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maxman65

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Hi. Spent the last 6 months living in a camper /rv/motor home trying to get songs refined / written . I have limited kit. Larrivee om-03r guitar and dp008ex. I have 8 songs which I want to produce on that machine as best possible . Recently I been testing the machine exhaustively and concluded that coming to record vocals are unlikely going to be decent enough with internal mics . Later I will get a kawai es8 to add string or piano etc to the songs . Broadly speaking i guess they are "folk" oriented but with a guitar and vocal thats likely what most things are termed simply because it's easier to do so .to be honest i don't really even know what "folk " is. I find it a baffling term and about as enlightening as calling a guitar a whatdyacallit
 
Hi Max, I see the dp008ex has XLR mic inputs and phantom power. I would also guess the preamps are not going to be good enough for low output dynamic mics and so a capacitor mic or two would be the best option IMHO.

Choosing a mic is of course a massive undertaking and threads go on and bloody on here about it! I quite like the look of the SE electronics SE8 pair. Small D. Capacitor mics are much handier around guitars and tend to give a more neutral sound than the sexy looking big, side address jobs.

The best move would of course be to a 'proper' Audio Interface but you would have to spend a lot of money to get a significant improvement I would say. A pair of cap' mics will tell you nigh on instantly if the DP is going to be useful and the mics will still be needed even if it isn't.

Dave.
 
Hi dave
Yes I noticed in some other thread you helped out someone on a preamp with a dp008ex.(lost that thread already) I was looking at rode nt1 or Lewitt 440 .they're large diaphragm condensers . Are you thinking maybe the +48v maybe won't provide enough gain or is it about tone ? Please advise .basically I just need them noticably improved on trying to do a vocal take on the internal mics Many thanks
 
For guitar a thought was to use an internal mic at body /neck and pull the 440 further off . If I tried a take with voice and guitar together maybe balance it to get the vocal in the main mic and the mini condenser on the guitar and the 440 also getting what's "spillt " into it for the acoustic guitar. Basically I really only wanted to buy one mic so I figured a ldc mic for vocsl and do the best to get decent guitar between either the purchase mic and or internal mics in the machine
 
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Hi dave
Yes I noticed in some other thread you helped out someone on a preamp with a dp008ex.(lost that thread already) I was looking at rode nt1 or Lewitt 440 .they're large diaphragm condensers . Are you thinking maybe the +48v maybe won't provide enough gain or is it about tone ? Please advise .basically I just need them noticably improved on trying to do a vocal take on the internal mics Many thanks

The 48 volt phantom supply has nothing to do with the 'gain' of the preamp. It is quite possible that the dp008ex does not supply the full specc' 10mAper channel, a lot of budget devices don't but most modern capacitor mics only need 2mA, many even less.

"Gain" is the voltage amplifying capability of the pre amp and you generally need 60dB or so for decent results from a dynamic mic but you can get away with less IF the preamp has very low noise, e.g. my NI KA6. I have no idea how good the dp 008 is in respect of gain OR noise. Bit academic anyway since generally acoustic guitars benefit from SDCs as they have a 'crisper' sound than dynamics which can be a bit 'dull' .

I suggested the SE se8s because they got a good review and have flexibility in terms of attenuator pads and filters. There is no "rule" but big side address LDCs are generally reserved for vocal work.

So, SDC for ac'guitar, LDC for voice! If you got an LDC with a fig 8 pattern option you could try MS recording! End of day we have to do the best with what we have/can afford. EXPERIMENTATION is the way to go though!

Dave.
 
Ok .does that mean I could get an lcd mic into a cheap preamp providing 10ma and it's own 48v sufficiently quiet and then plug into the xlr on the recorder and leave 48v off in the dp008ex?
 
Ok .does that mean I could get an lcd mic into a cheap preamp providing 10ma and it's own 48v sufficiently quiet and then plug into the xlr on the recorder and leave 48v off in the dp008ex?

Er? possibly! But we have NO IDEA if the 008 DOES have poor 48V current delivery! My KA6 is a wimp in that dept but powers a Sontronics STC-2 perfectly well. My reservation with the 008ex is JUST that it may not have the gain or/and low enough noise for a typical dynamic for quiet guitar. Spook juice is a distraction, forget it.

Consider, whatever mic you decide to get it will serve you well for years. I assume you have aspirations toward a more powerful recording setup in the future?

Dave.
 
The dp008ex does have 48v phantom power .whether theres 2ma or 10ma in its preamp in don't know. I'm okay with 8 track I figure that's enough but I'd have liked that in a more pro
level machine and that doesn't exist in the market . Can't go down the computer road. So basically it seems like this is it . I'm still confused as to whether it's own preamp will be an issue based on whether they are 2ma or 10ma with a large diaphragm mic. If its a weak power source will an independent preamp work .
 
sE Electronics - sE8

^ The se8 requires 2.7mA and it is unlikely that will be a problem for the 008ex . Only you can decide on the microphones you want and once you find something likely, do as above and go to the mnctrs site and find the specifications. N.B. not all mic mnfctrs give a current spec, I suggest you don't deal with those and tell them why! Might be an idea to find out the 008ex's actual capability? Not, that I think it will be a problem.

Why no computer? Using one now! There is now an increasing amount of gear that can record directly to a hard drive or even a stick but I cannot see any way to avoid a computer for mixing/editing etc?

Dave.
 
Yes.is it possible to go through an independent preamp irrespective of the internal preamp thus negating the potential issue of inadequate milliamp issue
 
Ok i checked the technical specs .of a large diaphragm condenser lewitt 440. Apparent current consumption is 2.63ma which appears to be in a similar ball park of what you'd consider likely ok with the dp008ex
 
I'll check the nt1 also. On the basis they're both 1 inch diaphragms I'm guessing it will be similar unless there's other circuitry that makes the difference on current consumption between different models .It has a more flat response on the graph so arguably more neutral . I'm behind on the curve with all these types of technical considerations . I figured I could just write a bit of music .how wrong that was
 
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