Hooking up a mic pre

C

Calwood

New member
i've always went from the xlr out on a pre to my board xlr in. But,...I bought a new pre this weekend,..was reading the manual and it gave some tips. One was that you should always use the 1/4 out to your board. The reasoning was that the board xlr is always amped by the board pre even if it is all the way down. So,..in effect your are amping your amp.

My question is,..is that true? Should I always use the 1/4 inch outs of the mic pre to the board?

Thanks for any enlightenment.

Take 'er easy,...
Calwood
 
I think it just means to make sure that you're using the LINE IN on your board and not the MIC IN. Usually the line in is 1/4", so what the manual said makes sense....
 
yeah youre right. Thats what its saying,..but,..thats whats not making sense to me. Is that really the best way to hook up your mic pre? I mean,..I've never heard that before.
Thanks for the reply though.
Anyone else wanna take a stab at it?

take 'er easy,..
Calwood
 
Calwood said:
yeah youre right. Thats what its saying,..but,..thats whats not making sense to me. Is that really the best way to hook up your mic pre? I mean,..I've never heard that before.
Thanks for the reply though.
Anyone else wanna take a stab at it?

take 'er easy,..
Calwood
Click to expand...

I've not heard that either. I think you can use either an XLR or 1/4" TRS for connection to a mixer. Either way, the signal generally has access to the mixer preamp, so I don't see how it would make a huge difference.
 
Calwood said:
Is that really the best way to hook up your mic pre?
Click to expand...

If you hook it up to the mic pre, you're going to be raising the signal twice and probably run into an problem with distortion. You defintiely want to run into the line in to bypass the pre's in your boad.
 
Still a little confused on this. Could I have been hookin' this up wrong all this time,..or is scrubs right to say,..really no huge difference. I see what your saying about distortion by using the 2 pre's,..but couldnt you run into that with the line in as well? As scrubs says,.the signal generally has access to the board pre either way,.. and thats true. I've never had to use the board pre's when I'm using an outboard mic pre.

Anyone else? Any clue??

Thanks for the help,...
Calwood
 
Calwood- you use a preamp because it's better than the preamp in the mixer. The preamp has a "line out" that should go to a "line in" somewhere else, as a rule. It doesn't matter whether the connection is made by XLR or 1/4". What matters is, you *don't* want to send a "line out" to a "mic in". That is very bad. The reverse just doesn't do anything. Some mixers allow you to switch back and forth between line and mic. As long as the channel is set for "line" on the mixer,and that switch controls the XLR input, you're cool. Many mixers only have XLR inputs for mics. Repeat- Don't plug a line out into a mic in. It is wrong, and dangerous to your gear.-Richie
 
Just get an XLR to TRS cable, that way you keep the balanced signal out going to the balanced line in on your mixer
 
Thanks for the heads up Richie. Thanks to everyone tryin' to help me figure this out. Much appreciated.

Take 'er easy,..
Calwood
 
Calwood said:
i've always went from the xlr out on a pre to my board xlr in. But,...I bought a new pre this weekend,..was reading the manual and it gave some tips. One was that you should always use the 1/4 out to your board. The reasoning was that the board xlr is always amped by the board pre even if it is all the way down. So,..in effect your are amping your amp.

My question is,..is that true? Should I always use the 1/4 inch outs of the mic pre to the board?

Thanks for any enlightenment.

Take 'er easy,...
Calwood
Click to expand...

You want to use the *insert* TRS jacks on your board. XLR and Line In jacks both use the board's pre amps. The Insert bypasses the board's pre-amps and injects the signal directly into the EQ section *after* the board's XLR and Line In pre-amps. You need to buy a special insert cable that has the TRS wired to a "In" and "Out" 1/4" ends. Then just connect the TRS end to your mixer's channel insert jack and the "In" 1/4" jack to your pre-amp "out" jack (unbalanced). That is all there is to it.
 
Big Kenny said:
The built in pre amp is in the xlr input, the line in has no pre amp.
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The XLR is a Mic pre-amp. The Line In is a line level pre-amp. Both are pre-amps that have to be bypassed. The "Insert" path is the only way on most mixers. On the digital workstation mixers, the digital inputs bypass the built in pre-amps.
 
