Question about recording my bass guitar for cheap$

[bassmasta05]

I have a question about recording my bass guitar.

I want to buy a simple, cheap, usb microphone. Can you reccomend any that are under 30 dollars that will record my bass?

My second question is will

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...Fencoding=UTF8

that microphone work ok with recording my bass, or will it just work with my voice?

thanks

[Jonboy79]

Originally Posted by bassmasta05

I have a question about recording my bass guitar.

I want to buy a simple, cheap, usb microphone. Can you reccomend any that are under 30 dollars that will record my bass?

My second question is will

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...Fencoding=UTF8

that microphone work ok with recording my bass, or will it just work with my voice?

thanks

If you're playing an electric bass then just go direct in. A 30 dollar mic is going to sound like crap micing up a bass cab. Again, assuming it's electric just plug the bass into the computer like it was your amp head. Now if you need further explanation then give us more info, like pc type, bass type, what software you use, etc...

[bassmasta05]

How exactly could I plug my bass into my computer? I dont have any adapters or anything...

I know my computer has some PCI interfaces, if that helps. I downloaded a free software tool for mixing music, but that shouldnt matter. Will I have to buy anything extra in order to plug my bass into my computer?

EDIT:

I found out that I need an audio adapter that allows my 1/4 inch bass chord to plug into the 1/8 jack on the computer. Do you have any good links for adapters that will help me in this situation?

thanks

[manning1]

bassmasta....
firstly you have a problem.
it looks like your attempting to use your on board sound in your pc to record your bass. these are not the greatest. if you enable a track in your audio software
with nothing attached to the line in of your pc sound card do you see a level in the meters ?? at about -40 db ?? if you DO ....this is your on board sound chip noise level. so i would check that out first. just record blank audio tracks.
after about 5 or 6 youll start to hear HISS on the playback of the blank recordings.
if you look carefully at the waveform youll also see very low level of noise.
so first thing is to run this test. do you see level at around -40db ??
with NOTHING ATTACHED ??
the way i would do it is ....be aware the bass guitar likes to look into a HI IMPEDENCE INPUT in the next part of the chain.
recording a bass naked into on board sound is likely not going to make you happy with the result. thus you might look for some used bass gizmo like a di device or a bass pod for example. in summary you need to buffer the bass before sending into the sound card. some cheap mixers have hi input impedence inputs for bass and guitar as well. i guess you could try the adaptor approach.....but once recorded youll have to do some denoising of the bass track.
powertracks that i use has a built in noise gate and various features for cleaning up a track. includeing compressor etc. and eq to etc to make the track sound better.
but its 50 buks. look in your software you use for dsp effects that will help you make a track sound better.
what audio software are you useing ?? the free audacity will help you clean up a noisy soundcard but ive sometimes found problems with it from a stability standpoint.
you might want to consider a DECENT sound card for 90 buks like an maudio 2496 sound device. these are popular.
music123.com and zzounds and sweetwater have a huge list of soundcards. if your SERIOUS about quality recording i wouldnt use on board sound chips.
heres a link to just one device (of many) that will record your bass guitar.
it replaces your on board sound chip.
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_u...kUSB-main.html
but its not cheap.

[max cooper]

This is one of those cases where I think you'd be better off with a cassette four-track recorder.

If your immediate goal is to make a good sounding recording of your bass, it's going to be the fastest, most cost effective way.

If your as unfamiliar with computer recording as I think, judging by your posts, just go for the cassette. Nothing wrong with being new at recording, but I think you might spend a lot more trying things that end up not working if you go that route.

Here's one on Ebay now:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Fostex-Multitrac...QQcmdZViewItem

[G-Dawg]

yeah i second that. get a 4 track and work on that before even bothering with recording on your computer. it's the easiest, hassle-free method of doing what you want to do and it's a good starting point. it's also the cheapest method, and by cheap i mean affordable.

[narco]

If you want to go on computer, a simplified summary of mannings post from above is:

With you current set up it would be best to get a D.I. (of any type) and not a microphone

But it would be even better to get a better sound card instead, or sound input/output device for your computer like the one he linked to at

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_u...kUSB-main.html

narco

[Tommylicious]

I think this might be the stuff that you are looking for!

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/JamLab-main.html

http://line6.com/guitarport/

Around here we would use DI -> Preamp -> Converter, but this will get u there too..

[by-tor]

might work....
http://www.griffintechnology.com/pro...bles/index.php

[bassmasta05]

