[Hobby] Guitar

[Zain Adeel]

this is like quite expensive for me.. but i have 5 months to save for it :)

the problem is availablity here in Pakistan.

I want to record vocals and acoustic guitar

my guitar has this heavy sound.. not sharp at all.. and my vocals are smooth and heavy on low notes and sharp and very loud on high.

and i wana plug it to my pc so USB wouldbe best

i just want some review here with anybody havin under 100 mic for recording and loves it and has some videos uploaded so i dun waste my money :p

[MR_Candyman]

USB microphones, quite honestly, are nowhere near as good as analogue. However if you still want them, I would go for either a Samson C01U or C03U

[Zain Adeel]

well for analogue i heard u get weird noise due to the quality of the materials used to make the built in mic jacks.

and i just want it so i can hear how i sound on a good mic and start improving my vocals better.

i am a vocalist for a small band in school but i havent sung for months :( due to exam pressures

[Zain Adeel]

and if u can show me some demo videos ... i might get analogue but the problem is the budget.. at $100

[MR_Candyman]

Bad sound cards definitely give noise. The problem is USB microphones to as well, and usually actually more (though I'm not sure why that is, it could just be because lack of demand for an amazing USB mic). The thing is though, I doubt you'll be able to tell the difference unless you have some good headphones or speakers/monitors. I think in the long run an analogue mic is a better investment, because it will work no matter what you have for hardware (except the phontom powered ones), you don't need drivers for it, and you're paying for the hardware, and not the USB licencing, USB controller, ect. You get a better product for your money.

Not one you can just plug in to your computer, for the type of voice you said, I would probably be picking up a Shure SM58 (NOT the SM57, as it is for higher pitched voices!). The SM57 is a bit better guitar mic though, but it's still not ideal. The ONLY thing I have against recommending this mic is that it requires a lot of gain. I used to use one back in the days of when I had an Audigy Platinum, and the platinum tray provided enough gain, but I'm not entirely sure your motherbord's built in input will have enough or not. From a quick google search it looks like you shouldn't have a problem.

If you really wanted a condenser mic, you pretty much need 48V phantom power. I have yet to come across a decent one that isn't phantom powered.

I would also strongly recommend a pop filter. You can make one yourself out of nylons (panty-hose) for a cheap solution, but they are not very expensive devices anyways. If you have a pop filter you can actually unscrew the top of the mic (the mesh part) and take out the foam. This is make the mic more sensitive, and requiring a bit less gain (which in your case would also mean less noise). WARNING: Make sure if you do do this to always pack away your mic where it won't get dust all over it after each session with it, otherwise you will get a buildup of dust, and lose sound quality. Whether you want to do this or not is up to you, but don't say I didn't warn you if you're not careful with your mic.

Forgot, what do you want in a demo video?

[Zain Adeel]

well thank u for all the information.. but i already know much about the powering methods and u are talking about dynamic mics.. they require alot of gain

What i had in mind is the samson C03U .. they have this demo on their webpage and its good enough for me :)

because its just $100 mayb less.. and that is my budget.. and i want this for a home studio thing. but in the longrun if i ever plan to launch and album i will record it at some studio..

so that is the reason.

and leme post the link.. listen to it.

btw the demo of the C01U got alot of noise.. and the C03U sounds deeper and has less noise. and i checked some videos on youtube. and i think it will be enough for me..

and about my vocal range leme post a youtube video.

My question: Would singing such a pitched song cause the sound to break? on the C03U mic of u look at its specs? plus ur experience

here is the mic link: Samson C03U

here is a type of song i sing and my vocal range. And my voice is pretty much like his : No More - Junoon

[MR_Candyman]

If you're singing like that, then it's in the higher pitch range. (good song BTW, sounded a lot like Dir en Grey)

The Smason C03U is a good mic. You won't get studio quality from it, but it is surprising how good it is. I don't think from what you have said that it would be a bad choice at all for what you're doing.

Oh, about the difference in the C01U and the C03U, the only difference is the pattern arrangement, it is adjustable on the C03U, which you'll want when doing instrument recording. Everything else about the microphones is the same.

[Zain Adeel]

but the recorded demo of the C01U there is alot of noise..

but mayb its the pattern arrrangement causing it.

and yes its a good song.

This band is Pakistani :)

and the vocalist is my favorite..

And yup higher pitched but heavier..

anyhow.. :)

now u gotta start saving for it and get it ordered to a friend who can bring it to pakistan for me :p lolx thank u for replying :) appreciate it.

[MR_Candyman]

I'm willing to bet the noise is caused by factors other than the microphone, I wouldn't worry about it.

for future reference: With a voice like that, the SM58wouldn't work very well, the SM57 would be a better choice. I'm mainly putting this here for others who stumble across this topic.

[KyleGM]

Been playing for about 2 years now :)

Gibson SG

Jackson Flying V

Some stock sunburst guitar (first one)

and a Lindo electro-acoustic

Here's some of my stuff :)

[MR_Candyman]

Kyle, I'm loving that first vid

[Razorwing]

hehe Ghostbusters XD

[KyleGM]

Kyle, I'm loving that first vid

Thank you! I'd say its one of my favourite things to play on guitar :)

hehe Ghostbusters XD

Yeah that was recorded as an impromptu suggestion by my friend, it seems to be pretty popular to my surprise! :rofl:

[Zain Adeel]

hey guys.. can i just record audio and post in on youtube with a blank video? i may record something :p

wow i love the first vid... awesome..!!!

