I agree with using the PC. A lot of people are, these days, wedded to phones and tablets and you can do a lot with them, including Garage band, on iPads, and tools like Zenbeats which are pretty capable DAWs, but they are usually still reduced in functionality compared to PC based DAWs.
You can do combined AV recording using the camera app on most devices, and do some simple editing. It may even be possible to select an attached AI as the audio input. That is good enough for many and certainly good enough for this forum.
But if you want to step up the quality a notch, IMO a PC will give you better tools for the job.
I havenât even recorded myself on an iPhone or Ipad playing but thatâs one of my next goals, even if it comes out really bad. Anyway, all this talk about DAWâs and interfaces gets my head spinning.
Questions: Is the interface supposed to plug into the PC via USB? Do the guitar lead (Iâm talking acoustic), microphone, headset all plug into the interface? or is that just the guitar lead? Bit confused here
Recording on a modern phone will give you good results so if you have nothing else or starting Iâd just use that, upload it to YouTube and then share that way.
An audio interface will plug in to a laptop/pc via USB. Depending on the interface it will have one or more 1/4 inch/XLR inputs that can either take a guitar 1/4 inch cable or mic cable.
There are broadly speaking two types of mic. A dynamic mic which will generally only pick up sound when it is directed very closely to it and a condenser mic which is very sensitive and pick up the whole room. A condenser mic needs phantom power which is usually available on an interface.
If you have no electronics built into you acoustic or donât want to plug it in (some prefer the natural sound of an acoustic) then buy a condenser mic. Itâll pick up the whole room including your vocal and guitar.
Iâve been having a blast recording my electric using WaveForm 11 (free DAW for Window/Mac/Linux) and Igniteâs Nadir and Emissary (free amplifier emulator mostly for rock/metal), along with a really cheap 1/4" to USB cable.
Hi @StuartW, is it for an electric or acoustic? There are ways for both, but generally speaking I donât think any are as good as using an AI from a quality and workflow perspective, especially if your objective is recording. Although, in saying that, there are many much more experienced folk here than I, so someone else may have a more informed answer for you.
In any case, FWIW, if you are using an acoustic then, much like recording on your phone, you could just capture it using your laptop or webcamâs mic, but I suspect it will sound rubbish
Alternatively, there are USB mics out there that may do an okay job, here is a list that popped up after a quick Google search: Best USB Microphones for Guitar
If you have an electric, some of us have used the RockSmith cable before for just practicing. Itâs cheap, but again quality probably wonât be great, especially if youâre intending to record.
If you have an amp that outputs via USB, like a Boss Katana, then you could use that. I have found the quality from my Katana sounds really good recording this way.
However, from my experience having played around with this for a while, I would just recommend getting an AI from a well respected brand. There are good options that arenât ridiculously expensive from either Focusrite or Behringer (amongst others) and plenty on the community have them, so lots of advice to be given
You donât need the Rocksmith game to use the cable, which is available separately. There are also other cheap USB guitar interfaces which are similar on Amazon, etc.
For the Cube, you will need an AI. If you are looking for one, the following is worth a watch.
As @Majik mentioned, you can just use a USB to 1/4 inch adapter. It has the analog to digital part built into the cable end with USB. I bought one when I first started out and have been using it now aver 2 years. I use it to record âjust the guitarâ without any additional effects.
If you purchase one, I have noticed that cheap copycat manufacturers do not crimp the cable to the 1/4 inch connector. This allows the solder joint to break and it will need to soldered back on. You can crimp it yourself if you need with a pair of pliers and a bit of care to just do enough to hold the cable in place and avoid breaking through the insulation on the wires. Ask me if you need a picture or better description.
I record into Audacity on Linux or macOS depending on my need. I fully expect it will work fine on Windows if you use that.
I find Audacity to be a great tool for simple single-track recordings or audio file clean-ups. If you move beyond that, or are planning to in the future, I suggest a real DAW.
