New to recording

[that Duck fella]

Hi there everyone!

I'm interested in some home recording, but I am completely lost. I've browsed through forums here and the tweakheadz site, but it's a lot to take in, so I'd like to ask some questions.

Now, I am a complete newbie to all this so bear with me.

I play electric guitar and keyboard, but not professionally, I haven't even taken lessons. Basically I pick up and play. I'm not great, but I'm ok, and can write some good melodies and stuff. I know nothing about recording (execept how to use Cubase, which I used years ago at school) or amps/interfaces ands stuff.
I'd really like record some of my tunes on my computer, which I think is able enough (2gig ram, big hdd etc).

So my main objective is to buy some gear that will allow me to plug in my guitar and my keyboard (not necessarily at the same time!) and record away. I'll use midi for drums and bass for now, I'm only interested in electric guitar and keyboard

Ok here are some questions I'd like to ask:

- I understand that my internal sound card that came with the computer will need to be replaced, so that is my first mission. What connections does my card need for my instruments to plug into? Any recommendations?

- what do I need to plug in an electric guitar? Does it go through amps and other devices or can it hook straight into the soundcard?

- same question, but with keyboard?

- i've read about interfaces and things, but what do they actually do? (like I said, I'm a complete newb at this )

Basically at the moment, I'm thinking it's a simple task of plugging my guitar into the soundcard with a standard guitar lead, but I'm most probably wrong!! So hopefully you guys can give me a hand.

I'm not really after the most expensive, top of the range gear, just something simple I can use to record a few tunes which I can upload to last.fm for people to enjoy.

Cheers

 

[canadave]

Hi,

I'm new to recording too, but I think I at least can answer your questions, having played around with things for a couple of months now Of your four questions, I'll tackle the last three first, and leave the first one for last (just to keep with the confusing nature of recording)

-- the guitar will go straight into your new soundcard

-- the keyboard...it depends. My keyboard goes into my computer via a direct USB cable, in order to record MIDI (you know that MIDI is just text data, not actual sound waves, right?). If your keyboard doesn't have that capability (most newer ones do, but some may not), then you'll need to make sure your new soundcard has a MIDI in/out (I'd be hard-pressed to imagine one that wouldn't).

Now this presumes you only want to record MIDI from your keyboard. If you want to record AUDIO directly, you'll need to hook your keyboard up to your soundcard through one of the same type of audio inputs that your guitar would use.

This leads to your third question about interfaces. Basically, there are two ways of making noise: (1) making noise directly, or (2) creating MIDI tracks that are then *assigned* to "sounds" (like a guitar sound or a piano sound), which then make noise. If you are doing the former, then you need to have a way of converting analog "noise" (like the noise made by your guitar) into digital ones and zeroes (a guitar does not play ones and zeroes...it plays sound waves). To convert analog noise to digital ones and zeroes, you need--drumroll please--an "analog to digital converter". This is the "interface" we're talking about--a "translator" that can convert analog to digital. This is what you're going to get with your "soundcard".

Now this brings us to your first question about recommended soundcards. There are lots of them out there, and you may ask "what's the difference?" Well, some do the analog-to-digital conversion better than others. Some may not be made well, and will introduce hisses and pops and clicks into your music. Some connect to your computer via USB, some connect via Firewire, and some are PCI cards that go inside your computer. There are pros and cons to these (speed, latency, noise that's introduced due to electronic interference, etc). Some soundcards have multiple inputs--are you planning on ever recording an entire band's performance? You'll need more than one input. Plan on recording vocals? You should get an interface with a good mic preamp. Those are some of the considerations when choosing a soundcard.

I highly recommend you go back and re-read the Tweakheadz pages on these interfaces--the pages really were extremely helpful to me. I also can't emphasize enough that for us beginners, it's crucial not just to read something once, but maybe read it three or four times in order to truly understand it.

Once you've done that, check out sites like Zzounds.com or musiciansfriend.com, look at their audio interfaces, and read their reviews. That'll give you a sense of what's decent and what's not.

