How to Record an Electric Guitar on Your Mac
It’s easy to record great electric guitar sounds on your Mac. You don’t even need an amplifier or effects pedals — GarageBand, Logic Pro, Soundtrack Pro, and many other Mac-compatible audio programs include plug-ins that can mimic vast collections of vintage and modern gear.
There are several ways to connect your guitar. This tutorial helps you pinpoint the right method for you. You’ll also learn how to fine-tune your software and hardware to capture the perfect sound.
Connecting Your Guitar to Your Mac: Analog Option
Basic System Connection: Audio Line in
There are two ways to get guitar sounds into your Mac: through your computer’s audio line in jack, or through an audio interface that connects to your computer via a USB or FireWire cable. Let’s start with the analog (audio line in jack) option.
You need an adapter to connect the 1/4-inch plug on your guitar cable to the small 1/8-inch audio input jack on your computer, and a pair of headphones to monitor the sound as you play.
When you first connect to your computer, don’t be disappointed if your tone seems dull or noisy — we’ll fix that in the next step. You may need to add an inexpensive pedal or preamp to boost the signal and get a better sound.
Steps
- Connect your guitar cable to the audio line in jack on your Mac using a 1/4-inch to 1/8-inch adapter.
- Connect your headphones to the output jack. (Don’t confuse the input and output jacks!)
- Open System Preferences.
- Click on the Sound icon.
- Click the Input tab.
- Select “Line In” in the “Choose a device for sound input” list.
- Open your recording software.
- Create an audio/real instrument track (not a MIDI/virtual instrument track).
- Select Channel 1&2 as your input.
- Strum a loud chord. Chances are the guitar sound will seem quiet, even with the headphone volume turned up, and the input level meter will probably remain in the lowest part of its range. Don’t worry — we’ll address that next.
