Are micpreamps for people w/o Mixers?

[kybdplr]

Yes Im new at this Audio recording on the PC.
I amd a keyboardist with a new home studio.
Is my Makie MS1202 an acceptable mic pre amp?
Or is going direct into the PC with a dedicated mic
preamp better?

Please Spain?

Thansk

 

[littledog]

Acceptable is relative. It all depends on what you are trying to do, and what the rest of your recording chain is like. If you are using a $50 mic, and a $100 sound card and monitoring through headphones or a cheap pair of computer speakers, then the Mackie willl by no means be the weakest link in your chain. It might even be the strongest. So in that scenario it is plenty acceptable.

If you are making using a $2000 mic, expenisve converters, and have excellent monitoring and room acoustics, then the Mackie is probably not acceptible.

If you are somewhere in between, then the answer is probably somewhere in between.

 

[chessrock]

Please Spain?

Please France? ? ? Please Italy? ?

 

[MemoGtr]

Please Mexico!!

 

[kybdplr]

Please Explain....Thank you

What exactly does a mic pre-amp give you over coming straight out of a mixer or a send out of a mixer? Is there an archived thread on this or a mic FAQ?

James

 

[Scinx]

Mic pre's are for people who want mic pre's but dont have mic pre's. If they have a board with pre's - then they already have pre's. See?
http://www.hr-faq.org

 

[kybdplr]

Thansk for answering my question

I guess I already have a pre, there for there is no need to purchace a pre.

Thanks

 

[Richard Monroe]

No, Ky, mixers are for people who don't have enough preamps or enough inputs. Go figure. If your mixer cost say, $300, and has 10 preamps, assuming the preamps represent 50% of the cost of the board, they are $15 each, retail. Top flight preamps are well over $1000 per channel. No, you don't need a Ferrari, you've already got a Yugo. The fact that the Yugo actually started, and got you to work will not get you laid.-Richie

 

[littledog]

Here's what it comes down to:

Do you think your recordings suck compared to commercial quality CD's that you really enjoy listening to? If so, it is probably for some or all of the following reasons:

¥the musicians suck
¥your engineering technique sucks
¥the acoustics in your tracking and control room sucks
¥your equipment sucks

now, the first three are probably even more important than the last one.

but assuming we are only dealing with equipment suckage, we can break it down further into:

¥your mics suck
¥your preamps suck
¥your processers and effects suck
¥your converters suck
¥youf monitors suck
¥your cables suck

So, to think that just upgrading your preamps from the $15 one to the $1000 one (using Mr. Monroe's formula) will magically transform your recordings into masterpieces is highly optimistic, given all the other factors that may be contributing to the sucking of your recordings in greater or equal ways.

In conclusion, buying an expensive preamp certainly won't hurt. It might even help a little. Whether it is the most effective way to spend your money is debateable, and probably can't be answered given the little we know about your specific situation.

 

[indydisc]

¥the musicians suck
¥your engineering technique sucks
¥the acoustics in your tracking and control room sucks
¥your equipment sucks

Now that is what I call a good prioritized list. And between the heading of "The Musicians Suck" and "Your Engineering Technique Sucks" there's the possibility that the musicians just don't know how to adjust their amplifiers.

I've always said:

If the sound sucks on tape, it probably sucked in the first place.

Try explaining that to bands without offending them.. once you can do that, you're 90% better than most of the studios out there.