Need mixer/pre-amp with MR-8??

nkay

New member
I currently record some demo stuff to my laptop through a simple PC microphone. (don't laugh!)

I want to upgrade my setup by adding a MR-8 so that I can record on that, then transfer the tracks to my laptop for editing.
(My laptop does not have a line-in jack, and the sound card is cheapo anyway, and I'd rather record away from the computer)

I'm thinking of getting Shure 57 mic, can I just plug that in to the MR-8 and away I go?? Do I need some sort of mixer or pre-amp before that, or is that sort of thing built in to the MR-8??

Thanks for any help.
 
You can plug the Shure mic directly into the MR8. That usually works well for me. IT includes the needed preamp and works fine.

Ed
 
pre amp

with guitar, bass drums keyboard and vocals , i have found the preamp is not hot enough to get good levels, and no phantom power so if you aver want to use a condensor it wont work, i really recomend a decent small mixer with phantom power . your recordings will be much better and you will have some eq control
 
YOu may want to check your unit as I have no problems getting good levels from those same things. I usually have to turn the gain back to avoid overloading.

You can also use battery operated condensor mics if that is desired.


Ed
 
mixer

if you do a searce on this subject, you will find 9 out of 10 people here have the same opinion as me, get a little mixer.

so how are you recording a drum set with only two inputs? only two overhead mics? not very much control, and you will find you need eq to help keep the mix from getting muddy
 
nkay said:
I currently record some demo stuff to my laptop through a simple PC microphone. (don't laugh!)

I want to upgrade my setup by adding a MR-8 so that I can record on that, then transfer the tracks to my laptop for editing.
(My laptop does not have a line-in jack, and the sound card is cheapo anyway, and I'd rather record away from the computer)

I'm thinking of getting Shure 57 mic, can I just plug that in to the MR-8 and away I go?? Do I need some sort of mixer or pre-amp before that, or is that sort of thing built in to the MR-8??

Thanks for any help.

The beauty about getting a preamp is it will give you the option of using phantom powered mics... Plus the basic quality should be at least a tad better. A Studio Projects VTB1 can be had for about $119. It's super quiet, even at full gain, and has plenty of power to drive anything. Even your 57, which I'm told tends to need a bit of extra gain... I don't own an MR8, but I think the above opinion will hold true for you.
 
Thanks for the replies, this leads to my next question:

Do most mixer's have preamps built in? For example, I've been looking at the small Behringer ones like the UB 802.

I'm assuming just like the MR-8, a cheap mixer will only have cheap pre-amps??

So for those who use an MR-8, what is your typical setup? I'd like to be able to just plug in a mic and go, but if I can really make a difference in sound by adding a relatively inexpensive mixer and/or preamp in the chain, I'm ok with that.
 
nkay said:
Thanks for the replies, this leads to my next question:

Do most mixer's have preamps built in? For example, I've been looking at the small Behringer ones like the UB 802.

I'm assuming just like the MR-8, a cheap mixer will only have cheap pre-amps??

So for those who use an MR-8, what is your typical setup? I'd like to be able to just plug in a mic and go, but if I can really make a difference in sound by adding a relatively inexpensive mixer and/or preamp in the chain, I'm ok with that.

I do believe most mixers have pre's and phantom built-in. But do a search at ZZsounds, where all this stuff is sold, click on the UB802, and you'll get a listing of the features/specs... Lots of people like the pre's that are in Mackie mixers.

Just off-hand, why not just get a nice preamp and forgo the mixer? Do you want to record more than 2 channels at once? Then, you'll need the mixer. But if not, get either an SP- VTB1 or an M-Audio DMP3. Either will likely have better preamps than in most budget mixers.
 
Basically all I would be using it for is acoustic and electric guitar.

For acoustic, it would be nice to have two mics for recording. For the preamps, I assume I would want one with two inputs, which I would then feed into the inputs of the MR-8?

I don't have drums, so I guess I would only need a full mixer if I wanted to have multiple mics for recording a drum kit.

Sorry for my ignorance in these matters, I haven't moved beyond the simple PC recording stage yet.. :)
 
sorry

hey this is the place to find out stuff, there are some really smart and helpful people here, they are teaching me so much

good luck
 
Ditto what Dave just said...

These people have helped me tremendously, and never even the slightest hint of condesension...
 
This is the place to go to for some good info! I have been using my MR-8 to record my band through a small Mackie 12CH mixer Into 2 Channels. We usually do it this way:
1 Vocal Mic, Miked Guitar - SM57, Bass - Direct Box, Overhead Mic for Cymbals, and our Drummer uses triggers so we use a 2CH stereo mix of the drums and we can change the sounds if needed.
Personally I prefer acoustic drums and our drummer plays very hard and loud with the butt end of his sticks. This gives me control over volumes before it goes to the MR-8. It takes a little tweaking but we have been getting some killer recordings of just rough drafts of songs. I have to dump the WAV's to the computer right away at home until I get a larger CF card but it works great. I make band CD's after each rehearsal so now we all have the songs to listen to in the car or home before the next time. It's nice to hear people ask "What studio did you guys record this in?" when I'm using Extended mode to save space on the card. I've even taken our Analog recordings and transferred them to the MR-8 so I could burn CD's of our "Old Stuff". Overall I am very happy with the MR-8 even though Fostex dropped the ball I feel on the CF card confirmation for about 7 months. I will soon be looking for a 512MB card and hopefully they'll be even less than $112 (Toshiba).
 
nkay said:
Basically all I would be using it for is acoustic and electric guitar.

For acoustic, it would be nice to have two mics for recording. For the preamps, I assume I would want one with two inputs, which I would then feed into the inputs of the MR-8?


You need either 2 VTB1 preamps, because they're one channel each, or you need 1 DMP3, because it's a 2-channel. I chose getting 2 Studio Projects VTB1's that sit, one on top of the other. So long as you only want to record no more than 2 channel at once, then you do not need a mixer.
 
Is there any reason you chose to buy 2 VTB1's rather than just the DMP?

These seem to be the two models that most people recommend for inexpensive pre-amps.

Just wondering what the pros and cons of each are.
 
I used my MR-8 for some time with a dynamic mic (Shure Beta 58) w/out a preamp other than the built-in one. This worked good, but when I went to mixdown on my pc I was forever trying to get the eq right on the vocals. I just couldn't figure out why they didn't have the punch and presence that I was looking for. Not long ago I bought a Behringer UB802 mixer and a MXL V67G condenser mic. The first song that I mixed on my pc was amazing. I didn't have to change any eq on the vocals. The presence was there. Why? The mic helped, but I think mostly it was the pre-amp.
Get a preamp and a condenser mic. You won't be sorry.
 
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