Hey Muris!

In one of you're recent posts u said that it's often best to mic the amp for recording. I would like to record my sound (I'm quite happy with it) to my Pc from my amp. What exactly do I need in between? Do you have any suggestion on the microphone to use? I'm just going for a decent quality so I can record my ideas.

Thanx for you're help

Main components: mic, mic preamp, audio interface, recording software. A short reply I know. This is mainly so that you are aware that a mic preamp is essential if you want to record for otherwise the signal level is too low to be useable. Some audio interfaces include a few mic preamps so your best bet would be to look for one that includes the number of channels you are likely to need from the beginning.

Micing the amp IS the best possible way to record electric guitar.
No modeler can replace real amp and mic takes the best of it.
As for mic, most used one both in studios and live is Shure SM57, fair price as well.
Sennheiser E609, AKG Solid Tube, Rode NT-1 etc
are also used for micing an amp.
And as Neurologi said, you would also need a mic preamp
unless your audio interface already has it.
Condenser microphone would also need phantom power,
dynamic one doesn't need phantom cause it's passive mic.

So I would say Shure SM 57, mic preamp (if needed) and recording software ofc.

Those are excellent suggestions. Pretty much all you need.

Thanks for the pointers guys!
I was looking around a bit and found some audio interfaces that had preamp included. Which ones would you recommend? I was thinking about the m-Audio fast track pro. And also you just take the output of the audio interface and connect it to the line in of the computer with a jack cable, or how does it work?

Thanx again guys your help is very appreciated!

Looks pretty good. It has phantom power as well so you will be able to connect any type of mic you end up with. It is a USB audio interface. You don't need to connect to the line input on the current sound card installed on your PC. That is what the USB connection is for. If you did as you propose, you would get a crappy signal. In effect, a reconversion of a signal already in the digital domain. Don't do that!

So the signal chain would go something like this: Source -> Mic -> Audio Interface -> PC (via USB)

Buy whatever you can afford. You can't go wrong really. Prices for half-decent audio cards/interfaces are dirt cheap nowadays compared to when they first hit market. The one you found should be sufficient to get you started. Of course, down the line you may want a higher spec unit with more channels, options and what not but you might as well keep things simple for starters until you gain some experience over time. Then you will have an idea what you need and what you don't need. Maybe the M-Audio will suit you fine for your purposes?

The one I recommend would be personal preference only and costs too much!

Thanx, I get it now. Just one more question tho. If the audio interface acts as/is actually an external soundcard, won't that conflict with the internal soundcard my Pc has? Did you guys ever have this kind of problem. I'm askin cause I tried M-audio's JamLab once which is a basic interface just a jack in and usb out and even though I installed the drivers correctly it wouldn't run, I needed to disable the internal soundcard in the BIOS first. Is this normal, should I expect it?
(By the way I have windows XP and a Realtek AC97 audio card)

Thanx

I am pretty sure the Realtek is a multimedia card. In other words, pretty dodgy. My advice would be to route all audio through the M-Audio card and bypass the internal one altogether. It is simply a matter of configuration. Any hardware or software conflicts are always difficult to remedy and are all dependent on the user's machine, OS, peripherals etc. In other words, it all depends.

The only problem I have is remembering what goes where and with what since the card I own has over 20 hardware I/O's and internal audio routing but that is the beauty of it --- complete freedom to route audio in any which way I please. I never use the internal soundcard but on occasion have used it on games since sometimes they don't recognise my main one.

It might be worth waiting a while. Muris may have a suggestion on a current audio interface you could check out? I wouldn't know since I am happy with mine (more than happy in fact) and haven't needed to keep up with the current state of the market. It has changed a lot over the last few years so it is worth doing some extra research to get the most you can for the money.

You might want to check out this thread here? Another member is asking for recommendations on audio interfaces as well ...

[EDIT] >> On second thought, the budget mentioned there is about twice the RRP for the M-Audio Fast Track Pro you are espying but 250 bucks sure sounds like a great bargain to me! Even so, it could be useful to check out the thread I linked to for additional ideas for further options.

Fast Track is cool imo, I have E-MU 1820m and it's ok.
And yeah, you should bypass the sound card on mother board and drive all sound
through interface that you'll eventually buy.

I think I've pretty much made up my mind.
Thanx again for the input guys!

Cheers!