Home Recording

Hey everyone, I have been trying to record some demos of me playing, but I can't seem to find the right distance to record from my amp. I am just using Audacity on my MacBook and using the built in mic. It seems to drown out all of my notes when it's about 4 feet from it. Any suggestions would be nice.

just play around with it for a while.

You would get a much better quality sound by running a wire from your amp's output (headphones) socket to the line-in (I think it's called that) on your Mac.

You need a 1/4 inch to 1/8 inch jack to plug right into your mac. Use Garage Band. It's the easiest way to do this. You can use the effects built in Garage Band.

I don't like the effects that garage band has to use, too fake. I guess that I am picky about my sound.

It's good to be picky about your sound. That said, you can't get a good sound using the cheesy little mic that's built into the mac. If you still want to use your amp and achieve a great sound recording on the mac, you will need a good mic going into an audio interface of some sort that connects to the mac via USB.

I would add an external interface where you can control mic input. I use an m-audio firewire solo. but there are several. Then get a condenser mic (or a couple) and play around with positioning.

My very basic gear is here:
http://www.matthewmoranonline.com/my-gear/

Also, don't know if Reaper runs on a mac but look into it.

The m-audio device lets you monitor via headphones your recorded track while recording a new track. Very helpful.

I'm currently writing an amateur's home recording tutorial - but there are great online resources for this. My tutorial is as much a learning experience and experiment as anything.

Experiment, experiment, experiment.

thanks for the input guys, much needed.

what ever you do don't use the built in mike, it's complete crap, junk garbage. It may be ok to talk to over the internet, or spoken word but the expectations for the audio quality is very low. For recording demos ans such you need something a little better.

But if is spur of the moment just tring to record an idea then why worry about the sound quality.

Agreed. What Ive checked for Matthews gear, those forexample are very good to start with and do not cost too much to afford? I have couple friends that use Protools with mac as sequencer program and they say that it works very well. But It is quite expensive program, but I think you can get it cheaper if you know where to look.

Cheers.

Check out reaper, i'm not 100% sure it works with a mac though. a cheap mixer is also helpfull and a cord that will convert 1/8 to 1/4. that is really all you need.

I would defineitly get some kind of audio interface. Maybe get Protools LE because recording purely through the mic isn't going to give you the cleanest recording.

micing your amp is a great way to go...if you are using an external mic. i used to put my mic in the top right corner for rhythm part and bottem right for lead parts...planting your mic right in front center of a 12 inch speaker will tend to sound boomy. also, i do agree with little wing, get an interface. i would recommend a lexicon lambda, its usb and its freakin awesome for the price.

I checked out that lexicon lamda. That's a cool device and works with a mac. Nice price too.

You can plug your guitar right in and go out via usb to the mac or mic your amp to the lamda.

thanks for the input, now i know what to look for.