Recording guitar with 1/4 to 1/8 adapter good idea?

F

flyingdutch16

New member
Hey guys,

A friend and I decided to start recording some music. He is a very well experienced guitar player and we just want to record some of his tracks and just play around with and stuff. If we get serious I might buy an keyboard. Anyways I have a macbook(white late 2010) With garageband and was wondering if i bought a 1/4 inch to 1/8 inch adapter if i could record his guitar with that. Iknow there only one audio port on the macbook but it works for audio in and audio out. For now this is the cheapest way to go. Its 8 bucks orso with shipping. Later on I might buy a M-Audio to beable to record a mic as well. An input would be great!

Thanks guys!
 
The onboard audio on a Mac or PC is designed for cheap computer mics and the preamps are terrible. If you go to plug a guitar straight in it's going to most likely sound really muddy and noisy. If you are looking to just get a guitar sound into the computer without using a mic or amp you can connect something like a POD or similar guitar effects processor into it but don't expect stellar results. If you are serious it would be best to get an interface.
 
Kudos to Murdersgalore for addressing the issue with some real information, instead of nearly pointless one-liners...:rolleyes:

From what I see in your post, here, it appears a M-audio box might suit you best. Which one, I can't say, don't know their line very well, but I'd guess their stuff will fit both your immediate needs and your budget.
 
No matter what interface or adapter you use, it needs to have a 'HiZ' input (designed for high impedance load) and a decent preamp, or as has been said, the sound is going to be crappy.
 
Thanks for the tips guys. I purchased it anyways. We shall see how it goes on thursday.
I was looking at this recording interface by M-audio its called Avid® Recording Studio sorry cant post links yet :/
its a 130 bucks not to bad. Any suggestions for others in that price range?
 
flyingdutch16 said:
Thanks for the tips guys. I purchased it anyways. We shall see how it goes on thursday.
I was looking at this recording interface by M-audio its called Avid® Recording Studio sorry cant post links yet :/
its a 130 bucks not to bad. Any suggestions for others in that price range?
Click to expand...

Spend $160 and get an interface that comes with a decent DAW. Or download the free trial of Reaper and spend $40 if it works for you.
do not spend $130 in mixing software and $1 on hardware. It's a mistake.
 
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