preamp or not to preamp

[dgatwood]

I have also had about 4 different outboard mixers, which usually come in at $10-$20 per channel. These are always horrible. Don't get me wrong; they function and they work. They get the job done. They just dont sound as good quality-wise.

My least favorite pres are on a Mackie CR-1604 (not VLZ) that I'm planning to sell on eBay after the holidays. A few years ago, it cost me about $100/channel preamp-wise.

On the flip side, I really like the pres in my Peavey PV-8. About $27.50 per preamped channel. They sound very nice with my cheap ribbon. Very open high end, plenty of gain, and extremely low noise.

Your mileage may vary.

 

[noisedude]

Sillyhat - be nice to the Green Hornet, because he's a nice guy.

Dgatwood - I agree with you. Ears are the answer. It's worth remembering that even Behringer mixer pres are on the whole quieter and cleaner than much more expensive ones found in project studios 30 years ago when classic records were being made.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

My least favorite pres are on a Mackie CR-1604 (not VLZ) that I'm planning to sell on eBay after the holidays. A few years ago, it cost me about $100/channel preamp-wise.

Your mileage may vary.

One's prices sure vary. The VLZ that I had bought 7 years ago cost about half that, brand new out of the box.

G.

 

[xstatic]

One's prices sure vary. The VLZ that I had bought 7 years ago cost about half that, brand new out of the box.

G.

No joke. I would never pay $1600 for a Mackie CR1604. In fact, not even for a CR 5604 (assuming one did exist).

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

No joke. I would never pay $1600 for a Mackie CR1604.

Why not, xstatic? That's only six hundred bucks over MSRP.

G.

 

[FALKEN]

sure, use your ears or whatever; but you really can't tell much of anything until you do an a/b/c/whatever comparison of all your pre's. then you'll know what you have.

 

[dgatwood]

One's prices sure vary. The VLZ that I had bought 7 years ago cost about half that, brand new out of the box.

G.

I could be remembering wrong, but I think it cost me somewhere around $600 including the automation hardware. Not $1600. It only has six preamps. For the purposes of calculating per-pre cost, those extra ten channels are static (and I've only ever used two of those because the last eight don't have punch-ins, either). Talk about a board that wasn't designed for computer recording....

 

[LordSire]

HAAA!HAAA! Now THAT was funny!

ok, ok, ok. First off, i agree with x, this is probably a very newbie-ish post. and more than likely should B in the newbie forum. Cuzz now that ive been given the answe , pretty much, ifeel stupid for askin. But, please lemme say,; I have had a very long and trying week. but after readin' these last few posts you two just put on was FUNNNY as hell! I REALLY needed that!!!! NOW THAT WAS FUNNY SHIT! ( And speakin of, Y'know, sometimes "aint nuthin" better than just ya" basic, old school four letter word to describe how you feel! Just try one time; like say when a computer project crashes B-4 you get to save, you'll see; FEELS GOOD!)

But, anyways; back to the point. Someone spoke on "1600 dollars", and i can tell u what, if I HAD any way of coming close to having 1600 dollars; especially to just spend, the first 100 is goin out to celebrate that i HAVE that much money! lol.. SO I see a new need to explain this: I'm not gonna" be able to BUY too much of nothin". I pretty much limited to what I have tangible to work with. Just so happens my 32 just fizzled out on me, and im pretty much forced to use (don't laugh at me, im sensitive right now) a peavey unity series 300? As pretty much everyone could conclude, I had no idea about preamps and their importance over vocal recording. I was just lucky my board at hand was equipped with that, or I would continue believin its ALL my mixing that is the problems with the sound on my vocals. I'm currently trying to find out a way to replace a power cord on an alesis MM16firewire, so i can use that as my routing mixer(of course). My questions are(if you guyz dont mind helpin' outta' newbie): what's gonna' provide better preamp capabilities(Gulp!) the peavey, or the alesis. Keep in mind 2 things if you will, I'm a a starvin artist to say the least, and i'm as thirsty as a hot, desert, beast eatin' a soda cracker. I will record on a casette tape if i HAD to, in order to get an opportunity to be "heard"(you get the jist). IS THERE a true necessity to try an go out to buy an external preamp to get a GOOD quality on recording my vocalz? I know and understand i have "toys" in a world full of "big dawgz", but im broke as (yes. another metaphor.) mom's vase in a room full of big-head kids! "I robbed peter to pay paul, cuzz he was pimpin' mary", just to have what i got. But if i had to do it again, should my next purchase be some outrageously priced preamp, or should i just take my happy, dumb ass to the newbie forum and ask if "George could pet the pretty rabbits there?"

 

[FALKEN]

dude your question has been answered like 8 times already. learn to read.

 

[noisedude]

ok, ok, ok. First off, i agree with x, this is probably a very newbie-ish post. and more than likely should B in the newbie forum. Cuzz now that ive been given the answe , pretty much, ifeel stupid for askin. But, please lemme say,; I have had a very long and trying week. but after readin' these last few posts you two just put on was FUNNNY as hell! I REALLY needed that!!!! NOW THAT WAS FUNNY SHIT! ( And speakin of, Y'know, sometimes "aint nuthin" better than just ya" basic, old school four letter word to describe how you feel! Just try one time; like say when a computer project crashes B-4 you get to save, you'll see; FEELS GOOD!)

