Cheapest way to record your guitar

[GLR87]

What is the cheapest way to record yourself playing the guitar, Im not looking to add anything but guitar, I dont need great quality either, just enough to hear when I mess up and such.

[FunkyNewGod]

Tascam makes an analog (tape) four track recorder, Sam Ash sells it for about $100. Sadley the medium of recording that I use is my $19.99 sony voice recorder that I use to tape my Profs. Western Civ Lessons. :) The quality is obviously horrible but it works for me.

[driggers]

a cheap computer mic and sound recorded imbedded in windows :)

[PilotC150]

Originally posted by driggers
a cheap computer mic and sound recorded imbedded in windows :)

and actually, if you get the mic positioned right, it's not a terrible sound. Given your mic cost at least $20.

[GLR87]

Yeah thats what I was using, my mic broke, Ill just get a new one.

[YknSTONE]

also if you mess with the "properties" in windows sound recorder you can achieve a high quality sound! cd quailty/ 16mhz

::scouts honor::

[ITakeTwoSteps]

do you have an acoustic electric? because that could change things a bit. then you could just get an adapter and plug directly into your computer.

[Versacci41]

Originally posted by ITakeTwoSteps
do you have an acoustic electric? because that could change things a bit. then you could just get an adapter and plug directly into your computer.
Where can you pick that up from? I just got my new acoustic-electric (finally) and i'm lookin to record some stuff on the computer...what exactly do i need?

[ITakeTwoSteps]

Originally posted by Versacci41
Where can you pick that up from? I just got my new acoustic-electric (finally) and i'm lookin to record some stuff on the computer...what exactly do i need?

aha. you're where i was two weeks ago. :) i knew absolutely nothing about recording this way until right before i got my takemine.

all you need is an adapter from radio shack that you can take your cord, plug it into the adapter and then in your line in jack. (back of the computer)

plug your guitar in and your ready to go. :) it sounds amazing. literally, i have been recording for 2 weeks straight. check out some of my jams on my website. (below) i think i only have a few on there that were recorded with my tak.

[GLR87]

Wait a minute, If I use my electric will it work, or do I need an acoustic electric, because that would be sweet.

[ITakeTwoSteps]

Originally posted by GLR87
Wait a minute, If I use my electric will it work, or do I need an acoustic electric, because that would be sweet.

well for the week before i got my new acoustic electric, i used my electric to record things. they sounded great plugged into my dad's laptop, but not great plugged into my main comp. although when I posted this on dmbtabs.com someone replied saying this

"You really should never plug an electric straight into your soundcard.. two factors.. There is some electrical engineering theory behind the first, but I'll just gloss over that and go.. low-impedance(Lo-Z) outputs and high-impedance(Hi-Z) inputs.. and the quality of sound you will get is related to that.. an electric guitar's impedance varies based on what pickups are used in it and what frequency audio is trying to be realized by the circuit, but can extend to like 10 MOhms, and a typical line-in is something like 10 kOhms.. normally a guitar is below 10MOhms.. but it is on average at least 20kOhms or more.. so the thing to realize is that a line-in can't drive the circuit in the guitar. Sidenote: A Low-Z output is usually 0-50 Ohms.

This is where a pre-amp comes in.. it is a circuit designed ot handle the Hi-Z signal (by being an even higher-Z input) and then output a Lo-Z signal. That's what that box screwed to the side of your acoustics body is doing. As well, that's what a Direct Input box (DI Box) does.

So, don't plug an electric guitar into a device that doesn't say "Plug a guitar in me" because it is for a good reason.

Beyond that, on a more subjective stance, an electric guitar sounds like shit without a wall of stomp boxes or FX processor mucking with the sound (even if you are just playing clean)."

so, its really up to you. you really should have a preamp, but i never used one and it sounded great. check out my recordings for examples. (although my site is down, only for a short time though)

[PilotC150]

What kinda Takamine do ya have? I just downloaded that Satellite clip played with the RSO and it looks like he's playing a Takamine 530, which is exactly what I have.

[ITakeTwoSteps]

Originally posted by PilotC150
What kinda Takamine do ya have? I just downloaded that Satellite clip played with the RSO and it looks like he's playing a Takamine 530, which is exactly what I have.

me? if so, i have a Takamine 334SC

[soups41]

I think the cheapest would be to call your voice mail, put the phone up to your guitar, and then play. That's cheap

[mdmt619]

i hook my guitar up to my amp and run the line out on my amp to the line in on my computer

works great

[ITakeTwoSteps]

Originally posted by mdmt619
i hook my guitar up to my amp and run the line out on my amp to the line in on my computer

works great

do you have anything posted? i'd like to hear how that sounds.

[GLR87]

Originally posted by soups41
I think the cheapest would be to call your voice mail, put the phone up to your guitar, and then play. That's cheap

Im doing that! :D

[greppson]

is there any type of special freeware/software you all use to edit the waves, or maybe add a vocal track?

[adamb2003]

you can get cool edit off kazaa...but its def not supposed to be free. its like a $200 program

[greppson]

bah, i hate kazaa, it does all those ads not, i'm not gonna install that crapola again... plus the school's firewall blocks most stuff.

[ITakeTwoSteps]

audacity.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net