Preamp question

[Philo]

Is there a big difference if i use an ART Tube Preamp for recording my voice?

Connection: will i have to connect the mic in the Art Preamp and after in the mixer or the ART preamp directly in the soudcard. Thanks!

[noisedude]

what mixer? what sound card? what mics?

if you have a pre better than your mixer it would be silly to then funnel it through the mixer. but tell us what you're using.

[Philo]

Well I keep earing that using different preamp makes a big diference when you're recording voices. I have a normal setup Shure mic in a mixer and in Audio Sound Blaster Live! (B400) card and I'm recording with n-track software. So I was planing to purchase an ART Tube peamp.

[noisedude]

Yes ... what mic ... what mixer??!! If, for example, you were running an Allen and Heath the answer would be different to a Phonic.

[Philo]

I have 2 mics, one is a Shure BG 1.0 (Dynamic Dual Z) and a Behringer Studio Condenser Microphone B-1, tha mixer is a Samson MPL 1502 - 15 channel stereo mixer.

[noisedude]

It's certainly true that different preamps make a big difference. I'm not familiar with the ART you're looking at, but it's probable that it would change your sound somewhat. If I were in your position, though, I would probably be looking at my sound card first. Once you have an Audiophile or Delta card you'll actually be able to properly hear the changes in your other gear ... a Soundblaster cannot do justice to decent equipment. There's my opinion anyway!

[tubesrawsom]

hey i have a behringer b1 and i hook it up to the presonus tubepre and it works great, skip the mixer just plug the preamp striaght into the soundcard b/c its better to have a shorter signal path.
goodluck

[distortedrumble]

Originally Posted by noisedude

... a Soundblaster cannot do justice to decent equipment. There's my opinion anyway!

did you just refer to behringer as decent equipment? lol

i own the behringer b-1, big step up from my audio technica cardioid. i use it for all my vocals. shorter signal paths are good and should be prefered but unless the mixer and cables are crappy....adding in the mixer shouldnt hurt anything. my setup goes from the b-1 to the UB802 to the composer pro and into the audiophile 2496...the aux on the mixer are connected to a zoom 2000 reverb delay unit and the control room outs go directly to the headphone amp. the output frome the ap2496 is split between the monitors and the headphone amp so i can hear whats being recorded and what came straight from the mixer at the same time. i can turn one down to hear the other and i dont hear any degradation. and everything is connected by 3 foot cables except for the mic cable which is 12 feet.

[Philo]

Thanks for all the answers.
You know with the sound blaster I can do some very decent recording, i'm not sure I want to spend $400 Cdn. for a Delta! So this is why I was looking on the preamp side.
See the Tube MP StudioV3™ Mic Preamp at this adress:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/.../base_id/59793

[noisedude]

Wow Canadian prices must really suck, even in Britain I can get an Audiophile for £115 easily. Me and distortedrumble don't often agree but he's pretty much right this time.

[Philo]

Interesting Distortedrumble, like you all of my cables connections are not more then 3 feet except for the mic. But I don't really use the rack effects, i use software effects from N-Track FASoft (compressor, eq & effects) and couple of free bee's. My connection is a bit different let me know if you guy's think my setup is wrong!
Behringer b-1 (mic) --> Samson stereo mixer --> Sound Blaster sound card --> and from the output of the sc, one goes in a pair of power speaker (monitors) and the second output in a home Audio stereo amplifier with another pair of speakers. This setup gives me the possibility to listen to two types of speakers and being connected to an Audio gives me the possibility to connect a second set of head phone, the first one being connecteted to mixer. I hope I was explicite in my explanation. And thanks again for your help!

[Philo]

Originally Posted by Philo

Interesting Distortedrumble, like you all of my cables connections are not more then 3 feet except for the mic. But I don't really use the rack effects, i use software effects from N-Track FASoft (compressor, eq & effects) and couple of free bee's. My connection is a bit different let me know if you guy's think my setup is wrong!
Behringer b-1 (mic) --> Samson stereo mixer --> Sound Blaster sound card --> and from the output of the sc, one goes in a pair of power speaker (monitors) and the second output in a home Audio stereo amplifier with another pair of speakers. This setup gives me the possibility to listen to two types of speakers and being connected to an Audio gives me the possibility to connect a second set of head phone, the first one being connecteted to mixer. I hope I was explicite in my explanation. And thanks again for your help!

Anyone wants to take a shot at it!

[tubesrawsom]

preamps are usually good replacments for a mixer DEPENDING on what your tracking

[noiseportrait]

A decent preamp would definitely be a step up from your samson mixer, but an ART tube pre is not a decent pre amp. The ART tube pre is a piece of crap. I would look at the m-audio dmp3, studio projects vtb1, or rane msb1 as a noticable step up from a cheap mixer.

[Philo]

Thanks I will look into those suggestions.