Recording music from amp to com.

[Sylash]

Ok guys, I really think this is simple but I don't know how to do it. If anybody is kind enough to explain to me can you please tell me the equipment (wires, software) I would need to purchase to make this happen?

All I wanna do is to just play and record my playing into the computer and have it played back to me, and it's something like an audio file. I once tried putting my mic near the amp to record but it failed *sounds dumb as well*.

Cheers

 

[Sylash]

Oh and one more thing, can I plug the amp into the computer's speakers and record it using smth or what?

 

[Snikrs]

Hmm. Miking the amp isn't stupid. It's the non-direct method of recording.

Actually, what you have done is right. But, you might want to invest in a good instrument mike, such as a Shure SM57 and an audio interface which you can use to link the mike to the computer.

Or, you could simply plug the output of the amp to the audio interface and to the computer. However, this way, you would have to enable software monitoring on your computer to listen to your guitar while playing.

So, I would recommend miking the amp. Sounds more natural too.

 

[economaki]

Yep, as snikrs said, recording guitar sounds from amps are a more common and natural way. What mic did you use to record your guitar and what amp are you using? you'll need a good instrument mic, like mentioned above, a shure sm57 and a usb or firewire usb interface to link it to your com. Or you can choose to do direct recording like what i do, instead of plugging my guitar to an amp i plug it to my line 6 tone port ux2 directly and model my guitar amps using it's software.

 

[Sylash]

[=Snikrs

Hmmm so basically I get a real good mic, put it near the amp or somewhere that it can hear the amp, and just... record into the computer? which recording software would you recommend?

 

[Snikrs]

A good instrument microphone would be recommended, as it would capture as much of the original sound. Different instrument microphones would have different sounds too, but this is probably not so much of a problem as you can always equalize the sound on the computer again.

How you place the microphone would also affect how the recorded track will sound. For example, you could mike the amp directly infront of it. It would have a very clear sound from the amp, picking up all the sound coming from the amp. Another example would be miking the amp from far away. This will cause the mike to pic up ambient noises too, giving a more natural sound.

I use a cheap $5 computer microphone to mike my acoustic guitar. But use a Shure SM57 to mike my electric's amp. It's all about your preference for the different recorded sounds.

There are many software out there which accomodate multi-track recording. A popular and FREE software would be Audacity - http://audacity.sourceforge.net/. It does not have all the bells and whistles of commercial editors such as SoundForge, but it's more than enough if you're just recording an instrument at a time.

Cheers.

 

[Sylash]

Wow... thanks very much!!! I'll go try it soon or something. Hahah... Thanks for all your responses Any questions I'll ask again. teehee