Originally Posted by manning1

bassmasta....
firstly you have a problem.
it looks like your attempting to use your on board sound in your pc to record your bass. these are not the greatest. if you enable a track in your audio software
with nothing attached to the line in of your pc sound card do you see a level in the meters ?? at about -40 db ?? if you DO ....this is your on board sound chip noise level. so i would check that out first. just record blank audio tracks.
after about 5 or 6 youll start to hear HISS on the playback of the blank recordings.
if you look carefully at the waveform youll also see very low level of noise.
so first thing is to run this test. do you see level at around -40db ??
with NOTHING ATTACHED ??
the way i would do it is ....be aware the bass guitar likes to look into a HI IMPEDENCE INPUT in the next part of the chain.
recording a bass naked into on board sound is likely not going to make you happy with the result. thus you might look for some used bass gizmo like a di device or a bass pod for example. in summary you need to buffer the bass before sending into the sound card. some cheap mixers have hi input impedence inputs for bass and guitar as well. i guess you could try the adaptor approach.....but once recorded youll have to do some denoising of the bass track.
powertracks that i use has a built in noise gate and various features for cleaning up a track. includeing compressor etc. and eq to etc to make the track sound better.
but its 50 buks. look in your software you use for dsp effects that will help you make a track sound better.
what audio software are you useing ?? the free audacity will help you clean up a noisy soundcard but ive sometimes found problems with it from a stability standpoint.
you might want to consider a DECENT sound card for 90 buks like an maudio 2496 sound device. these are popular.
music123.com and zzounds and sweetwater have a huge list of soundcards. if your SERIOUS about quality recording i wouldnt use on board sound chips.
heres a link to just one device (of many) that will record your bass guitar.
it replaces your on board sound chip.
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_u...kUSB-main.html
but its not cheap.

thanks for the advice, although it is hard to follow. But Im not that serious about getting really good quality recording, I just want to have a cheap way to get my basslines onto my computer, and be able to hear them pretty good. Im new to recording so I dont want to shell out a hundred bucks right away... I want to find a cheap way to do it first to see if I like it, and if it even works.

And my computer had a rate of around -40, Im using audacity by the way. I still think I want to try recording it into the line in, for I dont need perfect quality. Can you suggest any cables for a pc? I know someone posted a link to a bable for macs, but I have a pc.

[narco]

standard cables from a electronics store will work.

Better yet, email a store like sweetwater.com and they'll help you get the right stuff

narco

[max cooper]

Originally Posted by by-tor

might work....
http://www.griffintechnology.com/pro...bles/index.php

Yeah, I suppose this is probably the thing. 1/8" is 1/8" whether it's PC or MAC. If that's what kind of input you have. You could just look at the thing and see.

I like how the mfgr's description ends with "a steal at $24.99."

Like it's a $75 item but they're gonna really help you out. Gosh, thanks!

But Griffin makes good stuff. I have one of those powermate jog/shuttle things and it's very cool.

[George Necola]

forget microphone, preamp whatever.

==>http://www.tech21nyc.com/bassdriver.html

the bassdriver is so nice, I forget placing microphones in front of the bass-cab everytime we have a recording;)

try it.. go directly into the DI, then out with a cable to your onboard souncard. you can use the REAPER-software (sticky-thread in my forum) and an ASIO4all driver (latency compensation).

if you have more questions, ask please.

cheers George

[bassmasta05]

Originally Posted by George Necola

forget microphone, preamp whatever.

==>http://www.tech21nyc.com/bassdriver.html

the bassdriver is so nice, I forget placing microphones in front of the bass-cab everytime we have a recording;)

try it.. go directly into the DI, then out with a cable to your onboard souncard. you can use the REAPER-software (sticky-thread in my forum) and an ASIO4all driver (latency compensation).

if you have more questions, ask please.

cheers George

that things almost 200 bucks on amazon, sorry, but Im new to recording and I want to start out cheap.


-max cooper

Yeah, I suppose this is probably the thing. 1/8" is 1/8" whether it's PC or MAC. If that's what kind of input you have. You could just look at the thing and see.

I like how the mfgr's description ends with "a steal at $24.99."

Like it's a $75 item but they're gonna really help you out. Gosh, thanks!

But Griffin makes good stuff. I have one of those powermate jog/shuttle things and it's very cool.

Are you sure that cable would work with my BASS and my PC?

thanks! the griffin cable product that was suggested seems to be at a reasonable price.

O yeah I just realized the cable only works with 2 different programs, so it wont work with my audicity :(

[George Necola]

guys.. please tell me, that 200 bucks are cheap, and that I am not a highend dude;)

if it's not worth spending 200 bucks for you, then you can buy a cheapo mic and pre for 50 dollars (Behringer & phillips-walmart microphone).
a bit more cheaper is this unit here:

http://www.zzounds.com/item--SAMC01U

or buy an old tapedeck and a fisherprice microphone for kids...

[bassmasta05]

well, ok, I relize that 200 dollars isnt cheap for serious recorders buy Im new to the recording stuff and I want to start out cheap then build up.

That mic looks decent, but I really just want to find a cable and try recording the cheapest way possible, and If Im somewhat satisfied, I might shell out 200 bucks for the product you suggested. For now I want to find a cable that will allow the 1/4 inch bass chord to plug into the 1/8 inch socket on the computer. I cant find them because I dont know what they are called.

[jodyjfk]

by-tor gave you a link. Here's another one:
http://www.academicsuperstore.com/ma...?PartNo=729427
It's a mono 1/4" plug to stereo 1/8" plug cable. Maybe Radio Shack has a cheaper one?

[cramseur]

The "get in" recorder that I recommend is the Zoom MRS-8. Yeah I know its $300 and not $30 but you get a lot of stuff for that money....8 tracks of 16 bit/44.1 mhz recording, Built in effects, bass and drum machine (with pads to play your own patterns) and you can plug your bass right into it. It comes with software that will allow you to burn CDs on your computer. Saves to flash cards.

Is it perfect...nah, but it is very capable. Save up, practice your chops, then record properly.

http://www.samsontech.com/products/p...1775&brandID=4