the lesser of 4 evils... preamps

T

the dairy giant

New member
I'm recording a really good vocalist. she has an AKG mic (maybe a C 3000? looks like that anyway), and an audio buddy. I have 3 potential preamps: The ones in my old behringer mixer (pre 'xenyx' or whatever they called the newer ones), a powered behringer mixer we use for our duo when playing live, and an m-audio fasttrack usb. OK so its all shit. but does anyone have an opinion which might have the most acceptable preamps?

Also we did a recording trial. I plugged her audio buddy into my M-audio audiophile usb input for the A/D stage, but it distorted. couldn't get the right level on the computer. I ended up using the behringer powered mixer (bypassing the amp obviously) as a preamp, and it worked fine. I can't understand why the audiobuddy didn't work right. Any thoughts?

thank you, oh wise ones!
 
Second issue sounds like a matter of gain staging.

All the preamps you mention are probably about the same level of quality. They'll do a good job so long as you're not stacking many many tracks or introducing an unacceptable amount of noise.
 
thanks. I guess that's what I expected. I just realized the fasttrack is out coz it has no phantom power. I'm tempted to buy something a little better as we are putting a lot of effort into this recording. Not very much is going to be acoustic recordings though so.... maybe some acoustic gat, and the vocals.

Thinking I can get an electro harmonix pedal thing for maybe 400ish NZ$. but I really don't have the spare money. dammit!
 
The distortion might have been due to how your input level is set on the Audiophile. I recall when I used an M Audio card this was adjustable in the software control panel between +4 (“professional”) and -10 (“consumer”). If the level isn't set properly for what you're feeding into it you may well get distortion.

I agree with Supercreep on the differences between the preamps (i.e. there probably won’t be much, if any). Don’t worry about it too much, if you have a nice room and the performance is good etc. then those types of preamp should still be capable of giving you a decent recording.
 
I'll throw my hat in with the other two...just don't push them hard and the cheapo preamps will work fine.

Frank
 
thanks for that. I was able to get the audio buddy into the audiophile last night doing some tests, so I must have been doing something wrong the other day...

I did a few tests... i could hear a difference between the audio buddy and the behringer. But it was hard to quantify which was better. I went with the behringer, though I didn't think either sounded that great really. But then I tried in a different room in the house and it seemed to improve somewhat. The tests were using my voice, so maybe it would be the other way around with my singer. And maybe the AKG 3000b doesn't suit my voice. It's my singer's prized mic, but I see they don't really get a lot of love... Hopefully it will suit her voice a bit better...
 
The audiophile probably distorted because you may have been running XLR into it from the audiobuddy, which means it's getting pre-amped twice. Make sure you run from your first pre-amp into the audiophile with quarter inch and are using the line setting (unless you are using the pre-amp on the audiophile, which I don't think you are since it has no phantom power).

I generally prefer M-Audio stuff over Behringer stuff. I have an audio-buddy, but I've never used it because my firepod pre's are better (or at least just as good).
 
well, MR mofopro I wouldn't believe anything I say... but that's just me, don't take my word on that...:D

Benrose, I don't think I was doing that, I was aware that i needed to run the Audiobuddy output into the line in, not the preamp. Dunno why it didn't work, but it's working now.

I'm tempted to by a VTB-1 coz its ostensibly better, and that Harvey chap gave it quite a reasonable write up. But at about NZ$250 i dunno. Cant try stuff out with the right of return easily here. bah... Its so easy to disappear up your own backside thinking about all this...
 
It should be a bit of an improvement. Just don’t fall into the trap of thinking that spending an extra $100 or so on a mic pre will transform your recordings. There’s a lot of stuff you need to get right before you worry about what mic pre you’re using.

I don’t want to sound like a gear snob in reverse, there comes a time when all that other stuff is as it should be and an upgrade to mic pres really will get you to the next level in terms of quality. But there’s not much point unless you really are at that stage.
 
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