Speakers / Amplifier

[Ross A]

At the moment I am trying to record some music with a very basic setup - and the only means of hearing what I am recording is through some headphones. I'm finding that what I hear is not what is being recorded in terms of tone.

Would I be better off buying a small amp so that I can monitor the sound, or would I be better of buying some decent speakers and go through a stereo amp? Or is there an even better way that I haven't mentioned?

I haven't got loads of money, so I need the best value for money method.

All suggestions gratefull received

[rocksteady]

Your recorded sound is only as good as the weakest link in your chain of equipment from guitar to your ears. Their are books written on this subject. and that is exactly what it is. Subjective.

Your monitoring speakers are a key factor in hearing what is actually recorded. They can color your sound significantly. Their are some inexpensive monitoring speakers available that are fairly flat in the reproducton of sound. You get what you pay for with speakers.

Also you need a decent microphone. On a budgest, a shure Sm57 is decent to either mic the amp or guitar directly.

Mind you, if you mic the guitar directly the position of the mic matter a lot and determins what tone you record.
This is the same with an amp. The placement of the mic in respec t to the speaker according to angle positiona and proximity. If you use an amp, the size speaker and the tonal aspect of the amp is significant to what tone you achieve.

generally, iif you just what to record an acoustic guitar and want good tone, I would recommend putting you money available on a decent mic and recording directly from the guitar to your system. You can also run a direct line in from the output jack to your system and record both at the same time if you have that option of multirecording. then you can mix the "live" microphone sound with the dirct input sound from your guitar to achieve the best balance/ blend of the two.

A good position that hs worked for me miking a guitar is to angle the microphone about 45 degrees or so towards the sound hole and postion the mike about 4-5 inches from the guitar between the sound hole and the fingerboard. If you want a more increased bass presence bring it closer to the sound hole.
Just expiriment and listen. Hope that helped.

[rocksteady]

P.S Head phones are Ok but again the kind you use is critical. AKG240's are what I use. Not real expensive but decent to monitor with. they have a pretty good flat monitoring level.

[Ross A]

Thanks for the tips. I'm using a K&K Trinity Western system, which is a mic and transducer blend pickup - which goes into the preamp, and then to my PC. I have got the sound I want coming out of my headphones, but when I copy the music onto a CD and play it through a stereo it sounds different to what I originally heard. I think I might be picking up the sound of my guitar as well as the headphone sound, which is colouring what I hear. Maybe better headphones are what I need?

I was going to buy a standalone mic, but I heard such good things about this pickup (which was pretty expensive) I decided against it. I think I just need to keep trying, once I get it right it will be right forever.