Recording your guitar can be a tricky thing to achieve and get good results from, even when you’re in an expensive recording studio with thousands of pounds worth of effects processors at your fingertips. Phil Spector is rumoured to have spent an entire week recording ONE guitar chord on the album he produced for the Ramones! However, with a couple of decent bits of kit, and sticking to some basic principles, you can get pretty good results these days recording directly into your computer.
Assuming that you don’t want to annoy your neighbours with huge amp stacks cranked up to eleven then you’re going to have to use some sort of effects unit that can give you the guitar tone you want without having to mic up your amp. You’ll also need an audio interface to connect to your computer that will record good quality sound with little background noise. The goods news is that there are some manufacturers that have put these two ideas together to create products specifically for the guitarist wanting to record to his or her computer.
Line 6 POD Studio KB37.
This is the all-in-one solution for recording vocals and guitars (and bass) onto a PC or Mac with a single USB connection. The device has Microphone and Guitar inputs and is also a full featured MIDI controller keyboard. Plus it ships with Ableton software so that you can use your computer as the multi-track recorder. This means that you can create drum beats using the keyboard and software and then record over with your bass, guitar and vocals. The KB37 ships with Line6 gearbox software which is guitar amp modelling software. It has “models” of all the best amps from the past 30 years or so and is incredibly realistic.
Line 6 POD Studio UX-2
Similar to the KB37 and has all of the connection features but without the MIDI keyboard. Still has all the great software so you can get the sounds you want!
TC Electronic Desktop Konnekt
This is one the best-sounding audio interfaces you can get for under £300. It has mic inputs and line inputs plus the all-important Hi-Z guitar input. The Desktop Konnekt ships with Cubase music production software. With this you can add virtual guitar effects to get your desired tone. It’s big feature is it’s control functions - a big volume knob plus easy to read displays and connections for studio monitors and headphones - all in all the ideal hub of your personal home studio, ideal for recording guitars and vocals.
A few basic tips.
Always keep the gain on your recording interface as high as possible without over-loading - this will ensure you have the maximum audio signal to play with in the mixing process.
Always try and use a compressor of some sort when recording anything like guitar or vocal. Compressors “level” the signal to a certain extent making the audio source volume more predictable. Call us and we can advise on the best one for you!
If you’ve got tracks, use them. If you’re audio software has lots of tracks then it’s a good idea to make best use of them. Keep different instruments separate so that you can mix them individually later. Try and avoid lumping lots of instruments on to the same track as you won’t be able to add eq and effects to individual instruments later (some producers and engineers record the effects for one track on a separate track so they preserve the orginal "clean" recording of the instrument!)
If you’re recording vocals, get yourself a condenser microphone and a mic stand. Condenser mics have a natural compression and will pick up much more of the detail of your vocals than your dynamic mic. You’ll need the mic stand too as it will pick up the sound of you moving if you’re holding the mic!
Don’t add too many effects after the fact. Use effects sparingly when mixing as they can quickly swamp your sound and make it unnatural and swooshy! There’s nothing better than the sound of a guitar that makes you think you’re sitting in front of the guitar cab!
Remember - good recordings don’t just happen. Like anything else you have to practice. Try different things and experiment, eventually recording instruments and getting a good polished sound will will seem a whole lot easier!
