Practically Brand New to Recording.

[Slashcard]

All right, so I am at this site to hopefully learn a great deal about recording.

I've only done a little bit of recording in the past with really basic stuff. (Acid, bleh)

I am primarily a guitarist with excellent vocal abilities and also the ability to also pick up whatever I put my hands on. I tend to learn fairly quickly if given a thorough explanation.

Now, I am <b>extremely</b> budgeted at this moment so I'm trying to do what I can with what I have. First off, here is a list of the gear I have available to me.

ESP EC-100 QM (LTD branch of course.)

Line6 Spider III 15 Model (apartment complications)

This computer with no modifications thus far.
Gateway GT5428

A few Digitech Pedals (Verb, Synthwah)

Basic non-description Mic.

And Audacity 1.2.6

So anyway, here are some of my questions.

First, should I or should I not direct out my amp to the computer? In doing so I tend to get some horrible feedback and hissing. I can only make it so minimal, and the Noise Gate offered through the amp doesn't seem to help. As well, I tend to get very clear and crisp recording from using the mic, but am a little cautious about the clarity in differentiating notes. I don't care too much about getting an even near studio quality recording as long as it's clear and differentiation doesn't become a problem.

Also, I play particularly metal and japanese influenced bits. IE Dream Theater, Malice Mizer, Metallica, D, so on and so forth.

Any help or further questioning would be HIGHLY appreciated.

Thank you all for your time.

 

[mikemorgan]

You really need some better way to get sound in and out of your computer, not to mention some way to hook that microphone to it. I hope you can budget for a computer interface of some kind. Check out the Line6 Toneport. It's very minimal as far as an interface goes, but you're already familiar with the Line6 product line, and this device should have a flatter learning curve.

 

[Slashcard]

Thank you very much, I also have various adapters and can get the mic. hooked up without any issues. And I was considering the Toneport, but I was wondering about Vista compatibility issues as a great deal of recording products I'm told do not have drivers capable yet. I'll try getting some recordings going through the mic to test things out, and thanks again!

 

[mikemorgan]

Oh, Vista, you didn't mention that. Vista may prove to be the death of PC recording as we know it. Vista looks pretty daunting at this point. I doubt if Line6 has cracked that book yet.

 

[Slashcard]

Yeah, I checked out their FAQ forums and they said the gearbox has an updated driver, and it's suppose to do something for Toneport but users find more difficulties then originally intended.