PreAmps

[Dojomaster]

Hi, I am working on my homerecording studio. Currently I own a AudioTechnica AT2020 USB mic. Many other threads have told me i need a preamp with my home studio. Is a preamp and xlr mic better then a usb mic? What are good XLR mics for vocals?

 

[Emerson Maningo]

Hi, I am working on my homerecording studio. Currently I own a AudioTechnica AT2020 USB mic. Many other threads have told me i need a preamp with my home studio. Is a preamp and xlr mic better then a usb mic? What are good XLR mics for vocals?

The output of any microphone is very weak. In fact if you plugged it directly to any recording gears that do not have pre-amp unit on it, it would sound weak and noisy. The output of microphone are in microphone levels. To strengthen the output, it would be passed to a pre-amp where it boost the output to line level.

AT2020 is a condenser microphone but what you have is the USB version of AT2020 which is designed for laptops and computer USB inputs. What is ideal is to use an XLR version of the microphone, which I believed do exist. Personally I love the analog sound recording of the microphone (through XLR) better than the digitized USB sound. So I would opt for an XLR version of your mic.

The best combination would be to have AT2020 XLR version then plug that XLR output to your audio interface XLR input which as a PREAMP on it. But not all inputs have preamp on audio interface, so check first the manual to make sure the inputs you are using has a preamp.

 

[miroslav]

What kind of budget are you working with?
A decent condenser mic and single-channel preamp combination starts off around $400 and goes up from there.

 

[SomeSnacks]

I'm planning on starting my own home recording set up in the next week or so, and so far on my list of things to buy is the exact mic you have (AudioTechnica AT2020 USB) and a pop filter. I will be using Audacity to record/edit. Do i need a preamp? Should i not buy what i am about to buy? I plan on recording acoustic instruments and vocals, and i'm very new to this. sorry i didn't answer your question, but it seemed as if your topic was close enough to mine to warrant me not starting a new thread.

 

[mjbphotos]

Somesnacks, read the Noobies thread and guide to computer recording stickies at the top of this forum before buying anything. Decide what you want TO DO with home recording - just for laying down demos, to put your music out to the public, etc, what your budget is now (and in the future). A USB mic will work if you don't care too much about overall sound quality and want a simple way to put tracks into the computer. What happens when you decide to record your acoustic guitar with 2 mics and you have a USB mic? (the answer is you're out of luck).

 

[miroslav]

Yes...like Mike said, the key to knowing what to buy is in knowing what your goals are, short and longterm, otherwise you could end up going down a lot of wrong paths (waste of $$$ + not getting the audio quality you wanted).

 

[GDM]

I would think a USB mic would be fine for starting out. It does depend largely what you want to do, but even now I still resort to a USB mic for some applications (Blue Yeti).