I need help recording guitar

Your info states you have Windows Vista. Windows does not support GarageBand.

Assuming you also have or will have a Mac, you'll probably want an interface unit. Otherwise you'd have to record thru the line-in of the computer and that's fine but not great. For that all you need is a 1/4" to 1/8" (mini) converter plug, and those are very cheap.

The Apogee Duet is considered a top-quality interface. Other popular brands are PreSonus and M-Audio. Firewire is generally better but more costly than USB.

Check out SweetWater, MusiciansFriend, zzSounds for interfaces.

(To really get a good acoustic sound it's good to use one line-in and one condenser mic (or one dynamic and one cond. mic), recording on two tracks at the same time).

MinneapolisMags wrote:
Where does one begin.

First, don't under buy, or underestimate your potential future needs. Think it through. There is no substitute for good gear, and more often than not, once you are hooked on making your own music you will find yourself on the upgrade/expansion path 😉 . Having said that, recording guitar has a pretty steep learning curve, your recording environment being one of them. Its worth spending time sorting this out. Many people record guitar with two or 3 microphones. I use a Rode NT2000 condenser Mic and a Beyerdynamic dynamic mic. I also plug the guitar in and record 3 tracks at a time. This could be considered extravagant, but it is what I want to do. I run these into a Firewire Audio Interface Alesis iO/14, and multi track away 🙂

One thing that frustrates me about GB 09 so far is you can't extend the length of the metronome count in. Its just 1 measure. Would be nice to have the option for two measures. Also, I have not found an elegant way to hit the record button with a foot controller of some sort. Makes it more important how you set yourself up in front of your computer and the ergonomics of reaching for your mouse, keyboard or iControl. Talking about the iControl... I LOVE IT. Real easy to set it up close to you, arm your tracks and hit record in a comfortable manner.

Spend time reading. Google 'recording acoustic guitar.' And do lots of experimenting. With patience you will soon find your groove.

All the Best

Cheers, G.

I have to second what you're saying about leaving room for expanding future needs and spending time learning before buying. There's definitely a bit of a learning curve for all this.

One thing that frustrates me about GB 09 so far is you can't extend the length of the metronome count in. Its just 1 measure. Would be nice to have the option for two measures.

For this reason it's probably best to use a click track. HangTime has some ready-made which are available on his site:
http://www.bulletsandbones.com/GB/Tutorials/ClickTracks09.html (scroll down a bit to "HTs 7 Click Track Loops"). Or you can make your own, simpler ones. I find the metronome just not loud enough as well as wanting a couple or more measures intro.

3 tracks for acoustic! I'll have to try that.

I've recorded guitars quite a bit and the basics are this:

guitar (really most important if you ask me)
mic
mic-pre

I personally use a simple SM57 for electric guitar and a large diaphragm (studio projects have good cheaper ones) for the acoustic guitar. That is my personal preference.

I have both a grace 101 mic-pre( http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Grace-Design-Model-101-Microphone-P reamplifier?sku=180820) as well as a Neve Portico ( http://rupertneve.com/products/portico-5012/) mic-pre.

*FOR SALE:* Grace Design 101 mic pre: $400 shipped
(They came out with a new one the m101 recently..same just black really)

Also, I have a few large condenser mics if anyone is interested.

thx,
seed

poflynn wrote:
For this reason it's probably best to use a click track. HangTime has some ready-made which are available on his site:
http://www.bulletsandbones.com/GB/Tutorials/ClickTracks09.html (scroll down a bit to "HTs 7 Click Track Loops"). Or you can make your own, simpler ones. I find the metronome just not loud enough as well as wanting a couple or more measures intro.

Excellent tip. I'll check out HangTime's site when I get my broadband speed back!!

Cheers. G.

I use a Rode NT2000 condenser Mic and a Beyerdynamic dynamic mic. I also plug the guitar in and record 3 tracks at a time.

Out of curiosity, where do you place each mic and which Beyerdynamic do you use? (oh, and what kind of guitar do you have)?

poflynn wrote:

I use a Rode NT2000 condenser Mic and a Beyerdynamic dynamic mic. I also plug the guitar in and record 3 tracks at a time.

