Preamp Question

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crossroads

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I'm a first-time Tascam portastudio user (MK III) using a Marshall V57 for vocals.

Would I be better served investing in a better mic for vocals, or buying a mic preamp (something I've never used)? If mic preamp, any suggestions re brand (in the 150-250 dollar range)?

Thanks.
 
I'm of equally little experience here (just starting out), but if you end up going the preamp road (which is probably a good idea), from what I've read around here and elsewhere you can't go wrong with an m-audio DMP3.

I don't know how well that would match your MXL mic...but...um...somebody else can take it from here :)
 
Hold your horses..... before we start making recommendations I think we need more information.

What is your desired outcome or effect? What are you recording?

I did a search on the mic you listed is a condenser. Does the MKIII by Tascam have phantom power?

I would not recommend M-audio preamps. I am a fan of the company but mic pres are not their strong suite. For $250 I think I would get a Presonus mic pre, like a Blue Tube, and a Shure SM-57! Why get one when you could have both!

:D
 
Right now I'm recording mid-tempo country w/acoustic guitar and piano. I'm looking for a more "professional" sounding recorded vocal. For the Marshall mic, I have external phantom power, so I'm OK there. Because I've never used a mic preamp before, I'm trying to learn how it will improve the sound, as opposed to recording straight into the Tascam and then mixing.
 
Okay, I take back my recommendation - for the $150-$250 you have to spend, a better mic will probably make much more of a difference to your vocals than a new preamp.

So...now all you have to do is look at the countless number of recommendations people have made on their favourite vocal mic :rolleyes:

I'm sure you'll receive a few ideas from here, but from my experience (which admittedly is little), it's often hard to tell if a mic is right for your sound until you use it (particularly with vocals.) As for having a more 'professional' sound, I'm not really sure what you mean - but if clarity and a wider tonal range is what you're after, you might be able to find this in a new mic.
 
I would think that a better mic pre would help more than another mic. You could buy a $2000 condenser but if you run it through a crappy pre it's gonna sound... well.... crappy!

You can't get a great micpre for $250 or even a great mic.

Check out Avalon mic pres and Blue mics.
 
JoeNovice said:
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I would not recommend M-audio preamps. I am a fan of the company but mic pres are not their strong suite. For $250 I think I would get a Presonus mic pre, like a Blue Tube, and a Shure SM-57! Why get one when you could have both!

:D
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Hold YOUR horses!

The M-Audio DMP3 is a great little pre for the price. A good choice for the first time buyer who'll get a LOT of mileage out of it.

Take one step up to the M-Audio TAMPA and you'll find a very transparent pre with a dual servo opto compressor, variable input impedence and digital outputs. The tampa's compressor is worth twice the asking price on its own. I've yet to hear a better pre at that price point
 
Why no M-audio pre's? The DMP3 has gotten raves all over the Net for being a great pre for the $$$. Have you used their offerings? I've used a DMP3 and found it very suitable for a two-channel, clean pre. I agree with Lemon on the mileage part as well.

I own a Tampa and love it as well. Clean, transparent and the compressor it pretty sweet. For the money they are going for now, it's a great deal ($320-$400)

I'll think you'll find more people that DON'T prefer the low-end Presonus stuff than do. I haven't seen many raves about the Blue Toob stuff.

As far as mics go...well, I won't get into that one. I've actually used a CAD M177 with great results. Even ran it through my M-audio pre amp. :D
 
Yeah, I have a couple of the PreSonus TubePre's, which I believe are just single channel versions of the BlueTube, and while they are ok if I had to do it all again, I would pick something else. I do like them as a Bass DI, though. :)
 
Guys... Guys.... please hold on. I never claimed that the blue tube was great. I only mentioned it cause it's cheap. It doesn't sound like this guys needs anything high end.

As far as net reviews and M-audio pres go.... I only state that that I dont think that is this companies strongest product. It's not a company that made it's name on mic pres. It's famous for sound cards and MIDI devices.

Presonus does have a rep for being a great mic pre manufactor. The Blue Tube may not be their best product but it's well worth the $80 to buy a new one. How much is your M-audio pre? $250 :(
 
Guys... Guys.... please hold on. I never claimed that the blue tube was great. I only mentioned it cause it's cheap. It doesn't sound like this guys needs anything high end.

As far as net reviews and M-audio pres go.... I only state that that I dont think that is this companies strongest product. It's not a company that made it's name on mic pres. It's famous for sound cards and MIDI devices.

Presonus does have a rep for being a great mic pre manufactor. The Blue Tube may not be their best product but it's well worth the $80 to buy a new one. How much is your M-audio pre? $250
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Actually an M-Audio DMP3 will run you about $150 for two channels. Tampa, we're talking $330-400 and on eBay, maybe closer to $250 used. Hell of a price for what you're getting. Does it really matter that M-Audio is not known as a mic pre manufacturer or that pre's aren't their strongest product? That doesn't mean jack to me. Good sound is good sound and research led me to making good decisions buying their pre's. I'm not understanding your logic here.

Maybe an even better solution would be the Studio Projects VTB-1...one channel, $100, and better than the Presonus IMO. I'm not bashing Presonus, but from experience I can tell you that in the budget range, better pre's can be had. I've used a Eureka and thought it was a nice product - but we're getting up in price here at bit. Had a Firepod too and thought the pre's on it were pretty nice for the $$$ the thing cost.
 
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Thanks to all for the great advice.

I'm leaning toward upping my vocal mic to either a Studio Projects C1 or TB1, and getting the Studio Projects VTB1 tube pre. :)
 
You should definately try out several mics if it's going to serve as your personal vocal mic. There's no way to tell what's going to be THE mic for your voice by researching which generally perform well. Some people with unlimited budget use a Sm58, Sm7 or other relatively inexpensive mics because they're right for their voice.
A transparent preamp and the right colour/presence from the mic seems to me the most logical approach.
If you could post any clips of your music, or the voice only, there are people around here (excluding me) who can make qualified suggestions for mics you should try out. Either way, it'd be nice to hear your music.
 
Tried the DMP3 which was really nice and cheap and numerous thumbs up around here. Then I slapped on a RNC and it was freakin' real sweet combo!!

soon i traded, for a old JM Channel strip.
much more expensive than the DMP3/RNC combo....but not worlds apart sonically imo. i could be very happy again with a DMP3/RNC combo. one isn't really better than the other, just different knobs and slight sound-colors (personal choice).

the pre-amp is a good buy if your searching for a mic, my preamp in my old Yammie MD8 kind of made all of the mics sound the same to me. For example, I really couldn't hear a huge difference between a SM81 and a SM57.
The pre-amp then allowed the mics to show their characteristics better...imo.

so if you can't hear much of a difference between mics with your MK2 pre's..it might be worth a try!!
 
JoeNovice said:
Guys... Guys.... please hold on. I never claimed that the blue tube was great. I only mentioned it cause it's cheap. It doesn't sound like this guys needs anything high end.

As far as net reviews and M-audio pres go.... I only state that that I dont think that is this companies strongest product. It's not a company that made it's name on mic pres. It's famous for sound cards and MIDI devices.

Presonus does have a rep for being a great mic pre manufactor. The Blue Tube may not be their best product but it's well worth the $80 to buy a new one. How much is your M-audio pre? $250 :(
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It would be wise to make recommendations based on personal use and not an assumption. Assuming m-audio can't make preamps because you don't preceive it to be their strongsuit is just dumb. I've owned and used many cheap pre's, from art's to behringer to presonus and even m-audio and out of all the cheap ones the dmp-3 is much better overall. Very clean and plenty of gain not to mention two channels for 150 bucks.
 
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