How many channels of mic pres do you have?

S

specsGa

New member
Hi I'm just wondering how many channels of mic pres everyone has. I want to know if you use more than four in one session and the advantage over running through a mixer. For instance do you record a band and run dynamics to your mic pres or do you just save the pres for condensers. If you only use condensers do you record a band with say four singers--> each have one condenser? I know some have more for "another option" but is this the only need for them. Shortly I will have 6 channels of mic pres, two coming from an Art Pro Dps and 4 from a homemade Green Mic Pre if anyone is familiar with it. I'm wondering if I'll need more considering I can't imagine more condensers on one stage. Just curious.

Specs
 
You mentioned "stage" - if we are talking about live sound, I don't see why you would need anything more than the pres from a quality board. I really doubt if anyone could hear the difference.
 
Depends on what you're doing, like most things in this realm.

I usually only record my own material, so I am the only one ever playing. That uses at most two to three channels of preamps at any given time, unless Im recording drums, and in that case, 4-5.

When I record live, I use 16 channels, and in that case, I have two 8-channel preamp units, which were cheap but work well for the situation.

I don't use the pre's on my Yamaha mixer because they frankly aren't that good.

As for mic use, there are an infinite number of setups possible. The drumset can span from a single overhead to two OH's, bass and snare mics, to micing every single drum and cymbal on top of the OH's. You might want to record guitar amps with a close-up dynamic as well as a condenser a few feet off, or perhaps just one or the other.

Backing vocalists can either be singing into one mic or into separate, depending on the sound you're going for (Ive found everyone around one mic gives more of a live feel, vs. individual mics which give cleaner, more controllable mixing options).

As for using preamps for condenser vs. other types of microphones, you always need a mic pre for the microphone, or at least in 99% of applications in a pro/semi-pro setting. A condenser may require phantom power where a dynamic would not, but they both need gain boost to get them to line-level, which is what a preamp does - the addition of phantom power on a mic pre is a seperate entity - it just so happens that phantom & mic pre go very well together as a convenient package.

Any more questions, fire away! Might also want to check the newb section of the forum, as these questions get answered a lot :)
 
amra said:
You mentioned "stage" - if we are talking about live sound, I don't see why you would need anything more than the pres from a quality board. I really doubt if anyone could hear the difference.
Click to expand...

This is definitely true - as I mentioned, I use some pretty damn shitty 8-channel preamps for live use (Nady PRA-8s, 100 bucks each) - while they only provide about 50dB of gain, for live use they are actually very clean preamps... as always, for the cost. Sure, a rack of Avalons will yield a better sound, but those cheap little guys do very well for the price, and Ive even used em in the studio for certain applications and they've done just fine :)
 
I have 20 channels of stand alone mic preamps and 24 more in my console. I think of them as crayons. You can never have too many different colors. :D
 
Track Rat said:
I have 20 channels of stand alone mic preamps and 24 more in my console. I think of them as crayons. You can never have too many different colors. :D
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Just stay in the lines........
 
Ok Sorry I guess I needed to be more specific. I meant in a recording session. Ok and I'm sorry I will post in newbie next time, though I don't think it's a newbie topic. So I guess my next question is do you find you get a better sound using all condensers over dynamics?

Thanks
Specs
 
14 channels of stand alone and 24 channels in my console.(48 if you consider the tape reurns)
 
Specs,

Have you run the "Greens" yet, if so, what do you think of them?


For those who don't know, the "Green" pre's are a DIY pre based on the Amek Mozart preamps originally "cloned" by PeterC from South Africa.................bucket loads of info about them at "The Lab" at Prodigy Pro forums.

:cool:
 
Total of 27 channels. No console, but includes 8 in my Q10 that I generally never use.

Symetrix SX202 - 4
Peavey VMP2 - 2
Pendulum MDP1 - 2
RNP - 2
API 512c - 2
Purple Biz - 1
A-Designs P1 - 1
GT MP-1 - 2
Neve 1272 - 1
Millennia TD-1 - 2
Aardvark Q10 - 8
 
Tape Returns don't count because they do not have mic preamps in them or else I have to change my answer to 117 that constantly live at the studio.
 
