Recording a guitar

RicksPick
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Fri Sep 17, 2010 12:07 pm

Thanks for the replys and info

Must go to work now, check back later

Anymore idea's welcome

RicksPick


d_dog
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Fri Sep 17, 2010 2:11 pm

Hi Rick,

A couple more things to ponder, in case it's not already obvious.
Does your video camera have an external mic jack on it?
If so, you can usually plug a regular dynamic mic into this jack, (you'll most likely need a 1/4" or XLR to 1/8" adapter plug depending on the type of mic you buy, you could find what you need at Radio Shack (or "The Shack" which they ridiculously call themselves now). This will give you far superior sound to the built in camera mic. The largest reason being that you'll be able to put the mic much closer to the guitar and keep the camera where it is. Secondly, as wrench pointed out, dynamic mics are well suited for a wider dynamic range and will capture the guitar more accurately than the built in camera mic.
The benefit (if indeed your camera has the mic jack) is that with this set up you won't have to worry about recording the audio separately and use some other software to merge/sync the video track and audio track back together.

However, if your camera does not have an external jack, then you'll have to look at a set up like MarkM suggested where he plugs the mic (USB) directly into his computer and records the audio portion using Audacity, while the video camera is really just capturing the video simultaneously (audio from the camera recording is discarded later) After you've recorded both simultaneously but separately, you'll re-assemble and syncronize the separate audio and video in a program like Windows movie maker or some other Windows video/audio software that I don't know (I'm a Mac guy).

BTW, you might want to check out the deal I posted today for some good cheap recording stuff. http://www.woot.com

Interested to hear what you come up with. Take care.


juanlla
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Fri Sep 17, 2010 3:20 pm

Rick,
Thanks for opening this thread. I've also been thinking on how to improve the sound, withouth going into the proffe$$ional edge.

Let me ask then, has anyone tried using the cable that goes straight from the Guitar to the USB?
I found one on the web called AudioLink but have not tried it yet.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Alesis/G ... productads

Another question, has anyone used the VOX mini amp
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Vox-amPlug- ... 1475507.gc

I also saw this in GC and though was a good idea. It has a heaphone outpud that I guess could be connected straight into the PC mic miniplug, would this work ?

Thanks,
Juan


tovo
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Fri Sep 17, 2010 4:40 pm

Hey Rick. I was frustrated with poor sound also. I did exactly what D-Dog has described, bought a reasonable priced mic (Rode M3), an adaptor and plugged it directly into the external mic socket on my video cam (Kodak Z8 which many people here have at under 200 bucks for a HD camera it's awesome). The improvement in sound quality is great and absolutely enough for me. The only thing I could add is a 2nd mic specifically for picking up vocals but honestly I don't think it's needed. So for around 300 bucks (mic and stand) I solved my problem and I thought that was pretty cost effective.


RicksPick
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Sat Sep 18, 2010 2:05 am

Thanks Guys

No external on the video cam but will double check when it's home.I may have to go Mark's way
Your sugestions have been great and informitive

Thanks
RicksPick


tovo
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Sat Sep 18, 2010 8:41 am

If you are using a video camera you will have to transfer the recording in some way back to the computer. That is an extra step I like to try to avoid. I am in the Apple computer camp, but PC's are very much the same. I am making the video recordings using the movie editing program that is bundled with Apple computers, iMovie. I use the built-in webcam on my desktop or laptop computer.
http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#garageband-hero
http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#imovie

With the Apple computers I have, you are able to plug a dynamic mic, or your electric guitar via mini-audio plug directly into the audio-in jack. The audio quality is not the best, but it is a simple way to get it done.

One step better is to get an audio interface (USB or firewire). Then you can use any kind of microphone. That is how I am making my recordings now.


tombo1230
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Sun Sep 19, 2010 7:45 pm

Hi Rick,
just to clear something up. The 48Khz reference is not the same thing as the mic spec' 100Hz - 15Khz. They are both frequencies yes, but not related. The 48Khz reference is how many times the analogue signal is sampled per second to change it into ones and nothings or a digital signal on tape or hard drive and the 100Hz -15Khz is the frequency responce of the mic or basically the frequency range it works between. The analogue signal is your voice or any sound, music etc, It has to be converted for camera use. If this is already obvious to everyone then apologies for stating the obvious.

Tom N.


audiobravo2403
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Tue Sep 21, 2010 2:04 pm

Hello all,

There seems to be a bit of confusion over the way digital audio is processed relating to the sample rate and bit rate. Analog sound waves are a smooth continuous wave having no rough edges. When these are converted to digital it's rather like trying to duplicate the wave on graph paper. The sampling rate and the bit rate are akin to how small the squares on your graph paper are. The smaller the squares the closer you can replicate the wave, which is why a higher sampling and bit rate produces better quality audio. The current CD standard is 16 bit 44.1Khz so anything higher than that will produce a better quality sound, but is rather a waste of processing power since most people don't have the means to listen at that high quality and if you burn your music to CD it will be truncated back down to CD standard anyway.

The parts about frequency response for the mikes is mostly correct, and unless you have a soundproof room and money to spend I would recommend against a condenser mike. They can sound harsh without other processing gear and they will definitely pick up background noise that you didn't even know was there. A good dynamic mike will be much cheaper and will do the job nicely.

I prefer to record with ProTools, but there are a number of lower cost audio programs you can use that will get you good results.

I hope I've been some help.

Steve B.


RicksPick
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Tue Sep 21, 2010 2:22 pm

Thanks
All the info is fantastic
Cleared some things up too

RicksPick


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