I'm Such A Noob..., very basic recording question Options

[noaccident]

hello~*
i'm an acoustic guitarist/singer/songwriter. i want to make a very basic live recording onto my iMac, which runs OSX. i don't need tracks or editing or effects....i just want to be able to make a rough demo of a song or two so a friend can hear what i've been up to. do i need special equipment or software, or is there a way to do it with what my computer came with or some freeware? i do have a standard (non-computer) mic. help? and thanks..
-LE

[CG2k6]

Hey, I have a Powerbook G4, Mac os 10.2.6 and play the guitar as well.

For simple recordings like you said, I'd recommend Audacity and Spark ME which are both freeware and will allow you to make simple rough cuts like you said.

You can easily make your recordings and then convert them to whatever format you're looking for.

As for the audio problems, what I've noticed is that plugging directly into the line-in on the powerbook doesn't give a very loud signal at all. If you go to System Preferences->Sound->Input and then select Line In, you should be able to RECORD (not hear through your speakers yet necessarily) the instrument you've plugged in. You might need to turn the Input Volume all the way up to hear something like an acoustic or an electric with no amplification. I'd recommend running through an amplifier or your effects processor before the computer for better input volume.

If you want to "Play through" your computers speakers while you play, go to Applications->Utilities->Audio MIDI Setup and select Audio. Then check the "Play Through" Box.

If you use Spark ME, you can simplify this by just selecting the "Setup" box in the lower left corner of the small "Transport" Window and then check the "Playthru" box in the window that opens.

I would really recommend Spark ME as it seems to be the best freeware recording application that I've found for OS X. Audacity is good too, but more limited it seems to me. If you can still boot up in OS 9, try ProTools Free, but you have to boot up in 9, you can't use Classic.

Hope this helps.