Good luck!
Dave

 

[Nick98338]

Ok here are some questions I'd like to ask:

- I understand that my internal sound card that came with the computer will need to be replaced, so that is my first mission. What connections does my card need for my instruments to plug into? Any recommendations?

- what do I need to plug in an electric guitar? Does it go through amps and other devices or can it hook straight into the soundcard?

- same question, but with keyboard?

- i've read about interfaces and things, but what do they actually do? (like I said, I'm a complete newb at this )

Basically at the moment, I'm thinking it's a simple task of plugging my guitar into the soundcard with a standard guitar lead, but I'm most probably wrong!! So hopefully you guys can give me a hand.

I'm not really after the most expensive, top of the range gear, just something simple I can use to record a few tunes which I can upload to last.fm for people to enjoy.

Cheers

Connections to the interface/soundcard... you need 1/4in jacks for straight-in guitar, XLR jacks for microphones, 1/4in or RCA jacks for keyboard audio.

Guitar... depends on your effects. If your guitar sound depends on your amp, then mic. the amp. If your effects are all in one effects box (Line 6, Digitech, Boss) then plug from the effects straight to the interface.

Keyboard audio (not midi)... plug straight into interface. Usually stereo, so you need two inputs on the interface. Guitar is mono, so you need just one input on the interface.

I plug my guitar straight into the interface with a standard guitar cable, all the time. It works for me, because all of my effects/amp simulation are in the computer. I just record the straight, dry guitar, then add the effects in the software.

I'm using a Presonus Inspire 1394 interface, but there are nearly a dozen different USB and Firewire interfaces that have XLR, and 1/4in, and RCA input jacks. Almost any of then will get you going.

 

[that Duck fella]

Thank you both for your replies, you have cleared up a lot of things for me.

I'll make sure I give tweakz and the other sites you mentioned a good read, hopefully I'll be recording in the next few weeks

 

[pipelineaudio]

the tweakheadz guide is ridiculously comprehensive.

One note though, if you are planning on recording your guitar direct, make sure that either your soundcard has a DI input or that you buy a cheap DI for it...

By direct I mean the guitar withno amplifying devices in front of it before the soundcard. The DI takes the impedance your guitar puts out, and then outputs the impedance a mic preamp wants to see.

Im making it sound more complicated than it is, so Ill shut up now

 

[Trumpspade]

I think it would be easy to cop a decent mixer and plug everything into it. (You never know, you may end up adding other instruments) Then just go straight into your new sound card from there. Well, that is how I run my instruments into my pc......It's as simple as plug n play!

 

[NeuzGrouper]

One thing I would add would be to say that there are (maybe surprisingly) a lot of areas where unless you are going to physically break something (like plugging an amps output into a line level input, that will certainly break something!), then it comes down to preference. Some of the coolest sounds end up coming from things that were not the textbook way to do it. There are also a lot of things that come down to preference.

As an example, Nick98338 does whats known as recording "Direct" with the guitar. You can also get some great sounds, pretty easily, by sticking a SM57 (microphone) in front of your guitar amp. Neither is better than the other, any more than, I dunno, apples are better than oranges. They are just different. Sometimes an apple is totally the best choice, and sometimes an orange is, and sometimes, a mixture, or, neither....

With that in mind, I would suggest that if you are going to buy an interface, try to be sure you can plug either directly into it, or plug a mic into it. (xlr input for mics, 1/4" for direct..some interfaces even have a built in direct input, as pipelineaudio mentioned). If you do that, you leave yourself a lot more room to experiment down the road.

My last bit of advice is MIDI is a WHOLE other ball of wax, not that its better or worse, but basically, my experience has been that its a whole other thing, and that most of the music that is MIDI based has a tendency to be more slanted towards the "electronic" kind of feel. Thats probably a lot less true than it used to be, but still, in my experience anyway, it holds true. So, if you are not too much into the electronic style of music, you may want to hold off on getting started learning about MIDI, because it is its own subject, which would take your learning time away from learning to record actual "audio".