Transparent Budget Pre £150?

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dickiefunk

dickiefunk

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Hi. I'm looking for another pre to add to my SPL Goldmike, Studio Projects VTB1 and the pres on my Soundcraft M8. The pres that I have are coloured and I would like something very clean and transparent. I am considering the M-Audio DMP3 or SM PRO Audio TC02 or TB202? What do you reckon?
 
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Yes. The Rane costs £205.63 and the DMP 3 costs £104.99. I was put off the Rane because of the lack of metering. Is the Rane twice as good as the DMP3 (as it's price suggests)? I would like the pre to be extremely clean with as little distortion as possible. I do like the DAV BG1 and True Systems SOLO but these are really way off my budget at the mo. The reason why I'm thinking of the DMP3 is because I was thinking of selling my VTB1 and replacing it with a DMP3.
Does anyone know how the DMP3 pres compare to the Mackie Onyx and VLZ3 pres?
 
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Cool thanks for the advice. The reason why I'm looking for a new preamp is because I'm recording a mezzo soprano pro gospel singer (who really belts it out Aretha Franklin style) and I've not been pleased with the vocal tone I've been getting! I've only been trying the SPL Golmike for her and have found the high frequencies very harsh and slightly distorting! None of the signals in my chain were clipping, the sound just didn't sit right. I'm not sure if this was a slight tube distortion happening? The mics I've be using are a Rode NT1a and a Studio Projects B1.
Would a transparent (as opposed to coloured pre) improve the tone for her particular voice?
 
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and I've not been pleased with the vocal tone I've been getting!
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First thing I would check is your gain staging.

Try to keep the signal averaging about -18 on your DAW, and peaking at about -12. The biggest peaks should probably go to about -6.

If the dynamic range is big enough to go beyond that then you may want to consider a compressor on the way in to tame the levels on the vocals a little. I personally don't do anything on the way in, but it might help.

I'm not familiar with all the pres you listed, I can just say the DMP3 is very clean and almost no noise from my experience.

But maybe you want to consider other things that might improve your sound before (possibly) blowing money on a pre that won't make a difference.

It could be a problem with something else.

That's just my 2¢
 
A cheap thing to try is a mic level inline pad, it will knock the signal down before it hits the pre, hosa makes one with a switch that switchs between -10dB, -20dB, and I think -30dB.
 
I used the -20dB pad on my mic add the gains on my pre, Layla 3G and DAW were set just like you said. The gear does not appear to be faulty (even though both my Layla 3G and Goldmike are only a few months old.
 
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Well then you don't need a pad, thats for sure, sounds like you have a handle on the gain staging, I guess the mic could be overloading, have her back off the mic another foot. Other then that not sure why you would be experiencing what you are experiencing. But I am afraid that adding another pre clean/dirty,tube/solid state is just gonna run you back to where you are. Oh its worth a try though, give the Rane or DMP3 a try, take it back if you have the same problems.

You have the same problems with your VTB-1 and SPL? eerrrr, I just reread that you have only tried the SPL on her. Well you have a VTB-1 try it, I haven't had problems like that with mine, but I haven't had a chance to record an Aretha style singer yet. But the recordings I have done with the VTB-1, some of which not all, I have had the tube blend all the way off and it did seem clean enough for a clean vocal that I was going after. You should also try a different input on your sound card just in case one of them is knakered.
 
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