Recorded acoustic guitar is fuzzy and distorted

I ASSUME that you plugged your guitar into a DI box that then used BALANCED XLR cable to the Mackie board??? The guitar generates line level and the Mackie board inputs are mostly mic level... you will get distortion if you overdrive the Mackie board. You could try going into line level jacks, HOWEVER if you go any distance balanced interconnects must be used. Even the line level jacks require using TRS balanced cables. Try is using a DI box, and preferably one with a gain switch. Also fiddle with the ground lift switch on it for least noise or hum. I use the LiveWire brand DI boxes and they seem to work fine. Then it is important to set the gain with the trim on the MAckie so you don't clip. Also be aware that an acoustic guitar can "hear" speakers and you can get feedback or regeneration that will sound like you are in a cave.

I'm no expert in sound cards but I know some stuff about music recording, when sound is distorted you can see the wave you recorded as a flat in both top and bottom parts of the wave, this happens when the inpu to mic or "mic volume level" is too high, try decreasing the volume level of your mic via recording software or use the small speaker icon in the lower right part of windows taskbar to get to the windows default sound card's properties, get to the mic lever and lower it at will to get the desired volume level you need.

See if this solves your problem, if not don't hesitate to reply with some more info to see if I can help.

Make sure you are plugged into the microphone jack on your computer. open up your windows sound recorder from Start - Program - Accesories - Entertainment. Hit the record button and play your guitar. You should see recorded sound wave in the middle of your sound recorder. If you do not see the recorded waves this might mean that your microphone is turned off. To turn it on just Double click on the little speaker icon on your taskbar at the bottom right of your screen. The volume control window will open. Click on options then properties. Next check the small round recording button. Now make sure the microphone box is checked then click ok. Now a window will open that will show your microphone recording level. Move the slider up about half way and make sure to check the small "Select" box near the bottom of the slider. Open up sound recorder and try to record again. If this does not work add a comment to this post. I have recorded my guitar on my PC many times using just the sound card that came with my computer. I am sure we can figure this out.

Try Using A Condenser Mic Or Making Sure That Your Phantom Power Is Turned Off When Using A Regular Mic.\www.Myspace.com/CrossRoadsToNowhere2007

Hi Nic

Thats exactly how you do it:) Some times it doesnt matter what you do, you will get strange resonances. Careful EQ is the best way to tone it down. Some guitars will present boominess on certain notes, thats just the way they are. Acoustics rely on this boominess to some degree. Good luck and happy recording. :) Happy to talk more to you about it.

regards
robotek

from reading instructions when you record channel 1 and 2 you are recordind channel 1 in stereo so you only recorded channel 1 try rcording on chanel 3 for vocal hope this helps

This probably has to do with the levels you have set for the sound card - take a look at your mix levels AND the volume input level 0 this is not the same control as output

try using the instrument input lets see if its going to change something.

Hi,

You need tro set up the monitoring capability in your recording software under either hardware profiles or audio settings. All "good" recording software has this monitoring capability. There's another thing - I got rid of my Multimix 8 USB, because it wasn't allowing me to monitor as I recorded new tracks. At first it did, then about a year into using it, this function stopped, and when I investigated further, it was coming up as a single duplex sound card in my hardware profiles in Windows XP. It is as if that functionality of the soundcard component had burned out. Maybe on the circuit board...

I now have a gina Echo that I bought off eBay, and it was the best thing I ever bought. It is a hard card - no latency! Full monitoring! 24 bit recording! A hard card with a breakout box instead of USB! My recordings have never sounded better. The best thing about it is that I sold my ALesis adn was able to by the gina and have money left over - they are out of production (stupidly) and can still be purchased for anywhere between $50.00 - $80.00

You may or may not have a problem with your mixer - check your software settings first. If that isn't the problem, eBay is open 24 hours...

Mark

push the monitor button to go mono instead of stereo.