Guitar recording 101

by E.J. HEINZ

If you have always wanted to play in a band; but never had the time or wish you could listen back and even watch your finished guitar practice session after a great practice it is worth it to learn the techniques of basic home recording. For a small investment of time and money, you can:

• Hear yourself and your instrument with new clarity with full digital playback with latency eliminated.

• Make each practice better by jamming along with backing tracks from your favorite bands tracks.

• Share your music with others over a variety of networks.

• Experiment with numerous simulated amplifiers and effects pre or even post process.

• Collaborate with others, even if they live from your own home.

There are a number of methods for recording instruments, storing, and processing the sounds on devices for playback.  At some point you'll want to get them onto your computers hard drive for easy editing. I'll cover one easy failsafe method that is affordable and the most popular among practicing guitarists. I'll also go over some of the most popular software products used for recording guitar on the pc at a reasonable price (even free).

The Basics

Any guitar can be recorded. A guitar that is connected directly to your computer, or other recording device, will provide the cleanest sound, but with a microphone you can record any guitar that produces audible sound. One key to recording, and later processing, your guitar playing is capturing a full, clean sound. A full sound is one where the vast majority of the original sound is captured. A clean recording is one that has eliminated most noise. Here are a few tips to help you capture the best possible sound:

• Capture sound with as much volume as possible, but avoid clipping (clipping occurs when the input level is too high, shown by recording level indicators turning red).

• Capture sound at a fast rate, to collect as much sound, and as many subtleties, as possible. CD WAV files, for example, record 16-bits at a time, at a sample rate of 44.1 kHz.

• If using a microphone, eliminate as much background noise as possible. Once you've recorded background noise, it can be difficult to eliminate.

• Leave some silence at the beginning and end of the recording, it can easily be removed later, but if you cut it too close, you might actually cut off part of your performance.

Below is my zoom 2.1u effects processor with an complete audio interface built in.

Best Method: The Powered Audio-digital-In Connection

The very best method for recording guitar at home with your laptop is to eliminate the analog components and connect digitally for better sound quality, manipulation and mixing abilities. You will need a 1/4" to 1/8" cable, and adapters to use in between your accesories along with a fair amount of cable.  You'll be rewarded with a great signal strength, and control for latency elimination. For a complete setup to record with monitor speakers or headphones you will need:

• A USB, Firewire, or Digital I/O port on your laptop.

• A laptop with proper soundcard and usb inputs running Windows xp or newer.

• A small mixer to monitor your amp, instrument and backing tracks through headphones (if desired).

• Backing tracks if your jamming/recording along.

• Digital audio workstation software for recording one to multiple tracks.  (I prefer Audacity)

• An instrument!

A direct Audio-In connection may work for you, but most guitars provide a signal that is too weak, and turning up the volume simply produces hum, latency and other undesirable noise problems when recording so I won’t be covering this method at all. To solve this problem you need to boost the signal from your guitar and get a digital input to your recording device (laptop). Any audio interface device or effects processor with one built in that contains a: usb output, s/pdif or firewire output with pre-amp (the first stage of amplification) balanced signaling can boost the signal and enable quality digital recording for you. I currently use a zoom 2.1u effects processor with a built in pre-amp and audio interface. You however can use any guitar effects or output accessory (amp-modeler, pedal, drum machine, direct box) with an output labeled "PA Out" or "Line Out" and it will produce the amplified signal needed. You can then purchase an audio interface to convert to a digital signal to record on your computer if needed. Dedicated pre-amp effects processors for guitars are the best choice and preferred method for ease of use. They will provide all the power you will ever need to drive the Audio-in/out port and give you an array of effects. Price, features, effects and power vary widely these days. In general, the best tone comes from separate pre-amps that use tubes but I prefer all-in-one digital effect processors as i mentioned. You'll find great units for as little as $150, or you can pay much more for professional rack-mounted units approaching thousands of dollars.

Here's what a typical generic powered audio-digital-in connection looks like.

My Behringer mixer used to mix up to 4 channels that I use while doing headphone work.

