Acoustic guitars, Laptops, and Soundcards. Help!

[AndrewAndrew]

Hey, I have a question regarding acoustic guitars, laptop computers, and soundcards. Right now I am trying to record with this set-up: my 70's Ovation, mic'd with an sm57 at the soundhole, running into a Behringer ub2222fx-pro. I run this into the *mic input* of my Toshiba Satellite A45 (i read on homerecording.com that it is nearly unacceptable to run any recordings into the mic in, but i have no choice because it doesn't have a regular line-in). I use Cakewalk 9.
I have, so far, not been able to reproduce an acceptable acoustic guitar sound. I have been trying to fool around with the EQ settings, but I know there has to be a better way than this! Would getting a good external soundcard be a worthy investment? It would take a lot of saving. I am only planning to record at most 2 or 3 instruments at a time.
Please help!
Andrew

 

[reshp1]

What's making your sound "unacceptable?" Is it distorted, tone not right, sound thin/boomy, staticy?

The mic in on your laptop(?) should be okay, not good, but with the right setup usable. Make sure that you're not clipping anywhere in the signal chain. Listen to what the mixer is outputing from the headphone jack of the mixer, if it sounds okay there, and sounds distorted/clipped in the recording, then see if you can send the signal at a lower volume from the mixer.

Also, you DO NOT want to place the mic at the soundhole. A good place to start is pointed dead on at the 12th fret, probably 6-12 inches off the neck. The "woosh" of air coming out of the soundhole will sound tubby and boomy as hell if you put a mic directly in front.

Hope this helps.

 

[manning1]

andrew. laptop sound cards. are poor quality. its a given fact sadly.
also there is a potential impedence mismatch between the output from your mixer and the sound card mic input.
if there was a decent solution i would tell you.
most people wanting a decent acoustic recording would use a condenser microphone (eg..for cheap try a cad gxl for 50 bucks), and an external
laptop sound interface. peace.

 

[AndrewAndrew]

As far as unacceptable sound I mean that it doesn't sound like the clean, pretty, acoustic guitar that it is. It sounds muffled, and swampy. All the sounds seem to just blend together into a nasty soup. yes, the computer is a laptop (sorry I forgot to mention). So far the solution that it seems like most people would suggest is an external soundcard and a good condenser mic. What is special about a condenser mic vs. an sm57? Also, what aspect of the external sound card would help in this situation?
Thanks for the help,
Andrew

 

[manning1]

what your hearing andrew are poor audio convertors in the laptop sound card. simply put... to get quality sound you have to invest in a quality signal chain. you might want to ask your question as well in the rack section of this bbs.
youll get a hundred different opinions from a hundred different engineers on which gear combo is best.
my budget suggestion is a cad gxl into a dmp3 mic pre feeding
an external sound device to your laptop.
if you post your laptop confign IN DETAIL i'll offer comments. peace.