Mic/Mic-Pre/Compressor

[Slowhands]

I am in way over my head with this one but here goes.... I have 3 mics:

Audio Technica 3525 condensor mike
Shure SM-57
Shure SM-58

I just bought an Art DPS II Mic Pre
I just bought a PreSonus Compressor

I presume that the mic goes into the Pre and then into the compressor and then into the recorder (TASCAM Digital 788)???

Anyone pick which mic for recording vocals? Same question for recording electric guitar through the amp?

Thanks

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Yeah, you have the signal path basically correct. The compressor is optional, but if you want to use it during tracking, that is definitiely where it would go.

The main thing is that the mic needs to go right in the pre before anything else. The second thing us that going into the Tascam, you need to go into "line in" and not "mic in"; "mic in" will have another mic pre which you no longer need or want.

As far as mic selection, for vocals, try them out and see which works best for the voice being recorded; some mics work better for some voices but other work better for others. But I'd probably start my testing with the AT and try the 58 next. For the guitar cab the 57 will probably be the one to start with. Try a few different positions on the cab, micing different parts of the speaker cone will yield different sounds.

HTH,

G.

 

[junplugged]

does the 788 have stereo sends and return or insert? if so you can use it again on mixdown or bounce to compress more, letting you compress less on the way in and giving you the option of seeing what might need more compression later on in the mix.

 

[Chris Shaeffer]

Sing with me:

"The mic bone's connected to the pre bone.
The pre bone's connected to the compressor bone.
The compressor bone's connected to the recorder bone."