Home Recording with SB Live!

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leedon

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I have recently purchased an SB Live! with the Live Drive II. I want to record some guitar tracks, but I'm having problems with the sound. I have a Les Paul, Marshall 40W ValveState, a Zoom GFX-707 effects pedal. What is the best way to record ? At the moment I am running a cable from the Line-out of my Marshall Amp into the Line-In of my SB. However, the guitar sounds *very* overdistorted. Not a nice sound at all. How can I match the sound going into my PC with the sound coming out of my amp ?
 
Very overdistorted -- not a nice sound at all? Is it possible you are overdriving the Line In to the card and so getting a clipped signal? Did you adjust the sound card's Line In level at all?

You might discover that recording a direct out from an amp is unsatisfactory. Most "real" guitar sounds are captured with a mic or two (usually a Shure SM-57) run through a mixer. You might have better luck plugging the output of the GFX-707 into the sound card and using the "amp tone simulator."
 
sb Not to good for me

Well if you cannot figure out how to fix the problem you may want to take it back if you can. I just took the very same program back. It was totally worthless and I lost a couple of songs. If you can take it back you may want to and purchase something else. I have heard of a lot of good things about sb live but when I took it back the clerk told me they have had a lot returns on it because it didnt work right. You may want to check out sweetwater.com they have some sweet sound cards, like they have a sound card that has a scsi port that connects to external extension that has 8 1/4 jacks as well as aux out, they also have a mixer that conect to usb that controls everything you do on your computer. Like I said if you can figure out what the problem is it may be woth it but if you cant you may want to get a refund, when I couldnt figure it out before I took it back I let a recording tech try it and my computer tech and they both said I should take it back.
 
yes AlChuck, thats exactly what I was going to say. The amp in this case is an unneessary step in your chain.
 
I have tried both with and without the amp - running through the GFX-707. I cannot get a nice punk/rock guitar sound (Green Day etc.). The guitar sound is very 'tinny' and has no crunch to it. I realise that the best way is to use a mic, but since I am only using it for home use, I don't want to have to spend a lot of money on accessories. Is it possible to get a decent distortion sound without a mic though ? Could it be my GFX-707 settings that need changing ? Has it been done before, in other words - recording through a line-in and getting a good sound ?
 
Most direct out on amps just don't cut it. Always has the tin can feel. Also as stated are you using the mixer with the card to get the best single to the card? I'm not familiar with the Zoom. I'm guessing it has a preamp or amp sim on it. If this the case then again set-up a preset or use one that incorporates these features. I'm guessing not all the presets use them so something that sounded good through the amp may sound like crap direct. Monitor the single going into the card and not using headphones on the Zoom, If it has that option. The SB Live is not the greatest card but I would hope you can get useable results. Bottom line there needs to be good preamplification before the card to get the optimum single to the card. A Shure SM57 and even a mediocre preamp with yield much better results for you.

By the way welcome to the world of recording guitar. It's not easy or cheap all the time.
 
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