help with garage band

[pegger]

i was wondering if anyone could give me some pointers. im new to the whole recording world and am having some trouble with garage band on my apple ibook g4. i recently bought a m-audio mobilepre usb and am trying to record real instrument guitar tracks onto garageband. heres the problems ive got:
1. maybe its a bad connection or my pickups but my recordings are picking up outside sounds such as voices.
2. i have loud audio on all my programs but everytime i record all my tracks come out really hushed, even with the volume cranked on my speakers i can barely make out the guitar tracks.
if anyone has any pointers id appreciate it.

[allthegoodnamesweregone]

yourpickups have become micro phonic and increase the gain on the audio box...

[pegger]

is there any way i can get them unmicrophonic, and yes ive tried turning the gain all the way up yet the sound is still hushed

[allthegoodnamesweregone]

uhhh no not that i know, what gutair do you play..., try running your guitar through a di box, or changing the settings on you audio editor, what set up do you use?

[pegger]

Im using my shecter c-7 blackjack and im just imputting it straight into the maudio mobilepre usb, ive got some centrios 20w speakers hooked up to the mobilepre and thats connected straight into my ibook g4. im just using the garageband amp simulation for changing the sound, nothing to complicated yet the sounds not coming out loud.

[DryIce001]

Well, I'm not much of a computer nerd or anything, but I'll tell you how I use Garage Band to do my home recordings, which is a pretty simple efficient way.

1) I use an iMic (which you can get at the Apple store for a reasonable price). The iMic along with this Monster Cable Guitar adapter are both essential for my recording. I think they cost something like $20 bucks each...not too expensive.

2) When I first started out using Garage Band, I used to plug my guitar directly into the computer using the iMic and Monster cable Adapters, but like you (from what it sounds like) I had similar problems. I always got weird feedback from the guitar which is pretty annoying (not to mention the distortion and effects on Garage Band just aren't very good in the first place). Instead of pluging directly into the computer...I just mic up my amp. It sounds alot better and you don't get as much of that buzzing stuff. I just purchased the Sony Microphone that they sold at the Apple store. Its pretty cool cause it has the same end as a guitar cable, so I can plug it straight into the Monster Cable adapter (the unit I used to connect my guitar directly).

3) If you decide to continue using your direct connection, you might want to try messing around with the volume settings on your computer. Try going to "System Preferences" and then going to "Sound"...from there you can adjust the Input and Output volumes. What also might be happening, is that your recording through your computer mic (which I doubt is the case) but you should make sure you have the input sound coming from the correct device.

I hope I helped out a little bit, but like I said, I'm not really that great at trouble shooting/using computers and what not.

[allthegoodnamesweregone]

hmmmm does your usb have a pre amp? if not i recomend getting one, you can get them so cheep...