Mic Pre Use Confusion...

[memriloc]

Ok, I know this sounds stupid, but here goes...Hypotheticly you have a mixer with crap pres so you buy a seperate pre to improve sound....Wouldn't sticking the mic into the good pre then the good pre into the mixer with crappy pres still retain some of the crappyness of the pre's in the mixer being as it's still in the chain or am I missing something here....Cheers...

[Richard Monroe]

Most mixers have channel inserts that allow you to bypass the preamps.-Richie

[tmix]

Generally yes!
Unless your mixer has inserts where you can dump the output of your stand alone pre directly into the channel buss bypassing the channel pre.

Generally when you have a stand alone pre you would want to route that directly to your audio interface. If you cant monitor the pre any other way than to route it direct to your mixer, you can either mult the output sending it to 2 sources, or dump it into a channel insert.

[memriloc]

Thanks guys...That clears it up alittle....So am I right in saying that you connect the pre into in insert, but instead of sticking the mic into the mic socket at the desk (which would still be using the pre at the desk) like you would to intersept the signal with a compressor or the like you use the mic in of the pre so you're bypassing any possable use of the onboard pre?

[Scinx]

Im not following you but I will try to summarize. Basically plug your mic into your "good" preamp, go from that preamp to the insert on the board, and then do as you normally do. This sends the signal from the mic, thru the good preamp and into your board without it being tarnished by the "lesser" preamp.

[memriloc]

LOL...Man, that's a much easier way of saying it....Exactly what I meant though....Cheers!

[ausrock]

So would you use a TS (mono) rather than a TRS patch lead, or use a TRS but only have the "return" side of it connected up?

[Flatpicker]

Most mixers have a "Line In" jack for 'line' level signals which includes anything preamplified like mic pres, effects outputs, etc... Also, most of them let you do some type of “Buss Insert” if you want to bypass the eq, aux sends, and stuff like that. Sometimes, you may want to bypass the mixer altogether and go straight in with the pre just like you would with the mixer.

The critical part of amplifying a signal from a mic occurs in the early stages of amplification. This is where the "crappiness" happens in a bad pre. This signal needs to be amplified, sometimes as much as a thousand times, so a lot of things can mess up and turn very non-musical in this process. That’s why a good pre is essential!

[CUSETOWN]

Go directly from your mic pre to your recorder, not to the mixer.