using audacity

hey guys and girls!! i just downloaded audacity and wanted to know how i can go about recording my guitar and getting that into audacity. here are some other things i want to do with it, if anybody knows where there is a user manual i can download, let me know. but here goes:

record my guitar coming out of my amp into my computer, getting that into audacity.

use another program to make drum tracks and getting those into audacity.

and making bass guitar tracks and getting those into audacity as well.

another question is will i be able to take what i have recorded and mixed with audacity and take it somewhere to be mastered will it sync up ok? i want a company to press CDs instead of making duplicates using CD-Rs. CDRs are not as good of quality as pressed CDs. direct me to somewhere so i can learn, i have a ton of heavy riffs in my head that need out and i am going to go nuts if i don't get to shred soon. thanks!!!

this is what i did. i took some old computer mic from my desk, plugged it in the comp, and laid it down on my keyboard speaker. look in my thread in the listening section to hear the quality. and thats with a crap mic. buy like a 10 buck one and lye it down by ur amp. for drum tracks, go to musicians friend.com and look for the virtual drum set, jk, just buy a keyboard/midi and use the drum sounds for it. same goes for the bass. crappy mics solve all problems

The mic idea is good, However what about getting yourself a 1/4 inch Jack converter (so you can plug a guitar lead into the Mic or Line-in input of your computer from the OUTPUT of your amp, if it has one) this will stop buzzes and hisses down to what noise your amp and guitar make, I dont know about your guitar but I have 2 positions where my pick-ups are dead silent, no buzzing, feedback etc, at all, almost crystal clear...


I used to have a really nice old Fender amplifier, used to use the output on the back panel straight to the computer, all you do after that is adjust your volumes so the sound isnt too loud at max peak,
(while you can normalise its better to do so as little as possible, and it would probably better if you recorded a little too quietly rather than too loudly as the sound can "flatspot" the speakers, i think thats what its called haha)

Drumming, haha if you really wanted you could use guitar pro,
Do you know how to use the stereo mixer in the volume control???? whatever is playing through your speakers you can record (on some comps, depends on your soundcard) so if you can use a program to make the sounds, simply record it with audacity while playing it, (again check your volumes, you can always amplify the volume later)...

as for Bass, I was real slack there, cranked up the bass on my amp, then again once I'd recorded, still sounded more like a guitar but with nice bass presence, thus I temporarily replaced my need for a bassist.

Hope i helped and didnt confuse, any questions feel free to msg me

Btw now im using a POD "ultimate guitar tone bla bla" 2.0 and don't have an amp im using amp modelling and a few touch ups when necessary, if anyone would like im willing to send a file out, you can see for yourself (or hear i suppose) that it is very possible to make good sounding (as in nice tone, not necessarily a good song lol) music without even having all the "necessary" equipment, of course it does suck that I don't have an amp to scare the neighbours with.

when i put my mic next to my amp, when it records its too loud and you just dont hear anything. i turned my amp volume down, but now you cant hear the distortion. how do i solve this problem

Sorry to jump an after the bang but,

I think you need to have the amp how you want it to sound (i.e cranked), then compensate the levels in your recording software, or mixer if you ever deside to get one, in the software will be a recording/input fader.

Play something at the loadest part of the song/riff ect and adjust the recording level so that it hits about 75-80% (thats the level i go for, i might be slightley wrong on those numbers though...?) this will give you a good strong signal, without clipping and some 'headroom'

Thats it i reckon.....

If you are geting CDs made and giving them out you will want good quality. I wouldn't even considers the whole mic-->line in/guitar-->line in sort of stuff. Most sound cards sound **** with that and the quality wont be nice.

Get an external sound card (aka USB interface) like Line 6 Toneport and M-Audio Fast Track (thats what I have). They plug into your USB bus ports and you can plug your guitar/bass/drums/microphone anything really into these and record in Audacity. The M-Audio and Toneport both come with effects software so you can get some nice tones.

Pluging guitar direct into these isn't really great recording quality and the tone may sound computerized. It would be much too get a decent Dynamic Mic (like Shure SM57) and mic your amp (if you have a good tone already). To do this plug the mic into the mic input on the box and place it on a stand in front of your amp speaker (10-20cm from center of the cone) experiment with it in different position.

With this set up you are bound to get good quality.


If you insist using a computer mic-->line in set up then make sure to record at low volume until the final mix and then amplify it. This will loose some feedback/distortion (muddy sound) but not all. This isn't really the best way to go though.

hope this helps

why not just buy the line 6 guitarport?

Ive used audacity much and what i have done to get my realistic guitar sound as good as i ive ever gotten it is to use a regular casette tape deck they are cheap if you do not already own one, and you can plug your 1/4 " mic jack right into it in mono, or stereo if you have two mics you press rec/play/pause on the recorder with any old tape in it (it doesn't matter cause it's paused) and use it's recording level to adjust the level going into your computer's mic in(don't use line in) this may sound a little complicated but i found it to be the best cheap way to record in good quality to adacity and i used a $5 mic. hope im of help :D

Anybody have trouble picking up acoustic guitar on audacity? I don't think it's my microphone. Either I can't hear it at all, or it's so loud it distorts. Is there an ideal place to put the mic to pick it up or is it a program problem?

i got good results by using a computer clip on mic simply shoved into the sound hole, it was level and full sounding.