Mixer used as "Mic Pre-Amp"

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mbernardo

New member
I bought a Shure SM57 to record electric guitars in my tracks. I borrowed a friend's SM58 to record vocal tracks. For some reason, the SM58 records vocals better than the SM57 eventhough Shure claims that it is also ideal for vocals. It seems as if the vocalist needs to be at least 3 inches or closer to the mic. But in doing so, it catches the "thump" when the lyrics contain words with B's and P's and the hisses with "ch" and S's.

Somebody suggested that one of SM57's drawbacks is that it needs a lot of "Pre-Amp" gain. I have a mixer (Alto MX-100) that I used until I bought my M-Audio Firewire Solo. Can I use that as a mic pre-amp? If so, is this setup ok?

[MIC] -----> [MIXER] -----> [M-Audio Interface] -----firewirecable-----> [PC]

Not sure how this can reduce the "thumps" and "hisses" tho.
 
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Setup looks fine, as for bumps you'll want to get a pop filter, your local gear shop should have them. It's basically a nylon screen on a round frame and some sort of mounting option. You would mount the pop filter to your mic stand and place the filter right in front of your mic. So when you sang or spoke you would be singing/speaking into the pop filter with the mic directly on the other side. Doesn't hinder your vocal it just breaks up the air moving from your mouth.
 
The SM-57 and SM-58 are essentially the same microphone... (or they were years ago...) the 58 was designed for vocals with the addition of the larger round capsule enclosure and integrated wind screen/pop filter
 
Thank you for the quick reply. This may be a stupid question. My M-Audio Firewire Solo has an:

- XLR mic Input
- a Guitar Input
- 2 Analog Inputs

Where should I connect my mixer to? I've searched the manual but it does not make any mention of how to hookup a mixer to it. Please help.
 
mbernardo said:
Thank you for the quick reply. This may be a stupid question. My M-Audio Firewire Solo has an:

- XLR mic Input
- a Guitar Input
- 2 Analog Inputs

Where should I connect my mixer to? I've searched the manual but it does not make any mention of how to hookup a mixer to it. Please help.
Click to expand...

My guess would be the "Analog Inputs".
 
use the 2 analog inputs, (makes it stereo)

out L of mixer - analog 1
out R of mixer - analog 2

BE NICE CHESS....

but yeah it was a silly question...

and i would use the m-audio's XLR in whenever you can, its just one less system to run through. better off with a shorter signal chain..
 
Thank you for all of your replies. I used one of the analog inputs in the back since I am only recording mono tracks anyway. Now I can use the mixer to increase the gain on my mic. I know I probably won't get a better sound using this mixer but maybe next year I can get a better one. Thank you all!

Sample tracks: http://www.uniqual.ca.
 
Ironklad is correct. The whole reason the M-Audio interface has an XLR mic input is for you to connect your mic to it. You control the volume of the mic input with the "gain control" knob that's just to the right of the XLR jack.

There is no need for a mixer in your scenario. Chances are, your tracks will sound better recorded straight to the M-Audio than they will after running them through all the cheap electronics in a $69 mixer.
 
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