Many of the devices for digitizing your guitar signal have outputs for monitoring sound with external speakers or you can use those or your laptop. You can also output to an amp with some effects processors like I mentioned. Another common feature is a headphone output, for when you wish to work without disturbing others. When you play with backing tracks you will need a mixer to mix the amp and backing track output to the headphones in real time while recording through the interface to pc. The effects processor devices in combination with a mixer (optional) not only make it easier to record guitar on your computer, it offers a wide variety of special features, including: amplifier modeling; balanced output (for direct connection to PA systems); MIDI input; looping; built-in metronome and/or tuner; modeled pedals, special knobs and controls for working with sound-processing software, raw output, and most units are compact for travel. It's true that you will need to play with the various digital sound parameters (such as bit-rate and sampling rate) to determine the best sound for you, but with an external processor and mixer you control these parameters, not your PC's sound card. This is a great advantage. Sometimes even a combination of the pc and external processor combination yields the best combination.

Advantages:

• • Digital Input. A digitized copy of your guitar can be stored, copied, modified in numerous ways, and easily shared with others.

  • Reduced Latency. Latency is the amount of time required to convert your guitar's analog signal to a digital signal. When recording guitar to a computer, you want as little latency as possible. Because the external device is designed to convert your guitar's analog signal to digital very quickly, the signal is available to your computer almost instantly.

  • Powered speaker outputs

  • Headphone Output

  • Multiple Input Channels

  • You can connect many inputs, including MIDI instruments, with some of these devices and combinations.

  • Other Specialty Features

  • Digital Sound Parameter Control

The Software For Recording At Home

Once you have your connection method down, you will need some software to capture your sound. The software used is called a digital audio workstation (DAW).

You can probably find a list of daw programs by using your Internet Search Engine to search for "digital audio work station" (daw),"guitar recording software" or some similar phrases. I prefer the audacity freeware daw. Another popular one is cubase which is similar in function as any other daw. There are many to choose from and experiment with.

Cubase description for pc

Steinberg's CuBase has a solid reputation with its users. You can choose the package you prefer based on your budget and the capabilities you seek.

Cubase Essential 5 is hardly a limited, beginner package, but it is the entry level version of Cubase for those who wish to dip their toe in the water before jumping in with both feet. You get an easy, intuitive approach to composing, recording, editing, and mixing. Cubase Essential 5 uses the same user interface and award-winning audio engine as the more expensive Steinberg Cubase products.

Cubase Studio 5 is the next step for studio or creative musicians. Based on the same core technologies as Steinberg's Cubase 5 Advanced Music Production System, Studio 5 gives you many of the same features, such as the new Groove Agent ONE drum machine and Beat Designer step sequencer as well as the new PitchCorrect intonation effect for perfect vocal pitch every time, plus much, much more.

If you yearn for all the state-of-the-art features you can get, take a look at Cubase 5. This award-winning Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software package. You get everything included in Essential 5 and Studio 5 plus the revolutionary LoopMash seamlessly blends loops, creating unimaginable variations; enhanced playback editing; much, much, more.

My Schecter blackjack atx c-1

RECORDING YOUTUBE VIDEOS

(the http://www.killerbuckeye.com method)

Once proper connections are made, it may be necessary to configure your sound hardware on your computer to capture audio from the correct input, and to set volumes for recording and playback. In Windows, you should be able to access the volume controls and select a recording device by going to Start > Control Panel > Sounds and Audio, and then clicking on the “Advanced” button in “Device volume” section. This will bring up a window with volume sliders for various audio sources for the computer, as shown below. This window may look different on your computer depending on what type of audio hardware, operating system and drivers you have installed. Make sure that the input you plan to use for recording is not muted. Otherwise, you won’t be able to hear your guitar signal through the computer or monitor while recording. If you are not using the microphone input, it is a good idea to mute it to eliminate any noise associated with the mic preamp. At this point, you should be able to hear your guitar through your computer speakers or headphones.

Next, in the volume control window, go to the Options menu and select Properties. This will bring up a window with sliders to control the recording volume, as well as check boxes to choose the recording device. Make sure the input you plan to use is selected by enabling the appropriate checkbox. In this case, SW Synth is the stereo input.

