M-Audio Fast Track acoustic guitar, pre-amp?

Z

zjuveli

New member
Hi all -

I've been using the M-Audio Fast Track with a MXL R144 Ribbon microphone to record my acoustic into Abelton Live, and I have been receiving pretty low output even with the mic gain turned almost all the way up on the audio interface. I don't turn it up full because then i get ALL sorts of noises and static garble from the mic.. My question is should I look into getting a pre-amp or something to address this issue? If so, what are some relatively inexpensive/good quality ones I should look at for a beginner (newbie) acoustic guitar recorder?

Any tips are appreciated!

PS: I'm actually getting a second mic from Amazon soon (MXL 990 condenser)... so i was probably looking to get an interface/pre amp that can have two mic inputs.

Cheers,

- Zach
 
Morning Zack,
You are, as they say, between a rock and a (expensive!) hard place!

Had you just asked, "how do I boost my ribbon mic". Easy. Cloudlifter phantom powered inline mic pre amp with 25dB of very low noise gain, but being an awkward B! You also want a second mic input and for a capacitor mic to boot!

Had you NOT got the ribbon my, and I suspect the advice of 99% of bods here would be "buy a better, 2 mic input AI". But I do not know of a budget* AI that has mic amps with enough low noise gain for ribbons (especially on ac' guitar). Anybody knows. shout.

My fast track pro does not even come close. My NI Ka6 has jee'ust enough gain and is quiet enough for an SM57 on guitar but I doubt it has the oomph needed for a ribbon.

So, the only alternatives are, a dual channel mic pre, but anything good enough for a ribbon is likely to be out of fiscal grasp. And so we come to MIXERS! I have a Behringer Xenyx 802 that I have used with V old Reslo ribbons and it is just goood enough (the mics actually suffer from hum before amp hiss gets bad) so it should be fine with a modern ribbon with younger, better magnets and at 3times the impedance (at least).

I see that CPC | CPC - Over 100, 000 products from one of the worlds leading distributors of electronic and related products. are still punting the Soundcraft Notebook series mixers, worth a shot and CP are very nice peeps to deal with.

*Or an expensive one come to that! You really need 70dB of gain for the feeble fff's!

Dave. (that makes me look like I am spamming for "see pee see" I am not. Stop doing things like that.
 
Hey Zach, which Fast Track is it, the new Fast Track MKii or one of the older ones?

although i've not tried it with a ribbon mic, on paper the Art Tube MP has 70dB of gain so it should produce more usable results. At the very least it may be worth giving it a go; if you can, try it somewhere, but for £20 second hand it may be worth just buying one to try as even if it doesn't work you can pretty much sell it on for the same price you paid for it.
 
Justsomeguy said:
Hey Zach, which Fast Track is it, the new Fast Track MKii or one of the older ones?

although i've not tried it with a ribbon mic, on paper the Art Tube MP has 70dB of gain so it should produce more usable results. At the very least it may be worth giving it a go; if you can, try it somewhere, but for £20 second hand it may be worth just buying one to try as even if it doesn't work you can pretty much sell it on for the same price you paid for it.
Click to expand...

yep it's the new MKii... would i just use the Art Tube MP in series with my fast track?
 
cool, just had a look at the MKii. in reality, yes you can just go straight into the 1/4 jack in. However, the jack in on the MKii is meant as an instrument in so you would have to be careful setting levels.

ultimately, in terms of getting the best out of the ribbon and the 990 i'd say look at getting an audio interface with 2 mic and line in's, and then running the ribbon through a separate preamp (unless the interface has preamps with 70dB of clean gain). Something like the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 for £119 and the ART Tube MP would be a great little combo imo :)
 
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