Question regarding Great River MP-2NV pre.....

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tbcq715

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I have recently been upgrading my collection of gear as I have gotten much more serious about songwriting/recording. (For personal/church use!) Please keep in mind that my focus is acoustic guitar and vocals.

This is what I currently have:

LDC - AT4047
SDC - Beyerdynamic MC-930's (Matched Pair)
AD/DA Interface - Apogee Duet

Recording into Logic Pro via MacBook Pro and/or iMac.

I don't have the ability to try a bunch of mic pre's out in this area. I have really had my eyes set on the Great River MP-2NV...but that is based mostly on user reviews. Would this be a great mic for me to record this type of stuff with? My budget would keep me from getting anything more expensive than the MP-2NV.

Thoughts??

Thanks a lot everyone. I have built my stuff up influenced GREATLY on what I have read hear. It helps a LOT!

TJ
 
The Duet you already own has two preamps that Apogee claims are very high quality. So what benefit would you expect from buying yet another preamp? Is there no other aspect of your setup that could stand improvement?

--Ethan
 
Hmmmmm

Not sure what I could improve. My SDC's seem to be pretty awesome. I have A/B'd them against Rodes, Nuemanns, and AT's....they seem far above.

The 4047 has made me smile on NUMEROUS occasions! Best I have tried yet.

The Duets Pres are very clean and nuetral....was just looking for something to add warmth and "thickness"....plus the GR is getting serious credit as a great bass DI for recording....
 
To me, "warmth and thickness" come from EQ and maybe compression.

--Ethan
 
I'm assuming your tracking and control room (or rooms if they are separate) have been treated properly?
And your monitors are great?
If not, you could make improvements there that would be a lot more bang for your buck as far as your final product is concerned.
 
You could use a few dynamic microphones. SM57, Sennhieser 421, etc.



:cool:
 
tbcq715 said:
I have recently been upgrading my collection of gear as I have gotten much more serious about songwriting/recording. (For personal/church use!) Please keep in mind that my focus is acoustic guitar and vocals.

This is what I currently have:

LDC - AT4047
SDC - Beyerdynamic MC-930's (Matched Pair)
AD/DA Interface - Apogee Duet

Recording into Logic Pro via MacBook Pro and/or iMac.

I don't have the ability to try a bunch of mic pre's out in this area. I have really had my eyes set on the Great River MP-2NV...but that is based mostly on user reviews. Would this be a great mic for me to record this type of stuff with? My budget would keep me from getting anything more expensive than the MP-2NV.

Thoughts??

Thanks a lot everyone. I have built my stuff up influenced GREATLY on what I have read hear. It helps a LOT!

TJ
Click to expand...

It's a great sounding preamp with the best DI I've ever used.
 
RRuskin said:
It's a great sounding preamp with the best DI I've ever used.
Click to expand...

And I'm not sure where Ethan is coming from with his no coloration from a preamp comment.

If the OP is money conscious and facile with a soldering iron, he/she should consider some of the boutique kit preamps (Seventh Circle, Hamptone or Baby Animal). Seventh Circle has Neve clones (that many feel are better than GR), API clones, Millenia clones and John Hardy clones.

But his/her Beyers are "far above" Neumanns? mmm... okay.
 
Todzilla said:
I'm not sure where Ethan is coming from with his no coloration from a preamp comment.
Click to expand...

All I meant is that a properly functioning preamp should provide clean gain with a flat response and minimal noise. Clean preamps are common, and don't have to cost a lot. I know there are "color" preamps available, but it seems more sensible to me to record clean, then change the tone as needed while mixing when you can hear everything in context.

--Ethan
 
Ethan Winer said:
All I meant is that a properly functioning preamp should provide clean gain with a flat response and minimal noise. Clean preamps are common, and don't have to cost a lot. I know there are "color" preamps available, but it seems more sensible to me to record clean, then change the tone as needed while mixing when you can hear everything in context.

--Ethan
Click to expand...

IIRC, you record lots of detailed classical music, like cello. In such cases, I would assume clarity and faithfulness would be all important.

However, in the pop/modern music world, there's a lot to be said for coloration, including in preamps. I've gotten a punchiness with API preamps that cannot be recreated with post-processing. Clarity certainly has its place, but so does beautiful coloration. Otherwise, Neumann mics, UA compressors, Neve preamps, etc... would not command any respect in the audio world.
 
I bought the 1-channel version of that pre:

*It's amazing
*It is far from color-free

You'll love it if you get it.


Having said that, I wish I spent the money on room treatment at the time instead. Just make sure all of the critical bases are covered first before dropping that kind of money.
 
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