First time I’ve had to post a sad face, and yeah, sometimes the harsh realities of the music business world collide with my sense of idealism about music as an artform… no simple solution for this issue other than doing a crafty workaround though.
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That’s very good @PeteP… I’m impressed!
I don’t know when I’ll ever work up the nerve to record myself and share it here.
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@PeteP Very good!
How do you go about recording and saving it to the computer? Is there special software and equipment needed?
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Well you have a bit of a head start on me so I’m guessing you’re better than me so at the very least you won’t be the worst on here. It’s good to get feedback, even if people are too polite to be honest.
I’m still new to that side of things but I just use the Behringer UMC22 audio interface plugged into GarageBand and record away. Export it as a MP3 and you’re done. There are little tweaks and tricks along the way, but if the great folk in here can’t help, there’s a world of YouTube tutorials.
Each of the clips/covers I’ve recorded were the result of about 20 takes (or more) and I simply overwrote each time.
The backing tracks were converted from YouTube using online video-to-mp3 conversion web sites - something I only discovered today.
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good point, it’s a good thing to be polite obviously but we have to comment more and give honest feedback : we all do these records to progress (at least it’s one side of it) and we all need honest feedback.
there is a dedicated post about this, you can find the link on the very first post of this cover thread 
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Thanks. Yeah, I saw the bit about how to remove a bass line from a song. I’m just wondering how I can record myself playing the bass onto my laptop. I’m starting to get the feeling that this is going to require my spending more money on equipment.
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Yeah I realize we did not really talk about the hardware side of recording, except a bit on the Zoom thread.
If you have a line in jack on your laptop, the simplest way for recording would be to connect the output of the Zoom to the line in, with a 6.35 to 3.5 jack adapter like this (it costs maybe $1 if you don’t already have one) (in this case it could be a mono or stereo adapter, it’s not important) :
You will have to adjust the output level on the Zoom to avoid saturation, and that’s fine, with this simple setup you should be able to record and control your tone on the Zoom.
An external soundcard would be a much better option but, yeah, it costs some more money, even if it’s not necessarily very expensive.
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Thanks. What are some examples of an inexpensive external device
BTW, I tried to direct connect from the Zoom to the laptop as you suggested, but it failed to record anything.
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Which software are you using ? it could be a settings issue
The Behringer UMC22 for example is a popular choice
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Okay, someone else mentioned that also @PeteP I think . Does it come with the cables to connect the bass to it and connect the device to the laptop for recording? Or does it record internally and then you transfer the recording to the laptop?
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About the cables, in fact with those interfaces you have way more connectivity than on a laptop, that’s one of the advantages. You would be able to plug directly your jack cable exactly like when you connect your Zoom to your amp. The other cable is a USB cable between the computer and the DAI (Digital Audio Interface).
It’s basically a big soundcard, it does not record anything internally. It’s an audio interface between the computer and the external world 
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Yep and it is easily the best way to go for recording yourself.
Zoom makes quality DAIs too. This is the cheaper version of the one I have:
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/U22--zoom-u-22-handy-audio-interface
I have this one and like it a lot:
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/U24--zoom-u-24-handy-audio-interface
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I forget, but I think they came with download codes for the free versions of one of the DAW apps. But no, you’ll need to get the software separately.
The good news is the free software is excellent. GarageBand for the mac is free, and there’s a few options for PC.
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Okay, now I just have to convince my dear spouse why I now need to spend even MORE money on gear. You haven’t lived until you try to explain to a deaf person why you need music stuff.
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yeah and maybe it’s where to start, because the Zoom pluged into the line in directly on the computer should work (even if it’s not the way to archive the best possible sound quality)
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Do you have a mac or a PC laptop? If it is a mac then you will need a special cable to make the line in work (and it apparently won’t work with all macs.) A PC should have a line or mic in that works.
Otherwise the easiest path is to buy an audio interface.
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@howard I have PC laptop with a mic Jack, but I tried direct connect from the bass (didn’t work), the amp (didn’t work), and the Zoom (didn’t work).
Could be a cabling issue too. Might need a 4-pole connector. Hard to say though.
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to me it seems like a software issue, the 3 setups you talked about should work. what software are you using for recording ? did you select the mic jack as the input for recording ?
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