Windows: Record electric guitar or bass - so it'll work
On Windows you can record an electric guitar or an electric bass. Depending on your requirements, equipment and budget, there are different options. We explain the simplest and some advanced methods for recording electric guitar and bass.
You need this to record electric guitar and bass on Windows
- As the owner of an electric guitar or an electric bass, you are probably aware that a 3.6mm mono jack cable is a must.
- You also need a sound card. This should be ASIO-compatible and ideally have a low input and output latency. A good and inexpensive external audio interface is Focusrite for around 100 euros. The Behringer XENYX USB is a sufficient and cheaper alternative. Guitar Rig from Native Instruments
- If your sound card only has a small jack input, you need an adapter.
- If a new sound card is too expensive for you, an intermediate DI box or a cheaper, analog guitar effect brings a slightly better sound.
- To mic off the amplifier, you need a suitable, dynamic microphone, such as the Shure SM57.
- With a simple tool like the Windows Sound Recorder you can record audio signals. If you want to play and record music at the same time and then edit the recording or mix it with other music, you need a Digital Work Station (DAW): Freeware like Audacity should be at least. Professional sequencers like Cubase are more suitable. You can find this software as an element version (30-day demo) in our download area. Adobe Audition is also well suited, which you can also get as a free demo from us.
We already provide some practical tips for the various DAWs. We explain the first steps in the free Audacity in the picture gallery.
- How to create fade effects, separate clips, export excerpts, cut audio, add reverb, amplify bass, remove noise and export files as MP3 in Audacity in further practical tips.
- We present free alternatives to Audacity in this practical tip.
- Further articles will tell you how to record auditions, boost bass, remove network hum, remove noise, create reverb effects and export projects as MP3.
Electric guitar and electric bass recording via line
The easiest way is to record electric guitar and electric bass via line. This is direct and clean, pre-amplified or together with effects. In the picture gallery we show you the steps in detail.
- The easiest way is to connect the electric guitar directly to the line input of your sound card - if necessary with an adapter.
- With an effects device or a DI box in between, connect the guitar to the line-in of the device and then the line-out to the line-in of the sound card.
- If the sound card is bad, the latency can be very high. With semi-acoustics, you can lower the line signal on the PC and still hear well. Otherwise you have to try to live with the unsightly echo or buy a better audio interface as described above for at least 50 to 100 euros.
- With a good sound card you also have a more suitable instrument input. You do not need a DI box here and can level the instrument sound well.
- The sound recorder, which we will introduce to you in another guide, is sufficient to record just a few tones.
- One of the DAWs described above is more suitable. If you set the sound card and input used here, you can play sound simultaneously and record a guitar or bass track.
- Simple VST and Direct-X plug-ins such as compressor, chorus, phaser, flanger, delay, overdrive and distortion, which you can download free of charge from KVR, are suitable for real-time effects and for reworking the sound.
- Professional virtual amps like Amplitube and Guitar Rig sound better.
Micing of electric guitar and electric bass
If you want to record the amp sound of your electric guitar or bass with your PC, you can mike it down:
- Connect your electric guitar or electric bass to your amp as usual.
- If you have other effects units, grind them in as usual.
- Place a dynamic microphone near the speaker diaphragm between the center and the edge.
- Connect this to the instrument input on your sound card.
- Turn up the amplifier until the sound has the desired power.
- Adjust the microphone signal on the sound card so that even the loudest passages do not clutter.
- Now set the sound card and microphone channel used in your DAW and record. Here, too, the signal should not be too loud and should never overdrive.
- If this procedure is too complex for you, think about virtual guitars like Virtual Guitarist, Virtual Bassist from Steinberg or virtual guitar and bass instruments from Native Instruments. These offer countless riffs, sounds and patterns.
This practical tip explains how to connect your electric piano to a PC. If no sound works under Windows 8 or with the on-board scound card, further practical tips will help you.
Latest videos
Whether you want to record the dry signal or mike the amplified sound with effects, you always need an electric guitar / electric bass with the typical mono jack.
With a [[//www.amazon.de/Adapter-Stecker-6-35mm-Kupplung-Zubeh%C3%B6r/dp/B000L0ZOUU/?tag=chiponline|Adapter]] or [[//www.amazon.de / Laptop jack plug mixer jack connection cable / dp / B003OSTRCC /? Tag = chiponline | adapter cable]] you can now connect the dry guitar signal directly to the input of your sound card. If available, a line input is more suitable. Both versions record the signal clean and usually don't sound very good.
It sounds better if you connect your guitar to an amplifier. Then you can hear the sound through the amplifier and either pass it on to your sound card via the line output or microphone the speaker sound.
Connect the amplifier to your sound card using a line cable. For better sound cards you can do this with a [[//www.amazon.de/Adam-Hall-Cables-K3TPP0100-Audiokabel/dp/B006H0DZ2W/?tag=chiponline|3, 6mm-Mono-Kinkenkabel]], with cheap ones you need an adapter.
If you have a (semi) professional sound card, connect the amplifier to the instrument input without phantom power and level it well.
External audio interfaces and digital mixing consoles have already implemented an A / D converter and function as a sound card that can write any analog connected sound source such as an electric guitar or microphone signals directly to the hard drive as an audio file.
If you want to record the effects of your amp or an effects machine, place a microphone close to the amplifier membrane.
Now the microphone is connected to the instrument input of the sound card and sufficiently preamplified. You can also combine both variants and thus record the signal cleanly via the line-out of the amp and with the effects via the microphone.
For this you should use at least one freeware DAW like Audacity. Set the sound card used and the input channel or channels here.
Professional sequencers like Cubase are more suitable. Here you can optimize the recording with countless plug-ins and mix it with your song.