But, anyways; back to the point. Someone spoke on "1600 dollars", and i can tell u what, if I HAD any way of coming close to having 1600 dollars; especially to just spend, the first 100 is goin out to celebrate that i HAVE that much money! lol.. SO I see a new need to explain this: I'm not gonna" be able to BUY too much of nothin". I pretty much limited to what I have tangible to work with. Just so happens my 32 just fizzled out on me, and im pretty much forced to use (don't laugh at me, im sensitive right now) a peavey unity series 300? As pretty much everyone could conclude, I had no idea about preamps and their importance over vocal recording. I was just lucky my board at hand was equipped with that, or I would continue believin its ALL my mixing that is the problems with the sound on my vocals. I'm currently trying to find out a way to replace a power cord on an alesis MM16firewire, so i can use that as my routing mixer(of course). My questions are(if you guyz dont mind helpin' outta' newbie): what's gonna' provide better preamp capabilities(Gulp!) the peavey, or the alesis. Keep in mind 2 things if you will, I'm a a starvin artist to say the least, and i'm as thirsty as a hot, desert, beast eatin' a soda cracker. I will record on a casette tape if i HAD to, in order to get an opportunity to be "heard"(you get the jist). IS THERE a true necessity to try an go out to buy an external preamp to get a GOOD quality on recording my vocalz? I know and understand i have "toys" in a world full of "big dawgz", but im broke as (yes. another metaphor.) mom's vase in a room full of big-head kids! "I robbed peter to pay paul, cuzz he was pimpin' mary", just to have what i got. But if i had to do it again, should my next purchase be some outrageously priced preamp, or should i just take my happy, dumb ass to the newbie forum and ask if "George could pet the pretty rabbits there?"

Go with whatever you have, or whatever you can afford. The difference between a Peavey or an Alesis will not be a deal-breaker at this price point. FWIW, general consensus seems to be that the new Peavey mixers are actually rather good value for money, but if you already have an Alesis that you can tap the inserts on for direct channel outs, or make it work for you in some other way, then go with that. Don't stress too much over it!!!!

Now go make some music already.

 

[LordSire]

Good look, except for FAUSTen, since i cant read

Thanx fellas(and fellette)
I appreciate all the feedback. I must admit, informative indeed. Yet, my last question was asking for a comparison of 2 mixers and THEIR respective preamps to one another. And if there was one that would serve me a better purpose for recording vocals than the other. Since it has been established, we pretty much can conclude as stated, all preamps dont deliver the same results, and i just want to make the best of what i have. And falken, if I was the only one not reading, then why didnt you see at the beginning of my last post stating that i felt my INITIAL question WAS answered? Keep reading and there is a totally different question, just in the same regards to the original. Obviously, YOU couldnt provide an answer, so unless i ask to see your a$$hole, please refrain from opening your mouth. (See, that felt so much better than "lixiviated" or "anthropomorphic"!) And for the record, I READ to LEARN; and i'm sure you've seen enough posts to where the "poster" didnt feel they had THEE answer they were lookin 4, or to where someone else other than the aforementioned could decipher or understand the answers better than they; So dont be so impatient. Plus more than half of those posts wasnt even dealing with MY problem, so to speak. Did you READ that? Of course not. So next time you wanna' be semi-sarcastic, go find a VERY, VERY busy intersection!

The dumbest question is the one you dont ask, at least that's what i was told

 

[LordSire]

Thats what im talkin about, noisedude. Good Lookin' Out

Go with whatever you have, or whatever you can afford. The difference between a Peavey or an Alesis will not be a deal-breaker at this price point. FWIW, general consensus seems to be that the new Peavey mixers are actually rather good value for money, but if you already have an Alesis that you can tap the inserts on for direct channel outs, or make it work for you in some other way, then go with that. Don't stress too much over it!!!!

Now go make some music already.

Thanx to you guyz, i'm fast on my way! Much gratitude! But I really have no idea if the unity series 300 is a NEW peavey mixer. I borrowed it from a DJ friend of mine, that i'm sure never even THOUGHT on using it for anything other than some sort of routing. So asking how good the preamps are to him, i'm sure would be a waste of time

 

[FALKEN]

Thanx fellas(and fellette)
I appreciate all the feedback. I must admit, informative indeed. Yet, my last question was asking for a comparison of 2 mixers and THEIR respective preamps to one another. And if there was one that would serve me a better purpose for recording vocals than the other. Since it has been established, we pretty much can conclude as stated, all preamps dont deliver the same results, and i just want to make the best of what i have. And falken, if I was the only one not reading, then why didnt you see at the beginning of my last post stating that i felt my INITIAL question WAS answered? Keep reading and there is a totally different question, just in the same regards to the original. Obviously, YOU couldnt provide an answer, so unless i ask to see your a$$hole, please refrain from opening your mouth. (See, that felt so much better than "lixiviated" or "anthropomorphic"!) And for the record, I READ to LEARN; and i'm sure you've seen enough posts to where the "poster" didnt feel they had THEE answer they were lookin 4, or to where someone else other than the aforementioned could decipher or understand the answers better than they; So dont be so impatient. Plus more than half of those posts wasnt even dealing with MY problem, so to speak. Did you READ that? Of course not. So next time you wanna' be semi-sarcastic, go find a VERY, VERY busy intersection!

