problem with recording electric guitar

March 8, 2007 3:23 PM

I'm now using a laptop to record and all is well except for electric guitar.

I'm using my laptop now to record. (I broke my PC for good.) It's an HP dv4000. I thought the processor would be good enough, but on playback after two bars of really distorted (punky) guitar the signal nearly flat-lines and modulates right into mud.

I'm using lineout or send from amp to mixer to laptop. Always below 0db. I've tried different amps.

Can this be corrected by using a pod? Cortex' line6 podxt sounded pretty good on Twist The Knife but I've read bad reviews about pods in general.

Is it my computer, my set up, am I just screwed? Any ideas are greatly appreciated! Thanks.

posted by snsranch to sports, hobbies, & recreation (24 answers total)

but on playback after two bars of really distorted (punky) guitar the signal nearly flat-lines and modulates right into mud.

Can you elaborate? I'm not sure what you mean by flatlines—signal way high and clipping into crazy digital distortion?

You need to make sure you've got headroom at every step in the chain, including the record volume for your laptop's line-in: you can have a great signal coming in and just destroy it by having the soundcard's line/mic set too sensitive.
posted by cortex at 3:42 PM on March 8, 2007

You might be over distorting your signal right at the amplifier causing the signal to come out too hot. Try bypassing the amp and go straight into the mixer to see if that eliminates the problem. If it does, what kind of output are you using on the amp? how is it labeled? What kind of mixer is it? Are there signal pads on the mixer inputs (+4/-10)?
posted by chillmost at 3:48 PM on March 8, 2007

The graph of the signal visually flatlines-gets really thin-at the same time that the sound gets really over modulated. Not clipping but yes, crazy digital distortion.

I'll check the mic input right now. Gracias!
posted by snsranch at 3:52 PM on March 8, 2007

The amp has a -20db send setting that I'm using. The mixer is a eurorack mx 802a. The input says Line +10 @ -40dBu.

I just checked the mic settings on the laptop and they are now lower than normal, but not fixing anything.
posted by snsranch at 4:21 PM on March 8, 2007

Straight thru the mixer is definately crystal clear.

It must be the computer. I've tried all kinds of settings, and I get the sound that I want for the first few seconds before the sounds gets muddy. It does the same thing when I mic instead of line in.
posted by snsranch at 4:44 PM on March 8, 2007

Are your sampling rates much higher for guitar/mic?
posted by dobie at 5:07 PM on March 8, 2007

This may be stupid and wrong, but maybe your sound card driver is overloading its buffer. What software are you using to record? Check its audio settings.

If your recording software supports ASIO drivers, you might want to have a look at ASIO4ALL. It's more than 10x faster than the factory-installed driver for my laptop sound card, and it lets me adjust the buffer size.
posted by fuzz at 5:17 PM on March 8, 2007

I dropped to the lowest sample rate: same thing. Checking on the ASIO now.
posted by snsranch at 5:44 PM on March 8, 2007

In my experience, the line out from a guitar amp is the worst way to record electric guitar. This is doubly true for distorted guitar. You will sound a lot better if you just mic up your amp. An SM57 (or almost any mic) will be a big improvement and give you a much better rock sound.

The Pod is also a good idea, especially if you live in an apartment. It isn't the perfect solution to all guitar problems, but if it might work for you. I couldn't be happier with my XT Pro. I still mic an amp sometimes, but that only gives me one or two different sounds. With the Pod I can branch out and find sounds that fit the song.
posted by Uncle Jimmy at 5:55 PM on March 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

It sounds to me like your computer just doesn't have enough juice to playback your current tracks and record your guitar track at the same time.

That said, I'm using lineout or send from amp to mixer to laptop is not the way I like to go. The reason is that the power stage of the amp and, especially, the speaker, are part of the instrument. When you go line out from the amp, then, it's like sawing a tuba in half and just recording from half of it.
posted by ikkyu2 at 6:47 PM on March 8, 2007

Uncle Jimmy, yea, it does the same thing when I mic it. Even at really low volume with an SM57. I think its just my damn computer.
posted by snsranch at 6:52 PM on March 8, 2007

Bah, it looks, as ikkyu2 just said, that this computer just doesn't have the balls for it.

ikkyu2, I know what you mean, but the rig I have now is a 100+w head with a really old Sunn 4 x 10 cabinet. It only sounds good when LOUD. It really doesn't work for recording.
posted by snsranch at 7:15 PM on March 8, 2007

It should. Try micing at a distance, or tilting the angle of the mic (depends on the mic).
posted by klangklangston at 10:10 PM on March 8, 2007

Try opening a new session or project and see if the recording quality is any better when you record just a test track. What your trying to determine is whether or not the software/computer can handle this better without having to play back all the other tracks that you would normally play to.
posted by chillmost at 10:55 PM on March 8, 2007

I'd be inclined to think it's the sound card. Are you using the built-in sound card? From what I can tell that's a bottom of the range sound-blaster and doesn't have a line-in input. Are you sending the line-out from the mixer into the mic input? This is usually a bad idea! Does it work with vocals etc? I'd recommend an external sound card for recording anyway as it cuts out on noise from the laptop and a dedicated card will support higher sampling frequencies and bit-rates (44.1kHz/24-bit is the way to go!)
posted by TwoWordReview at 4:31 AM on March 9, 2007

Unless of course the jack input acts as both mic-in and line-in (I can't tell from the info I've found) and you're already aware of the mic vs line issue, in which case disregard the first half of my comment (still recommend an external card anyway!)
posted by TwoWordReview at 4:50 AM on March 9, 2007

If your amp only sounds good LOUD, it's usually a matter of the head sounding good when really driven rather than the speakers.

Marshall makes a Power Brake that acts as a big speaker taking up most of the power and letting you pass through less to the cabinet. I don't have one, but a friend if mine did, and it definitely gets that "LOUD" amp sound going even when you dial it down quite a bit -- a totally different sound than when the master output of the amp is low.
posted by chimaera at 9:31 AM on March 9, 2007

External sound card sounds like a fix. And that reminds me that the software that I'm using was a $20 quick fix (sucks) in the first place. Thanks everybody for the great suggestions! I'm off to do some research la la la la!
posted by snsranch at 4:28 PM on March 9, 2007

TWR, any ideas for an external sound card? Jeez there seem to be thousands. It looks like some come with Cubase, which might be cool.
posted by snsranch at 4:41 PM on March 9, 2007

I've had good experiences with a M-Audio FastTrack USB, for my laptop recording. If you only need to pull off one or two tracks at a time, it may do you.
posted by cortex at 5:41 PM on March 9, 2007

It's FIXED! External sound card = SWEET!
posted by snsranch at 4:12 PM on March 10, 2007

Nice one! What card did you go for?
posted by TwoWordReview at 10:17 AM on March 11, 2007

TWR, thanks for the advice. After I read your comment, I did LOTS of reading and came up with the Lexicon Omega. Sales pitch for it aside, it really fixed the problem and my laptop has no problems at all. Thanks man.
posted by snsranch at 4:31 PM on March 12, 2007

Certainly looks tasty alright, 'specially with Cubase bundled in!
posted by TwoWordReview at 6:30 PM on March 12, 2007