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Help!!! DIRECT sounds HORRENDOUS!

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  • Help!!! DIRECT sounds HORRENDOUS!

    I need a lot of assistance here. My equipment in question is a Marshall G50RCD (solid state 50W Park Combo), a Boss GT-6 floor processor, and of course, my uncooperative computer.

    Every time I try to record direct into ANY of my computers, it sounds ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS. Even just playing dry direct (without my amp or processor) sounds horrible. It's just the guitar and patch cord into the microphone jack on the back of my tower, and I get OVERDRIVE! How on EARTH?!?! And I'm using the crappy low-output stock pickups on my RG560! The Duncan Designed pickups on my KE3 also give overdrive. HOW?!?!?

    Choosing an acoustic simulator on my GT-6, I get overdrive when plugged direct. Choosing any of the "clean" tones will give me overdrive when plugged direct. Selecting the clean channel on my amp, and direct into the computer, will give overdrive. Anything cleanish will give me overdrive when plugged direct. And the overdrive is HORRIBLE too.

    In the distortion channel on my amp, or any of the distortion tones on my GT-6, I get TOO MUCH overdrive, and the result is a VERY fuzzy buzz. It's no longer the fat articulate singing warmth it once was when I would normally play my amp in the boost channel or playing my distortion tones on my GT-6.

    Remember, everything is normal when played with the amp or played with the amp/GT-6 together, but I get unwanted/excessive overdrive when playing dry direct into the computer, or through either of the amp's two channels, or through the GT-6.

    Is it a problem with my sound card? The GT-6 is supposed to sound amazing recorded directly into whatever.

    A little note on the GT-6: There's a little output jack on the side of the chassis that is labelled "Digital Out", and it's very narrow, and it won't accomodate the patch cord (obviously) but it also won't accomodate a computer-mic-sized wire. Okay, you know your computer mic goes into the back of your tower through the little red input jack on the sound card? It's thinner than that. Therefore, I can't use this "Digital Out" jack on the GT-6, whatever's that's for. I'm currently using the patch cord sized output jacks on the chassis to plug into my amp or into my computer.

    Maybe I'm using the wrong jack on the back of my computer tower. I'm supposed to use the red microphone jack, right? There's green one for the speakers and a red for the microphone. There's also a blue one which I have no clue what it's function is. Enlighten me!

    The obvious solution was to turn down the volume knob and adjust the tone knob on my guitars to limit the input, but I lose a lot of tone, obviously.

    The other obvious solution, especially with my GT-6, was to turn down the preamp gain knob on the GT-6 and the preamp master level knob, but that would mean I have to totally re-sculpt my beautiful tones that took me figuratively FOREVER to achieve. And still, turning down those knobs meant a huge sacrifice in tonal quality. The distortion tones especially turned into such sterile sounding fuzzes.

    All your help would be GREATLY appreciated.

    Otherwise, I'll have to do the old fashioned way of putting my microphone in front of my amp's speaker, which sounds alright. But I really would love to make use of digital when I have the capability to record direct.

    Before you ask, my sound card is a Sound Blaster... not sure which version, but I think it's a basic version, and it handles my computer audio needs alright.

    Post away. I REALLY would love to record stuff, but I'm stuck at this obstacle.

    Thanks in advance, as always! [img]graemlins/notworthy.gif[/img]

  • #2
    Re: Help!!! DIRECT sounds HORRENDOUS!

    Try with your PC "Sound Recorder" which is in "entertaiment" Folder and use yoru littel PC michrophone.
    I just recorded with it and posted on MP3 thread.

    Just for fun but cool enough for me,

    [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

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    • #3
      Re: Help!!! DIRECT sounds HORRENDOUS!

      Your problem with too much overdrive sounds like you have a too high level on your signal. You should take care that your signal isn't too strong because that causes distortion (and that's no "nice" distortion, it doesn't help your guitar tone).
      Also you should know that the guitar speaker adds very much to your guitar sound. So normally every direct sound sounds weak. Your best choice is to use a mic in front of the amp to make sure you capture the "speaker modification" of your guitar tone. Or if you go direct at least use a speaker simulation.

      Ok now to the soundcard. I have to say that a soundblaster is a very bad choice as a recording card. It has to be said but the soundblaster is just a gaming card. Nothing less but also nothing more. It's really ok to do some few recording work but if you plan to do some recordings more often i strongly suggest you look for a real recording sound card. I use a STAudio DSP2000 and i am really satisfied. But there are also many other excellent choices out there. Just know that those cards are much more expensive than a normal soundblaster. Mine did cost around $400 (which is at the low end of recording cards. A pro tools set can easily go over $5000) but it also has all it's AD/DA units in a separate 19" rack unit. There are also 2 mic preamps in it and it can handle recordings up to 24bit/96khz.

