How do I record my bass guitar directly to computer?

[MikeViper]

Well, I'm kind of a newbie to the whole recording thing, and I want to know, how do you record bass guitar directly to computer? Better yet, is it even possible? I've tried using a microphone, but even when I put the mic close to the amp, the recording quality is still bad.

[Sixto]

First you need a decent sound card with 1/4" inputs. Then you can just plug right in. Alot of recording bassists bypass amps and just record direct for later processing.

[MikeViper]

Ah, I see, so all I need to do is simply plug my amp cord into the line-in thing, and I can record?

[Koelsch1]

You may need a 1/4 to 1/8 adaptor.

[MikeViper]

Hmm, that's strange, I was able to plug the cord into the computer, but when I tried to record with Sound Recorder it didn't get any feedback.

[ekm]

Go into the Volume Control panel (assuming you're on Windows), click Options, Properties, and change the "Adjust Volume For" setting to "Recording" if it isn't there already. Then back out to the volume sliders and make sure your input isn't muted.

[JamesXIIC]

Hey man, just to let you know you'll either need a DI box (direct injection) or a high Z (impedence) to low Z converter if you want that bass sounding any good.

You see guitars are naturally high impedence and your soundcard accepts low impedence signals like most microphones and synthesisers etc. You need to covert this signal otherwise you will lose a lot of the high end and crispness of the bass' sound. Don't worry though, I'm sure you can get a "high Z -> low Z" for little cash and it also doesn't require power to do the conversion.

Also guitars - basses included of course - are more suited to mic or instrument levels so I'd plug it into the mic input instead. Having said that be careful not to overload the signal so use the guitar's volume knob to avoid clipping, by turning it down of course.

Feel free to not bother with any impedence conversion if you don't want to - it won't damage your soundcard after all - but your bass will sound like it has rusty old strings and the signal is being fed to an amp with a mile long cable. Not good. :P

[Salluz]

Well, I'm kind of a newbie to the whole recording thing, and I want to know, how do you record bass guitar directly to computer? Better yet, is it even possible? I've tried using a microphone, but even when I put the mic close to the amp, the recording quality is still bad.
For equalization, keep the low tomes at a normal pitch, while turning the treble and midtone up slightly, and any ambient-rleated switches should be turned down a little. Aw, I'm no expert; I'll repost be more specific.

[dgxdx]

is it better to buy a tiny mixer between guitar and computer?

[Nivi]

is it better to buy a tiny mixer between guitar and computer?No. For one channel, what's the point? Really...

[tgfoo]

is it better to buy a tiny mixer between guitar and computer?No. For one channel, what's the point? Really...

Besides that, most small cheap mixers will actually add more noise into your recording that a DI box of equal cost would.