bigalhannah
New member
what's the purpose of a mic preamp and would it be considered a 'must' for recording solid vocals? thanks for any help....
purpose of preamp
- Thread starter bigalhannah
- Start date
fraserhutch
Flypaper for freaks
is to be a money sink.
Richard Monroe
Well-known member
The purpose of a preamp is to raise the low (mic level) output of a mic to the higher "line" level. You can't record anything without a preamp. That preamp may be a standalone unit, or it may be built into a mixer, a computer interface, a sound card, or even into the mic (I have one mic with it's own built in preamp), but somewhere, there has to be one. They vary in price from about $10 per channel (a Behringer mixer) to about $2000- $3000 per channel (Martech, GT Vipre, Manley Vox Box, John Hardy, etc. ). Some preamps have Equalization (EQ- a sophisticated tone control basically) and a compressor (tool for dynamic control) built in. They are called channel strips.
If you are recording anything, you already have a preamp, whether you know it or not. The question is really- will a *better* preamp make your recordings sound *better*? That is a harder question to answer. If you are using a $75 preamp, a $140 preamp *might* be an improvement, or it might just reveal that you are not using the one you already have very well. I use preamps in my studio that range from dirt cheap to wicked expensive. Some of the things I want to do can sound just fine through a dirt cheap preamp, and other things i really need to run through a kickass pre.
Some preamps are more "transparent", or "clean" than others. We call that "accurate" and "detailed" when we like it, and "sterile" and "boring" when we don't. Others produce more color, which is subtle and selective distortion, which hides some of the detail in a hopefully flattering way, like airbrushing a picture. Not all details are ones we want to hear. We call this "warmth" when we like it, and "muddy" when we don't. In general, the better the source is, the more I like a transparent signal chain. If the song, the player, the room, and the mic, are all good, I prefer the cleanest preamp I can lay my hands on, as a rule.
Color is often attempted with the use of vacuum tubes. Some preamps us a little tube in a front end circuit, rather than the big power tubes of a true tube-based preamp. Mostly, I think this is a marketing gimmick, so the manufacturer can claim it is a "tube" preamp, and will overcome the supposed "sterile digital" sound. In spite of this, some of the greatest preamps in the world use solid state design. Generally, in my opinion, cheap "tube" amps are usually a waste of money, and produce more mud than warmth.
About the cheapest real all tube pre out there is the Groove Tubes "The Brick", about $450. I've never used one, but a lot of people like it. In some ways preamps are like guitars. Not everybody agrees on what sounds good.
My opinion is generally that you are better off starting with a clean preamp than a colored one, because it is more versatile if it's the only one you have. Secondly, I believe that any channel worth buying is worth buying two of, because I like stereo recording.
For these reasons, I believe that if your budget is very small, you should buy a 2-channel solid state preamp, such as M-Audio DMP-3. High-end preamps are things of beauty, and I would never tell someone not to buy one. I would say this though- You will only gain the real benefits of a kickass preamp if you have the mics, the room, the expertise, and the source to make it worth the investment. Also, preamps, like race cars, spend 80% of the money for the last 20% of performance, so the advantages of a big time pre may not be as dramatic as you would like, but they are there.
My advice is this- if you are using cheap preamps, don't buy *more* cheap preamps. If you already have a decent low-end pre, such as a DMP-3, or a Yamaha mixer, don't buy a Presonus Blue Tube to get "warmth". Start looking at $500 pres at a minimum, such as FMR Audio RNP. Above that, everybody has their favorites. I use the Joe Meek twinQ, a mid-priced dual channel strip, which is really a couple of good cheap preamps with a lot of added goodies (compression, EQ, analog to digital conversion), and an Avalon AD2022, a pretty pricey 2 channel solid state preamp. Would I like about 8 more channels of that Avalon? You bet. It ain't going to happen, unless I win the lottery. Now I'm saving my dinero for a couple of high-end colored channels, which will probably be a Pendulum MDP-1. There are a lot of cars out there, from the Corolla to the Mitsubishi Eclipse, to the Ferraris and Porches of this world. Preamps are like that, too. What you asked is, "Will a car make my ride to work better"? The answer is- maybe. There are a lot of options-Richie
If you are recording anything, you already have a preamp, whether you know it or not. The question is really- will a *better* preamp make your recordings sound *better*? That is a harder question to answer. If you are using a $75 preamp, a $140 preamp *might* be an improvement, or it might just reveal that you are not using the one you already have very well. I use preamps in my studio that range from dirt cheap to wicked expensive. Some of the things I want to do can sound just fine through a dirt cheap preamp, and other things i really need to run through a kickass pre.
Some preamps are more "transparent", or "clean" than others. We call that "accurate" and "detailed" when we like it, and "sterile" and "boring" when we don't. Others produce more color, which is subtle and selective distortion, which hides some of the detail in a hopefully flattering way, like airbrushing a picture. Not all details are ones we want to hear. We call this "warmth" when we like it, and "muddy" when we don't. In general, the better the source is, the more I like a transparent signal chain. If the song, the player, the room, and the mic, are all good, I prefer the cleanest preamp I can lay my hands on, as a rule.
Color is often attempted with the use of vacuum tubes. Some preamps us a little tube in a front end circuit, rather than the big power tubes of a true tube-based preamp. Mostly, I think this is a marketing gimmick, so the manufacturer can claim it is a "tube" preamp, and will overcome the supposed "sterile digital" sound. In spite of this, some of the greatest preamps in the world use solid state design. Generally, in my opinion, cheap "tube" amps are usually a waste of money, and produce more mud than warmth.
About the cheapest real all tube pre out there is the Groove Tubes "The Brick", about $450. I've never used one, but a lot of people like it. In some ways preamps are like guitars. Not everybody agrees on what sounds good.
My opinion is generally that you are better off starting with a clean preamp than a colored one, because it is more versatile if it's the only one you have. Secondly, I believe that any channel worth buying is worth buying two of, because I like stereo recording.
For these reasons, I believe that if your budget is very small, you should buy a 2-channel solid state preamp, such as M-Audio DMP-3. High-end preamps are things of beauty, and I would never tell someone not to buy one. I would say this though- You will only gain the real benefits of a kickass preamp if you have the mics, the room, the expertise, and the source to make it worth the investment. Also, preamps, like race cars, spend 80% of the money for the last 20% of performance, so the advantages of a big time pre may not be as dramatic as you would like, but they are there.
My advice is this- if you are using cheap preamps, don't buy *more* cheap preamps. If you already have a decent low-end pre, such as a DMP-3, or a Yamaha mixer, don't buy a Presonus Blue Tube to get "warmth". Start looking at $500 pres at a minimum, such as FMR Audio RNP. Above that, everybody has their favorites. I use the Joe Meek twinQ, a mid-priced dual channel strip, which is really a couple of good cheap preamps with a lot of added goodies (compression, EQ, analog to digital conversion), and an Avalon AD2022, a pretty pricey 2 channel solid state preamp. Would I like about 8 more channels of that Avalon? You bet. It ain't going to happen, unless I win the lottery. Now I'm saving my dinero for a couple of high-end colored channels, which will probably be a Pendulum MDP-1. There are a lot of cars out there, from the Corolla to the Mitsubishi Eclipse, to the Ferraris and Porches of this world. Preamps are like that, too. What you asked is, "Will a car make my ride to work better"? The answer is- maybe. There are a lot of options-Richie
darrin_h2000
Banned
Ive been using the new line 6 ux2 modeling mic pre...models 6 pres for 200 bucks.