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Subject:Recording Guitar
Date:1/6/2007 9:42:25 PM

I am very new to all this. I purchased Acid Music Studio 6 and would like to record my guitar. What hardware do I need to do this. Do I just need to get a new sound card to plug the guitar into or do I have to plug into my amp and my amp into the sound card? As I said I am very new at this and any information you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Subject:RE: Recording Guitar
Reply by: Chienworks
Date:1/7/2007 3:58:32 AM

If your current sound card has a line input, not just a mic input, then all you probably need is a 1/4" to 1/8" adapter or cable and you can plug the guitar directly into the sound card. If you only have a mic input then you could use an attenuating cable or adapter but it might sound a little cruddy. Most guitar players will run the guitar through their amp when recording so they get the same sound they're used to hearing. Use the line out jack on your amp, not the speaker output.

Most built in sound cards are noisy. If you're a cranked-up distortion type player then you probably won't notice. If you're more of an accoustic player then you should look into a higher class sound card, especially if your current one only has a mic input. I see folks in this forum recommending M-Audio and Echo quite often. There are some models available in the $100 range.
Subject:RE: Recording Guitar
Reply by: thenoizzbox
Date:1/7/2007 7:35:55 AM

Plugging your guitar directly into your sound card will not sound very good, not like an amp at all unless you use some amp emulation software to alter it on play back like Line 6's GearBox VST plugin or something like GuitarRig or Amplitube.

The easiest choice to get your current guitar sound to disk would be to place a microphone in front of your amp and plug that into the sound card and record that signal. You need a good (but pretty inexpensive) microphine like a Sure SM57 to do it but if you're careful about mic placement you can get great results.

What I mostly do now though is plug my guitar into my Line 6 PodXT amp modeler and plug that into my sound card. I'm personally not interested in "re-amping" which is what the first option basically is (record dry untreated guitar signal and apply amp modeling later). With tha PODxt I get very good tones at any time of the day without the need to crank my Fender Twin to ungodly levels... ;-)
Subject:RE: Recording Guitar
Reply by: DKeenum
Date:1/7/2007 10:13:30 AM

There is a new product that may interest you. It's called Stelth Plug.

http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=1493

I haven't used it, but at least the price is right.
Subject:RE: Recording Guitar
Date:1/7/2007 8:56:57 PM

Thanks for the help. It works great now.
Subject:RE: Recording Guitar
Reply by: thenoizzbox
Date:1/8/2007 9:45:30 AM

What works great? What exactly are you doing different?
Subject:RE: Recording Guitar
Reply by: Iacobus
Date:1/8/2007 11:33:57 AM

Oh, boy! Another guitar player! :)

I do something similar to what noizzbox does; I go directly out from my guitar effects processor into my audio interface. I rarely "re-amp," but I do record a dry track separately nonetheless. (Yay for ACID Pro 6's multitracking!)

Iacobus
Subject:RE: Recording Guitar
Date:1/8/2007 11:12:47 PM

Get yourself a V-Amp 2. That's all you need for the sickest guitar tones, and the price you can't beat (100.00), compared to the POD which practically does the same thing for double the money.

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