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Post by jkemmery on Mar 4, 2008 8:34:26 GMT -5
OK, well, I'd love to post sound samples of some of my wiring mods, different pickups, etc ... however, I'm really not sure what the best way to go about it is. Or rather, is there a way to hook the output from my amp to the microphone jack on my sound board without frying my computer. I've tried audio microphones through there and, well, they suck. Can someone give a simple primer on turning your playing into digital files that can then be posted? Thanks in advance.
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Post by Runewalker on Mar 4, 2008 10:51:19 GMT -5
OK, well, I'd love to post sound samples of some of my wiring mods, different pickups, etc ... however, I'm really not sure what the best way to go about it is. Or rather, is there a way to hook the output from my amp to the microphone jack on my sound board without frying my computer. I've tried audio microphones through there and, well, they suck. Can someone give a simple primer on turning your playing into digital files that can then be posted? Thanks in advance. JK: I don't know the "proper" way, just felt my path blindly until I figured out "a" way, opposed to "the" way. You will need at least a rudimentary piece of recording software. I am unaware of one bundled with Windows. I don't use Audacity but have friends who do and who are complementary of it. It is the only free one I know of. audacity.sourceforge.net/ It does have a key transposer I have been interesting in trying thought. Then you guitar to computer connection can be a simple as going to Rat Shack and getting a 1/4" to (what is on the sound card anyway? 1/8th"?) adapter and going dry from the guitar to the sound card. If you are going to use boxes, be carefull about your levels. You can adjust these with the Windows vol control: Options/Properties/ Recording then the "line-in" slider. Back to "playback" for adjusting computer speaker monitoring. Hope that is clear as a "down and dirty" primer. RW
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Post by ashcatlt on Mar 4, 2008 14:30:10 GMT -5
There is, in fact, a recording app bundled with Windows. Has been AFAIK since Bill Gates put a human friendly GUI on his operating system. It's called "Sound Recorder." Nowadays it resides under the Start menu|All Programs|Accessories. Different versions of Windows may have different sub-menus from there. On this machine it's found under Entertainment. Poke around, you'll find it.
It's the most basic of apps, exactly the same as it was back in 3.0 days.
You can do as above and just plug a 1/4" > 1/8" straight into the mic (or line) input. Windows will only record from one of the 2 inputs on your standard soundcard at a time. You'll need to be sure that you've clicked the "Select" check-box for which ever of the inputs you've chosen.
And it'll sound like crap! Firstly, those inputs are far lower impedance than your pickups really want to see. Second, you're going to hear (for the first time?) the raw signal coming from the pickups without any of the coloration of amp/speaker/cabinet.
If your amp has a direct or recording output you can plug from there into your computer. In this case I'd definitely go into the line input. You can use a headphone out, too, but you'll have to be careful of the volume. Can't actually hurt the computer, but could easily push your soundcard into distotion. If nothing else, at least your guitar will see the Hi-Z load of your amp. Unless you've got one of these newer amps with speaker emulation on its DI out, it'll still sound like crap. Especially if you use distortion.
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Post by quarry on Apr 21, 2008 3:05:05 GMT -5
For those of you who might be using the Sound Recorder found in Windows, here is a neat little trick to record more than the default 60 seconds...
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Post by D2o on Apr 21, 2008 9:20:34 GMT -5
Nice find, quarry. I used to "piece" bits together - after the fact ... annoying ... cumbersome ... crappy. I can't remember if I ever figured out what is shown in the video, because I eventually stumbled upon two free pieces of software that work so much better: MP3 recorder - something crazy like 60 minutes duration, excellent quality ... www.mp3mymp3.com/... but you can't edit with it, soooo ... Wavepad editing software (there is also Mixpad, which appears to be sorta similar, but I have not used for some reason). Despite it's name, "Wave"pad edits and saves MP3s too. www.nch.com.au/wavepad/masters.htmlWavepad supposedly can record, but I have had better results with the MP3 recorder above.
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hazysonic
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Post by hazysonic on Nov 24, 2008 11:56:36 GMT -5
I would also suggest using Audacity. It's a great free piece of software that's easy to use. I would recommend Razorlame to convert to mp3.
a microphone for your amp will get much better results than plugging your guitar into your computer. If you don't have any recording equipment you could at least pick up a cheap lapel microphone from radioshack, which would plug into the mic jack of your computer.
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