Question on Preamp/Mixer and Starter Setup

pham0167

New member
the newbie question is: what exactly is preamp and mixer and what is the need for them?

I know that a mixer is used to combine several inputs to become one inputs or to control the series of inputs, as for preamps, i am kind of clueless. Hope you guys have the patience to help out.

I have been playing guitar for about 5 years and recently getting interested in recording my music. My equipment so far is fender amp and strat, martin acoustic, boss br-864 recorder studio, pair of oktava mc012, and the usual effects.

My plan is to record mainly acoustic materials for experimentation with guitar overlays, harmonies, and solos; some electric, drum machine, and an old casio keyboard will be use. I hope to be able to record vocal as well, in the future with a singer or if i can learn to sing real quick. Either way, I am trying to get a Damien Rice- natural acoustic/vocal sound as i hear he used an 8-track recorder and three condensers.

I am confused on the need of a mixer/preamp for my setup, i think i need a mixer since i will be recording in stereo with other instruments and a possibility of vocals in the future. I will probably get the Eurorack MX802A since it's low cost and has everything that i would need for a small project.

What is then the need for a preamp? Since the MX802A has a built in preamp already.

Do you guys have any other suggetsions or comments that could help out? Thanks very much.
 
mic pre

amplifiers have different "stages" of gain.

a mic pre.... changes a <MIC> level signal into a <LINE> level signal, which is much stronger. then this signal is sent through the electronics.

the mixer, takes the various inputs and "mixes" them into an (either stereo or mono) output.

Your recorder ( i didn't look it up) probably only record 2 track simultaneously. The advantage to a mixer, is that you can leave all of your stuff plugged into the mixer (and not change the eq/setting each time you change insturments.) and record the output of the mixer.

happy recording
 
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