Advice for recording guitar

[elgrizzle]

Ok, I got a motu 828 firewire interface, and behringer mic preamp. Is there a way of getting decent tones running a patch chord directly from my guitar into the mic preamp and through the interface, then getting tones from logic? Or is that a straight up bad idea? Should I buy a seperate usb interface?

 

And how should I set up the guitar tones in logic?

[Draw the Moral]

Well, you don't run a guitar through a mic preamp. You would run the guitar line in directly to your audio interface.

 

Second, if you have a motu 828, then why did you even get a behringer preamp? The motu already has two mic preamps built into it, so it's kinda redundant...and behringer is usually not high quality to begin with anyway.

 

To answer your question:

When you say "good tone" that's very subjective.

 

Does logic have a good set of plug-ins? Absolutely. There are plenty of things that you can mess with using Logic's plug-ins exclusively. Now, whether or not that will fit into your definition of "good tone" is going to be your opinion.

 

If you have an amp sound that you like and you want to record that...then, you would put a mic up to your guitar cabinet, and record your guitar that way using the motu's preamps to power your recording mic.

 

Or, ideally, you can blend a few different layers of sounds to create your ultimate tone.

 

As far as setting up your guitar in logic, that's up to you. Just like with foot effects, the order that you set your plugins will effect the final sound...so if you know what you want then go for it. If not, then experiment until you find something you like.

 

Hope that helps.

[elgrizzle]

ok ok, so then just run it directly through the analog inputs, that makes sense. I got the preamp so I could record 8 seperate mic tracks at once (drums perhaps). Of course im going to mic the cab when I need a good recording. But I just need a plugin to get some ideas down.

 

Is the mic preamp I got really that bad? its 24 bit.

[marcel72]

Well, you don't run a guitar through a mic preamp. You would run the guitar line in directly to your audio interface.

 

This is not really true. The best way to DI guitar is with a DI box, like this, and then into a preamp (use an XLR cable to plug the output of the DI box in where you would put a mic). Running an instrument unamplified into a line level input will give you a weak, thin sound (due to an impedance mismatch) no matter how much gain you apply. Some mic pres have dedicated instrument inputs (1/4" jacks, sometimes labelled Hi-Z) that you could plug your guitar into, but if not, a DI box is your best bet.

 

Try Native Instruments' Guitar Rig once you're in the computer.

[pantomimeHorse]

... and behringer is usually not high quality to begin with anyway ......

 

 

Some Behringer gear is actually quite nice.

The Tube Ultragain mic pre serves me well on occasion, and it is certainly

far quieter and offers a better degree of tweak than the two default

preamps on inputs 1 and 2 in the 828.

 

But Marcel is right. Use a DI box and then treat its output as though it were

a mic.

 

 

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C

[elgrizzle]

My mic preamp has 1/4" input next to every mic input, is getting a DI still necessary? If so, why exactly?

[pantomimeHorse]

My mic preamp has 1/4" input next to every mic input, is getting a DI still necessary? If so, why exactly?

 

The little matter of impedance matching !

 

A guitar pickup generates a voltage in a circuit which has an

intrinsic impedance (resistance) measured in tens of thousands

of Ohms. ( > 10kOhm ).

 

Microphone inputs generally expect signals generated in a

circuit whose impedance is about a hundred times lower than

this. ( < 500 Ohm ).

 

If you just stick the guitar output in a mic socket, the signal

will be affected in two ways. (1) It will be weakened. (2) It will

be lacking in low frequency content.

 

In short, it will sound "orrible".

 

DI boxes are not expensive.

 

 

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C