Guitar Amp to SM57 to XXX to Comp

[bluesmonkey]

Hi guys,

Ok I am new to recording. I want to record electric guitar to my comp. Mainly for my own self improvement, and also to send to friends, band members. I have spent lots of money on my guitar gear so not looking to skimp on recording gear. I have a few qs, I have read blueprintstudios DIY guide, thanks mate, I apologise if any of it was covered and I am asking the same qs. So here goes:

1. I want, I hate to use the old cliche, a warm sound, dont want to lose valve flavour from my amp. Is it necessary to get a tube preamp, or is this all hype?

3. I require a mixer to go from sm57 to comp, and then I need a specifically designed sound card? Is that all I need or will I need anything else. I have seen many mixers for around $300, this will be good as budget I can shoot for, but do I need to spend more? Will this suffice, and what brands are reccommended? Are there any mixers with tube preamps?

4. Also if I get a ART TPS II 2-Channel Variable Impedance Tube Preamp(just pulled it out of thin air), will I require a mixer also? or they hold the same function?

5. Is it possible to get cheap and good software? Normally mutually exclusive I know, but $100 is ok? Again reccomendations.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers!

 

[nicsim]

Dude this a hard one, normally i would recommend moving to digital by using pro tools for your recordings and plug ins. But your tight budget is the hard part. Pro Tools is expensive. hmm. why don't you get the M-audio 410. As its selling off the forum.
Just plug the output of your Amp direct to the i/O.

Selling M-Audio 410.
http://soft.com.sg/forum/sound-gear-buy-sell/53219-wts-m-audio-410-firewire.html

M-Audio's 410 Website;
M-AUDIO - FireWire 410 - 4-In/10-Out FireWire Mobile Recording Interface

 

[blueprintstudios]

Q & A:
1.Is it necessary to get a tube preamp, or is this all hype?
not necessary. if you ask me to choose to use between a behringer TUBE Preamp, and a.. lets say presonus firepod non-tube preamp. I'd still go with presonus. cos of the clean sound and quality. but hey, I had a Presonus BlueTube DP (bought for about $300). it was pretty damn good. sold it because I decided if I want a killer preamp, go for something that's about $3K. if not just stick to my behringer/korg preamps. best or worst.

2. missing.

3. I require a mixer to go from sm57 to comp....
Bzzzzz. a Mixer is a "phantom power supply/Panner/EFX(optional)/EQ/Preamp". you can PAN/EFX/EQ ON YOUR DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software! all you'll be using is just the Preamp!

4. Also if I get a ART TPS II 2-Channel Variable Impedance Tube Preamp(just pulled it out of thin air), will I require a mixer also? or they hold the same function?
refer to question 3. I used that before too. wasn't too happy with it.but pretty eh? heheh.

5. Is it possible to get cheap and good software? Normally mutually exclusive I know, but $100 is ok?
stick to audacity if you're not buying any recording soundcard

you have a peavey XXX?! well i don't really recommend on the D.I thing if you got a nice amp. but yeah my FAQ is just a general guide, sometimes it'll take a while for ppl new to this to link it to their situation.

Recording Purpose > vocals/instrument > mic > preamp > soundcard > USB/Firewire/PCI > PC > DAW

Recording Purpose : Guitars
Mic : SM57 (you have right?)
Preamp/Phantom Power (for condenser mics) : ?
Soundcard : ? (i think you're using a normal onboard soundcard currently.)
PC : i'm sure your comp is at least a pentium 2.4ghz right?
DAW : ?
Budget : $300 (reading from your post I assume)

seriously lor, just get a Line6 Toneport UX2. it'll cover the preamp , soundcard, DAW (comes free with Ableton Live Lite) , acts as a D.I Box also. the guitarist must-have. pretty too.

Line 6 - TonePort
i believe it's about $300+.

your current situation if you DONT buy a line6 toneport ux2 is that, you will need a mixer. a small one will do. because mics/preamps use XLR mainly. and it won't be feasible if you use a 1/8 earphone adapter to plug into your soundcard from that.

 

[bluesmonkey]

thanks guys.

First thing fergot 2 lol. In terms of preamp, id prefer a warmer sound, some of my favourite recordings I found are done on tape, is it possible nowadays to process a digital recording to sound analog? Please correct me if I dont know what Im talking about.


3. I require a mixer to go from sm57 to comp....
Bzzzzz. a Mixer is a "phantom power supply/Panner/EFX(optional)/EQ/Preamp". you can PAN/EFX/EQ ON YOUR DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software! all you'll be using is just the Preamp!

Ok cheers, I need to get my head round these.

5. Is it possible to get cheap and good software? Normally mutually exclusive I know, but $100 is ok?
stick to audacity if you're not buying any recording soundcard.

Ok will do for now.

I dont have a XXX, apologies this was meant to be XXX as in unknown for the preamp haha. But I do have a nice amp, which leads me to the next q, 16 or 24 bit?

Recording Purpose : Guitars
Mic : SM57 (you have right?) Yep got it.
Preamp/Phantom Power (for condenser mics) : I might need a condenser later if I am going to record my band, or acoustic guitar? But for now, just electric guitar. Please comment.
Soundcard : ? (i think you're using a normal onboard soundcard currently.) Yep just stock.
PC : i'm sure your comp is at least a pentium 2.4ghz right? I think so.
DAW : ? digital audio workstation? lol had to google that one, so I can edit tracks etc, so line 6 comes with software to do that?

How does the Line 6 handle mic recordings? Id prefer not to use DI if possible, just want to maximise my gear.
Budget : $300 (reading from your post I assume) or thereabouts.

How does the line 6 say stack up to:
M-AUDIO - MobilePre USB - USB Bus-Powered Preamp and Audio Interface

Mobile pre USB. This was the other one I was looking at.

Cheers for your help.

 

[blueprintstudios]

warmer sound / tape recording - you can "fake"/emulate analog tape distortion and all. but reel tape is real costly. if you're from a rich family , you can probably get your parents to pay for all these, but if not, you still gotta make do with your budget.. as long as you use your computer to mix, it'll always be dgital

16 or 24 bit?
16bit 44.1khz will do. 24/48khz will start to take up alot of hard disk space and memory.

Preamp/Phantom Power (for condenser mics) : yeah both the mobilepre USB and ux2 has phantom power. you'll be safe.

DAW = cubase/ableton/adobe audition/sonar/protools. line 6 comes with ableton lite.

if I were you i'd still go for line6 cos of the extra D.I. no one said the D.I HAS to be guitar. you could run a bass through or vocals through their gearbox,preamp emulation software. and talking about maximizing, some ppl combine BOTH mike amp + D.I sound together! and there are times it's just more convenient to record D.I first, as a guide then finally record using the amp after finalizing the song.

if you ask me to compare, Maudio and line6 comes up to about the same except line6 has more extra flexibility with the D.I Guitar sounds. both is USB powered. M Audio has more following with their interfaces. this one's your choice, my vote's with Line6. if you wanted quality, you might as well save for something high end. no point wasting money with medium or low-medium range gear.

30cents worth

 

[bluesmonkey]

thanks mate. that pretty much answers it all, will probably go with a line 6 or a 2nd hand inkel from a friend, i think the model was mx800. what do you think of inkels? and how much are they worth? pm me if you wish. cheers!

 

[blueprintstudios]

sorry man i don't know anything about inkels