Recording guitar(s)

[HatBrony]

So basically, I want to put an electric guitar in my tracks but I have no idea how to do it. I heard you have to record or plug things in to things but I have neither the resources or the money to do so. Help?

[Arolli]

The cheapest way to get your guitar into your pc for recording would be to buy a 6.35mm to 3.5mm audio jack adaptor (mono for guitar) Plug your guitar lead into your guitar, put the size adaptor on the other end and plug into the line in on your pc soundcard. I see your an aussie, should be able to get one for about $3 from your local Dick Smith.

Not sure how well this would work as I think the guitar needs a preamp?
My audio interface box (external soundcard for music production) has 6.35mm inputs and built in preamps so this is not an issue I've had to deal with myself.

Edit: heres a vid showing how to do it. works without preamping but need to amplify the recording afterwards.

[colortwelve]

My way of tracking electric guitars, or at least something that sounds extremely close, is to make a patch in Massive that sounds as close to a clean guitar as you can, then run it through Guitar Rig. It's really Guitar Rig that does most of the work - and it does a pretty good job.

http://soundcloud.com/colortwelve/untitled-2nd-wip
The guitars in this track were done this way, and I'd say it worked.

(By the way, if you do want to try that out, I can send you the Massive patches I use for my guitars. I only have three right now, but with a bit of tweaking they can sound like almost any guitar, electric or bass.)

[Navron]

If you have an effects pedal with a USB out function, you could always hook up your guitar to that, and record from your effects pedal.

But yeah, as others mentioned, you need some kind of preamp. Whether this is an actual prearm, or an effects pedal, the unaltered signal from your guitar is very weak, and you may introduce a lot of unwanted gain when you amplify the signal through your DAW vs doing it with a preamp.

[Versilaryan]

Or you can go and buy a shitty USB mic. They aren't very expensive and you'll have to play around with mic placement and stuff, 'cause your guitar will sound different through the mic than it does to your ears.

[That_One_Dood]

From my experiences plugging your guitar straight into the computer to record sounds like garbage. Your best bet is to do what color twelve said, but if you like you can send me a tab/midi file and I can record it for you and send a wave sample back. My skype is thatonedood5

Edit: spelling

[Dethonator]

IK Multimedia Stealthplug. For $70 and some tweaking with Guitar Rig 5 or other Guitar Amp simulating vst's, you will save thousands.

[ChromaticChaosPony]

I just put a high qualty condenser microphone up to my amplifier and plug it into a cheap audio interface. It is a pain, but the quality is good. Plus, you aren't limited to only recording guitar because you now have a very good microphone.

My method cost me about $200 for everything, but I can get a professional recording once I get better and more creative with my methods. Plus it gives the most real and natural guitar tone possible, without worry of sounding cold and static.

[Whitetail]

If you have an amp and a mic, do it - it'll sound much better then most direct input stuff
Otherwise pick up Guitar Rig Player by NI (it's free) for some decent amp simulation, you never... and I mean never want to just put something in a track that's plain direct input signal, it'll sound horrendous.

(assuming you want distorted guitar) - You should look into double tracking as far as technique goes and also note that you can't expect distorted guitar to sound good without bass guitar backing it.

Also FL's horrible for recording, you could just pick up Audacity if you need something free to just do the recording factor (do the effects in FL) but I hear Adobe Audition's a pretty good program for recording if you're looking into buying something.

[MatthewMosierMusic]

I do all my recording with a blue snowball usb condenser. There are mixed reviews, but I love it a lot. Great for guitars, great for vocals, and has a 360 degree setting you can get creative with. At 100 at best, its pretty cheap for what you get.