicated video card. That card is pretty powerful, costs extra, and does specific things that are only relevant to gaming. For audio, it's the same thing -- you use a dedicated i/o specific to recording audio. You probably don't own this already. But, just like using onboard video to play games, using onboard audio CAN work, but will have limitations. And, just like with games, you can accept limitations if you know they're there -- eliminate smoke/fog, lower poly counts, shorter draw distances, etc. You will probably be more bothered with them in audio, though, with lag, popping, dropouts, and so on.

If you're putting your toe in the water, I agree that you shouldn't rush out and spend a couple thousand dollars on equipment that you may or may not need. So start with the "ghetto" route and try to get your guitar straight into your computer, first. See if you like recording and such. Then work on improving the sound.

Sir Carcass

I'll throw in another recommendation for amp modeling. I have a Line6 TonePort DI (not sure if they sell those anymore) and I love it. I use the Pod Farm 2 application to just play guitar or the Pod Farm 2 VST plugin when I want to record. You have to spend a little time playing with the various amps and effects to get a good sound that you like, but you have to do the same with real equipment. My favorite part is I have a toddler, and he can be standing on my desk screaming at the top of his lungs while I'm recording a solo clean guitar riff and you'd never know it. There's also just less noise in general that you get from layered mic tracks. Being able to record the guitar part and then go back and mess with amps and effects later is very handy as well. I can also use the TonePort to do guitar, bass, and vocals.

Between that and an EZ Drummer pack you can do amazing sounding stuff right at your computer for a very small investment.

badpoet

Another route you can take is to buy a modeling amp that has a USB out and use a free recording program, like those mentioned above or even Audacity. The benefit of this is that you can have all your effects and amp modeling in your amp (complete with a stompbox if you have one for it). I have a Peavey Vypyr and it works pretty well in this capacity. The upside is that you can often find amps like this used, especially if you're in a larger city. The downside of this is some people don't like the sound of modeling amps (personally I think the Vypyr sounds great on most of the settings). In addition, you get a cheap practice amp.

Khavall

Personally, I simply cannot stand the sound of amp modeling. I also can't stand the use of tracks or, especially today(I'm working on a few new demos while I'm in between contracts for future use), drum machines, but I can understand their use as a money saving thing, but that's when we're talking hiring extra people for studio work and dealing with a bunch of contracts. A MobilePre input to the computer, a Shure SM57, and spending 5 seconds every time you open Reaper to hit the "Continue Trial" button is still maybe $250 total. And If you're just focused on recording guitar, that's really going to get you some amazing sound.

Maybe I'm just prejudiced by being trained more old-school, but especially considering how ridiculously cheap the SM57 is, I would never even consider recording a guitar with a software amp.

Shit, I still record only with an SM57 and a Perception-200 for Guitar. The closest thing I have to legit equipment is the spider-stand for the condenser. And I still get professional quality from the stuff I do. Well, ok, not entirely pro quality compared to what I'd get with infinity money in an acoustically engineered space(STANDING WAAAAAVES!), like my own fantasy land, but for home recording, as long as you know what you're doing, any input, a reasonable DAW(again, I love reaper for this stuff), any sequencing program, an SM57, and a Perception is going to be enough. And for guitar, you just need the SM57 and amp. And input. And DAW.

Pirusu

My old roommate tried this once. I can't imagine it will sound as good as any of the suggestions here, but when he did it, it didn't sound awful.

He used Audacity, and my Rockband microphone. That was it.

Cheap and dirty.

Dark Raven X

I used a Guitar Hero World Tour USB mic for vocals for a while.

It was surprisingly good. I tried a Rock Band mic too, but it had that 'toy mic reverb' about it.

minirhyder

I've hooked up my guitar directly to my computer using the Zoom sound processor (something like this) and this cable.

I know it's an extra cable, but maybe you have one laying around? I did at least.
You should be able to hook it up to the line-in jack on your sound card; this way the sound goes directly into the computer without the need for a microphone and accompanying interference/background noise.

Edit: you'll also need this to go from the 3.5mm jack in your computer to the 1/4 jack in the Zoom.

Vortigern

Have we sufficiently muddied the waters projectmayhem? Many options, plenty of affordable ones. The audiobox link I posted runs about 250 from Sweetwater. I'm assuming you're in the US so I didn't look up any Canadian or elsewhere prices.

@DarkRaven - No worries dude, I wasn't trying to call you out or anything, just trying to make a case for mic'ing an amp. I honestly think the results are worth the effort.

@Khavall, if he winds up getting a cheap mic, etc, there's probably no reason he can't record the mic alongside the direct input and play with both. I've had some interesting and decent results from layering the sound a bit. In the end it all comes down to what you're trying to get out of it right?

Dark Raven X

Threw this together to try and show off the sounds you can get out of amp modelling, as I continue advocating it!

This is an entirely 'synthetic' guitar, that is to say all the tracks were recorded as clean and then had amp models applied to achieve the distortion;

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23237150/FusRohHAH.mp3

If you can get past my playing, I think it don't sounds half bad! ;D

And this is without any post processing, levelling, all that fancy stuff you can use to tweak a sound.

I know I am a terrible guitarist but I am trying to improve! :P

projectmayhem

Didnt mean to not respond to you guys for so long!

Ended up getting the Mobile Pre, going from my amp to it. I wrote a quick little thing just to test it out with. This is try 1 at recording:



I have to say, I HATE Pro Tools SE. Nothing works the way my brain thinks it should and I have to restart it every 10 minutes to keep it working. With the above, it doesnt sound...I dont know the word for it, full? It still sounds like I recorded it with a cheap 10$ pc mic only now I cant hear the strumming =p.

Here is one I just did



I didnt monitor it at all, just tried to eyeball the levels...yeah not doing that again =p.

Also please ignore the crap guitar playing, just getting back in to it after 2 years of not playing!

Khavall

Ok, first off, just from looking at it, it looks like you've got the input turned up waaay too high. The waveform in general shouldn't clip. If it does, you're recording too hot. That's going to account for the really crappy sound. Even without mixing at all you should never be recording with that much input. Distortion will clip itself, but you should be able to see the edges in the waveform, not have it take up the whole thing like I see there.

Though other than that the sound quality seems pretty good for just doing direct recording and posting it.... what were you expecting? Simplest way to get the "full" sound is reverb and EQ, and I think Protools SE has some ways to do that simply. Also various other effects can make things great, like recording almost identical

Also, with any DAW, it's going to take some getting used to. I still sometimes forget to disarm tracks from recording or move the wrong thing or move when I meant to fade. Just keep working at it and you'll start to get it.

As an example of mastering, here's my take of the backing tracks of "December 1963" with an without mastering(for an unrelated project, but I happened to have some mixes lying around, and took out all the mastering work). This is only after maybe an hour of mastering too, it's not yet complete(Plus has no vocals). Drums, brass, and synth are artificial, every other instrument is actually played.

Unmastered:
Mastered:

The tracks are exactly the same, and really the only thing that's changed is a few gates, a few EQs, and master reverb. More playing around with the DAW(Protools) will help you with that though.