MR8 - do i NEED a mic preamp?

J

jhughs

New member
I'm thinking about buying an MR8 just for recording (violin, guitar, & piano - one at a time) and then transfer the files to PC for mixing. I need something portable so I'm thinking to use either dynamic mikes or battery powered condensers (like Audio-Technica 31a or 33a) so that I don't have to mess with phantom power.

But I keep seeing things about using mic preamps. Do I really NEED a preamp or will the MR8 work well enough? Mostly I'm recording to share with friends and family, but I do want good clean audio (plus my daughter's gotten extremely good on violin/fiddle and I want to record her for posterity, fun and to get her comfortable with being recorded, doing punch-ins, etc.).

What am I missing by not using a preamp with the MR8?
Any other recommended mikes (or ones to avoid)?
If recommending a preamp, are there battery powered versions? And do they also provide phantom power in a portable battery version?
 
go for it

well, obviously the MR-8 does have mic pre's built in. They are not the best in the world, but i will say that they are at least usable.

So, do you HAVE to have a mic pre......no.

But there are some advantages in getting something. Most people use a small mixing board as a front end to the MR-8. This will give you an outboard pre amp, but it also gives you EQ control of the input. which is a plus sometimes.

Now, i am NOT a salesman for them. but Behringer ( yeah, i said the B word) has a small 5 channel board that is battery powered that would work very well for you.

i am not sure about the phantom power on that particular one, but the batt powered mic's work well. MXL (Marshall) has one also, not particularly expensive if you want one to carry around and not "DING UP" a good (or at least better) studio mic. 1006BP i think is the designation.

good luck recording you daughter. it's lots of fun
 
preamp

The mr8 pre's are usable but not recomended. To me there was a noticable differrence in my recordings using a mixer w/ the built in preamp and EQ. Gives you a fuller bodied sound that requires less editing at mixdown.The Behringers are good units for the money. I use one and have no problems. But if your budget allows, you can get something more expensive. Be advised on the mr8. The cf card that comes with it only allows 3 minutes recording at 8 tracks. If you are doing lengthy projects you will need to get a larger card and use in conjuntion with mixing software. But the one thing I like about the mr8 is its portability and easy to use. So you can record your daughters recitals and burn to cd if you like. Have fun and good luck. Pj
 
Ditto on the pre amps. I will go one step further and offer this: Yamaha MG series mixers are pretty damn good, and cost about the same as the Behringer, but many perfer them over the Behringer...
 
If you get an external preamp, like the Studio Projects VTB1, you'll be able to boost gain considerably without adding any noise.

The internal preamps on many machines don't have much ooomph, so they can get hissy if turned up all the way.

However, no matter what you do, you're still going to be going through the MR8 preamps circuitry, which can't be all that bad if people are happy using external pre's running through them...
 
billisa said:
If you get an external preamp, like the Studio Projects VTB1, you'll be able to boost gain considerably without adding any noise.

The internal preamps on many machines don't have much ooomph, so they can get hissy if turned up all the way.

However, no matter what you do, you're still going to be going through the MR8 preamps circuitry, which can't be all that bad if people are happy using external pre's running through them...
Click to expand...
I am dealing with the extra noise myself, because I haven't found a decent pre amp here in Japan that isn't grossly overpriced. When I get the chance, I am going to order a mixer....
 
I just wanted to chime in here & say I tried (as suggested here on this board) last night using my Behringer UB1202 mixer pre-amps only. I turned the gain trim OFF on the MR-8 and used the mixer preamps only. The sound is MUCH warmer and clean. As I was setting levels I would listen and turn the MR-8 preamp trim up & off, the difference was clearly apparent in headphones that the MR-8's preamps are "weak" at best. I will never use the MR-8 internal pres again if I can avoid it :)
 
I have used battery powered condensor mics with just the MR8 and the results were quite good.

Better pres might offer some advantages, but you might just want to try that basic combo first. If that works well, they you're done.

Ed
 
Thanks all

Thanks all. Your advice and other readings have convinced me to go the route of a proper mixer with preamps. I was looking at the Behrs, but Yamaha certainly has a better reputation and since we're capturing moments in time that may never be repeated it's worth a few extra dollars.

You definitely helped me head in the right direction.
Thanks to you all.
 
treble hook

you are defeating the purpose... its about gain structure, set the mixer aas high as it will go with out any clipping during the take, then turn the trim on the mr8 up until it starts to clip, then back it off, if you do not use the pres on the mr8 at all, you are not getting a proper signal,,,,,, if you try it both ways, and look at the wav forms on a computer the proof that i am right is inthe wav form, yurs will be veery thin and blocky, mine will be very thick and spikey.... try it you will see and hear the differenc
 
cool dave, thanks for the tip. I will check and compare the differences.

I just boosted the signal on the level of the mixer and watched the level via the MR8. I did some recordings last night ..I will have to compare the WAV forms & report back.
 
treble hook said:
I just wanted to chime in here & say I tried (as suggested here on this board) last night using my Behringer UB1202 mixer pre-amps only. I turned the gain trim OFF on the MR-8 and used the mixer preamps only. The sound is MUCH warmer and clean. As I was setting levels I would listen and turn the MR-8 preamp trim up & off, the difference was clearly apparent in headphones that the MR-8's preamps are "weak" at best. I will never use the MR-8 internal pres again if I can avoid it :)
Click to expand...
How do you turn off the mr8 pres. Do you just turn them down or is there a way to turn them off?
 
dont tourn off the mr8 pres

read what i posted, do the test, if the test fails ill send you 100.00
please everyone, find a good artical about gain structure, the whole signal chain .... taking the mr8 pres out, and you are right back to a track with a week signal....

DO THE TEST record both ways and look at the wav form on the computer, anyprogram will, do any free version will show it...
 
remember that you have no phantom power, so if you're using a dynamic, no, you don't need a pre, but if you are using a condenser then you need phantom, either thru an external mixer, or get that little phantom box, but that kinda is a waste b/c they are almost 1/2 or more than a cheap little pre that also has phatom, so I just got a cheap tube pre, then I got 2 other cheap tube pres.... just had to compare....
 
patlang12 said:
Dave I am a little confused on what you are saying about using a mixer and the pres on the mr8
Click to expand...
Nothing confusing:


Turn up the gain on your mixer until the signal starts to clip, in other words, you'll get the red lights blinking saying that your signal is too loud, and then back it off a bit, then turn the trim knob on the MR-8 up until it starts to clip, and back it off a bit. This will give you the hottest signal possible and give you better volume in your mix.
I hope this answered your question....
 
Rokket said:
Nothing confusing:


Turn up the gain on your mixer until the signal starts to clip, in other words, you'll get the red lights blinking saying that your signal is too loud, and then back it off a bit, then turn the trim knob on the MR-8 up until it starts to clip, and back it off a bit. This will give you the hottest signal possible and give you better volume in your mix.
I hope this answered your question....
Click to expand...
Ok that makes sense. So Dave you disagree with treble hook about turning off the mr8 pres?
 
As much as I hate trying to speak for someone else (though I do it frequently :D ), I'm fairly confident in my opinion that Dave vehemently disagrees with what was stated by treble hook.

Correct gain staging, I believe was his quote.
 
cellardweller said:
As much as I hate trying to speak for someone else (though I do it frequently :D ), I'm fairly confident in my opinion that Dave vehemently disagrees with what was stated by treble hook.

Correct gain staging, I believe was his quote.
Click to expand...

OK thats what I thought too, but I wanted to make sure. I just will have to try it out if I get a mixer, but it is still to be seen if I get a mixer or go into computer recording or something like that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top