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GMC Forum _ GEAR & PRODUCTION _ What Gear To Buy?

Posted by: Davidian Sep 4 2011, 02:21 PM

Hi,

This question might already be answered a thousand times on here, but I can't seem to find anything I clearly understand
It's, as the topic title says, about recording. I'm a complete noob, when it's about recording.

I'd like to start recording, so I can upload some lessons here or show it to some friends, maybe create some of my own songs.
But, what do I need?

I have a guitar (du-uh ), a Blackstar HT-1 (which I'll use to record with. There's an emulated output I can use) and a laptop.
What else do I need? From the research I already did, I concluded I need a DI box. And software. Am I correct?
If I'm correct: what DI box do you suggest? And What software?
If I'm not correct: what else do I need?

EDIT: I also have a Boss BR-600 around here somewhere. Don't know if that's useful. Never used it

Thanks a lot for reading and answering my question!
I appreciate it a lot. And keep up the good work here at GMC! It's an absolutely lovely place

Grtz

Maarten

Posted by: Sinisa Cekic Sep 4 2011, 10:59 PM

Hey man, Boss BR-600 is a good piece of equipment !! It's easier to make recording on it, and later export it via usb to the laptop and do fine editing !

Posted by: Bossie Sep 4 2011, 11:28 PM

you're lucky because Ivan is explaining recording for recordingnoobs like us in his blog ...look under vintage gmc> gear>production audio blog. Interesting stuff .he also explains the most common laptop setups ...succes ermee !!!

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Sep 4 2011, 11:47 PM

As Sinisa said you can use your Boss Digital recorder to record your guitar. However the easier way would be to buy an audio interface. I think that the M-audio Fast Track are really good interfaces to record at home. Check it out.

http://www.google.com.ar/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=m-audio+fast+track

Posted by: audiopaal Sep 5 2011, 07:44 AM

If I were you I'd start with an audio interface, like the one Gabriel mentions.
Although I wouldn't buy the M-Audio Fasttrack, it's a good beginners interface
If you can afford a Echo Audiofire 4, that's the best you can get for the price and above.

If you record through the Blackstar it's not even necessary with a DI, although it might help the sound
I recorded a lot through my Balckstar HT-5, and that sounded great with a good distortion pedal!

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Sep 5 2011, 08:45 AM

Well, you can tell us the budget and we can see what you can do from there.

Right now, if you don't invest anything, you still have some options:

Connect line out of the amp directly to line in on the laptop (you will need 1/4 TS connector > 1/8 TS connector cable), like this one:

Download Reaper software then. This software has a free 30 day demo licence. You can try it, and after that you should buy it, although all the functionality will be the same after 30 days as well.

When you instal Reaper, and connect everything, you can try to record something and see how it sounds.

Like Bossie suggested, I'm writing a blog on software audio production, so it may be a good idea to check it out and see why integrated audio cards are not a good solution for recording. You can manage to do some simple projects with it, and experiment a bit, but after a while, you will want to get audio interface. Gab suggested M-Audio FastTrack, and I think it's a very good entry level solution.

So, you let us know what's the budget, and if you want to experiment a bit before investing any money, and we will guide you through the process.

Posted by: Fran Sep 5 2011, 12:17 PM

Easiest and cheapest solution to record guitar without latency is to get a Pod Studio GX.
It acts as a direct box, sound card, amp and effects simulator. It also comes packe with software to control it all from your computer.

You will also need a program to actually record what you hear, and that would be Reaper, since it's great and it's a free unlimited trial.

Connecting the line out of the amp directly to line in on the laptop (you will need 1/4 TS connector > 1/8 TS connector cable), as Ivan suggests above, would be even easier and cheaper BUT it will most probably create huge LATENCY, because "normal" sound cards on computers aren't good enough.

Hope that helps.

-------

Longer answer:

The only grip about POD studio GX is that you can't control the effects/distortion etc with your feet. So if you are recording a song that has both clen and distorted sounds you would need to record those parts sepparately since you can't just stomp the effect you need while you play. Then again you could always add the effects later to a recorded dry signal, but it will require more post-production work.

There are many other devices that do exactly teh same thing as pod GX. For example pod XT, or X3, or Pandora, BOSS ME25 (beware! nor all boss ME have USB recording capabilities though!), Boss GT-8, Vox Tonelab.... the list goes on forever. Some come in pedalboard form, some don't. So keep in mind whether you'll need to step on your effects or not while you record!

Oh, and one last thing: you can even use your distortion stomps in front of the POD too!, that should solve the need to change clean/distortion while playing