mics and a mixer

[lu]

I'm new at this game and am slowly buying equiptment as the cash flow allows. I've got a berhinger eurorack mx602a and a couple of so-so mics that i'm using because I don't have anything else. It all goes down to minidisk and sometimes the computer. The problem is that I can't get enough input from the mics to record singing and my acoustic guitar without nasty hums. I was wondering if it was an impedence problem, or if I need mic pre amps before the mixer or what. Any help would be appreciated

 

[dachay2tnr]

The mixer should have preamps, so you shouldn't need additional pre's.

Have you set the gain on your mixer properly?

 

[lu]

Thanks for responding. Well I think the gain is okay. What I'm trying to figure out, is that the manual for the mixer and everyone else says you should be recording at as close to 0 decibels as possible with transient peaks going up to +6db, but my mic inputs don't even come close to registering 0 db with singing and an acoustic guitar. If I want to get to 0 db, I have to crank the gain, and the channel level, and the main levels and then I get a lot of hum. Why is the 0 decibel level so important? I can record way below 0 db without the hum, and it sounds fine, but of course relatively quiet. Could it be that I just need better mics, or mics that are specifically for voice and acoustic instruments?

 

[dachay2tnr]

Condenser mics would probably help get your signal level higher. However, if as you say, it sounds ok, I wouldn't get hung up on getting to 0 db. I've read several posts here of people successfully recording at -3 db and lower.

 

[jagpunk]

I would personally amp the guitar. Although you lose that "real" pick-on-strings sound, you also lose unwanted background noise(even when you mic the amp, which gives you a room-reverb quality -- if you want one). Also, when you amp your guitar, whether you mic the amp or run it straight through, you can turn the amp up. That will obviously increase the levels to your mixer(without the hum).