basic recording

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fingmung

New member
ok basically i'm having heaps of trouble recording electric guitar. ive tried DI and it sounds realy weak and quiet. then i'll try micing my amp and it still sounds weak and quiet. i record through cool edit pro on a laptop. i use either a shure beta or a shure sm-58, put it through a 16 channel mixer, then into a laptop. Do i need to turn the amp up louder to fix this problem??? :confused:

Also as i record i get this buzzing/static in the background and can't get rid of it. Is it due to bad leads??? :confused:

Any suggestions would be fantastic as i dont have a clue what im doing
 
What kind of mixer do you have? Are you turning up the preamp gain on your mixer? (not the level faders, but the preamp gain)
 
more questions!

ok i have an alto l-16 mixer. i usualy use 1 mic to record, however ive been told that 2 mics will do a better job. abt the preamp gain on the mixers, is that the 'trim'?

also, i use the 2 'input' jacks on the mixer to attach it to the laptop. is that correct? (i have the correct type of lead)

As u can see i realy have no clue what i am doing, but with some advice i mite b on my way to my dream job as a recording artist! :D
 
Yeah, that's the trim knob. Try boosting that up. You want to have your fader set at about the zero mark (about 75% of the way up). Play your guitar and adjust the trim until your level meter starts sneaking up into the red area. Once that happens, back your trim off a bit and there you go.

Also, just to make sure...are you using the XLR input on your mixer? If your micing your amp, you'll get a better signal that way, rather than using an XLR to 1/4" cable.
 
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so i should use the 'xlr'? is that the 3 pronged plug? (and yes im sure that is the technical name ;) ) if this is what u mean, than is this the lead i should be using to attach my mixer to my comp? if so, how is that possible, because the other end of this lead is virtualy the same, not the standard 'headphone' input jack.

Finaly, do i need to turn my amp up loud to get a decent amount of volume on the recording, or leave that up to the mixer?
 
try this signal chain...micing a guitar cabinet
mic(XLR)>>>>mixer mic input (XLR)>>>>insert out of mixer(ROUND QUARTER INCH HOLE)>>>>soundcard line in OR group out of mixer (or aux)>>>>>soundcard line in.
it would help to know the brand of mixer and sound card and your pc confign so i can help further.
peace.
 
Try messing around w/ mic placement. You'll probably find that's your biggest culprit. Try placing the mic 1-2" away from the grille pointing towards the cone, starting at the outer edge. Your going to get a little buzz from the amp itself when the pickups on your guitar are up, that's normal. How bad is it?

Also check your EQ setting on your amp before you mic it up. Does it sound exactly like you want it? If you have all your mids scooped out, please add some back in. Play it at a decent volume, it probably doesn't have to be screaming to get something "decent"
 
fingmung said:
ive been told that 2 mics will do a better job.
Click to expand...
You will have to watch out for phase cancelation with more than 1 mic. That could be why the guitar sounds week.
TimboZ
 
its all in POWER!

ok i use a laptop too and this is what i have found.
sound cards on a laptop stink they are just for playing things like mixed MP3's and all the little buzzing clicking and burping of windows.
so they make a little racket here is what i do...
when i run into my windows sound card (i use a better one now) i make sure i am running on battery and not power supply and for what ever reason this takes care of things very nice :D now also if you have a buss in your laptop you may want to check into the "indigo echo recording sound card" its a very good little sound card for about $179 very well worth it i use mine all the time now never use the native one much :) also cool edit has some good filters if you still have any noise going on.
 
thnku!

ok firstly id like to thank every1 for their replys! i didnt expect so many (or many at all) for my newbie questions, but they r extremely helpful.

Ok someone asked what sort of mixer i have. it is an 'alto' l-16. The exact way i have been setting it up is simply by plugging a mic. into the standard 3 pronged input (is that xlr?). I have been told to set my trim to about 75% of the way, but how about the faders (there is 2, the chanel fader and the main one) so how much do i set these to?

Next i send it to my laptop the input at the back of the mixer (and i have been using the certified lead to do this.) I plug the other end of this into the front of the laptop with the picture of the mic.

