Webcams

Im thinking of buying a webcam as I really want to record some covers of songs and therefore be able to contribute to the forum more, eg use the SOTW challenge thingie. Any makes I should try/avoid? Sound quality is the main factor im considering, not intending to pay much, just whatever I can get for the money, £25 max.

Thanks in advance.

I dunno much about webcams, but I do know that http://www.ebuyer.com is a great place to buy computer stuff, including webcams.

BTW, shouldn't this thread be in the Off Topic forum? I'll move it there if you want...

I imagine this thread is for discussing the best webcam to use for bass recordings, so I don't think it should be in off topic

Anyway I have a Logitech Quickcam Pro 4000, and I do not recommend it. Video quality was great for a few months, but declined horribly and is now no better than a mobile phone. Sound quality... I tried recording me doing the Orion bass solo, but it was almost completely inaudible, even with the mic volume turned all the way up and amp 3/4ths of the way up. The sound quality is excellent for speaking though, so I imagine it's a frequency thing.

If you're after sound quality, you probably want a proper camcorder or something. I don't really know much about camcorders and stuff, but I'm sure someone here does

(edit: oh yeah, forgot about the price thing, yeah camcorders and stuff tend to be in the £100s...)

Any webcam should do for recording visual stuff but i'd get a korg thingy or a guitar port (what i use) to record audio for better quality x]

I find the best webcms are either camcorders or digital cameras that have webcam functions

The best thing to do is to record the sound of your bass straight into the computer, not through the webcam.

my advice
any old webcam will do for visual
and then plug the line out or headphone socket from ur amp into ur mic in on ur pc and use this program http://www.reaper.fm/
to record
then combine audio and video in windows movie maker or the mac equivalent

Using what cable? and will my pc have a mic?

u should be able to get a mini jack to mini jack cable

if u have a monitor with speakers a cable like that should have been dellivered with it
if not its like $5 £3 over the internet

if ur pc has a sound card then it should have a mic in
it should be pink and at the back of ur pc/mac

My monitor doesnt have speakers and bear in mind my amp is probably 15+years old and I dont think it has any inputs that small

u need a jack to mini jack adapter for the amp bit

so its headphone out-jack adapter-mini jack cable-pc mic input

oke doke ill look into it, cheers

willba wrote:My monitor doesnt have speakers and bear in mind my amp is probably 15+years old and I dont think it has any inputs that small

most if not all amps have full sized input (about 1 inch in length)

Yes, I have that, but not one small enough to fit the cable on the pic max posted

If you buy a pair of cans for like £15 (sienhiser 201s are a good example) most come with an adaptor for the 1/4" jack --> 1" jack. as I say my sienhiser ones did, but my skullcandy ones didn't =/

PS I dont use a male to male 1/4" jack like that. I use stealth plug USB, its good its a USB device that works very well comes with some nice effect/ amp/ cab software aswell, highly recomended. Just its a little steep.

Make sure you use the line in on your pc, not mic in.
I've heard the Vox Bass AmPlug can be used for recording, its a little amp with a headphone out so you can play on the go.
Apparently the headphone out is so weak though - because it's battery operated - that the electricity running through the output doesn't mess with your recordings.



Here's a vid of some guy just using the amplug plugged into his bass, then the headphone out on it going into his line in on his pc's sound card.

maxf13 wrote:my advice
any old webcam will do for visual
and then plug the line out or headphone socket from ur amp into ur mic in on ur pc and use this program http://www.reaper.fm/
to record
then combine audio and video in windows movie maker or the mac equivalent

Ooohh good tip! I'll have to see if I can get the proper thingies for it. Yeah I'll go to my music or hif-fi store and ask a thingy for my thingy so I can record my thingy.

I just set up my camcorder. sit by bass off to the side to avoid a lot of the 'fuzzy' noise and jam away. I need to upgrade to recording to the computer, but gonna have to wait until my tax returns come in