Ribbon MXL R144 Microphone Preamp?

Thanks for the additional info guys. I have it securely mounted in a shock-absorber thingy on a very sturdy stand. It's sitting in my studio at the far end of my basement. No kids or large animals in the house. Just wifey & me. It's safe & sound. I have a sturdy carrying case, but I doubt very much it will ever go out of the house, unless we move some day.

I'm supposed to get my TASCAM pre-amp along about Thursday. Cain't wait!

Geezer
 
I'd put it away after takes too man.
What Steeno said about off axis is sometimes good and the pop filter too.
 
kip4 said:
I'd put it away after takes too man.
What Steeno said about off axis is sometimes good and the pop filter too.
Click to expand...

I appreciate your sentiment, but - for me - it would receive far rougher treatment if I put it away after every daily use. What I will do, however, is to put a cloth over it when not in use - to keep particulate matter (dust) out.

Anyway, I received my TASCAM pre-amp & USB interface last night. I ordered it on Saturday. Wow! I was able to get it connected and the software successfully installed. It came with Cubase, which I installed as well. I haven't done any testing yet.

One thing I noticed is an indicator light to tell me if the phantom power is on or off. That's nice! I set the switch to off. I only have one mic, so there is no need for me to touch that switch.

Here's my question: should I wait until the pre-amp is powered up for a moment before plugging my Ribbon mic in? I feel the correct answer will be "yes" - just in case there is a momentary surge of power out to that line regardless of the phantom power switch being in the "off" position. A prudent precaution, or would you guys just let the Ribbon mic always plugged in?

Thanks,
Geezer
 
Take your time buddy, enjoy the process be hyper critical of your recordings. Find the optimum place to record in your room with your instrument and then find the optimum mic placement.
I wish you luck not that you'll need it.
i do lots of short recordings and listen back on monitors before choosing my fave placement and place.
it gets easier. Next you may want to consider room treatment. This is cheap when you see the improvements it makes to recordings. It's a sound investment. for a few sheets of rocksilk.
Rich
 
kip4 said:
Take your time buddy, enjoy the process be hyper critical of your recordings. Find the optimum place to record in your room with your instrument and then find the optimum mic placement.
I wish you luck not that you'll need it.
i do lots of short recordings and listen back on monitors before choosing my fave placement and place.
it gets easier. Next you may want to consider room treatment. This is cheap when you see the improvements it makes to recordings. It's a sound investment. for a few sheets of rocksilk.
Rich
Click to expand...

Thanks.

I did some testing this afternoon and was a bit under-whelmed. I thought the quality of recording I got was about the same as I get from my Zoom Q3, with one notable difference. That Zoom drives me nuts with it's auto-correcting volume control. At least, with the Ribbon mic, the volume is what it is. When I have consistency, I can work for improvements.

The volume level was okay - not terrific. I may want to spring for the Cloudlifter one day for added db's. I jacked the mic gain pretty far up.

Now I want to experiment some more with mic placement.

I used Audacity to do the test recordings. Maybe there are some settings I can tinker with? Or maybe I should use Cubase?

I am suspicious that my studio is not totally recording-friendly. Now I'm also wondering what I can do to get better acoustics. My music studio is a semi-partitioned space at the one end of my basement. There are two cinder block walls, a cement floor and an unfinished ceiling. The room opens out into the rest of a typical northeastern US basement.

So I'm wondering if an indoor/outdoor carpet on the floor would be of benefit, or covering the two cement walls or installing a drop ceiling or completely enclosing that room so that it doesn't open out into the cavernous basement. I would like to get the most increase in recording quality for the money spent. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone can coach me online, without actually seeing and testing what I have to work in. However, some general guideline might work out. For example, maybe the most important thing in a music studio is the ceiling, for all I know. Could be logical. That is maybe where the sound bounces down from.

It's a learning curve and a process.

Geezer
 
Hey again,
Sorry to hear you weren't very impressed.

Are you likely to be doing mixing work in this environment, or just recording the solo instrument?

If it's the latter, I'd be inclined to just make up a few portable absorbent panels instead of treating the whole room.

Rough and ready, but check these out.
 
Steenamaroo said:
Hey again,
Sorry to hear you weren't very impressed.

Are you likely to be doing mixing work in this environment, or just recording the solo instrument?

If it's the latter, I'd be inclined to just make up a few portable absorbent panels instead of treating the whole room.

Rough and ready, but check these out.
Click to expand...

I think I set my expectations a little bit too high. After all, I have a home studio and I'm a novice player. I can't expect pro results, but I think I did and that's my bad.

What I like about the Ribbon is that there is no fiddling around with it - like I have to do with the Zoom Q3. To record on the Zoom, I have to mount it on it's tripod, set it to record, blast into it to "condition" it, record, shut it off, demount it, hook it up to the USB port, download the recording, erase it from the Zoom, mount it on it's tripod, rinse and repeat...

With the Ribbon, it just sits there on it's mic stand permanently. The computer software does the work.

The other thing I like about the Ribbon is that it is even. Even when I "condition" the on-board Zoom software by blasting into it after I hit record, it still auto-corrects for volume at some point. I can't do dynamics with it very well when I play. It doesn't like sudden volume changes and sudden hard articulation. Those things don't phase the Ribbon at all. It is very consistent. I can work with that easier and I think I can get more dynamics into my playing as a result of it.

