Replace mic or mic preamp

[westg8]

Hey, I am working on upgrading my recording equipment as it is not the greatest set up. When recording demos for my band, I use a low end shure microphone (14A) and the bands built-in pre-amps in our PA head unit (it's a Crate PA6 i think). Anyway, I know that the head unit isn't the best thing to be using since it was probably designed for live performances in mind rather than recording use. But i also know that a $40 microphone isn't very good either. What will make my sound better? Or i guess i should ask, which of the 2 is the weakest link in the chain so i can replace that one first? I'm thinking of getting a shure sm57 if the microphone is the weakest link. This would be used primarily for recording vocals, although i guess we'll use it for recording guitars and drums if it works out well (although for the drums, we'll still have to use some of our $40 mics). Thanks, and any help would be appreciated.

Steven

 

[Wide Awake]

That's a tough question. I've never used the Crate PA I would guess that it's probably the weakest link. (I also own a PA/mixer combo)

I would upgrade what you can afford first. A Shure SM57, 58, Audix OM2, Sennheiser E835, Electro-voice ND 267 or 767a. There are a lot of good choices today for dynamic mikes. If you want a good condenser mic for studio recording it will be more expensive. Decent/good ones start at about $150 and go up into the thousands. Expect to pay between $200 to $500 for a good one for a project studio. Check out the archives here at homerecording.com and you will get some ideas.

Cheap but good preamps-

M-Audio DMP-3 $200
ART Tube MP $79
Presonus Bluetube $160
Studio Projects VTB-1 $180

 

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Agent Westg-8:

Your post did not mention what gear you are using to record.??

Depending on your budget you can get a good mic or two for vocals and dubbing in band parts if that's how you record.

There are a gaggle of mic preamps out there. A couple of brands to look at when you're ready to "upgrade," would be:

Grace Design 101
and
the Martinsound mic pres. You can touch base with either on the net and get the general idea.

The Grace Design 101 is high quality and is selling for a bit over 500 pezzutos. The Martinsound gear is higher priced.

Down the line, the ART mic pres are all right. I have one and use it but my 2816 has pretty good pres built in so it's a toss-up sometimes.

The more gear you can see and hear and touch, the easier it will be to make your choices.

Keep the economy moving forward! Spend now & pay later.]

Green Hornet

 

[westg8]

Thanks for the replies thus far. If anyone's interested, we record usually once at a time. We have 4 of the 14A Shure microphones which we use to mic the drumset (actually i think the drummer just recently bought 2 drum mics as well, not sure what kind) and all of those mics get plugged into our Crate PA6 head, with the line out going to a M-Audio Delta 44 soundcard. This also makes the drums mono which isn't very desirable - but that's the only option we have now. We then record the bass direct followed by guitars and then vocals. So by getting at least one decent mike, we can use it for all those applications. The software i use is CEP2. Instead of buying a mic preamp, would getting a really cheap mixer be a better route so we could then use that to record the drums (in stereo)? But thanks for all the help so far, i'll look into the products mentioned.

Steven

 

[stonepiano]

well, I would do what they all say and trust your ears. You should replace it all eventually but, having been your situation, I would check to see how quiet the pres on your PA are and if they're not too noisy, I'd go for a mic first. I have made great strides from total newbie status with an entry level condenser on (vocals/acoustic guitar) and an 8 channel PA head for pres. They're quiet enough for now, I figure.

but don't take that as an endorsement for PA pres. It's still pretty ghetto. I can say it cause I'm doing it too.

stone