If I have a mixer do I need a preamp?

T

tintala

New member
I already have a mackie mixer with mic preamp and phantom power, however, does getting a preamp help the sound better , how would I use this in conjuntion with my mixer?

Also, about preamp for power, does a studio really need preamp power for the equipment or is just plugging into the wall sufficient?

thanks
 
Well it depends how good the preamps are in the mixer. Also depends on if you want to spend thousands on a nice preamp. You could just stick with the preamps on that or buy a preamp accordingly to how you want it to sound. If your not TOO serious in recording, then you probably wont need another preamp/s. Hope it helped
 
♫♪Tyson♫♪;3552131 said:
Well it depends how good the preamps are in the mixer. Also depends on if you want to spend thousands on a nice preamp. You could just stick with the preamps on that or buy a preamp accordingly to how you want it to sound. If your not TOO serious in recording, then you probably wont need another preamp/s. Hope it helped
Click to expand...


Yes this and you wouldn't want to double preamp anything it would be one or the other.







:cool:
 
The preamp would plug into the TRS (Line in) input on your mixer, that way it would not go through the built in preamp. Preamps, even expensive ones are unfortunately not magic devices that make everything sound awesome, so no, at this point you do not need one.

Incidently, if they ever do invent a magical device that makes everything sound awesome, I will sell my car and mortgage my house to buy it, until then I will have to continue to work on my chops.

I think there was a time when some people thought Autotune was such a device... ;)

So what does a better preamp do:

Less than you would hope! It does less than a better mic would do, and much less than proper mic technique does.
Cheap preamps tend to make this sound a little bit mooshy and noisy compared to the really nice stuff.
Please note that "mooshy and noisey" can also be caused by alot of other things/techniques in your setup. ;)

I am not trying to patronize you my friend, I am merely trying to help you avoid the pitfalls of gear lust AKA GAS!
 
lastdays said:
The preamp would plug into the TRS (Line in) input on your mixer, that way it would not go through the built in preamp. Preamps, even expensive ones are unfortunately not magic devices that make everything sound awesome, so no, at this point you do not need one.

Incidently, if they ever do invent a magical device that makes everything sound awesome, I will sell my car and mortgage my house to buy it, until then I will have to continue to work on my chops.

I think there was a time when some people thought Autotune was such a device... ;)

So what does a better preamp do:

Less than you would hope! It does less than a better mic would do, and much less than proper mic technique does.
Cheap preamps tend to make this sound a little bit mooshy and noisy compared to the really nice stuff.
Please note that "mooshy and noisey" can also be caused by alot of other things/techniques in your setup. ;)

I am not trying to patronize you my friend, I am merely trying to help you avoid the pitfalls of gear lust AKA GAS!
Click to expand...

I agree with the basic conclusion, there are other things that have a greater impact on sound than a preamp, including the mic itself, positioning etc. But I also know that preamps do have an effect, and they interact with different mics in surprising ways.

By the way, in all the Mackie manuals I have the line inputs are just padded down and sent to the same preamp stages as the mic inputs.
 
As has been said, until you get beyond a certain level of quality, other things (like the mic and it's positioning) will have a bigger effect on your sound than the pre-amp. And, frankly, to improve on what you have in your mixer you'd probably have to spend a fair bit on the new pre-amp.

The other thing to consider is your monitoring. Unless you have good studio monitors (and good acoustics in your room) it's hard to judge if the pre-amp is actually better or just compensating for deficiencies elsewhere in your equipment or your mix.

My advice: work with the built in pre-amps for now until listening to your recordings tells you there's something you want to improve/change.

Bob
 
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