Trying to Capture the Boogie, man.

[barryswanson]

I have been playing for a long time and have always wanted to record some of my tunes but have never been bothered.
But now I wanna give it a go. I have researched significantly and found so much information I'm confused and was wondering if any of you guys would be able to help me out.

What I do know is that I want to do it fairly cheaply since its my first time and I'm no pro.

I know I need an interface but it needs to work well with garage band on my Mac and my guitar cab being miced with a Shure SM57. I would also like to be able to Re amp tracks and record them at the same time.

So can anyone help me out with all this confusing gear you can buy for recording?

 

[gonzo]

any decent PCI card (Maudio) or usb interface (name your price range) will get you there.

focus on the basics of recording, figure out how to use a mic properly and gain stage correctly.
plenty of pro recordings done thru the years with a 57, so it can be done.


only then consider re-amping; you will need the correct tools to do it correctly, or dont' bother with it.


the knowledge, is ALWAYS more important than the tools.

 

[barryswanson]

Thanks for the advice. I'm really wanting to buy an interface that allows me to re amp the first time so I'm not buying twice. I've looked at Apogee one, line 6 xu2 Maudio etc but not sure if I can play back my raw pre recorded track back to my amps whilst recording them at the same time.

 

[nathan28]

Hey man there are many ways to go, but for a Big Bang for your buck would be:
Interface RME Babyface - great A/D conversion and rock solid drivers, rather than buying a reamp device, the other piece of gear would be a Focusrite ISA One mic pre, this would give you a great mic pre and DI, you would hook your guitar directly to the ISA the isa then would send your signal to your amp and directly into your DAW while the Isa pre gets your amp with your sm-57. Then after you get the track you want to reamp, you would route the recorded track to an output on your Babyface into the DI of the isa instead of your guitar, hit play and it will send the recorded DI track to any amp you want. Hope this helps

 

[BeltFedRiffs]

Well as others said interface - Id honestly look into other DAW's outside of GarageBand- there is plenty out there that either 1) come with an interface or for pretty **** cheap- Id check reaper- unless your save on PirateBay....
Reason being the In/Out limitations on Garage Band will be more of a headache than its worth.
And to top it off get you a classic SM57 mic and starting plugging away at it. Im still trying to figure things out myself and this is after years and years of bed room recording- its a lot to take in- but you can still record and enjoy it at the same time- but if you get loaded down with too much tech all at once its a lot to grasp.
The Re-amping deal is cool but if your just starting out Id hold up on that. Ive since been able to get more whiz-bang gear- and honestly I have learned that less is more - work within your means and abilities - and progress from there.

 

[MichaelJamesProducer]

Thanks for the advice. I'm really wanting to buy an interface that allows me to re amp the first time so I'm not buying twice. I've looked at Apogee one, line 6 xu2 Maudio etc but not sure if I can play back my raw pre recorded track back to my amps whilst recording them at the same time.

You need a 2x4 (2 in x 4 out) interface like Apogee Duet 2. You will also need a separate Reamp box, like Radial X Amp or Little Labs Redeye 3D Phantom. The Duet will record your DI signal (instrument level) and a mic (line level) at the same time just fine. But... when you reamp, you will need the separate box to convert your line level DI guitar to instrument level so that your amp is happy.

BTW the reason that 4 outputs is important is that you will need two for headphones if you want to listen to the backing track while you send a 3rd (DI) track to your guitar amp via an output. In your case, you can record DI and Reamped amp simultaneously while listening to the mix on headphones and sending a solo DI signal (live or prerecorded) to an amp.

I am a big fan of the Little Labs box because it is idiot proof. It enables you to compare the sound of your live performance plugged straight into the amp vs your tone passing through the DAW & converters into the amp...with the push of a single button. You can tweak your mic preamp level until the sound is the same. Many people record the DI much too hot, which results in an artificially boosted tone. Redeye helps prevent this.

 

[OryCheyne]

Hi Barry.
Have you chosen something to go with?

I've also only recently decided to record some tunes.
Re-amping sounds an interesting assuming this requires recording a main dry signal sending back out to an unbalanced 1/4 jack. As Michael posted you will need a device that can get the signal back to guitar signal amplitude.

By chance last week I bought a 12 input desk (Mackie profx12) which has a USB send/receive standard, plus Tracktion DAW software (not the latest release but good enough for me). I have been able to record a few tracks using vocal, bass and guitar, but need more mics to do drums. As previous posts state I'm finding recording is a big learning experience and experimenting will take up a lot of the time.

Already I know I need a good mic, an SM57 will be ok stuck at the speaker, but I think there is other stuff happening around the cab it won't capture. Im planning on getting a condenser and recording with both. (I don't have a 57 yet). I've only tried the direct out of my V and it sounded like balls, operator error, I haven't really had a chance to play around with it just yet.
Good thing the desk has a hi impedance in for guitars which I also haven't tried yet, but assume it would be great for getting the dry signal you are talking about for re-amping.

I would consider if you need more inputs available than you think you need ( desk or multi USB device) and if you need a room mic - ribbon or condenser, or cabclone?

If you get the time give us an update.