seperate pres for vocals?

  • Thread starter Thread starter distortedrumble
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distortedrumble

distortedrumble

all up in yo grill!
is this a common practice to have different mic pres for vocals instead of the ones that are on the mixer?
 
Yes.

But, it's also common just to use the pres in the mixer on vocal tracks without going to outboard.

Some people will tend to focus on one mic pre or a certain few for vocal applications. Others tend to be more eclectic.
 
It depends on the quality of the pres in the mixer vs the quality of any external stand-alone pres a studio might have. Track with whatever gets the job done the best.

If you have a cheap mixer almost any stand-alone pre [ even inexpensive ones ] are going to give you better performance.

It's also common to use the mixer for monitoring only and to completely bypass it during tracking - by going straight in mic/pre/compressor/recorder. A lot less wire doing it that way = a lot less noise on each track.
 
If your using something like a Soundcraft M series or Ghost then you can get good results with those pres and make some nice tracks. If your using a Behringer then out board pres would be a great improvment.
 
i tend to agree. when tracking a band live, i tend to use my Mackie24*4's pres for the bulk of things simply b/c i've got a limited amount of outboard......but snare and kick (or keeper "live" vocals, if/when applicable) go into the 528 or VTB1 just b/c they're "meatier" sounding.

you'll sometimes find it helps to use a "channel strip" for vocals, since you've typically got a compressor and eq self-contained within the unit just b/c it's a little more convenient (IMO). and lord knows i'm a creature of convenience. :D

i DO tend, though, to use different mics and pres for lead versus backing vocals. you want the lead vocals to sit forward a little more than the backing ones, and that's most easily addressed (on the engineering side) with careful selection of mic and pre.

YMMV

cheers,
wade
 
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