Help, got a mic and I want to record...I think

Sano · #1 July 6th, 2006

Hi y'all,

D-Dawn has fired me up with her posting of tunes and I'm at the stage where I can bite the bullet and post a song. Firstly had to get a mic and so visited the local supermarket - £5...no expense spared you understand.

Its tech spec is:

Solid sensitive condenser mic,
Frequency range 50Hz - 16 kHz,
Impedance 2.2kOhm,
Background noise reduction filter.

Will that do just for starters and getting the idea over? Information I gleaned from this forum stated that you should position the mic approx. a foot away from the soundhole of your guitar...and maybe experiment with that. Ok, I'm happy with that but I also want to sing...you may not thank me for that

but I'm going for it.

So, 2 questions:

Will the mic be okay (I know it'll be limited given the price)?
And, where should I position the mic to get the best of acoustic guitar playing and voice?

Supposing everything is fine I then have to wrestle with the intricacies of how and where to record...if you get the impression that I know nothing about electronics you're absolutely correct

! But I'm going to fly this particular rocket to the moon and back.

Sorry for the long posting

but I promise the song will be short.

Thanks in advance,
Iain

D-Dawn · #2 July 6th, 2006

Yay!

Go for it!! Like I said mine was/is about as cheap as they come and although the quality isn't fantastic, its not as bad as I thought it would be. I recorded in Audacity (free download) all i did was hit the red button that I assumed was record..lol..played..then exported as...something..wav I believe..rather than saving as an audacity file....but then I had to convert it into an MP3 to upload here.
As far as mic placement...dunno...mine is one of those you are supposed to clip on your shirt (to talk into) but I clipped it right to the soundhole. Worked for me!! I'd try a couple of different placements to see where you get the best sound from.
I am anxious to hear what you've got for us!!

Sano · #3 July 6th, 2006

Thanks D-Dawn,

I've checked out Audacity and it looks fairly idiot proof that even I can work. The mic works okay for what it is - I was almost hoping that it was broken in transit

. It's the w/end project and...aah

, well I'm gonna do what I set out to do

Iain

D-Dawn · #4 July 6th, 2006

Good! I added more to mine and will re-post it too

Get recording!!!

Sano · #5 July 6th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by D-Dawn

Get recording!!!

lol, I pity the man in your life

but recording I will do

D-Dawn · #6 July 6th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sano

I pity the man in your life

but recording I will do

LMAO I've trained him very well thank you!

allthumbs · #7 July 6th, 2006

Play with the mike placement Sano. Each mike is different. You just don't want it directly over the sound hole or it can get boomy.

Jim · #8 July 6th, 2006

My mic is an old cheapo that came with a tape recorder I had years ago, and it can't pick up anything more than a couple of inches away with enough volume to record, so I actually have to drop it inside my acoustic (into the soundhole) to record that guitar! That explains a lot about my acoustic recordings!

Hopefully they make the cheap ones a little better these days!

Good luck - and have fun!!! I'm looking forward to hearing your recordings!

Jim

Sano · #9 July 6th, 2006

Thanks allthumbs and Jim,

As I said it's the w/end project so over 2 days I should manage to squeak something out. I'm already learning new things with the Audacity download

and that's the name of the game...to learn and have fun doing so.

Matty22 · #10 July 11th, 2006

Your other option is to record the guitar in one track, and then record the vocals seperately, im not sure with Audacity, as i use Adobe Audition, but Audition lets me playback the guitar, and then record another track seperately. So i hear the pre-recorded guitar through headphones, and then record, vocals, or a lead or whatever..

Matty

737blues · #11 July 11th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matty22

Your other option is to record the guitar in one track, and then record the vocals seperately, im not sure with Audacity, as i use Adobe Audition, but Audition lets me playback the guitar, and then record another track seperately. So i hear the pre-recorded guitar through headphones, and then record, vocals, or a lead or whatever..

Matty

Yep, Audacity will do that too, but you have to make sure that the checkbox under preferences, Audio I/O, Play other tracks while recording new one is set. There is quite a bit of info on this site for recording with Audacity, just do a couple of search's if you need to.

Sano · #12 July 11th, 2006

Thanks Matty and 737,

Reasonably happy with the recording...taking into account limitations of my guitar playing, singing and the mic. I've been struggling with converting into MP3. I thought guitar playing was difficult until I started messing around with computers

. Yet another thing that I don't have any particular talent at all with. So steep learning curve and not much time to devote until next w/end due to other commitments.

Iain

D-Dawn · #13 July 12th, 2006

I had trouble converting to MP3 as well. I had to download lame-3.92 ( for a file that Audacity needs to beable to export your file as an MP3...I don't know how..it just works now...Try this.
http://www.trudyholler.com/pages/dow...razorlame.html
Make sure you download lame and the front end lame razor.
Then in Audacity you can export your file as an MP3...it will ask for the missing lame something file and will let you search for it if it doesn't automatcialy pick it up.

I hope I didn't confuse you more!!