# Recording



## Marlon (Sep 9, 2007)

I don't have my electric guitar yet but I have a quick question regarding recording. I want to record myself playing guitar and get the best possible tone. If I have my guitar, computer, amp,and a Multieffects Pedal, how do I connect all of these and what cables do I need?

Is this the order you would connect these things: Guitar > effects pedal > amp >computer?

Also, what software would I need?


I am not sure if this is in the right section so please move topic if necessary


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Go get your new guitar...we are all waiting:wave:

Dave


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## Guest (Dec 8, 2008)

Guitar >pedals >amp >mic >sound board >computer soundcard >software

If you're running a Mac the old Garage Band software is really easy to use.


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## Maxer (Apr 20, 2007)

You actually have lots of options. Here's what I usually do: Nowadays I tend to bypass amps and pedals altogether, except for the odd time I want to mic something live off the floor.

I'm on a Mac, a dual GG tower with 4.5 gigs of RAM. I work in Logic Studio 8 in conjunction with Guitar Rig 3 (software edition only, no Rig Kontrol unit). I jack into my Edirol USB audio box, which in turn goes into the Mac. I have a pair of KRK Rokit 5's as monitors. I can treat my guitar and bass tracks with presets from Logic's own guitar emulation software, or with GR3, which to me offers more options and some really out-there tonal treatments. I also keep a smallish Edirol keyboard handy to fill in some colour here and there.

I agree with Yoda that if you're a Mac person, GarageBand makes it a breeze... it's what I started on for the first couple of years, but I've been with Logic since version 7 came out and it's a helluva fun sandbox to play in.

I should add that, whether you're on a PC or a Mac, the obvious risks you take in this sort of approach lies in producing a very clinical, canned sound. If you know this going in, you can devise a few wild cards to keep things interesting and nicely unpredictable. The other danger is the ridiculously easy trap of over-producting the shite out of everything, simply because you have all these filters/treatments/torquing techniques available to you. I find I am continually returning to old projects just to strip out superfluous, self-indulgent crap and, occasionally, injecting back in a melody or phrase that's more lean and pure, just to get back into the spirit of what I was initially intending.

One weird offshoot of my time spent in home recording is that I'm lately realizing I don't need any more guitars than I already have - in fact, I have a surplus. I could probably get by with a single great player and let the computer-based emulation handle all of the tonal character and colour.... but since I also love guitars as objects of beauty in their own right, I'm sure I'm going to keep a stable of favourites. It's nice not to have bulky amps sitting around too... I do keep a few around for when old friends come by to jam in meatspace, but the rest of the time I'm doing a lot of virtual stuff via the Mac. Tone emulation software keeps getting better, too; this is a moving target but they're devising some pretty ingenious parameters for synthesizing the essential, highly organic qualities of a great many classic amps, guitars, and combinations thereof.

Really though, a single high-end Variaxe would probably be the ticket, or a truly great electric with a phenomenal neck. Pair that with a good modern computer, a proper DAW and a good audio-in box and you can create all sorts of sonic mayhem in no time.

Most people are more old-school and work with real amps, real tubes, real sound dynamics. All respect to them, because it's hard work and it reflects a real education to be able to summon up phenomenal tones and sound in that time-honoured method. I get that, big time. Sometimes I'll bring my Fender amp into the studio and mic it when it's on a hot overdrive setting, then drag that bit of audio into Logic and use it in its 'dry' form... it definitely offers its own unique tonal signature, one not necessarily available in some guitar emulation preset. Same with recording with an acoustic guitar.. it's great to work with real-world room dynamics because some of the best recordings involve that elusive yet magical element of chance.

Whatever works for you, man. I don't advocate that people take the same path I did... just pointing out that there's tons of options out there. You're only limited by your imagination, really.


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## Kenmac (Jan 24, 2007)

If you're new to recording there's a nice freebie available called "Riffworks T4" that I talked about on this forum awhile back. The free version allows you to record 4 stereo tracks and there's a drum track as well and I find it's great for quick ideas. You don't have to set many things up as you would in a DAW recording program like Cubase, Logic, Reaper, etc. Of course once you get more comfortable with that you can move up to a more full featured program like those. It's available for PC and Mac at http://www.sonomawireworks.com However if you do have a Mac you might want to give Garageband a try as Maxer suggested.


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## Marlon (Sep 9, 2007)

Thanks everyone.

I want to directly record without using a mic. In that case would it be best to use a multi effects pedal like the boss GT 10 and plug it into the computer, or use a usb recording device like the Tascam Us-144 and plug that into my computer?

THanks


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

I'm not sure that something like a multi-effects pedal will work for that application? Maybe someone else can answer that. You might need a modeller. I use a POD 2.0 configured like: guitar -> POD -> soundcard. These come up on the used market frequently and are fairly cheap now: 

http://line6.com/pod20/

There are similar products from other manufacturers which do the same thing.


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## Marlon (Sep 9, 2007)

thanks bagpipe. If you watch the video on the Boss site it shows that you can record directly from usb to usb. 

I wonder if the quality is as good recording using the Tascam however.. 

Anyone use either the Tascam or a multi effects pedal to record?


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## Kenmac (Jan 24, 2007)

Marlon I should have mentioned that the Riffworks program I recommended has built in effects like chorus, reverb, flanger, etc. I haven't tried them myself yet but that's one of the good things about digital recording, you don't have to "print" the effects along with your guitar tone. You can add the effects later and adjust the parameters to get it to sound the way you want it to.


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