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Recording Direct.


Andre S

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I was watching some vids_ Johnny A open forums.,

He said he records direct for more consistent sounds.

 

For various reasons, that I don't really want to get into right now, I decided I want to record direct as well.

 

What do I need to do this?

One of my amps, already has a line out

And I know If I plug directly into a PC, it will use the PC's soundcard which isn't so great.

 

Is there any go-between device?

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I've got a little box that takes the line out from the amp and converts it to a USB signal that can then be picked up by my recording software. I worked with Soundforge and works with Audacity - although you've gotta correctly handle the input settings.

 

Works rather well, and what I've got is quite inexpensive. It also allows stereo recording from tape or CD or radio or... <grin>

 

OTOH, a mike has to go thru the amp or would need to be preamped, it appears.

 

m

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I've got a little box that takes the line out from the amp and converts it to a USB signal that can then be picked up by my recording software. I worked with Soundforge and works with Audacity - although you've gotta correctly handle the input settings.

 

Works rather well' date=' and what I've got is quite inexpensive. It also allows stereo recording from tape or CD or radio or... <grin>

 

OTOH, a mike has to go thru the amp or would need to be preamped, it appears.

 

m

[/quote']

 

So you use a USB interface, to plug the lineout from the amp into

 

then the usb interface to the PC?

 

 

Which one do you use?

Is the cable from the line out to the USB interface a regular 1/4inch guitar cord?

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Okay...

 

The USB interface I have is designed essentially to take a stereo signal from a boom box or component stereo rig and run it thru the USB interface. It has RCA stereo in and out jacks.

 

I have a little jack wire with for the boom box that splits from the mini earphone jack into RCA stereo jacks for recording my old cassette tapes.

 

Similarly, I have a 1/4 inch to RCA jack converter so I can use regular guitar/patch cords from the guitar amp's "line out" to the little usb converter and thence into the computer.

 

Using Audacity I record both voice and guitar (the amp has separate channels for each, but it's only mono out, darn it) in this way. For playback I'm sure I'm missing some sort of setting, but I've gotta unplug the USB device so my external speakers will work. The USB device is two-way, and will play out to a stereo as well as accept incoming signals - and that means I've gotta unplug it either physically or by software.

 

Then I split the mono signal in Audacity and mess with it a little before saving it as stereo.

 

That help any? It's a pretty inexpensive solution and even allows dubbing onto the computer from some pretty old tapes and even, if you mess with it, vinyls. So it works for me and didn't cost a bundle. You do have to be a bit careful that you don't drape your wires where they may pick up external RF that may give a bit of extra "noise."

 

m

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I've had good luck with a little TASCAM DP004 4 track recorder. I plug that into the line out, record (it has 2 inputs) in 24 bit raw audio, drag that into Pro Tools or Garage Band and edit away. These are not very expensive, just a bit limited if you want to record more than 2 channels at a time.

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Milod: I also use a usb device with my mixer. I had the same problem as you are having.

If you go into the control panel, click on the sound or audio devices tab. in there should be a

setting for having the speakers as the default playback source. I went in and change it and now the

usb device is the default recording device and the speakers are the default playback device.

Hope that helps.

 

To the OP, I run line out of the amp or if its acoustic I want I plug the acoustic electric direct

into the mixer. The mixer out goes to a usb interface into Sony Acid 4.

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Yo fixer...

 

I'll give that a shot too... Thanks!

 

I don't always keep the USB connected to the amp because it gets used for a dozen other things too. Hadn't thought about doing the speakers separately from the input. My netbook lets me do that very easily (it's my "at work" music source), but I think I'll have to play with Audacity a bit now.

 

m

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For various reasons' date=' that I don't really want to get into right now, I decided I want to record direct as well.

 

What do I need to do this?

One of my amps, already has a line out

And I know If I plug directly into a PC, it will use the PC's soundcard which isn't so great.

 

Is there any go-between device?[/quote']

 

I am new to recording, I have a Boss Micro BR but I have found it extremely user un-friendly, as a result I use it for all of the other features and basically as a riff notebook.

 

Anyway, I just ordered a Line 6 UX1 port since it is on sale at several online retailers for $120, this unit is a USB interface, it has an instrument input, a non-phantom powered XLR mic input and a couple of 1/4" line level inputs. It comes with software and amplifiers, effects and preamp models for guitar, bass and vocals.

 

Since it has a XLR input I also ordered a Shure SM57 (since this mic does not require phantom power) I ordered the mic so I can record my own amps and vocals (not my vocals that's for sure).

 

Hopefully this setup will work for me, I am just trying to put a few riffs into something that resembles a song.

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What do I need to do this?

One of my amps' date=' already has a line out

And I know If I plug directly into a PC, it will use the PC's soundcard which isn't so great.

 

Is there any go-between device?[/quote']

 

If you are running Windows, get something USB. A lot of good suggestions in this post.

 

If you are running on a Mac, you can run from the line out on your amp into the analog audio input of the computer. It'll probably be 1/4" out of your amp and 1/8"(mini) into your Mac. Garage Band has a couple guitar presets that will let you shape the sound.

 

At home, for just demoing song ideas, I run through a POD into my Mac with Garage Band. Works great.

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I am new to recording' date=' I have a Boss Micro BR but I have found it extremely user un-friendly, as a result I use it for all of the other features and basically as a riff notebook.

 

Anyway, I just ordered a Line 6 UX1 port since it is on sale at several online retailers for $120, this unit is a USB interface, it has an instrument input, a non-phantom powered XLR mic input and a couple of 1/4" line level inputs. It comes with software and amplifiers, effects and preamp models for guitar, bass and vocals.

 

Since it has a XLR input I also ordered a Shure SM57 (since this mic does not require phantom power) I ordered the mic so I can record my own amps and vocals (not my vocals that's for sure).

 

Hopefully this setup will work for me, I am just trying to put a few riffs into something that resembles a song.

 

[/quote']

 

 

Actually, after doing a little research for an affordable solution myself, I'm rather settling on the exact same package. For home use, it looks that's all we need!

 

Big plus one!

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