Channel Inserts or Main inserts?

If I were to buy an outboard preamp, where would I use it? On a channel insert for just that channel, or could I use it on a main insert for all the channels? Will the main insert only affect the sound going out of the mains, or does it have an effect on the channels as well? I'd also like to know if I can put it between the subgroup out and the Q10, knowing some of my options would be a great help.
I'm using a Behringer MX3282A into an Aardvark Pro Q10. I wanted to have fader control before going into the Q10 so I come out of my subgroup outs on my mixer into my Q10. I have one Reverb going into my aux 1 and thats it so far. I haven't even used my outboard EQ cause I can use the plug-in Eq included with my Adobe audition. Eventually I will be buying a patchbay, where then do I hook up my new pre?:rolleyes:
 
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mic-pre to insert???? Wow,..never heard of that one either. Welp,..I'll give it a shot.
Thanks!

Hey, I'm using the MX3282 as well. I've had it for a good long while. I know there is alot of Behri bashing,..but,..i dunno,..i really like that mixer. How 'bout you?

Thanks for all the help.

Take 'er easy,..
Calwood
 
i'm also using the MX 3282A and i'm still a little confused .... an insert cable is like this right, male stereo (TRS) 1/4" on one end and the other end is split to 2 male 1/4" Mono (TS) right .... if i a am correct how would you hook a pre up, The TRS end into the mixer's insert and the two TS ends go where? thanks i know its a handful
 
what if you need to use the mic pre on several channels if you use insert then the pre could only effect one that one channel and the other channel need to use the pre too

would it hurt to put it on its own aux channel
 
Woah, woah woah!!! Let's get something straight. On most, if not all, of mixers in the more budget end of the market, all the 'line in' inputs are is a connection to the mic preamp, via a pad. Commonly this is just a 20dB pad that then send the signal through the preamp after all ... if your gain control still works, then you're reamping the signal.

You're only as good as your weakest link ... so why not plug the preamp straight into you soundcard or whatever?

ScratchinBear ... I have no idea what you're talking about :)
 
noisedude said:
You're only as good as your weakest link ... so why not plug the preamp straight into you soundcard or whatever?
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Exactly...... mic pre outputs, right to the recorder or soundcard inputs.

Minimal signal path is always good practice, and routing thru a mixer, via inserts or otherwise, is probably one of the poorest ways to route a mic pre. You'd do it only if you needed to submix multiple signals to a buss - ie, when you don't have a choice...........


noisedude said:
ScratchinBear ... I have no idea what you're talking about :)
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Same here!
 
Thanks alot Bluebear and noisedude. I actually came to this conclusion as well this weekend. Why not bypass the board all together. Thats what I was thinking to,..that the line in was routed to the board pre as well,..because the trim still works either way.
but,..if i were to never of read that tip in that manual I would have just kept hooking it up the way I always did. Just another thing that will help yield better results in my recording.

Scratchinbear,...I'm having trouble figuring out what you mean to. Maybe you could word it another way?

Thanks A TON guys.

Take 'er easy,...
Calwood
 
Yo Calwood- Blue Bear and Acorec are both right. Blue Bear's solution is the cleanest and most simple. Acorec's version is right, as Blue Bear says, if you have to sum a bunch of signals to a single mixer bus. Mixers mix signals together. If you don't have a bunch of signals, what the hell are you using a mixer for?
Scratchinbear- a preamp is not an effect, that can be applied to however many channels you want. A single channel pre controls the gain of *one* channel. Mixers are basically boxes with lots of (usually cheap) preamps, that can route the signals to a smaller number of combined outputs, called busses.
Yeah, I sure would like to learn how to "apply" my Avalon to about 16 channels, and I can, for an additional $35,000 and a divorce. Oh well, if I buy 14 Avalons, they'll probably give me a break on the price.
You know, mixers or mixing consoles (mixer on steroids) are weird things. Some people will tell you they are the heart and soul of a studio. Others avoid them whenever possible. I personally prefer the nice feel of real world faders to mixing automated, or with a mouse. The key, I think, is to use a mixer when you need to mix something, and avoid it otherwise, as Blue Bear said. -Richie
 
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