mp3

[David Root]

How does one make an mp3 recording? I am totally clueless.

[benoit]

Most recording software is going to generate a .wav or .aiff file depending on the software and operating system. Some software has built-in MP3 converters (i.e. file -> export to mp3 or something like that). Or, you can drop the wav file into iTunes or Windows Media Player or similar and they will convert it to mp3. Are you referring specifically to the mp3 format or just asking how to make a digital recording you can share over the internet?

[David Root]

Thanx benoit. No, I just want to be able to upload a few licks, doesn't have to be any particular format.

[benoit]

It depends on how good you want it to sound. If you've got a PC you can take a cheap rat shack mic with a mini-jack and plug it into your soundcard. Windows sound recorder will make a wav file. It will sound horrible though. HORRIBLE. If you want it to sound decent, I would get two things: 1. a Shure SM57 and a real audio interface with at least one mic pre. Alternatively if you've already got a mixer or some other analog mic pre you could get an interface without a pre and use the pre on your mixer. There are also USB mics that would be an all in one sort of solution, though I don't have any experience with any so I'd be hesitant to recommend one. How much can you spend?

There's always borrowing if you've got friends with gear.

[krash]

this cracks me up.

you know a lot of the youtube clips everyone goes ga-ga over have this same horrible sound quality.

an SM57 + mic pre is not going to make an ACCURATE recording. but it will make a typically-colored guitar amp recording.

I go back and forth on this whenever I make clips for promo for my amps. Do I make an accurate recording, which does not sound like what you are used to hearing on a guitar amp recording, or do I make a typical recording, that doesn't really sound like the amp does in the room?

Maybe I should do a little page with some samples of both, and the differences, for educational purposes on my site.

Anyway, if you want to make clips and MP3s and you don't have experience recording or a big budget, I heartily recommend a Boss Micro BR. The built in mic sounds way, WAY better than it ought to and it will master an MP3 right out of the box.

See ya-

[David Root]

I have an older Electrovoice RE 10 cardioid dynamic mic which is pretty good quality.

What kind of interface with the computer do I need for reasonable sound without that awful compression and digitized hi-end hash?

[rms]

an SM57 + mic pre is not going to make an ACCURATE recording. but it will make a typically-colored guitar amp recording.

krash is correct, but there are ways to adjust the recording to come very close to your amp tone. And to answer your question David on what interface equip you would need, my suggestion is buy an inexpensive mixer with at least a two band eq, three band is better. Alesis has a good one with 6 inputs and a three band eq. Ebay is good place to look. From there you can eq the mic to the room, more or less, but more over you can eq the mic freq response and get fairly close to the amps tone on playback. But then you get into sound card quallity, monitor speaker quallity, etc. What may or may not sound good on your end may or may not sound good on another peice of gear, ie. stereo reciever.

Sony has a free program call Acid Express and should do the job of rendering a wav file. Then you could find a freeware prog that would convert the wav to mp3. Acid Express will not render mp3, only wav files which are HUGE! You will need the full version called Acid Pro. Or download Acid Pro and use it until the trial ends.

[benoit]

If you've got an interface but no software I recommend Audacity for tracking. Completely free. Its not terribly feature-rich but it get's the job done if you just need to get audio recorded and don't need to do any processing. Actually it can use VST plugins but I think only as a 'process in place' type of thing rather than as inserts. Anyway, if you download the "lame" library (an mp3 encoding library) it can export mp3s. So many ways to skin a cat.

[moj067]

My looper (JamMan)is good for small 3min clips if you max out the memory.
You can overdub and all on the fly then download it to your computer that will recognize as MP3 file-name it -send it. SM57 straight in is all you need.
This is the easiest method for me at least.