Hi Fender forum peeps,

I've had my new Mex Strat for a few weeks now and loving it - it might be affecting my life too much! Can't put it down.

Anyway, I'm looking at the best way to cheaply get the best sound out of it and record. Later in the year I'll be investing in a new amp (£200 - £300) but not for a while if the taxman has his way. Here's what I've got kit-wise at the the moment...

Hardware

Beautiful basic Fender Mex Strat
Fairly decent Washburn acoustic
Crappy little Roland Microcube Amp
Old but trusty Proco Rat Pedal
Old and flaky Ibanez Wah Pedal

MacBook
iRig (which is much too addictive)

Software

Amplitude
Audacity
Various other digital audio editors

Any ideas about suggested set-up or cheap improvements? I've been reading up a bit on DI boxes - would that be an idea? Is it necessary? Or shall I just wait and get a decent amp? I'm not recording for release or anything, just want the best sound and recording I can play back to and mess around with.

Ta,

Rik

Well, it looks like you have just about everything you need already. I used garageband for years before I got Logic. It's free (if you have the Mac already) and really easy to use.

I had a crappy Line 6 amp that I got for a couple hundred bucks and found that when I mic'd it up, it sounded terrible, but if I recorded directly into my audio interface (M-Audio Fast Track $200) my sound was decent. My guess is that it's the cheap speaker that came with it.

The one thing that I would recommend though if you don't have it already is a drumming program. I use superior drummer and absolutely love it. The loops and beats in garageband (and logic for that matter) are not up to par IMO.

My setup for several years was a Line 6 TonePort (now called a POD Studio) into Garage Band. No mics, no amps. I got decent tone and most importantly it was extremely convenient, you don't have to have a space for recording and you don't have to set up mic and amps.

I have a Roland Micro Cube and while I don't think it's a crappy amp (it's actually decent for what it is), you probably won't hear a huge difference of sound between miking it and using something like the Line 6 POD Studio. If you had a tube amp and you after that in-between, just beginning to break up sort of crunchy tone, then you should definitely try and mic it. But with a solid state amp, the digital modeling honestly won't sound too much different since the Micro Cube is essentially a digital modeling amp.

If you're just after the plug your guitar right into the computer approach, you might want to look into one of these. http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Line-6-POD-Studio-GX-with-POD-Farm?sku=250006 It's all you need for guitar and bass.

If you wanted something like that but with the ability to plug in a mic sometime in the future, then there are these options. http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Line-6-POD-Studio-UX1-with-POD-Farm?sku=250003 and http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Line-6-POD-Studio-UX2-with-POD-Farm?sku=250004

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how user friendly is logic?
easy to understand for the home recording newbie?

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

For just under $100, I'd suggest a BLUE Snowball USB Mic and you'd be surprised what that MicroCube would sound like mic'd.

It comes with a 3-pad atten switch and mini tripod. Works well with GarageBand or Audacity.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SnowballAL/

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

mike, what so good about these mic's? i hear them mentioned all the time but never hear what the deal is though.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

Well, I think it's pretty straight forward. But, I hadn't used any other programs besides garageband before it. And to be honest, I think Logic is just a super-charged version. If you're just doing home recording, I wouldn't shell out $400 bucks for it. Or if you do, start with Logic Express for half the price, you get option to upgrade at no extra premium.

Oh and one other thing to consider with Logic (or any other pro DAW), is that it uses a good amount of memory, about 1GB without running any plugins. So you would want to have at least 4GB's worth of memory. My Mac came with 2GB's (which was fine for Garage B), but once I upgraded the DAW, I had to install additional memory.

thanks mike. food for thought.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

I still use Cool Edit Pro on my laptop (which has a bigger HD than my old, ancient, Dell Desktop). Here's the details about Cool Edit Pro: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Audition

I still have the Syntrillium version from around 2002 before Adobe bought them out. It still works fine and does the job. It's the shareware version, because I got it from a buddy of mine, who got it from his boss at work (who also plays guitar).