I use cool edit pro 2.0 and am familiar with the settings. The sound card on the laptop is either 8bit or 16 bit, im not sure. My downstairs computer is 64 bit, should i be using this pc???

finaly there are several presets on the mixer such as reverb, delay, large hall, small hall etc. Is this the same as using a mic. preamp? IS this a mic. preamp?

any replies would be GREATLY appreciated :) :) :)
 
tell me - does your laptop have a line input ?
you should not be using mic input on a laptop. they are very poor circuits.
do a search of this forum and you will see folks use various products for pro results using a laptop BUT NOT A BUILT IN LAPTOP SOUND CARD.
peace.
 
fingmung said:
into the standard 3 pronged input (is that xlr?).
Click to expand...
Yep, that's XLR.
fingmung said:
I have been told to set my trim to about 75% of the way, but how about the faders (there is 2, the chanel fader and the main one) so how much do i set these to?
Click to expand...
Actually, it's the other way around. Set faders (the channel one) to 75%. The trim needs to be adjusted accordingly while playing your instrument until your level meter starts to show clipping (hitting the red area). Once this happens, then back the trim down a bit. Sorry I wasn't too clear on that one.

As the for the rest, that's not my area. Manning1 is good about this stuff. Good luck, you'll get there.
 
fingmung. what is your other computer "downstairs" ???
you say its 64 bit....what is it ?
please post its configuration IN FULL please. and i'll comment further.
also list what are in the pci slots. if you are unsure what it contains look at your invoice from where you bought it.
also post your laptop confign IN FULL.peace.
 
ok ive turned my office upside down looking for manuals and info on my computer and this is what i came up with.

1)Someone asked what type of computer i have downstairs. It is a pentium two with the sound card: Creative Adio PCI - SB PCI 64/128 (not sure if thats any help but thats all i could find.)

2) someone asked what the comp confign is. all i could find was a diagram of the jacks and connectors of the sound card. it consisted of a line out, AUX in, mic. jack, MIDI connector, modem connector, Audio input and a CD audio connector. (once again im not sure if this helps.) Also i know that i have a sound card, video card and a modem card connected into my pci's (hope all this helps)

Manning1 suggests that external sound cards perform better. should i invest in one of these???

And believe me all this is helping greatly!!! :D :D :D
 
fingmung. your system downstairs is NOT 64 bit.
with respect its rather old. i would not advise you use it.

whats your laptop confign ? how old is it ?
 
laptop info

its not 64 bit!? dam i though i had a good sound card :( lol ahwell.

the laptop is about 4 yrs old. its an acer travel mate 514T. Apparently it has 64 mb and a 465 mhz processor. it runs on microsoft xp. So i shouyldnt b using my downstairs computer to record???
 
fingmung. with respect both computers are old.
and not suited to modern multitrack studio work.
i have no wish to upset you but your sound cards are not suited to proper quality recording either.
also with respect i think you need to get some tutorials on computer recording. i'm just trying to help. go to pgmusic.com and click support....
scroll down page and look for the heading free tutorials.
just read, read, read.....also do a lot of reading on the net.
and search under my name for lots of tips posted in past year.
here is a modern system that will do recording with lots of tracks...
amd athlon , 512 ram, two 7200 rpm hard drives.
one small hard drive for windows, and one larger for your audio tracks.
stay away from creative sb sound cards. look at something like an audiophile 2496 or ilk. and a yamaha mg mixer, and some decent mics like cad. or beyer, or shure. budget around 2k including the computer.
if you shop wisely you might be able to pay less.
if you go into more detail what you are trying to accomplish with your music, and forgetting the gear for a moment i'll make more suggestions.
i'm a computer engr with my own studio rig just trying to help.
peace.
 
manning1. thnx heaps dude for the suggestions and stuff. ill take ur advice on the tutorials and hopefully have some decent questions that are easy to answer.
cheers
 
still workin on getting new PC

manning1 said:
fingmung. with respect both computers are old.
and not suited to modern multitrack studio work.
i have no wish to upset you but your sound cards are not suited to proper quality recording either.
also with respect i think you need to get some tutorials on computer recording. i'm just trying to help. go to pgmusic.com and click support....
scroll down page and look for the heading free tutorials.
just read, read, read.....also do a lot of reading on the net.
and search under my name for lots of tips posted in past year.
here is a modern system that will do recording with lots of tracks...
amd athlon , 512 ram, two 7200 rpm hard drives.
one small hard drive for windows, and one larger for your audio tracks.
stay away from creative sb sound cards. look at something like an audiophile 2496 or ilk. and a yamaha mg mixer, and some decent mics like cad. or beyer, or shure. budget around 2k including the computer.
if you shop wisely you might be able to pay less.
if you go into more detail what you are trying to accomplish with your music, and forgetting the gear for a moment i'll make more suggestions.
i'm a computer engr with my own studio rig just trying to help.
peace.
Click to expand...


I know this is off topic. Just wanted your opinion. I have the old, I guess original version of CEP. I like it. it works for me. Is there anything about the newer versions that are all that spectacularly different or better?

Thanks,

Bill
 
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