As this is all new to me this may be a really daft question but assume that if I play into my PC/Audacity I will be able to hear the guitar live as I play, via headphones?
Many standard audio interfaces (like the ones in the video) have a headphone monitoring output. If you have this then youâll be able to listen to what you are recording regardless of the application you are using to record with (Audacity, or a DAW, etc.).
Noteh that you can plug your guitar directly into most of these interfaces but, if you do with an electric guitar, then you wont get the sound of an amp and that is a huge part of the electric guitar sound. If you plug the output of an amp (such as the Cube line out) into the AI then you will get this sound both recorded and in your headphones.
The other alternative is to use plugins to create that amplifier sound. A lot of people do this and it works well for them. If that is your aim, go for it. But it does introduce additional complexity and latency. If you have an amp with a recording line out and your main aim is to record yourself, then I would stick with this, and worry about amp sims down the line.
I donât bother to listen and record at the same time. If that is important to you, follow what Majik has been saying. I prefer to record clean and then add effects.
EDIT: so I had the wrong idea of âAIâ. It is intended to mean Audio Interface in the messages above. I was thinking of artificial intelligence⌠enjoy my goof.
A few notes about what is going on in this processâŚ
AI is not what I would call anything we are doing in guitar. In fact , I consider modern âAIâ being 100% âAâ and 0% âIâ. It is simply a bunch of lookup tables and a fancy correlator. No intelligence involved.
Your question is asking about the sequence of stuff in a guitar signal chain. Iâll try not to get too long-winded on this.
a. Signal chains are not required to be in a particular order, but it there are some reasons to for some pieces to be where they typically are
b. A simple chain might be guitar â amp â speakers. Inside the amp, you may find pre-amp â tone control â variable gain amp (gain (distortion) control) â volume â power amp. The user generally has some control over the tone, volume, and gain. Amps can have other features designed in, but it is easiest to just think of it as making the signal âmuch biggerâ for now.
c. The variable gain stage is often used to generate the distortion you associate with the amp. The power stage can help as well, but the primary source is earlier.
d. Effects usually come in between guitar and amp, or before the gain control when an amp has an effects loop.
e. âeffectsâ are what we are applying when we add pedals. The interface for these is generally set to a common input level. They can add distortion, reverb, wah, etc. Some will add gain (make the signal a little bigger),
So, the order of the effects will change what your final result sounds like. Consider guitar â distortion â reverb â amp â speakers. in this case, you get distorted reverb entering your amp. Letâs assume the amp is set up clean, so you basically get out what went into the amp, just big enough to drive speakers so you can hear it.
Now, what if you change it to guitar â distortion-> reverb-> amp? No you get reverberated distortion. This will be similar, but different.
The lesson is that when you are dealing with any kind of signal distortion, that means things like fuzz, phaser, wah, tube screamer⌠you will get differences depending on the order you chain them into your signal.
Letâs also look at your question specifically. You suggested guitar-> amp-> effects. For a computer signal chain like youâd use from a DAW or even Audacity, you wonât damage anything. It may not sound good, but you will hear that right away. However, if you try to add effects at the output of a guitar amp, you are likely to drive a signal far too large into the pedal and damage the pedal. Additionally, the pedal is not likely going to be able to drive a speaker, so you wouldât be able to use it that way.
I was trying to avoid getting too technical there. I hope I was successful. Also, what I presented for signal chain is generalized, you certainly can find different examples, but the lesson presented will work as a pretty good guide when you are starting to fiddle with the location and order of the effects you play with.
One last note: filters can generally be placed where you want to boost or attenuate certain frequencies without altering distortion. This is very true when doing this digitally (like a computer/DAW/effects processor) but is also generally true with pedals as well.
Michael the AI being referenced is Audio Interface not Artificial Intelligence. But if my Behringer UMC and Xenyx has look up tables, its not mentioned in the manual.
I was thinking of artificial intelligence⌠enjoy my goof.