How to record guitar for a school project

[bluelime]

Hi i am very new to the world of programming. and i had to do a guitar recording for a school project.
Gear i have is a vox ad15vt xl, strat guitar cables. and his plus which i can plug in my guitar into and has this small 3.5mm (i guess) plug at the other end. is there anyway i can make use of this for the recording ? and if i have to do a video, wad shld i do?
I dun quite get the idea of all the gears. @.@ blur crap. pherhaps i'm just dumb :x
HAHAHA
But i heard from a classmate tht i shld at least get them miced. i also have a acer laptop which i just got this year.
Please help me out i got till the end of this week..

 

[soft]

Are you filming just a solo guitarist?

 

[blueprintstudios]

bless you , dumb/stupidity and inconfidence is a disease that is self inflicted.

before you consider getting them miked, check out how they sound without being miked first if budget is an issue

http://tinyurl.com/diyrecording

guitar > vox amp > headphone / output of some sorts > your acer laptop > if youre using windows start,run,sndvol32.exe configure the inputs and use a free software like audacity to record

gd luck!

 

[bluelime]

Yes James i am doing a solo project.
Hi Ron, i'm not familiar with mics to get.
So much varieties such as usb/non- usb. brands to consider. but since small budget. will something like tone pod help ?
Lets say budget of $200-$300 includes future usage also.
Without them miked, really very bad audio quality. when i used my camera. not video cam. digital ones. but video was okay. i will try using ur method first and hear it. Thanks.

Feel free to post more alternatives

 

[carboxymoron]

Yeah on a budget you really don't need to get everything mic'd up. Try to get headphone out to your laptop, which should have a 3.5mm input (red colour 3.5mm jack on laptops for mic, green colour for headphone). Can headphone out from amp or some pedals that support (usually multi efx have).

If you want to spend $200-300, consider an audio interface. Toneport or POD Studio like you mentioned can be used to record guitars. For video you can use your camera then sync it with the audio from your recording interface.

 

[soft]

Since it is a solo guitarist, I suggest the following.

Place the camera on a tripod about 4m away from the amp, frame the guitarist wideshot. This take will capture the optimal audio recording plus a wideshot of the guitarist. You need to playback the recording and adjust the distance to get the right sound recording. Adjust the zoom to frame nicely.

Next, do a close up shot.

Next, do a roving camera shot.

Put these into your editing software and sync them to the wideshot clip.

Use the audio from the wideshot clip.

 

[blueprintstudios]

ah what james has suggested is really efficient BUT what video camera are you using? remember to turn off any "auto input mic gain" (more noise/distortion) btw for a budget of $300 i saw someone selling a line6 toneport ux8 (if you ever venture into multiple mics a.k.a drums recording) for that.

 

[bluelime]

ah what james has suggested is really efficient BUT what video camera are you using? remember to turn off any "auto input mic gain" (more noise/distortion) btw for a budget of $300 i saw someone selling a line6 toneport ux8 (if you ever venture into multiple mics a.k.a drums recording) for that.

Bro. Its not even a video camera. hahahas digital cam, with video function.
If just for recording guitar issit worth to get those which has the " multiple mics " function ?

 

[blueprintstudios]

if that's the case, i highly not recommend you use any "audio input" function or its mic cos most likely it's not going to be pleasant I assume.

there's a few ways to record guitar
Direct In + Mic up . but this has been covered countless times so I suggest you google in soft.com.sg via this link

it's just that now you're solo, eventually there's a high chance you'll move into recording your own band when you find chemistry with more musicians.

 

[bluelime]

Finally i've tried to connect my guitar through the heaphones out. and the audacity program which i dled. so i guess my last steps is to get a mic ? as its too soft. btw who knows how to turn off my own laptop mic.. ( first time messing with the program)
Usb or non usb mic ?
I'm also considering a 2nd hand ux2 for $200.
So if i get hte ux2, do i still nid a mic ?

My apologies for the questions.

 

[bluelime]

Btw i'm getting the toneport gx. Hoping it will help solve my problems and bring me to the next level.
Thanks for all the replies.

 

[blueprintstudios]

hey, sorry for the late reply. I'm currently serving reservist till august, i just booked out.but will book in back on monday, then out again on wed/thurs. so I won't be able to post actively.

yes if you got a UX2 (audio interface) you won't need another "usb mic" , just get standard XLR mics. but that's if you're content with guitar recording using line6 toneport ux2 DI cabinet simulation, then not required to buy mics until you wanna record vocals or acoustic guitars etc.

 

[bluelime]

Its ok bro.
But i got the Toneport GX instead. witht gearbox interface.
Only thing is tht i cnt get to play the sound from the speakers. only when i got the earpiece plugged in to the toneport.
And at times after i "alt-tab" or go to some other programs, the earpiece sound goes off.
How?! HAHAS i'm stressed.

 

[blueprintstudios]

oops, I misread! toneport gx got no xlr inputs. yeah then make use of your gx, and eventually upgrade to an audio interface with xlr inputs in future.

you will have to plugin via this :
guitar > line6 toneport gx > usb > daw / computer
......... > line6 toneport gx > output > speakers

if gearbox running on asio drivers of the toneport gx, what happens i'm assuming is when you "switch programs" , it switches off/to your laptop/desktop onboard soundcard's.

so what you need to do to reduce confusion is to totally disable the other soundcard. go to device manager : Start > run > devmgmt.msc > sound video and game controllers > you'll see something like "realtek high definition audio (or your onboard soundcard name)", together with your line6 toneport gx, so disable the realtek fully via right click DISABLE
2ndly go to Start > Run > control mmsys.cpl,,2 , choose your line6 toneport gx as default soundcard and tick "use default devices".

that should use your toneport gx for all purposes, for your guitar playing,for watching movies/listening to mp3s etc.

if the "alt-tab" problem still occurs, it's most likely because toneport gx only focuses its asio drivers when gearbox is running. so you're not able to "multitask" playing mp3 while running gearbox. only one "audio" program at a time.

if you wanna multitask, this is at your own risk ok, try www.asio4all.com and use the drivers there to replace toneport gx's. and it may/may not work cos I've tried with different audio interfaces in the past and got very mixed results.

let me know how it goes gd luck!

 

[bluelime]

Thanks i'll try it out.
=blueprintstudios

 

[logicdroid]

Hi,

I hope you've found a solution.

If you have an iPhone with multi-tasking, buy iRig from IK Multimedia, then go download the free App "Amplitube for iPhone/Pad" from their website. Another one would be AmpKit from Peavey me thinx.

You can plug the output into any tape/CD/DVD recorder or straight into a PC/MAC/Linux's onboard soundcard. Better still into your video cam.

No hassle.

Best,

 

[bluelime]

Thanks bro. but i do not own a iphone. plus my project is fianally over !! HAhahas relac time.