      You can only use the digital out of your GT-6 if you have a soundcard with a digital in. It's that simple. A normal Soundblaster hasn't a digital in but if you plan to keep your soundblaster there are some additional daughterboards for the soundblaster to add a digital in. With that way you are able to walk around your AD units (those units change a "A"nalog signal into a "D"igital signal for storage on your computer harddisk).
      Hoontech sells such a unit. It's called SB DBIII and you can find infos on their homepage http://www.hoontech.com/english/index.html
      The MSRP is $34. Here is a pic of it:



      But like i said if you really wanna make some more recordings i would buy a better soundcard.
      Those digital signal chainds require a different cable, you can't use your normal guitar or mic cables. There are different optic digital cables out there so make sure you read the manual of your GT-6 and know which one it is that you need.

      I never heard a GT-6 directly recording but i have to say i never heard a directly recorded track which sounded great. I think your absolute best way is to stick a mic in front of your amp. A good and not to expensive choice for a mic is the Shure SM57. However goind directly is a nice way to record if you can't crank your amp or if you plan to record at night and don't want to disturb other peoples living with you.

      I hope that helps a bit.

      Flo
      http://www.myspace.com/drasticviolence

      Thrash/Death-Metal from Germany

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Help!!! DIRECT sounds HORRENDOUS!

        There are quite a few guys around here recording directly, using PODs, VAmps, J-Stations, and others, and getting very serviceable sounds out of them.

        Flo is probably right. You're signal could be too hot. Not that it has too much gain, but that the output of the unit is too high. I'm not real familiar with the GT-6, but on my Korg AX1500G there is a master volume, so you set up the patch for the sound you want and then tweak the volume of the output signal. If even your clean sounds are distorting recording onto your PC, try turning down the master volume on the GT-6. It shouldn't effect the sound of your patch, but it will stop you slamming the front end of your soundcard.

        [img]graemlins/idea2.gif[/img] I'm not really up on all this recording tech stuff, but have you tried using the Line In instead of the Mic In on your soundcard? Another idea, if you are using the Mic In, does it have a 20db boost function in the Volume Properties menu? Try turning that off if it's enabled. Double-click on the speaker icon in your taskbar and try adjusting the Line In level too. I don't know if it'll make a difference, but just tossing ideas out here. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

        [ December 18, 2002, 06:23 AM: Message edited by: VitaminG ]
        Hail yesterday

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        • #5
          Re: Help!!! DIRECT sounds HORRENDOUS!

          Yeah, it sound like you are clipping your soundcard. That might actually damage it. You have to stay below 0db. If your soundcard has a console program that shows a volume meter then turn it on and adjust the volume until it doesnt hit the top of the meter. Or to be safe you would probably be better to keep it out of the red area.

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          • #6
            Re: Help!!! DIRECT sounds HORRENDOUS!

            i agree with vitamin G...you need to use the line in, not the mic in.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Help!!! DIRECT sounds HORRENDOUS!

              "Line In" is the blue jack on the back of the tower, right?

              I'll try that. Plus, I also turned off that 20dB boost thing in the Microphone Advanced Properties.

              Here we go!

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Help!!! DIRECT sounds HORRENDOUS!

                Don't give up yet on the Soundblaster! Check your recording settings in the Windows mixer and make sure that line in is selected as the recording input.
                </font><ul type="square">[*]<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Double click on the little speaker in the system tray</font>[*]<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Select options</font>[*]<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Select properties</font>[*]<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Select recording</font>[/list]<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The recording line in slider controls the amount of input signal into the soundcard. Set that in the middle to start and make sure the box underneath is checked to select line in as the recording input. With some patience and practice you CAN get some good sounds with your current gear.

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                • #9
                  Re: Help!!! DIRECT sounds HORRENDOUS!

                  Sounds like you just need to back off input level in windows mixer...slide the line in fader down...play a little and look at the meter. Recording to pc isn't any different than recording to anything else...you need a good level...too hot=sux...too cold=sux [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] What OS are you using?
                  shawnlutz.com

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                  • #10
                    Re: Help!!! DIRECT sounds HORRENDOUS!

                    I'm using Windows 98. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

                    Well, I tried the blue "Line In" jack, and it sounds great! The problem is that it can't record anything, even though there's sound coming out the speakers! I think I will just mic my amp speakers.

                    Thanks for all your help so far guys!

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                    • #11
                      Re: Help!!! DIRECT sounds HORRENDOUS!

                      Ahh yes, I found out what Sound Blaster I have on my computer. It's a Sound Blacter PCI512. But, as Flo already mentioned, Sound Blasters are not true recording cards.

                      Just thought I'd pitch in the info just in case. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

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                      • #12
                        Re: Help!!! DIRECT sounds HORRENDOUS!

                        I ended up using the "Mic In" jack because it was mono which suited my GT-6 settings. The GT-6 has stereo out, but I don't have a Y-cable or anything to accomodate, so I just used a mono setting.

                        It sounds pretty good direct now! I think the "20dB Mic Boost" switched off made the biggest difference, followed by lowering the mic input volume down to halfway, followed by slight tweaking of my GT-6 settings.

                        Thanks for all your help guys!!! The mp3 is soon on its way!!

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