Mics and preamps

[Middleman]

I kills me how there is no ryhme or reason as to mics matching with preamps to create killer sounds. For instance, I use my MXL 67G on my Voicemaster Pro and it sounds pretty good, better than the DMP3 from MAudio. But when I plug it directly into my soundcraft board it kicks butt over the two dedicated preamps.

Next I plug my NTK into all three, thinking that it will sound best coming out of the board too, like the MXL 67G. Nope, the NTK sounds best in the Voicemaster Pro. Substantially better.

MXL 990, where does it sound best? The DMP3 wins over the other two on this one.

I'm so confused

I guess its just a case of mix and match - buy and try.

 

[Fletcher]

Different pre's just couple with different mics in a manner that creates different textures. It's often a question of 'loading'... and there are some pre's that will grant you variable loading conditions... but that may or may not change a favorite combination or two.

You have found what I consider to be the main reason to have a good variety of tools at your disposal... the idea being that a good variety of tools will net you the ability to add different tones and textures that will give your recordings different depths and colors.

Sort of like a visual artist that has a good variety of paints and brushes at their disposal can often paint a more detailed, more interesting painting... with a good arsenal of tools, you can capture tones that will work a bit better with each other... and hopefully create a more compelling presentation of the artist's intention.

Best of luck.