theory: a good preamp makes compression dispensable ...!?

fretless

fretless

New member
i´m thinking about what could be called perceived presence, punch, directness and all that stuff. doesn´t a good preamp act a little as a compressor himself even if there isn´t one built in discretely?

what do you think?

if yes, where do you think those good preamps start price-wise?


another question for the ones who know these: how would you compare the preamps of a soundtracs m series console to a digitech vtp-1?

keep your comments coming ... ;-)

fretless
 
Uh . . . no.


A preamp amplifies a mic-level signal to line level.

A compressor controls the dynamics.



Nice try, though. I sometimes like to theorize that my preamps might make me pancakes and give me handjobs one day, but that's just wishful thinking. :D
 
The Soundcraft M series pre's are comparable to the Aphex 107,
and a notch above the Mackie VLZ Pro's with the various microphones I've tried with them.

Chris
 
fretless, your definition of a "good pre" will depend upon what microphones you're using, along with the rest of your signal chain.
Are you planning to use mostly dynamics or condensers?
And what's your budget?

Chris
 
i think you misunderstood me there - i got a sound t r a c s m series board (32/8/2) it´s more of a live console than a studio one, but WTF ;-) ... there´s a picture of a mr series board which is quite similar to mine (m series has metering only on groups/auxes) - take a look under soundtracs at http://www.recordingconsoles.net if you like.

actually i already got the "m" about half a year ago but was just recently able to set it up after moving into a house. therefore i haven´t had the time to check out the pres a little closer. however now i was offered a digitech vtp-1 which is a dual tube preamp with eqs for 500 euros. i know i´d have to beat down the price a little if i take it ... but i don´t quite know if that would be really a step up?

my mics:
2 rode nt1
1 akg c3000
2 akg c1000s
2 behringer ecm8000
1 akg d112
1 akg d224e
2 shure sm57
1 shure sm58

i record & mix in cubase vst 5.1 on a pIII 700 (win 98se) through a m audio delta 1010. i´m primarily a bassist so you know what gets recorded most - be it direct and/or amp-miced, but i also record guitars & vocals & for myself and a band i used to play in. sooner or later i´ll have my small studio built in the backyard where there will be da drums too! ;-) musical style covers mainly pop/rock/fusion/funk.

whaddayasay?

fretless
 
A Euro is ruffly the same a American dollar I think{I could be wrong}..The Digitech is worth about $250.00 to maybe $300.00..It went for a little under a Thousand dollars new{$999.00}..As for recording bassguit this pre is too messy IMO. I would look elswhere..For $500.00 or so there are so many other options..Avalon U5 DI is great on Bass to me, its a little over $500.00.. and for mic pres..RNP,Grace 101,Summit ect. Good luck

Don
 
avalon u5 - yep, already heard sumthin good about that one! sadly it´s about 700 euros over here!

thanks for your input, don!

fretless
 
In one way, a good pre *can* make compression less necessary. The more headroom you have, the more dynamic you can be in tracking without requiring compression up front to prevent clipping. That is different than using compression as an effect. Usually, compression isn't a tone shaping tool. Then there's Joemeek.-Richie
 
Richard Monroe said:
In one way, a good pre *can* make compression less necessary. The more headroom you have, the more dynamic you can be in tracking without requiring compression up front to prevent clipping. That is different than using compression as an effect. Usually, compression isn't a tone shaping tool. Then there's Joemeek.-Richie
Click to expand...
Ummm no, the headroom that is improtant here is in the recorder. A compressor will be even more essential if you have more gain on the preamp.
 
Don't spend your 500 on a Digitech! Get an RNP stereo preamp from FMR Audio (www.fmraudio.com). Then spend 200 more and get an RNC stereo compressor to go with it.

A quality preamp will give you a higher quality tone to record. It will give you a better signal to noise ratio, better sensitivity or better "depth" to the sound, picking up more of the air or the room around the mic.

But a compressor is a volume controller or an effect. It can be used to even out a wide ranging dynamic on a single instrument (like when the bass player plays some stuff too loud or too soft), fatten up some sounds (like on drums where the compressor kills some of the attack, thus emphasizing the body of the drums), or bring up the lower volume stuff in a mix (by using a slow attack that lets the peaks through, and then boosting the volume of the stuff after it that it catches).

Apples and oranges.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top