onelildustbunni

Hi all!

Here's my situation:

I have no professional music experience, except for some voice lessons I took when I was about thirteen years old. My teacher had told me that 'within a year I would be ready for competitions'. Unfortunately he had to move away and we never finished that. In the years since I haven't sung much, except for a bit of karaoke...and in the shower, hahaha. I think I sound good but I'm sure everyone thinks that! So it comes down to: I love singing, but don't know for sure if I'm any good. Still want to try!

My set up is: A Roland KC-350 amp, a Shure SM58 microphone, and I have either an Asus laptop or a desktop I built with my man at my disposal. They just have standard soundcards.

When I ran my first little recording, I plugged the mic into the amp, then the amp into the computer with a 1/4" to a 1/8" adapter. And it didn't sound good at all! Kind of as if I was using a webcam or headset mic to record--but I had unplugged all of those first to make sure it was only the Shure mic I was using.

I fully realize it could be me as a singer just sucking, but I want to make sure it's not my set up. I have been reading some how-to guides online and have read about equipment such as the mixing console and pre-amps. I'm not sure if my Roland amp would do that job right. Can someone provide some advice?

Additionally, I was looking at the MiC by Apogee, since I have an iPhone 4s. Has anyone used one of these that could tell me how good it is? Can you work on the resulting recordings with a PC? I might consider an option like this if I'd need more equipment anyway, since my Roland amp is HUGE.

Thanks so much for help and patience with a newb!!!

~ onelildustbunni