Home studio with a laptop....How????

RockingDad · #1 November 11th, 2006

Hi all,

I've got a laptop at home not being used which i'm going to use for the sole purpose of a home studio. It has firewire and usb 2.0 as well as onboard mic and line in ports.

Now the thing is I don't want to spend a fortune for my first dip in the world of home studio. I've tried recording my guitar with the desktop pc with some quite poor efforts. I've used a cable i got off ebay with a mono jack one end and a mono pc soundcard jack the other but didn't really seem to work very well.

I've got a cheap mic and tried plugging that in as well but the recording it so quiet it's useless.

My amp has a line out socket as well.

So what is the best way?

I'm using Audacity at the moment (or would do if I can get some sound into it) as it seems the easiest although I do have cubase.

Cheers

Mark

Lcjones · #2 November 11th, 2006

What kind of plug does the mic have. 1/8" or 1/4"? Typically these are mono. You should go to your local electronics shop and get an adapter to fit your mic. Plug the adapter into the "Line IN" on the sound card. Then set Audacity to record from Line IN.

Also, check your native sound settings to be sure VOL and WAV are turned up.

Hope that helps!

**
Les

OldG · #3 November 12th, 2006

You will need to put some sort of preamp/level adjustment between the guitar and the line in to get a good signal... I have found effects pedals do the job well - if you don't want to invest in a mixer.

Tekker · #4 November 12th, 2006

I use a mic preamp with a High-Z setting (for guitars and basses) and plug my electric guitar directly into it (no amp) and it sounds great. I have two Studio Projects VTB-1 preamps ($100 each) and these are excellent, especially for the price. Then I use software plugins for effects.

Once school slows down (I've been VERY busy the past few weeks) I'm going to make a lesson (with samples) about using the free effects plugins listed here for the guitar.

-tkr

RockingDad · #5 November 12th, 2006

Thats interesting oldG. I'll try that out. Long term I want to get a small mixer to be able to record the guitar and (Gulp) me singing from a mic.

So would that be guitar into pedal into line in? What cable do you use with that? Will it still up the level if the pedal isn't 'in use' as it were?

Cheers

Rockingdad

OldG · #6 November 12th, 2006

That is guitar > pedal > line in as you said,Mark. Just use your normal guitar leads into an adapter as mentioned by Les..

My effects box (Boss ME-50) has to be powered up to work as a preamp, but it has the capability to bypass any effects to give a clean signal that can be set by its master volume if I wish.

Once you've sorted that the next problem you will encounter will be latency, (the delay between actually playing the note and hearing it come back through the speakers).

You will find advice on how to set up ASIO4ALL to combat this in this post.
ASIO4ALL should work with Audacity,(I use AcidPro 6 to record so I can't be sure) but definately works with Kristal which is free to download also.

RockingDad · #7 November 13th, 2006

Cheers OldG. used my distortion pedal and it seriously ups the signal. i want to get a mixer so i'll hold off buying a preamp...or would i still need one?

Need a different cable though i think...pushed all the way into the mic socket....nothing...pulled half out it works. is a mono to mono cable. any thoughts on an alternative?

RockingDad

fly135 · #8 November 13th, 2006

A mixer has preamps built in. The line-in is stereo and the mic-in is mono. Most people are of the opinion that the mic input is noisier than the line-in. A mixer into the line-in will work fine.

If you are pushing a mono jack into the mic socket it should work. Pulling a mono jack halfway out of a mono socket (which the mic is) should not work. If they are colored coded the mic should be pink and the line-in is blue. A stereo plug should be used on line-in (blue) and a mono plug for mic-in (pink).

RockingDad · #9 November 13th, 2006

It is a mono plug in there fella. Thats why I couldn't understand what was going on.

frankthetank · #10 November 25th, 2006

Hey all,
so ive been tryin to hook my multieffects pedal (boss me-50) into my computer to record but cant seem to get it working. Please help out. I've made the following connections:
(boss Me-50)Mono-------------> line in (computer)
(boss Me-50)Input-------------> guitar

What am i doin wrong here? please help out.

Frank

Tekker · #11 November 25th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by frankthetank

Hey all,
so ive been tryin to hook my multieffects pedal (boss me-50) into my computer to record but cant seem to get it working. Please help out. I've made the following connections:
(boss Me-50)Mono-------------> line in (computer)
(boss Me-50)Input-------------> guitar

What am i doin wrong here? please help out.

Did you select the "line input" in your soundcard's mixer?

If not, then see this tutorial on using the souncard's mixer.
Soundcard Mixer

That should help get you setup.

-tkr

OldG · #12 November 25th, 2006

Hi Frank,
The way you are connecting looks sound,I'm thinkin' that maybe you need to set up your windows recording control properties....

(I'm assuming you're using XP) follow this: start > control panel > sounds and audio devices > volume tab,then click the advanced tab and follow the instructions on the attached diagram...

that should get the sound out - tell us how you get on

HTH

Mick

*edit*(Beat to the post!) see any of Tek's lessons to help you with most aspects of recording - make sure you take note of the ASIO4ALL setup steps described earlier in this thread as you will prolly need to use it ...

fly135 · #13 November 25th, 2006

Good picture OldG.

OldG · #14 November 25th, 2006

Cheers,Fly!

I shoulda thought of pointing him to Tekker's excellent lesson, but my autopilot 'shopped a screenie instead... Doh!

frankthetank · #15 November 25th, 2006

hey guys,
Thanks for the replies. I followed all the steps you guys outlined and i still cant get any sound to come out of my speakers or any sound to be recorded. Currently i am using Windows sound recorder just to test to see if it works, I doubt that makes a difference or not but just in case im lettin you know. I also think that my boss Me-50 has the ability to be plugged into a computer because OldG said he used one, so i dont think that is the problem either. I selected my line in in my recording mixer and still nothing. I also tried another computer to see if maybe the line in on my computer was broken, but still nothing. If you guys have any more ideas i would appreciate them very much. Thanks!

Frank