[KyleGM]

hey guys.. can i just record audio and post in on youtube with a blank video? i may record something :p

wow i love the first vid... awesome..!!!

Yeah you can :) Or put some pics over the video, youtube sometimes take them down if they contain no actual "video" :rofl:

[jwt]

Hello my name is John,

I am slowly learning guitar I have an epiphone les paul studio and an acoustic tanglewood guitar. I like the sound of the acoustic better but play the electric one more because it's easier to play. I've been playing a little for about 3 years but I haven't really improved much since day 1!

I have a Roland Cube 30x amp which I found one day for the price of a Roland Cube 20x - which was nice :)

Thanks to ther person who posted the ultimate guitar lessons page, I'd been on the site for tabs, but never for some reason been on that bit.

I got inspired to start playing more seriously last year when I met a guy called Gareth Pearson, he played my acoustic and made it sound amazing. He's technically a very fast and sound guitarist and a nice person.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbqji_fB2hM?hl=en_GB&fs=1

[Zain Adeel]

well im more than 2 years into it..

and i learnt by practising songs..

started with easy then took on the difficult one..

btw the electric is easier..

my acoustics action is very high.. so i cant play it fast :(

anybody know how to reduce it?

[jwt]

I reduced the action on my acoustic by taking off the strings, pulling out the bridge with pliers and filing the flat side of it down a little.

This guy has a different technique where he makes notches in the bridge... personally I wouldn't reccomend this method as there are different types of bridges available http://mark.tranchant.co.uk/2008/06/lowering-a-guitars-action

[Max Veteran]

I played a Vox AC4 amp today. My god, awesome sounding or what... All valve, class A amp. Is about ?150 new. Very loud for a 4w amp! Put a couple of pedals through it and it sounded better than most amps in that price range.

[Kreuger]

I have an ESP M-100 and a Jackson Kelly (Chinese copy). I play through a Dean Markley 15w practice amp and a VHF wireless system.

[Glen]

Been playing rhythm & acoustic guitar for 31+ years now and recently picked up an amazing bass guitar which I'm really enjoying as well.

Gear:

Taylor 414ce acoustic / electric

Music Man Stingray SLO Special - 4 string bass

VOX VTX 120 w/ additional 2x12 cab

Ampeg BA112 bass amp (50 watt practice amp)

I had 3 other electric guitars that were stolen and I haven't replaced them yet: Ibanez SZ720, Schecter C1 Classic, & Epiphone Les Paul. Will get around to replacing those once I pay off my new bass this month. My brother also has a Hartke 4000 head and a 2x10 cab he's going to give me when I go up to NY next month, so the bass rig will be MUCH louder.

:cool:

[Olemus]

I'm really interested in learning to play the guitar, recently got gifted a really nice looking Sheridan (Les Paul style) electric but the prices of lessons really really turns me off. I've tried learning using videos etc from the internet but for some reason my chords and things never seem to sound right :(

[MR_Candyman]

I'm really interested in learning to play the guitar, recently got gifted a really nice looking Sheridan (Les Paul style) electric but the prices of lessons really really turns me off. I've tried learning using videos etc from the internet but for some reason my chords and things never seem to sound right :(

That was a big hurdle for me when I was trying to learn. There's a lot of factors that change the sound though. Between strings, the type of guitar, type of wood used, paint, enamel, pickups, amp used, settings on the amp, ect.

Not to mention the fact that when the music is produced, a lot of effects are added as well.

This is actually one of the reasons I ove going through pro-tools. I can change it to sound however I want.

[Glen]

<snip>

This is actually one of the reasons I ove going through pro-tools. I can change it to sound however I want.

I've been looking for good software to post-produce the tracks from my Fostex ditial 8-track. How would you rate Pro Tools for usability?

[MR_Candyman]

Pro-tools and Nuendo IMHO are the most intuative and most powerful programs out there. I do pass through to both Reason and Reaktor using vst for a lot of effects though, but prefer to do the bulk of the work in pro tools. I'm really glad that in version 8 they worked on improving midi. MIDI was always Pro Tools' weak point, and it really isn't anymore (it's actually better than most dedicated high end MIDI programs now). Pro tools is even easier for me to use because of my DIGI002 mixer. You can do everything quickly and easily in the software, but it's even quicker on the mixer. Of course it was pricey...

The only downside to Pro-tools is you need to have the hardware connected in order to use it. This is a pain because it means I either have to buy an mbox for something cheap and light to lug around with a laptop, or I can't use it on the go at all (which I currently don't do because the 002 is the only pro tools hardware I own).

I do think when you start with Pro-tools, even if you're used to something else, it seems a bit overwhelming, but once you get used to how they arranged the menus and the buttons (they really do make sense), then you're fine. The only software that really still trips me up occasionally is Reaktor.

Since I mentioned Nuendo earlier, I'll expand a bit upon it. It's very similar to pro-tools 7 (8 added a lot of nice features). It does not, however require special hardware, though the software alone is selling for 1800 US right now, which for that you can get a much nicer Pro-tools setup. Value for money is not there with Nuendo, even though it is a very good, powerful program.