Actual pre's?! Really?

12 outboard - use 'em all the time
24 built in to a mixing board - almost never/rarely use 'em
4 built in as part of my audio interface cards - forgot that I had them until you asked.

It's WAY more than I need.
 
I have 18, and could, theoretically, use them all simultaneously, but it ain't gonna happen. From top to bottom-

Avalon AD2022-2
joemeek twinQ-2
M-Audio DMP-3-2
Behringer ADA8000-8
Onboard Digi002-4

It depends, though. If I am *really* mic'ing up a drum kit, it could suck up 10 channels all by itself. I rarely do live studio recording, but I have, occasionally. Here's a maximum live studio setup for me- Drums get 2 overheads, 1 or 2 on snare, 1 on kick, one on floor toms, 1 on rack toms. There's 6. Acoustic guitar gets 1, as a rule . 2 electric guitars get 1-2 each, depending on whether they are open back or closed cabs. Bass gets one, but more likely direct than mic'd up. 1-3 for vocals, depending on the band. Add any additional channels as needed for sax, horns, strings, or keyboard. Digital keys will most likely go by MIDI, but if we are using the Wurlitzer, it will take 2-3 for sure. I could do all of that *electronically*, but I doubt Earth, Wind, and Fire would fit in my studio, and the mic bleed would be hellish.

In the real world, I'll use 4 channels on drums, put electric guitar amp or cab in an isolation box in another room, run bass DI through the Avalon, and track acoustic and vox separately, so I'm only likely to use 6-8 tracks simultaneously, not counting talkback. The more stuff that runs through the Avalon and the Joemeek, the better my sound will be, and the more isolation I have, the easier the mixing will be. Would I like another 12 channels or so of high end pres? You betcha. Can I afford them right now? Not if I want to stay married.-Richie
 
berry? how's that working for you?

is that the 8 chan to adat? - does it also have balanced analog out?

i may need a temporary solution for some additional channels and can't really afford the octane

upadate: yes if you loop back the adat, the balanced line outs work with the inputs. i'll get one for drums and p/u a balanced bay too.
 
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2 SCA API clones
2 SCA Neve clones
2 Symetrix 528's
3 ART TPS modeling pre's
1 ART TubePac
1 16 ch A&H Mixwiz
4 ch RME Fireface
1 4 ch Mackie 1202VLZ
 
This was an interesting question and the answer was higher than I thought: 16!

6 in the Mackie 1604
4 in the Altec 1567a (no built-in phantom)
2 in the M-Audio interface
2 in the SoundDevices MixPre
1 in the GR preamp
1 in the Roland vocoder (no built-in phantom)

In reality, I just use the MixPre, the GR and the Altec. The M-Audio and Mackie are around if I need extras, but I'm a minimalist, so I almost never do. I do use the vocoder input with a dynamic mike for the program and usually an old Roland synth for the carrier.

Cheers,

Otto
 
specsGa said:
Hi I'm just wondering how many channels of mic pres everyone has. I want to know if you use more than four in one session and the advantage over running through a mixer. For instance do you record a band and run dynamics to your mic pres or do you just save the pres for condensers. If you only use condensers do you record a band with say four singers--> each have one condenser? I know some have more for "another option" but is this the only need for them. Shortly I will have 6 channels of mic pres, two coming from an Art Pro Dps and 4 from a homemade Green Mic Pre if anyone is familiar with it. I'm wondering if I'll need more considering I can't imagine more condensers on one stage. Just curious.

Specs
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First of all you'll match your best pre(s) to the most important tracks, and go with what you got. Irrespective of in-board out-board right? ;)
More important than the difference in pres though will be how you will be working. You'll want to consider at what point, for a given size of recording space, or isolation, the cross bleed between the mics will turn things to a mess.
 
2x Green
2x Gyraf G9
4x JLM Baby Animal
4x Tascam interface pres

All DIY except for the tascam's which I don't use.

I use up to 4 at a time.

If you get a decent selection then you soon learn which pres and mics you like on particular sources.

Condensors or dynamics? Whatever works on the specific source really, sometimes that's a condensor, sometimes it's a dynamic.
 
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