Finally, you should set the recording volume appropriately. (It is important to note that playback / monitoring volume is independent of recording volume.) You need to make sure you set the recording volume such that it is not clipping (distorting) the input while not being too weak. The playback volume can be adjusted to your liking after the recording volume is set. To set the recording volume, launch Audacity and start a new project. Make sure the proper recording device is set in the pop-up menu as shown below.

Then, click on triangle icon next to the microphone icon and select “Monitor input” from the menu. You should now see a level indicator bar when you play your guitar. Adjust the slider next to the microphone icon to adjust the recording volume. The level should never hit “0”. I usually try to keep the volume at about –3 as a maximum. Keep in mind that you can always amplify your recorded guitar signal if you need more volume in the mix.

Import the desired song into Audacity by going to File > Open, and selecting a .wav or .mp3 file. Once the song is loaded, press the play button, and play your guitar along to the song to check the relative volume levels. If either the song or your guitar is too loud, you can adjust the volume levels using the Windows playback volume mixer described in Step 2 (Note: Make sure not to change the recording volumes!). Once you get an acceptable playback (monitoring) mix, you are ready to record your guitar track.

At this point, I set up my camera so that I am recording the video at the same time as the audio. I press record on the camera or onscreen, then I press the record button in Audacity, and off I go! If you did everything correctly, you should see a new, separate audio track from your guitar recording underneath the original song. (Important! If you can’t hear the original song while recording your guitar, go to Edit => Preferences, switch to the “Audio I/O” tab, and make sure to check the box labeled “Play other tracks while recording new one”). Once the song is over, stop the camera and press the stop button in Audacity. Return to the beginning of the song in Audacity and press play to listen to the mix. You can make +/- 3 dB adjustments to the volume of the original song and your guitar track by using the gain slider to the left of each track. To make even finer adjustments, I suggest using the envelope tool (refer to Audacity help).

Once you achieve a recording mix that you are happy with, export the project to a 16-bit .wav file. You may need to go to Edit > Preferences in Audacity first, and set the Sample Rate to 44,100 Hz in the Quality tab, and set the “Uncompressed Export Format” to “WAV (Microsoft 16 bit PCM)” in the File Formats tab. To export the .wav file, go to File > Export as WAV.

NOTE: This a technique using Windows Movie Maker. There are many many more video processing software programs avalible with many more options. They all follow the same basic operating principles. This is just for an example only.

Start Windows Movie Maker. Under step 1 of the “Movie Tasks” pane on the left, click on “Import video”, and find the video file that you recorded on your camera or webcam. The video clip will appear in the “Collection” box in the center. Drag the video clip onto the timeline at the bottom. If you are given the option to “split” the clip into different segments automatically, do NOT do this, as it will make editing more difficult. You will now see the video and audio (from the camera) in the timeline. If there is audio in your video file from the camera microphone, right-click on the audio track and select “Mute”.

Next, import the .wav file you exported from Audacity by clicking on “Import audio or music” under step 1 of the Movie Tasks pane. The .wav file will appear in the collection box. Drag this file into the timeline. If you want to add titles or credits make sure to do it now before you start to synchronize the audio and video. Otherwise, you’ll have to do it over again. To synchronize the audio and video, it is easiest to zoom in on the timeline as much as possible. Find the spot in your video when you play the first note, and try to align the audio waveform with it by clicking on the audio track and dragging it to the left or right. Press the play button to see how well the audio and video are synchronized. If it’s still off, make fine adjustments to the position of the audio track by dragging it 0.1 seconds forward or backward. It may take a bit of practice, but you should be able to get it very close. Once you are happy with the video, save the movie project and export it as a compressed movie format (I use the default .wmv). To do this, click on “Save to my computer” in step 3 of the Movie Tasks pane. Enter a filename and location for the file, and press next. In the “Movie Setting” options, I usually just choose the “Best fit to file size” option, and leave the default size specified by the program. Press next, and your movie will be saved to your hard drive. Once it is finished, you are ready to upload the video to youtube!

Here is a finished example from me.