Home Studio Recording

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ECS

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Ok heres some background about my setup.

Ive got a Marshall 15 Watt amp (pretty crappy)
Epiphone Explorer
SoundBlaster Audigy Platinumn EX
Recording with a headset mic.

My recordings always have this ringing and feedback (very subtle) in the background. My Distortion is also terrible when i am not playing (much feedback).

I need to know a way to make the recordings that i make into nice sounding near-studio-quality sound using household things. Maybe suggestions on stuff to buy as well.
 
if the sound coming out of the amp is "pretty crappy", a pro studio won't help.....

get the sound coming out of your amp the way you want it...mic it with a sm57 and an art tube mp into the soundcard.......this would be capable of demo quality at best.....

if you want near studio quality sound, you will need near studio quality equipment......
 
My amp is pretty noisy also. Until you get money to remedy the situation, just mute the parts when the guitar isn't playing. It works fine.
But I do agree with Gidge, you gotta start at the source, and work your way up the chain. It gets a little expensive. Good Luck.
 
Stealthtech said:
Get yourself a quality mic.
Click to expand...
Well, a quality mic won't do you much good until you are happy with the guitar sound. If your guitar sounds like poo, the best mic in the world will just make a very accurate reproduction of poo, and that doesn't help you much. I say concentrate on getting a good guitar/amp first. A cheap SM57 should be all you need to record it.
 
Some of the greatest sounds on record were done through a Pignose amp so don't think you automatically need a half stack to create a killer sound.

Mess with different mics - 2 mics, 3 mics, 1 mic near and 2 far, 1 mic facing it and 1 mic facing the wall in front of it, one mic from the rear and one from the front, put it in the bathtub with a mic on it and another one 10 feet away (facing it or facing the tiles, whatever sounds cool), EXPERIMENT!

This is what made the music of the Beatles and George Martin's production so great, their willingness to try all kinds of stuff. John singing in a cardboard box, guitars through a Leslie cabinet (now a standard used countless times), and little bits of tape loops were all stuff that hadn't been tried much before they did it.
 
Stealthtech said:
Get yourself a quality mic.
Click to expand...

:D Hmmm. And while you're at it, get yourself a quality amp, too. And a quality guitar . . . and come to think of it, a quality soundcard.

You can probably make do with the soundcard for now. You must have places near you who rent gear. Rent yourself a decent guitar, amp, mic (and preamp) for the weekend. Or just do what Gidge said and trade in for a J-Station. :D
 
ECS said:
My recordings always have this ringing and feedback (very subtle) in the background. My Distortion is also terrible when i am not playing (much feedback).
Click to expand...

That is a bit weird. Are you using your mic while listening through speaker?

What exactly is your recording process?
 
my process is play the guitar, record the sound which comes out from the amp into a mic, then into the computer.

Is there a good program to use for recording either from a mic or straight into the computer?
 
ECS said:
Is there a good program to use for recording either from a mic or straight into the computer?
Click to expand...

There's a lot of 'em, actually. Take your pick . . . N-tracks, Cool Edit Pro, Cakewalk, etc etc . . . and there's one called Pro Tools that has a suite with their Digidesign products.
 
I just realized that feedback is because you are using a headphone mic not just a headset mic? If that mic is attached to headphones and you leave it sitting in front of a guitar amp then the mic could be picking up the sound from the headphone causing it to feedback. Unplug the headphone cable and that should stop.
 
if ur amp/mic are as bad as you said, you might wanna record direct, meaning plug your guitar directly into your soundcard. I had tons of fun with that setup for a yr before I bought anything else.

Program wise, ACID or Cakewalk have some cheap/basic versions.

AL
 
ya, ive been playing my guitar into my soundcard. All i need is a good distortion pedal. Any particular ones that will get the full Ozzy/Early Metallica sounds?

And is it possible to record my own guitar into Reason v2.0?
 
Why don't you try a computer program called Amplitube? It can produce some nice guitar sounds, distorted and not. You may get the sound you like without using any pedal.
 
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