hey try a thing called steathplug ,usb at one end standard at the other ,it comes with amplitube and I record with cubase its easier than it sounds ,pricey though

I bought a processor with a USB line out.
It was the only way to get a clean recording, with Hi-Quality.

Recording with a PC can be quite easy.
You need to have: Guitar, PC, Standard guitar cable (1/4 jack - 1/4 jack), 1/4 jack -> 1/8 jack adapter, some programs.

Now, use adapter with Your cable. Connect standard 1/4 plug to Your guitar, the other plug (1/8 with adapter) to
LINE IN or MICROPHONE input in Your computer. Then You need a VST host (program for Your PC) and
Amplifier simulator (You can download many demo versions from the internet, for ex. 30-day shareware Guitar Rig 2).

Link to download VST-host: http://www.hermannseib.com/programs/vsthost.zip
Guitar Rig 2 demo: http://www.nativeinstruments.de/php/file.php/demodownload/1552936/demos/Guitar_Rig_2_Demo_Win.zip

Install this stuff. Open VST-host click FILE --> NEW PLUGIN, and choose location of Your guitar rig 2. In the window of VST-host You will see Guitar Rig 2 demo. Choose Your amp and effects (really many many options: Marshal, Mesa, Engl and more). Record using REC button in VST-host. Enjoy.

This REALLY WORKS. This is not an experiment, just classical and cheap method of home recording with PC.

Not as cheap as entirely skipping the commercial software and using a real amp (which you probably already have) and THEN send the signal to the LINE-IN only (microphone-in will always suck in quality). Then you can use Audacity (free) to record and process the analog sound.

But method I wrote about is free too.
There are many free simulators, for ex. Freeamp etc.

You can use almost any interface, but for starters, go to radioshack and buy a little instrument cord to headphone jack for like 2 bucks. Hook it up to the mic jack and your good to go man.

DO NOT USE THE "MIC IN" INPUT ON YOUR SOUNDCARD!!!!!!!!!

You are sending a LINE signal to the card from your guitar. If you really don't like your soundcard, go ahead and plug in there. The additional voltage carried by the line signal will soon trash the mic in and you'll only be able to use the line in anyway. Unless, of course, you trash the whole card. I've seen it happen.

The REAL deal. The mic in has a really crappy, not controllable, solid state preamp. (Better cards don't even pretend to have a mic input. You will get BALANCED inputs which are also LINE inputs. USB and Firewire require something to convert the analog signal to a digital signal before the signal heads through the cable.) While it will work for cheap mics, it is also not designed for the frequencies that come from your guitar. Aside from getting a line signal from your guitar, which is higher voltage than a mic signal, you won't be able to pass all your guitar's frequencies through that input either. This means that your recordings will also sound thin and be more difficult to work with.

LINE IN ONLY!!! (Remember this is a STEREO input so you get TWO recording channels.)

MIC IN IS FOR CRAPPY COMPUTER MICS ONLY!

Next thing you know people will be wanting to know how to record in "stereo." THERE IS NO SUCH THING! All recording signals are mono. Yes you can record two tracks at the same time, but they are two mono tracks and YOU create the stereo sound because it is an effect controlled by pan.

And to save any further wasted discussion... There is no single sound in nature that is stereo. ALL natural sound eminates from a single source. ALL natural sound is mono. If you think you're hearing stereo, it's because of all the bouncing the sound does once created. You have two ears that allow you to discern where a sound is coming from and because you have two ears stereo is a great effect to get the most out of a presentation. 5.1 is even better if done correctly. But the sounds we start with in ANY mix are MONO sounds.

well ya know if studios didn't charge an arm and a leg and a first born male child for recording then everybody would use them. I have been in a pro studio and while it was a great experience and it was worth the money(30 an hour) not everyone can afford it.



Now that being said, you can get good recordings, not pro recordings, but decent enough for a bedroom player or gararge band useing that crappy pc mic or running other mics to a small mixer and then running the output into the mic in on a PC, IT CAN BE DONE. You don't have to have a line in. Although I would use this method to just record stuff for the purpose of remembering not to burn a demo.

If your group can afford to do a couple hours at a time you can talk to studios and see if they will allow you to do it this way, just make sure they aren't chargin you during set up time, just actual recording time. Use the first session to get the drumms and a scratch guitar track and go from there.

Man, you think $30 an hour is a LOT! You need to look a lot closer at what studios really charge! Most studios charging $30 an hour or less are very low end studios. $30 an hour is nothing. (I make more than that on my regular day job!) Many area studios here run from $50 to $200/hour. (Though we only charge students $17.50/hr.) When you spend thousands on a single mic or single pre someone is going to pay for it in the long run. Studios are expensive because recording gear is not cheap.

Gear alone, in my studio, cost just shy of $50,000 and I'm on the low side of mid-range. Include the necessary construction and the costs of just opening a "mid-range" studio are pretty high. Lots of these studios have popped up because people think that with emulators you can make crappy mics sound like Neumans, or that you can emulate an LA2A or 1179, or get the same compression as a Manley Slam, or that a 2-610 can be built with just software and you can get all the make believe tube flavor you want for next to nothing. It just doesn't work that way. Emulators are just that and, while some sound pretty good, NONE of them actually come all that close to what the actual unit does. It's still digital and it's still brittle.

Add to that the room you record in is a little bit more important than the gear you use. A good acoustically designed room will cost you upwards of $20,000 in design costs alone. I know this for a fact because my discipline is acoustic engineering. I've got a GREAT room that everyone who walks in the door comments on. Though I don't need their comments to know what I've got, the fact they feel compelled to point it out, just confirms we've got a really good space.

One other thing adds to studio costs. Do you have an engineer who actually knows what he's doing? Or is it some guy who made this his hobby? I have a full time engineer, (with over 25 years of full time experience behind the console, I've got 40 plus years part time myself,) and we're open 24/7. That's also not cheap. If it's a guy who made this his hobby, recording in his basement, $30/hour IS probably too much to pay him.

As far as PC recording... Use your mic in if you want. Like I said, I don't really care what you do to your own PC. Run it through a pre or mixer too, just to make sure you have the full voltage of a line signal going for ya. (This is sarcasm!) That little preamp loves to get voltages that exceed its expectations. There are so many variables for that mic in. It may work, though somewhat poorly, for you. Like you said, you wouldn't use it for a demo, so why use it at all? Unless you don'