$200 Clean preamp evryon talks about

J

jameslucas

New member
Boy have I got a godamn easy couple of questions. Firstly, what is this (DIY...DYI I can't remeber) 2 channel, $200 preamp that everyone says will give me clean gain up to line level and is this true what everyone says. I have a behringer mixer I run into my soundblaster audigy (24bit, but you know that don't you), and I get good sound but there is a fair amount of hiss/extra noise, so much to suggest not just ambiance (I hid the PC in another room( noise is the culprit. Could this unbeknownst to me preamp help signifigantly towards my problem or is there a more obvious choice. I just want clean ole gain up to line level, if its clean, I can put the magic in myself. thanks and have a happy christmas.
 
Some of that hiss is the Audigy. I have an SBLive for listening to CD's and it's noisy as hell.

REALLY clean gain is more like $250-500/channel.

Like a Grace or similar. I don't know how clean the DMP-3 is. Least expensive clean pre is probably the RNP by FMR.

http://www.mercenary.com/fmrrnmp.html
 
The DMP3 is very clean and quiet. It is based on the same Burr Brown INA 163 chip as the Grace 101. All the reviews have been good, including this one at MOJO Pie, a respected site:
http://www.mojopie.com/dmp3.html

The DMP3 sounds great on acoustic instruments, vox, and reportedly is a very good DI (I haven't tried that yet). IMO it sounds better than the Mackie VLZ pres, and it blows the Behringer away. It also sounds better on acoustic guitar than my $600 VC1Q. It produces a big stereo image, and the low end is tight, and the high end is present but not strident like on the Behringer pres.

There was a double blind test (on acoustic guitar, I think) a while back on this Board between the DMP3 and the acclaimed RNP--a lot of people voted (confident that they could tell which was which), and a lot of people had red faces when the results were revealed.

I'm not saying the DMP3 is better or even as good as the RNP or grace 101 because I haven't compared them side-by-side, and MP3 comparisons can be tricky, and there are so many other variables, and etc...etc. I am saying the DMP3 is a very nice budget pre that has surprised a lot of people with the quality of its sound.

I agree with c7sus that you might need a better recording card.
 
Okay, well I have $200 bucks, a Sm57, a Soundblaster Audigy, and a Behringer Mixer and I'm very pleased with my recordings as is. What can I do with the $200, Dmp-3, new soundcard (recommend?), new mic. Quiet Vox and Guitar but I still get hiss when recording them with one mic buuut i have no way of recording with two as of now because I can't record two tracks at once, only one, and I do it all in one take and then add some drums
 
I use a SB audigy platinum 2 ex and I have no hiss or noise in the backround or when im just recording silence... You have your settings messed up, YOU DONT need a new card most likely.. Check the line in volume and the mic gain and mess with them until there at the right levels.. I dont have as nice as a setup as the other guys on here but mine gets the job done, I could turn out radio projects from here with the help of sending my projects to mastering engineers.. The problem usually for me is adjusting the line in gain on my cpu and adjusting the main mix on my mixer to a point where you get good results.. That was my problem but yours might be different, not sure if your using the same sound card.. anyway hope i could help.. enjoy

PS: Id reccomend studio monitors, although you might want to save a little bit more they are definately worth it, The only hiss the soundcard would produce is if there is something wrong with the board or ur pci slot somehow, otherwise its a low latency card and doesnt fall victom to computer noise.. Mine doesnt..


When you press record ina silent room what DB does it read at?
 
Thirst said:
I use a SB audigy platinum 2 ex and I have no hiss or noise in the backround or when im just recording silence... You have your settings messed up, YOU DONT need a new card most likely.. Check the line in volume and the mic gain and mess with them until there at the right levels.. I dont have as nice as a setup as the other guys on here but mine gets the job done, I could turn out radio projects from here with the help of sending my projects to mastering engineers.. The problem usually for me is adjusting the line in gain on my cpu and adjusting the main mix on my mixer to a point where you get good results.. That was my problem but yours might be different, not sure if your using the same sound card.. anyway hope i could help.. enjoy

PS: Id reccomend studio monitors, although you might want to save a little bit more they are definately worth it, The only hiss the soundcard would produce is if there is something wrong with the board or ur pci slot somehow, otherwise its a low latency card and doesnt fall victom to computer noise.. Mine doesnt..


