Request advice on digital recording setup for guitar

E

earthcub

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I'm trying to break into doing recording on computer. The thing I'd like to get is advice on the right card, pre-amp, setup for acoustic and electric guitar.

I spent a little bit of money on a SBLive and a Art MP Tube just to get a feel for doing this. Now, I really want to get better components to decrease line noise, and get better sound quality. I just can't decide whether to go with running my guitar thru an amp, and then mic the amp, run it thru a compressor/breakout box and apply the effects via software, or run the guitar thru a pedal base and out a miked amp, then to the card, or run everything thru a mixer first, and then to the sound card... I also want to be able to use a preamp for miking vocals and the acoustic.

Would love to hear what some ya'll have done!

Cheers!
 
here's what you can do,

electric gtr,
gtr->pedal->preamp->souncard(line-in)

acoustic gtr & vocal,
mic->preamp->soundcard(line-in)

BTW, what mic are you using?

For better sound quality, you need a better soundcard (with good converters) and a good mic.
 
My mics are a RODE NT2 and a Beyer Dynamic M300.

BTW - As far as the actual pres and the soundcard, opinions on whether to use a card with built in pres, separate pres, or a mixer with pres?

Are the pres in the sound cards as good or... than separate units?
One of the main reasons I ask is that it seems it would be a better investment to get something I could use live as well as record with, but the sound cards I've looked into look as though they require mics ins or 1/4 ins, be rarely both. So should I go with a separate pre and a mixer like a Mackie 1202?
 
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I have a mid-price ($500) Hoontech 24 bit card with 8 inputs on the breakout box,two of which are XLR with preamps.Even at this level of card the pres are noisy and not up to snuff.
The pres on dedicated mixers are ok,but it really depends on how pristine a level of sound you are trying to record.For,example,you may buy a nice card with 100 dB signal to noise ratio,but using noisy pres will give a noise floor of,say, -60 dB or so.
My point is that all your gear should be matched up in general terms of quality,because the weakest link will determine your overall sound.

Tom
 
So Tom...
Let me ask you this... Do you have any special techniques or equipment you employ to deal with the noise or are you not as concerned with high end big watt systems replayiong your music?

What I'm after is combining guitar with eletronic music which generally has a more pristine sound, so I really want to eliminate as much noise as possible within budget. I really want to try to stay within around $1,500 for a sound card preamp setup.

Cheers
 
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