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Post subject: Best/Easiest way to record guitar?
Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 10:19 pm
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I want to send a file to a friend of myself playing guitar. This is an audio file I want to record. I am wondering what do you folks think is the best and easiest way to record yourself playing guitar? I have Garageband on a Mac and I am leaning toward using that program. I simply have not used this program before and while I want a decent recording I do not want to get too involved rather this is just a couple of old friends sharing guitar riffs. Any suggestions appreciated.


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Post subject: Re: Best/Easiest way to record guitar?
Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 10:59 pm
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Electric or acoustic?

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Post subject: Re: Best/Easiest way to record guitar?
Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 11:43 pm
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Electric


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Post subject: Re: Best/Easiest way to record guitar?
Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2015 12:16 am
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I have a Mac as well, but I really don't like the Garageband user interface. Much of it made little sense to me, and I had spent 10 years as a radio studio/broadcast maintenance tech. I prefer the open source freeware "Audacity" . Lots of features. With it you can edit individual samples, if you want that degree of manual control. I used it mostly to edit recordings for audiobooks.

I have used a Line 6 "Pocket Pod" headphone amp and plugged the headphone output into an inexpensive Griffin iMic USB digitizer to record electric guitar, but now I have a Mustang I v2 amp, and I can plug it directly into the Mac's USB port without going through the additional digital-analog-digital conversion stages. Plus, the Mustang's FUSE™ Preset editor lets you raise or lower the USB volume level of the presets independently of the speaker/headphone volume.

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Post subject: Re: Best/Easiest way to record guitar?
Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2015 5:13 am
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Easy: A small recording mixer with an SD card slot. You can download a few drum backing tracks, and play/record over them, one or both at a time, without ever touching your computer.

Best: Rent a couple of hours at a studio. Not having to worry about equipment and settings, and just play tends to make the result much better. It's not thousands of dollars - smaller studios can be $50 or less an hour.


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Post subject: Re: Best/Easiest way to record guitar?
Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2015 6:20 am
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vwelch01 wrote:
I want to send a file to a friend of myself playing guitar. This is an audio file I want to record. I am wondering what do you folks think is the best and easiest way to record yourself playing guitar? I have Garageband on a Mac and I am leaning toward using that program. I simply have not used this program before and while I want a decent recording I do not want to get too involved rather this is just a couple of old friends sharing guitar riffs. Any suggestions appreciated.


Using GB and your Mac's built in mic, play through a small amp
placed near the Mac. Set auto level in GB. Record then export.

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Post subject: Re: Best/Easiest way to record guitar?
Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2015 9:00 pm
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Thank you for the feedback. I think I am going to look into Audiocity and spend some time with GB. SOunds like I just need to start recording myself which is a great practice exercise anyways. Thanks


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Post subject: Re: Best/Easiest way to record guitar?
Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 8:30 am
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You will need an interface.

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Post subject: Re: Best/Easiest way to record guitar?
Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 8:55 am
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BMW-KTM wrote:
You will need an interface.

I didn't ... but then I have a Fender Mustang amplifier, all I need is a computer and a USB cable. :mrgreen:
Results in Audacity:


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Post subject: Re: Best/Easiest way to record guitar?
Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 10:08 am
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So your amp is the interface.
The OP will need an interface.
Whatever form that takes.

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Post subject: Re: Best/Easiest way to record guitar?
Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 4:21 pm
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I used Audacity for a while, works great especially for a freebie. I now use Mixcraft Pro 7 and love it.
I issue you will find with Audacity is very high latency (delay). If you are just recording yourself playing without a backing track in the mix, it will work fine, provided you monitor through the amp, not the mac. If you try to add a backing track of any kind from the Mac and mix it while recording the lag will make make you nuts(like an echo in the grand canyon) On my setup with Audacity and hi speed USB it was probably over 100ms. with Mix pro I have it down to well under 10ms. There is a work around, if you play the backing track with a separate media player(don't record it with your guitar) while your recording just your input track. Save the guitar track, mix it with the backing track and trim the beginning so the tracks sinc, I did this until I bought Mix Pro. Audacity is easy and works very well(particularly if you don want to shell out $155) Someone else may have a better way to deal with the latency on a soundcard or setting level but I never found it.


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Post subject: Re: Best/Easiest way to record guitar?
Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 5:28 pm
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Mixcraft 7 does have some nice features but not for MAC platform...yet.

http://www.emediamusic.com/music-creati ... craft.html

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Post subject: Re: Best/Easiest way to record guitar?
Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2015 2:15 pm
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You don't say how great the recording has to be so if you need to send a quick "ok" file you don't need to buy anything as you have everything you need plus a great amp sim and recording app called GarageBand.
GarageBand is an awesome program! I use it all the time and can record with great results.
If you don't want to use your Mac's. mic invest in an iRig HD interface, they're not too expensive and work great. Plug it in to your guitar and connect by USB to your Mac.
If you need how to"s let me know.
Good luck.

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Post subject: Re: Best/Easiest way to record guitar?
Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2015 3:01 pm
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Miami Mike wrote:
Mixcraft 7 does have some nice features but not for MAC platform...yet.

http://www.emediamusic.com/music-creati ... craft.html
I didnt know that, I never spent much time on a mac. I have heard GB works well but there's no PC version. I bought Mix to solve the latency issue, it also comes with a great (though download accessible) backing track library. You have to sort through some cheese but it works. I am still getting to know it. I hope to find a way to store the library locally.


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Post subject: Re: Best/Easiest way to record guitar?
Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2015 11:23 am
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Eroot64 wrote:
Miami Mike wrote:
Mixcraft 7 does have some nice features but not for MAC platform...yet.

http://www.emediamusic.com/music-creati ... craft.html
I didnt know that, I never spent much time on a mac. I have heard GB works well but there's no PC version. I bought Mix to solve the latency issue, it also comes with a great (though download accessible) backing track library. You have to sort through some cheese but it works. I am still getting to know it. I hope to find a way to store the library locally.


Does it require Asio4All to make it work?

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