128 tracks (maximum)
Onboard effects
Live mic recording, or open/assign to a track, a .wav file, .mid file, or .cda (CD Audio).
Full mixing capability, left channel, right channel, stereo.
Nice tutorial/help menu.
BUT... Each individual track records as a .wav file. So unless, you keep things short and simple and don't record a full blown 17 minute cover version of "Whipping Post" by the Allman Brothers, or "Freebird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, you will be okay. Else, you will need a BIG harddrive!!!

Windows, 98, 2000, XP ---- Works fine without any issues.
Windows Vista ---- Works fine, even though Vista has issues.
Windows 7 ---- I don't know... I don't have Windows 7 yet, so I'm not sure if it's "backwards compatible".
Mac ---- Sorry... "friends don't let friends use Mac's"

If anyone wants this "old school" shareware version of Cool Edit Pro, send me a PM with your email address. It is an 8MB .zip file and can easily be emailed.

I use a SF Vibro Champ when using a mic, and an original Sans-Amp direct. The Sans Amp is nicer than a D.I. tone-wise, and an amp and mic is better than the Sans-Amp for my taste. A tiny amp you can crank with a decent mic sounds like a full stack in the mix. If there is a volume consideration (other people), you are restricted in your choices. If it's a space issue, a little amp still fits the bill. Using a mic also means you can experiment with placement and mic types, which helps you become a better engineer. Try to get the best sound you can from the source, whatever it is. You can't always "polish a turd", or fix it in the mix, unless you are an expert with ProTools. Then you can make The Three Stooges sound like The Three Tenors.

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"There's an arse for every chair"

5 guitars
7 amps
4 dogs

I recently upgraded to Logic. It's harder than Garage Band is, but I've had it since Christmas and I'm fairly comfortable with it now. If it's your first time dealing with home recording software and you don't need to record more than one track at a time then Garage Band would probably be a better choice. But I really do like Logic a lot, it feels more professional (because it is) and the learning curve wasn't too steep for me since I had already been using Garage Band for years.

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Website: http://www.rebeccalaird.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebeccalairdmusic
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BLUE makes quality products. From their site :

"Three Different Pattern Modes for Versatile Recording
Using Blue's proprietary dual-capsule technology, the Snowball can record a wide range of situations. Its multiple pattern capability makes it an ideal choice for recording music, podcasts, Skype conversations, and live chat. Depending on what kind of sound you are recording, you can choose from three distinct pattern modes:


Cardioid mode: Well-suited to podcasts, sung vocals, and other voice work, cardioid mode records sound sources that are directly in front of the microphone. It delivers a rich, full-bodied sound.

Cardioid mode with -10 dB PAD: The same as cardioid mode, except with a -10 dB attenuation that helps you capture louder sounds with higher fidelity.

Omnidirectional mode: Omnidirectional mode picks up sound equally from all directions. It is best used in situations when you want to capture the ambience of "being there"--like a live recording of a band's performance."

Hope that helps!

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

i'm not 100% on this but i think i'm doing better than you guys cause i paid only 99 cents and i can record anyting i want... i got one of those 1/4" input to mp3 adapter things running my amp and effects through the mic input on my pc's sound card and i record using this really cool audio editor i found online called "free audio editor" i'm not sure on the audio quality but check out this vid i made a while back for my drummer... i think it sounds pretty good in terms of quality (don't comment my playing as this was improvised i'm playing my vm strat on this recording) let me know what you think of the sound quality...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVIUOkfX9Pw&feature=channel_video_title

thanks mike.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

there alot of solutions from small to big. some excamples:

interface: m-audio (firewire or usb)
http://www.m-audio.com/

Cubase Elements 6 (starter) or sequel
http://www.steinberg.net/de/home.html (choose your languague= Sprachen)

i think from logic, pro tools, abalton you get starter versions. garage band was named.

the market is big. i use cubase se3 and m-audio firewire solo.

good luck and cheers

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