Out of curiosity, where do you place each mic and which Beyerdynamic do you use? (oh, and what kind of guitar do you have)?

The Beyerdynamic is a TGX 58 http://asia-pacific.beyerdynamic.com/en/music-performance/products/microphones/v ocals-speech.html?txsbproductdatabase_pi1%5BshowUid%5D%5BshowUID%5D=3&tx_sbproductdatabasepi1%5BshowUid%5D%5BbackPID%5D=49&cHash=e15356a2b4

It was the first mic I got and its probably not the best choice. I have it as a multi purpose mic.

In terms of mic placement I am constantly tweaking. Right now the NT2000 is in front of the sound hole about 1ft-300mm away. The TGX 58 is positioned about half way between the sound hole and the head, slightly closer than the NT. I must admit though its the result of 'monkey see, monkey do.' I got the info from this site http://www.recordacousticguitar.com/ I am currently not happy though with my results. My studio room has to take a large portion of the blame. Its layout and acoustic treatment was not very well thought out, but I am not sure where to begin to correct it. Also, getting to know the mics has been hard. The NT has some adjustments available but I am afraid my 'ear' is still on the steep side of the learning curve. One thing I have noticed is the mics ability to pick up sympathetic string resonance. Its hardly noticeable when listening to the guitar live, but upon playback its maddening. My current project involves recording some of my beginner students compositions. They are single note 1st and 2nd string melodies. I have resorted to shoving a folded piece of card board under strings 3-6 simply to damped the strings. When I just plug the guitar in and record via the bridge pickup, the sympathetic humming is less than what comes from the NT. Once done I then just muck around with all three tracks with fx etc (thats another story).

I use 2 acoustic guitars with bridge pickups. My nylon string guitar is a Greg Bennett C2CE http://www.gregbennettguitars.com/c2ce.html

My steel string is a Yamaha CJ-838S II similar to this one http://www.guitar-museum.com/guitar-231-VINTAGE-YAMAHA-CJ-838S-II-ACOUSTIC-GUITA R . I have had this instrument since new in 1984. I had a pick installed when I had some fret work done and the action reworked in 1993. Its a nice guitar.

Trying to record halfway decent acoustic guitar has not been easy. I am hardly ever pleased. I don't know if I am picky or simply don't know what I am doing. Probably a combo of both. It dosn't help that I have crap monitors as well.

Cheers. G.

Thanks for the info. I'm always interested in how people are recording.
Check out this on mic placement for acoustic:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug08/articles/qa0808_3.htm

Ignoring everything you read about GarageBand (because for me, I got totally confused), the program (which comes free with a new Macintosh) is basically a multi-track recorder.

To record, you just need to add a new track as a REAL INSTRUMENT. Ignore the GUITAR track or the SOFTWARE INSTRUMENT tracks. This is where I got totally confused before. You can fool around with these later.

Now, just click the little red icon on the track to mark it for recording. And press R or the REC icon to start recording.

It's that simple.

OK, so that's the program part.

The hardware part is where you spend money (or not).

You can record your guitar just using the Microphone on your Mac. Select the proper input under the SOUND preferences of the OSX System Preferences. AND check that you selected the right input also under the GB preferences.

That's all there is.

To get better sound input, you have a wide range of USB or Firewire devices OR you can plug a line-in to the Macintosh audio jack (just like any old tape recorder).

So you can stick in your acoustic electric with a pre-amp (as necessary) and then that to the analog line-in to the Macintosh.

No need for fancy expensive equipment.

You can upgrade later. The most important thing is to check the LATENCY regardless of whatever device you buy.

You can also fool around with the sound effects that edit the audio track you are using. That is in the right hand side under the EDIT page.

Everything else is just confusing. You can ignore all the other GB functions until much later. Just use the program as a good multi-track recorder and do everything analog (cuz it's funner that way! 🙂

I even record my own metronome beats instead of using the built-in metronome.

Record your chords. Then record your lead guitar.

Get iDrum for the iPhone and record THAT using the analog line-input. Fun stuff!

You can also try RiffTracker T4 which is a freebie for either Windows or Mac, but you will find GarageBand much easier and more powerful.