seperate preamp??

P

Punce

New member
Just a bit confused here...

I know a good mic and preamp is essential, as well as having good converters to get the sound into the PC. I also know that some decent audio interfaces do it all in one little box, but are they good enough for DECENT results?

Don't laugh, but I'm currently recording vocals and micing up amps for guitars using my Shure SM57 through a cheap mixer that has phantom power, striaght into an Audiophile 2496 PCI card. So out with the old and in with the new, and I want to do it right. I have roughly £1,000 to spend (approx $2000)

As I have just got a new laptop (3GHz) I'm thinking of going the firewire route, for the odd times I need to hit the road.

Primarily I record my own music, therefore I don't need loads of inputs, but I guess it would be nice to have at least 4 ins.
Now would it be enough to buy some firewire interface with good pres, and a quality mic? or should I put more priority on getting a quality seperate preamp + mic?

I've done too much forum reading, and now I've confused myself even more. I just need some simple quality advice...

tia
 
A good preamp will make a difference.
For $2000, you should get the Firepod, a good preamp and few decent condencer mics (check Rode NT1s.. they go for about $200 piece).
 
Punce said:
Don't laugh, but I'm currently recording vocals and micing up amps for guitars using my Shure SM57 through a cheap mixer that has phantom power, striaght into an Audiophile 2496 PCI card. So out with the old and in with the new, and I want to do it right.
Click to expand...

Man thats not a bad little set up! SM57 is a decent mic, so you might want to keep hold of that, even use it with your new set up! I think if you have a budget of around £1000 just for a microphone and a soundcard? If thats right you can get yourself a pretty nice bit of equipment.

It seems you want your vocals sounding sweet, so i would suggest spending most of the cash on a decent soundcard with the best pre amps. http://www.dv247.com/invt/21253 << Presonus Firepod has 8 inputs all with pre amps. Thats the upgrade from the one i use (Firebox) and i gotta say the pre amps are excellent!

Check out here and have a look for some:
http://www.dv247.com/icat/firewiresoundcardsaudioin

Regarding the mic, i cant really honestly say i know that much about different ones to make a suggestion so ill leave that to someone else :)

Hope that helps with the soundcard, im sure alot of people can back me up with the firepod. Its an excellent bit of kit and i would definatley buy it if only i could afford it :(

Good luck!
 
Went for a shower, came back, and *boom* 2 messages. Impressive guys!

ok 2 reccomendations for the Firepod. Is it that much better than the Firebox? Is it only the fact it has more inputs, or is there more to it?

And if I was to get a seperate preamp, would you then bypass the pre on the Presonus and just use the AD converter?


Mics - I've read that some are having crazy results using the Rode K2. A bit more than the NT1, but maybe worth it?
 
Don't forget to look at RME's Fireface, about US$1450 here. Probably better pres and A/Ds than the Presonus.

I second the vote for RØDE mics.
 
I would certainly say that the RME sounds better in all regards to the Presonus. However, if on a limited budget it may be better to have more money left over for some mics. Tough decision. maybe try and find a used AKG 414. That would be a very solid and flexible mic to start off with. It will also be one that you can keep forever no matter what other mics you buy down the road:)
 
I'm having a bit of trouble deciding between the Firebox and Firepod. I don't need the extra inputs at the moment, but might be worth having different inputs designated for different intruments etc to save swapping cables and less knob fiddling ...so to speak.

The RME is double the price of a Firepod, so I would be blowing almost all of £1k on the interface.

Seen the Rode NT1-A for £120. So if they're pretty good I might go for one of those.

What about a preamp? Should I get some sort of channel strip for special recordings. Joe Meek? Focusrite? Would it be an idea to have compression at this stage instead of later thru plugins. Or would a dedicated preamp be better?
 
The firepod is amazing value for what you get.
Also consider the Tascam 1884. It's got all the firepod has plus it's a control surface with motroised faders.
If I had the 1884 I wouldn't worry about a channel strip. That would give you a great sound
 
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