When you press record ina silent room what DB does it read at?
Click to expand...


My Audigy doesnt hiss either. sh@t some of my mics are louder than the audigy.

Malcolm
 
The issue is that he is recording quiet acoustic instruments with a dynamic mic and shitty pres. The DMP3 will give you a better SNR but your also better off with a condensor mic for acoustic guitar.

For you guys who say there is no hiss on your Audigys of course there is. EVERYTHING has hiss. It's just a matter of how much.
 
lmao no.... mess with your line volumes and youll be fine man I mean I use that card and a behringer mixer too and this is what I turn out..

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/2/thirst1music.htm

click that then click on " pumpin blood " and thats me and what i turned out today in 2 hours...

hmm sounds pretty damn good to me... Looks like the SB cards aint as bad as people are tryin to make them out to be..

Yea but like i said keep the card you got, i really dont think it has to do with your pre cuz even when I was using the pre out my behringer mixer i wasnt gettin a bad hiss, it was a little bit but nothing too noticable, now I use a Rode NTK which comes with its own pre and workz very well.. But I think your problem is just in your line volumes..

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/2/thirst1music.htm

to my page, different songs i used different mics on, but I just recently bought the RODE NTK and am very happy with it..
 
The NTK comes with it's own pre???

That's the power supply!

I imagine with as hot a signal as these new mics are putting out you could use some of them without a pre, hell, some need a pad!
 
Ouch. That track hurt my ears and made me feel bad.

The good news for Thirst is that most of the trash on the radio does the same thing for me! Yeah I guess I'm too old.:rolleyes:

Congratulations, you have proven that yes indeed anyone with a Soundblaster can lay down a beat and rhyme over it, and bammo you've got a hit!

That doesn't apply to a lot of folks on this board who are here to learn about recording musical instruments and getting good bang for the buck. So please don't sit there and put down those who want to use higher quality stuff.

For acoustic instruments and naked vocals, a soundblaster just don't cut it IMHO! Especially if your ears still work.

BTW Jameslucas: You can record two tracks at the same time, just not two sets of "stereo" tracks. Just send the vocal to the left and the guitar to the right, monitor in mono while you record, then pan the mono recorded tracks & add effects to make them stereo. Sounds like what you are doing now is giving you one stereo track containing vocals and guitar, that most likely isn't really stereo anyway, unless you are adding effects and panning going in.

Also, you may want to check that everything but the line in is muted on the windows mixer, also that unused channels on the Behr mixer aren't turned up too.

You should be able to clean it up with what you are using, if your gain staging is correct, and nothing is wrong with your mics.
But better stuff really will help with the type of music you are doing.
 
as an alternative.

if you want to save some money, this months nutsand volts mag has a nice simple circuit for a mic diy preamp. parts cost,
about 10 bucks. its on page 25. uses TLC2201 op amps.
if it were my decision i would get one main pre like the dmp3
or a vtb1 for the main lead tracks supplemented by diy preamps
like the nuts and volts schematic for different flavours.
if you want more gain , you can always take the output from
your diy pre into a clean line mixer for boosting level.
there is a really nice pre schematic called a TAOS on the net.
but i wouldnt attempt this unless one had attended electronics school for a few months. a site on the net has an interesting pre
schematic i understand to do a neve like circuit . its called JLM audio. but its quite complex. ive saved quite a bit building my own pres.
as to soundcard, i would get an audiophile or echo mia.
 
Is the Behr mixer an MX or a newer UB? The pres on the UBs are loads quieter than the MX series so if you have one of them then I'd stick with that for now and replace your sound card. You can get decent sounds from an SM57 and your Behri, but it's worth nowt if your card doesn't know its ones from its zeroes...if you have the original Audigy it doesn't record in 24/96 anyway, only plays back. So IMO there's no argument get an Audiophile or a Delta 44 (both M-Audio, similar price same converters) and at least then you have a base foundation that's quality. Replacing pres or mics at this stage won't avoid the fact that your card is your quality bottleneck.
 
Thirst, I dont listen rap anymore but I think you do nice shit. Of course the recording quality isnt the best due to ur studio equipment, but it's easy to tell that you got talent. Keep going...
 
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