Can you record your voice and instrument at the same time?

I'm considering downloading Garageband, but I first wanted to know if you can record your voice and instrument at the same time.


For example: Can I plug my acoustic guitar and a vocal microphone into the computer and record both at once? In other words, can it record from two input channels (guitar plug and microphone plug) at once? Instead of recording the guitar, and then the vocals.


I looked all through the forums for a concrete, simple answer to this question and couldn't find any. Please help me? Thank you!

Posted on Nov 28, 2011 1:54 PM

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6 replies

Nov 28, 2011 2:06 PM in response to fallingrafters

>For example: Can I plug my acoustic guitar and a vocal microphone into the computer and record both at once?


How would you plug them in? You only have one stereo input that you can record to one channel. For multi-tracking, you need an audio interface that puts out two or more digital channels.


(Not quite right: the built-in input is stereo, so you have a right and a left channel. If you could manage to pan one source hard left and the other hard right, you could accomplish it. For that you need a mixing console that allows you to pan the inputs.)

Nov 28, 2011 2:32 PM in response to fallingrafters

Recording guitar and vocals at the same time in stereo is fairly common, but you'd need some way to combine 2 mic signals into a single stereo miniplug going into your computer which would require some piece of hardware like a mixer.


OR...


You could use just one mic, positioned strategically between your guitar and vocals, plugged into the computer.


HOWEVER,


The very best thing to do is get an audio interface - you can get cheap ones these days - and easily record both your guitar and vocals simultaneously, or separately, track by track.

Nov 28, 2011 7:27 PM in response to fallingrafters

fallingrafters wrote:


Wow, thanks for the input everyone! I'm thinking of going with mattimattmatt's advice on the one microphone to just pick up the vocals and guitar. Would one of these do the trick? http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Behringer+-+USB+Studio+Condenser+Microphone/3183123. p?id=1218382978030&skuId=3183123


Yeah, that'll work. It's not the greatest mic that ever lived... but it'll work! 🙂


Here are some other USB mics:


http://www.sweetwater.com/c981--USB_Microphones


The trick with using one mic for both your guitar and voice is to make sure you position it well - the right distance vertically between mouth and guitar, and the right distance away from where you are so that both sounds have room to gel, but not too far away that you'd lose clarity. You can also use positioning as a kind of mixing. For example, if there's not enough voice, just move or point the mic closer to your face. Good luck!

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Can you record your voice and instrument at the same time?

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