Need help Recording

[gitarrrr_pirate]

Ya, u guessed it, another person who needs help recording, sorry for the spam but i just need a hand.

I want to record to my pc obviously and what I have at the moment is an electric/acoustic guitar, a zoomII, and an amp. I was hoping to avoid buying a pre-amp. I was hoping someone could just gimmie the steps i need to take to record....

Thanks for your time

 

[TimOBrien]

Get a basic book:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/07...ce&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance

 

[Cloneboy Studio]

Why would you want to avoid a preamp? Preamps are awesome.

 

[gitarrrr_pirate]

well, all i want to know is if i can record with the equipment i have and just a simple way to set it all up

 

[LfO]

Do you have recording software installed?

What kind of soundcard do you have?

What cables have your already got?

 

[gitarrrr_pirate]

i have a creative SB live sound card, I dont know what cables I need, and I need some ideas on software....

 

[dang donkey]

Since it's a SB Live did a live drive come with the sound card?
If not you will need a 1/4 to 1/8 converter to plug the out from your zoom into the in on the soundcard.
Once that is done fire up your wave recording software and rock on.

But you really should do some reading

 

[LfO]

Yeah, I would read up at

http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm

to get a good idea of where you can go with this whole thing. If you decide to just keep it simple, that's fine, but if you want to start progressing toward a home studio, you should know where you're headed.

If you're going the home studio route, check out Cakewalk's Home Studio, or the low-end version of Steinberg's Cubase ("LE", is it?). If you just want to record yourself playing for reference, you can record with whatever little audio apps windows comes with, or get the slimmed-down Sound Forge from Best Buy.

Shop around zzounds.com, music123.com, americanmusical.com for examples.

I want to say you'll need a DI box (aka Direct Box or Direct Input Box) to get the signal up to a decent level for the sound card to record - any guitarist's out there care to back me up/shoot me down?

 

[LfO]

Ah, Tweak backs me up - read this (part of The Guide):

http://www.tweakheadz.com/setting_up_your_audio_card.htm

Methinks you're recording chain will be:

guitar->zoom->DI box->soundcard "Line In"
(if you want to use your amp, you'll have to get a mic AND a pre-amp for the mic - UNLESS your amp has a line out/phones out, in which case it might serve as a DI box)

So, I THINK you're shopping list should be:

DI box
Cakewalk/Steinberg/SoundForge recording software
a few instrument cables
1/4" to 1/8" adapter

 

[cellardweller]

N track is used by quite a few around here.

Yoda~Inexpensive it is.

 

[gitarrrr_pirate]

Ah, Tweak backs me up - read this (part of The Guide):

http://www.tweakheadz.com/setting_up_your_audio_card.htm

Methinks you're recording chain will be:

guitar->zoom->DI box->soundcard "Line In"
(if you want to use your amp, you'll have to get a mic AND a pre-amp for the mic - UNLESS your amp has a line out/phones out, in which case it might serve as a DI box)

So, I THINK you're shopping list should be:

DI box
Cakewalk/Steinberg/SoundForge recording software
a few instrument cables
1/4" to 1/8" adapter

What exactly is a DI box and a 1/4 to 1/8 adapter?
Are they expensive?

Thanks for the help btw

 

[snow lizard]

What exactly is a DI box and a 1/4 to 1/8 adapter?
Are they expensive?

Thanks for the help btw

A DI box is a device that will split a 1/4" unbalanced input signal (from a guitar, going to an amp for example) to a 1/4" unbalanced output signal, AND some kind of (XLR, usually) balanced output signal for connection to a mixing console or microphone preamp. (Also called "Direct Box", or "Direct Injection Box".)

Note: if your soundcard has anything on it that says "line in" or something very similar, a direct box is probably not essential for you to get started. Run the line out from either the Zoom or your amp to the soundcard's line input. Also note, if you don't have a microphone preamp, a DI is useless to you.

A 1/4" to 1'8" adapter is a thing that goes from a jack that will accept a guitar cable to a plug that will fit in one of those tiny little jacks, much like the one on the front of your CD drive that says "headphones". The one you're interested in will be on the back of your soundcard, and will say "Line In" unless the Live Drive thing has a 1/4" input already.


sl

 

[gitarrrr_pirate]

great, thanks for the help all