EDUCATE ME ON MIC PREAMPS!

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volumen2

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i'm upgrading my studio and i'm wondering how necessary it is to have a mic preamp. what exactly does it do. does it just shape the sound and warm it up more than the preamp in my board? what are some good mic preamps for the quality:money?
volumen2
 
I know that I sound like an add but, I have tried 150 to 3000.00 units.
And bang for the buck that Mindprint Envoice is my choice.
It is a whole channel. And you dial in the tube. So it doesn't have the everything sounds the same syndrome.

A GOOD mic pre will improve you sound, headroom and overall mix in the end, because you don't have to beef up everything.
Good quality mic pres in boards only come with high end boards.
Give yourself a treat and try one of these.
I swear I don't work for them.

I jst like it when a company comes out with one for the home studio guys.
I've been doing this for 20 years.
I love to pass the word.
Try it on your mixer.....you'll see.
 
thanks for replying!
im somewhat new at this so bare with me.
if i got 4 mics on a kit how do i shape each mic if the preamp only has one channel?
i'm assuming i'm going from the board to the preamp to my p.c.
ive never heard of mindprint envoice, so i'll check that out. is anyone familiar with dbx 576. that sounds pretty good.
 
I've got the little brother to the dbx 576
called the 386 that sounds really sweet, comes with digital I/O standard and costs less than half of what the 576 costs. But I have no reference to judge them against other than the crappy pres in my Portastudios.
 
Ears - I looked at the envoice based on another post of yours. It looks like it only takes 1/4" plugs - is that right? No XLR? Also, what's the street price?

volumen - if you're talking about warming things up, then you're probably talking about a tube preamp, not just any preamp (my mixer's got loads of preamps, for example, but they're all solid state and don't have the warm sound of a tube preamp).

Also, if you're going to multiple mic things, then you've got a choice - buy lotsa preamps :) or put all mics into your mixer, then run everything through the preamp.
 
yea that's one thing im concerned about...
shaping each mic for say- a drum kit.
i've seen a couple of pre amps with 4 & 8 channels like the HHB Radius 10. maybe this is the way to go.
yea, and dobro, check out mind print's web site if yer still interested in all the specs etc for the en voice. it's nice and thorough and explains everything without tech jargon.
 
Hey Dobro

No it has XLR, line in and mic in,
phono line in and instrument jack.

If you are going to mult mic at one time then use a submix, unless you are running digital stuf , I don't know. What is your setup?
I have a VS880 and a VS1680. I can process each track independently after. I could'nt with my old half inch reel setup. Get your hands on Feb EQ mag for a review of the Mindprint.
They are the same guys who make Hughs and Ketner guitar amps. They are distributed by Steinberg in the U.S. and Canada. www.mindprint.com
Hope this helps
 
Yo All the Pre-Amp amplifications:]

Just have to toss this one in too: The MartinSound Mic-Max is a high end mic preamp and is supposed to be one of the best. MartinSound also makes another unit micpre but I can't think of it's Letter/code handle.

The Mic-Max lists at $1400.00.

I've never used one but I'm itching to hear one.

Cheers,
Green Hornet
 
Cheers, Ears. Presently, I'm recording two mics simultaneously, hence my interest in the ART Dual (or any two-channel tube preamp for that matter), so I can bypass the mixer in the chain, if that's doable.
 
i just ordered gadgetlab's wave/8.24. so eventually i'll be running a bunch of mics from my board into that then my p.c.
i guess i could shape all the drum mics the same in a single channel pre amp but, that doesnt seem practical.
 
I liked the presonus MP20 and the M80 but I hear that you can get some total crap from Presonus if you don't watch out.

I thought the ART stuff was pretty noisy.

Ears, you still got that halfinch?

Ree
 
No I can't afford all the toys Ree.

If I could I would though.
I enjoy the abilities on the digital stuff.
The analog has the sound dept wrapped I think.

A combo of both would be cool. Someday.
Good stuff though. Otari, Studer ..... I'm not sure I would go back to a Tascam. Make good music, that sounds good.
That's what matters right guys. I can do a great acoustic demo on my old 4 track cassette. Sometimes that's all I need.

I understand where you are coming from dobro.
Do you play Dobro by the way? Ever listen to National Steel by Colin James? You have to if you play dobro. Of course Jerry Douglas...wow
 
Hey Dobro.......
I forgot.
The price of the Envoice is about $750 US.
Another $200 for the dig in/out.

Drstawl
I've heard and read about the dig DBX unit.
It looks like a good deal too.
Providing the pre's are good to go along with the dig in/out
 
Don't play dobro, no, but I've thought we could get the people with guitar names on a cut and call ourselves the Guitarristas or something - dobro, gibs, fender - I think we need a Martin, though.
 
Yes the pres on the 386 are good to go, at least up to the level I can discern with my GINA. And more inportantly for live applications where you have little control over possible SPL spikes that might occur the dbx type IV conversion does an amazing job of covering your ass. Monday night in a live situation I tried pushing this system to the wall as suggested by a good friend. He was right; you can push it 90% of the way into territory that you'd normally avoid to prevent clipping without any noticeable artifacts. And even that last 10% where there was some noticeable degradation sounded 3 bazillion times better than a digital clip.
My tracking levels were generally at -0.5 - -0.1 dB and only started sounding affected when they swelled to an immeasurable 0.00 dB during the "pushing it hard" experiment.
They claim you can't clip the thing.
That's a bit of an exxageration, but they've got a good system.
 
Hey Dobro.....I think I need a Martin too.
about a late 60's early 70's D28 that would be nice. I have a 23 yr old Guild though.

Yeah Drstawl,
I was going to wait for the unit to show up in the stores here. ( Alberta Can.)
I'm glad you like it.
 
I'm using the ART preamps (both dual and standalone) and I'm not finding them noisy at all.

I prefer the dual because it is a little easier to monitor - for some reason the standalones don't seem to light the clipping led very well.

BillS
 
doc - despite worthy opinions to the contrary, I find digital technology pretty unforgiving, and so your description of the 386 increases my desire to procure at the soonest possible opportunity some genuine tube preamping equipment. I shall, in the meantime, remain eternally grateful to my solidstate mixer for making me get greater control of the way I make noise. :) Also, dbx got double thumbs up, you'll notice, in the pre party over at 3d audio. Mind you, it *was* the show-off unit they trialled.
 
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