help, unable to record.

[Mephisto]

ok so ive tried this with two diffent computers still the same problem, im attempting to record my electric guitar onto audacity,

i have been told that pluging the guitar into the input of the amp, and pluging the "headphone "jack of the amp to the mic, port of the computer will allow me to record what the guitar is playing... so far im unable to do so.

normally i would just use the built in mic in my laptop, but when i do, the sound quality drops after a few seconds.

sooo... its way beyond my own understanding and i need some help.... what am i doing wrong here??

thanks.

[kozikowski]

normally i would just use the built in mic in my laptop, but when i do, the sound quality drops after a few seconds.

Let's take that one first. You should be able to get rid of that by turning off Windows Special Services.

Windows Enhanced Sound
http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 79&start=0

i have been told that pluging the guitar into the input of the amp, and pluging the "headphone "jack of the amp to the mic, port of the computer will allow me to record what the guitar is playing.

Maybe, but probably not. Unless the computer says it can switch between Line-In and Mic-In, or you have a large deskside computer (or a Mac) you're probably out of luck. Windows Laptops tend to have Mic-In only and that connection is mono, very sensitive, and easily damaged. The usual way out is through a device like a UCA202. This is a USB device that provides high level Stereo connections -- like this:

http://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/UCA202.jpg

Plug your guitar or guitar pickup into that adapter instead of the cassette machine.

Koz