The dumbest question is the one you dont ask, at least that's what i was told

whatever dude. nobody can tell you what preamp to use in your specific situation. which is basically the answer that you got, over and over again. whatever.

in fact, you are probably the person who is MOST qualifyed to answer this question, because you are probably the ONLY person on the bbs with both of these boards. so why don't you plug a mic in and find out. sheesh.

 

[noisedude]

Thanx to you guyz, i'm fast on my way! Much gratitude! But I really have no idea if the unity series 300 is a NEW peavey mixer. I borrowed it from a DJ friend of mine, that i'm sure never even THOUGHT on using it for anything other than some sort of routing. So asking how good the preamps are to him, i'm sure would be a waste of time

I'm not familiar with those mixers, the new ones seem to have imaginative names like PV6, PV8 and so on .......

Give them both a try and see what your ears tell you. I'm not sure how easy it will be to find someone with both of these products whose ears you can trust.

 

[LordSire]

good lookin

thanx for ALL your answers, (even yours, falk). Ive always figured that with so many different artists in rap, that are on different lables,with different engineers on their projects, and so on;Its hard to believe that its ALL just up to an individuals own ears, cuzz so many of these cd's i just mentioned sound so much alike. As in vocal effects, to overall loudness; it makes it so hard to believe there isnt some sorta' "industry standard", from mixing, mastering, recording techniques, to "specs" in general.

But i really have nuthin' to lose by listening a little more, and trusting my ears more often; that seems to be the MOST popular answer for so many different threadz. It gets a little frustrating, you know? No doubt i've learned a lot, but i still feel lost in the suace, as they say. And as i read on, I see and read about SO MANY different pieces and their prices, and it makes me feel like im working with a bunch of junk! Yes. I have a limited amount of knowledge on some of this stuff, but by no means am i totally ignorant. But it feels like i'm gettin' no where, but learnin' i need to spend more money! FRUSTRATING.

But i'll keep postin' and readin'. And Falk, nuthin' personal, just lettin off a lil' steam. My bad. But i WAS only playin' By no means was i "angry". Peace out fellas, catch ya' next thread, i guess.

 

[FALKEN]

its a long, long road. but dont' forget, in the early days of hiphop all they had was about the average setup for a user on this BBS, so don't get too discouraged.

 

[noisedude]

thanx for ALL your answers, (even yours, falk). Ive always figured that with so many different artists in rap, that are on different lables,with different engineers on their projects, and so on;Its hard to believe that its ALL just up to an individuals own ears, cuzz so many of these cd's i just mentioned sound so much alike. As in vocal effects, to overall loudness; it makes it so hard to believe there isnt some sorta' "industry standard", from mixing, mastering, recording techniques, to "specs" in general.

But i really have nuthin' to lose by listening a little more, and trusting my ears more often; that seems to be the MOST popular answer for so many different threadz. It gets a little frustrating, you know? No doubt i've learned a lot, but i still feel lost in the suace, as they say. And as i read on, I see and read about SO MANY different pieces and their prices, and it makes me feel like im working with a bunch of junk! Yes. I have a limited amount of knowledge on some of this stuff, but by no means am i totally ignorant. But it feels like i'm gettin' no where, but learnin' i need to spend more money! FRUSTRATING.

But i'll keep postin' and readin'. And Falk, nuthin' personal, just lettin off a lil' steam. My bad. But i WAS only playin' By no means was i "angry". Peace out fellas, catch ya' next thread, i guess.

I enjoy your posts but they take about three times as long for me to read as normal English!! So many apostrophes and funny sentces!

 

[LordSire]

i have so much to say

my bad. ill try and keep the apostrophes and the length to a minimum. and i dont know if that means(sentces) u feel im doing a lot of misspelling, or if it means my sentences arent making any sense; just let me know, and i'll work on it. especially if you're gonna keep answerin my questions!

Thanx again fellas. Now lets see if i can go make some of this "junk" churn out some platinum!!!! (of course, with a little prayer to the recording and mixing Godz!!! )

 

[noisedude]

my bad. ill try and keep the apostrophes and the length to a minimum. and i dont know if that means(sentces) u feel im doing a lot of misspelling, or if it means my sentences arent making any sense; just let me know, and i'll work on it. especially if you're gonna keep answerin my questions!

Thanx again fellas. Now lets see if i can go make some of this "junk" churn out some platinum!!!! (of course, with a little prayer to the recording and mixing Godz!!! )

No no no - it's just your style. Don't worry about it. Sometimes you can kinda hear how people talk through their typing style ... MISTERQCUE is a good example of that! I just have to concentrate to read your posts or it just turns into a lot of ''''''s.