The Official Guitar Thread

Sadre Spinegnawer said:

Hey I need some advice the pandemic hit and for some reason my fingers and brain and voice remembered how to play music again. But, it has a decade or so since I last played, and I need some cheep advice.

I need to be able to record myself sitting and playing unamplified acoustic guitar, singing by me, the occasional foot stomping. I like to use the room, when I play. I just want a single mic setup, as simple but quality as possible.

This is the current device and only one I have:

(Important: I have been technologically checked out since mid aughts. I use a 2008 flipphone. No phone stuff.)

I want cheap and simple. Money is an issue: time is not.

1) Microphone? I have no idea if that item I have is enough for me, I will certainly test before $$, but ideas? I think the device I have can do USB or HDMI, and my comp has a hdmi port.

2) a recording program for a pretty slow laptop. I can buy a usb drive so storage not an issue. I want CD quality. I am not going to do much except fiddle to make sure I am getting a sound I like (Dragonfly --> Grado SR325's) and get down into some files.

I own a tripod! The device I have is on a tripod. Maybe all I need is a bare-bones recording app? I am trying to get primal. What about vintage mics? I have no problem with older stuff or old programs. Just has to work ez w/ win 10.

Thnx! Check in later.

Click to expand...

The device you have already doesn't look like something any DAW will recognize as an audio interface. Pretty slow laptop could be a pretty big handicap when it comes to DAW software, without knowing the specs be prepared for it to basically not be able to cut it.

I'd look at getting an audio interface kit for what you are wanting, here are a couple of decent brands which include software that should suit your level of need(again pending on the specs, the laptop might be a bad idea that will just lead to frustration):

Dig Unphrey's, haven't seen them in a long time. Mostly seen them at late nights @HSMF. Fuck they can bring it

been getting into the cheap pedals on Amazon lately.... the Kmise brand Tube Screamer clone for $17.99 is a straight up fucking steal. never personally owned an Ibanez TS but i've heard enough of them to know this is damn close. same brand Vintage Phaser is just as good as any other of the kajillion single-knob vintage phasers out there and again cost $17.99. and the Azor "The Noise" noise gate for like $23 is just as good as any other noise gate i've ever heard, with both the hard and soft modes both very usable, particularly the soft mode gets a pretty satisfying decay to it that's probably more fun than a noise gate pedal should be, if you get all the other volume knobs in your chain just right.

the Caline brand Tantrum Distortion with onboard Boost tho.... eh. it's even got a three-knob EQ on it, but the distortion is just so wimpy for something labelled "Heavy Metal," and the Boost is some pretty ghetto implementation that doesn't work if you have your Mids and Trebs set too high on said three-band EQ, like it needs some room to play with to add the boost if that makes sense. and the Boost only works with the distortion on, can't use it as a clean boost separate from the distortion.

i was really skeptical of the Cool Music brand "Versatile Chorus" pedal, honestly mostly due to the super lame brand name lol, but it's probably my favorite of the bunch. at $30 after a $6 coupon it's a few bucks more than the bottom-of-the-barrel price range that i've mostly been shooting for, but it boasted a five-knob (Level, Depth, Rate, "High," and "Low", the last two aren't exactly EQs, they're more for controlling the way the chorus affect those bands seems like) control scheme that caught my eye. then i read in a review that it was a clone of the MXR analog chorus that Kurt Cobain loved, and i was sold. nails that "Come As You Are" tone absolutely perfectly if that's what you're after, but with the robust control options you can actually dial in a pretty broad range of sounds, even up to pretty much Flanger territory if you crank that Rate knob. unity gain on the Level knob is about 2o'clock for some reason haha.

last but maybe still least, this XSPRO brand ABY box does its job, but there's SUCH a loud noticeable click when you switch channels that it's unusable for anything but your bedroom

oh yeah and i've got an Azor Fuzz on the way right now, the silver enclosure one, supposedly a silicon diode Muff clone, as opposed to the germanium diode yellow enclosure one... way excited for a $23 purchase haha

I'd go with the 250ohm or even the 32ohm. I had a pair back in the early nineties that I liked a lot but the fabric around the ear didn't hold up very well. I'm not sure what changes they've made since I had mine since it was a very long time ago.

This guys technique and precision is off the fucking charts.

I've read they are a pain to get set up, how do you like it otherwise? I've never had or even played one