So, while I was initially set back with the Ribbon that I didn't suddenly sound like JJ Johnson, I've come to understand.

Now I need to do more testing on placement and see what - if anything - I can do about my studio acoustics.

OBTW, I will be primarily doing solo work to either a CD or Band-In-A-Box accompaniment. Although at some point, I would like to make a recording onto re-writable CD of me doing solo work (with accompaniment) and re-record it with me adding a harmony line. I can't envision past that right now because that is ambitious enough for the foreseeable future.

Don't touch that dial! :) :) :) :)

Geezer
 
Geezerhorn said:
OBTW, I will be primarily doing solo work to either a CD or Band-In-A-Box accompaniment.
Geezer
Click to expand...

The reason I ask is, if you have no intention of working on mixes in your environment, it may be overkill to acoustically treat the whole room.
IDK, there are more knowledgeable guys on here when it comes to this, but if your goal is really to just record a cracking sax part then blend it into an existing backing track, then a few portable baffles could well be enough.

Also keep in mind that getting the recording right at the source is crucial, but that raw recording will never sound like your favourite records. (Unless your favourite records happen to be raw live performances. :p )
There's often a lot of 'production sheen' that goes on there, whether it's a high pass filter, a nice ambience, some delays....Whatever.
 
Steenamaroo said:
The reason I ask is, if you have no intention of working on mixes in your environment, it may be overkill to acoustically treat the whole room.
IDK, there are more knowledgeable guys on here when it comes to this, but if your goal is really to just record a cracking sax part then blend it into an existing backing track, then a few portable baffles could well be enough.

Also keep in mind that getting the recording right at the source is crucial, but that raw recording will never sound like your favourite records. (Unless your favourite records happen to be raw live performances. :p )
There's often a lot of 'production sheen' that goes on there, whether it's a high pass filter, a nice ambience, some delays....Whatever.
Click to expand...

I never thought about that but it does make sense. When I recall how canny the music sounds on old 78's, one of the reasons was probably because they just went straight from the pick-up mic directly to the master album. It took years for them to develop the kinds of filters that would later make Slim Whitman sound like Mel Torme. :) :) :) :)

Okay. I'll explore ways for the average household hobbyist to make better-sounding recordings and let it go at that.

Thanks,
Geezer
 
Steenamaroo said:
Hey again,
Sorry to hear you weren't very impressed.

Are you likely to be doing mixing work in this environment, or just recording the solo instrument?

If it's the latter, I'd be inclined to just make up a few portable absorbent panels instead of treating the whole room.



Rough and ready, but check these out.
Click to expand...



+1 Paul. It might be worth getting the cloud lifter if its lacking gain.
it was worth a try.
 
kip4 said:
+1 Paul. It might be worth getting the cloud lifter if its lacking gain.
it was worth a try.
Click to expand...

I agree. But before I do anything. I need to do further testing. For the first test I did, I had the mic about 10 feet away - the same placement I use for my Zoom. It sounded like I was playing far away, inside a barn. I need to do more testing. I should put that mic up right next to me and see what happens; then maybe 1/2 way, left, right, straight on, etc. I suspect that the closer I place the mic, the louder the recording will be and I'll be reaching for that gain knob to turn it down.

It's going to take me a few days to test fully. I have to take a break for community band rehearsal.

I'll get back to this.

Thanks,
Geezer
 
Hi Guys,

Me again. :) :) Good news. I did some mic & volume testing this afternoon and found a sweet spot. Turns out everything works pretty darn good when the mic is no more than 5 feet away from me and placed in-between the stereo speakers. I was very happy with the test recording and have plenty of gain to spare. Definitely a big improvement over the Zoom Q3. Now alls I need to do is clean up my playing and I'm ready for my break-out. :) :) :)

When I have a decent take, I'll give it a post.

Thanks for all the help. I am really starting to dig this set-up I bought. Great advice from this forum!

Geezer
 
Geezerhorn said:
Turns out everything works pretty darn good when the mic is no more than 5 feet away from me and placed in-between the stereo speakers.
Click to expand...

You're not monitoring through those speakers whilst recording, are you? Or worse yet, re-recording the speaker output onto a new track with your sax? (It was sax, wasn't it?)
 
Geezerhorn said:
Hi Guys,

Me again. :) :) Good news. I did some mic & volume testing this afternoon and found a sweet spot. Turns out everything works pretty darn good when the mic is no more than 5 feet away from me and placed in-between the stereo speakers. I was very happy with the test recording and have plenty of gain to spare. Definitely a big improvement over the Zoom Q3. Now alls I need to do is clean up my playing and I'm ready for my break-out. :) :) :)

When I have a decent take, I'll give it a post.

Thanks for all the help. I am really starting to dig this set-up I bought. Great advice from this forum!

Geezer
Click to expand...

Good to hear you have things working for the better now. :)
 
Thanks guys.

Steen: I have cd accompaniments that I play through a stereo system. I record the accompaniment and myself through the computer with Audacity via the Ribbon and TASCAM.

It's tenor slide trombone. :) :)

I am working on debugging Band-In-A-Box and arranging accompaniments for songs. When I have them well in hand, I'll burn them onto cd and use them the way I use my other cd's.

Not having a live back-up, I don't know of any other way to do it. I can't play drums, bass or keyboard; so I can't do my own mixing that way. I can't lay it on ya like Enya. :) :) :) :)

Geezer
 
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