Which mic preamp to buy

  • Thread starter Thread starter MissingDR.King
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MissingDR.King

MissingDR.King

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Im on a budget, everybody keep telling me a good mic preamp runs for 700 to 1200 hundred, i only have three hundred what do I do, I'm also working with a condenser microphone
 
They are pretty much correct. Typically, in order to get audible quality or color from a preamp that is more worthy than the stock ones in recent day interfaces, you will need to spend more than the interface cost you. Clean gain is typical of most interfaces these days . This is really just my opinion, but I own quite a few preamps in the $250 to $300 range, and I do not see a return in quality for the price. Just the necessity of having them to increase my channel count.

I would advise saving more, and be sure that a preamp is actually what it is you really need to improve quality.
 
The sound is distorted and other engineers call it clipping (Not sure what that means) but i could send you the audio if you could diagnose the issue
 
By all means, post a sample of any issue you have. Much better to give an opinion with audio. You will need to get your post count to 10, in order to post samples on this site. HERE is a good place to do that quickly. :)
 
Clipping is caused by your signal being too "hot"... it's a different thing to the quality of your preamp. Even with the crappiest preamp you should be able to avoid clipping by running a cooler signal and understanding a little about gain structure.

I wouldn't be spending any money just yet, I'd be telling us exactly what you're trying to do with what equipment, posting your clip, and getting some advice on that...

What preamp/interface are you using now? What microphone? What source? What DAW? etc. etc etc.
 
I changed it the link, if this one don't work ill do soundclick
 
That is poor gain structure/clipping. No doubt. Unless you did this on purpose, that is just the result of not understanding how to use your gear.
 
the equipment im using is mp9 m audio, a blue bird condenser microphone running on a pc with no mixer board
 
Ok i will learn more about gain structure, any more advise for me
 
Hey DRKing...I'm Steenamaroo; I fill in when Jim needs food. :p


All this stuff is likely to be in the literature that came with your mic, interface, and software.
Any DAW manual online is bound to cover it.

In short though, if it sounds bad, turn it down. :D

People get hung up about loud volume and high levels, but really you want to get get hung up about a good clear, clean sound.
Everything else comes later.

No doubt, there are better preamps out there than the ones in your interface, but you should definitely be able to get a good clean sound with what you have.
Make sure your interface peak/clip led never lights, and make sure the signal coming into the daw doesn't go anywhere near the red/top of the meter.
 
That take is definitely clipping man.
Whether at the interface, or as a result of processing, I don't know, but either way you need to pull something back.

100% completely absolutely definitely forget about getting things loud right now, even if that means pulling all your faders back and turning your monitors up.
It's the way forward.

Are the beats premade? If so, you'll probably need to pull the fader back on it to get a sensible working level.
 
OK, here's another little snippet while Jim stuffs his gob :cool:

A nice quiet and good sounding preamp is the M-Audio DMP3. 2 clean channels, lots of gain. Inexpensive, and I think it is going out of production so there could be some bargains around.

Anyway, here's my advice.

When you record, leave the channel slider in the DAW on the 0dB position. Use gain control on your preamp or interface as you watch the channel meter in the DAW. The channel meter will typically show a bouncing colour graph display, as well as showing the peak signal level in number format. You should use the gain control so that you get channel peak of -18dB to -12dB.

When you see channel peaks at 0dB or +something dB when tracking, you have reached digital clipping, which means you have lost audio information and the result is just ugly.

This approach might not show much of a wave graphic while you track, and it might sound soft when you monitor. This is expected and correct. Crank up the monitor if you can't hear, but don't crank the channel gain or use the channel slider when tracking.

This is the way to get clean recordings. You can fiddle with levels later when you mix, and you can raise the overall volume before you export.

Paul
 
^^^ This is great advice.
Aim to peak at -10 - -15, which means the main body of sound will be much lower.

Slightly too quiet is better than slightly too hot.
 
PRHunt said:
OK, here's another little snippet while Jim stuffs his gob :cool:

A nice quiet and good sounding preamp is the M-Audio DMP3. 2 clean channels, lots of gain. Inexpensive, and I think it is going out of production so there could be some bargains around.

Anyway, here's my advice.

When you record, leave the channel slider in the DAW on the 0dB position. Use gain control on your preamp or interface as you watch the channel meter in the DAW. The channel meter will typically show a bouncing colour graph display, as well as showing the peak signal level in number format. You should use the gain control so that you get channel peak of -18dB to -12dB.

When you see channel peaks at 0dB or +something dB when tracking, you have reached digital clipping, which means you have lost audio information and the result is just ugly.

This approach might not show much of a wave graphic while you track, and it might sound soft when you monitor. This is expected and correct. Crank up the monitor if you can't hear, but don't crank the channel gain or use the channel slider when tracking.

This is the way to get clean recordings. You can fiddle with levels later when you mix, and you can raise the overall volume before you export.

Paul
Click to expand...

Oh my, I am friggen stuffed. Experimental dish tonight. Kielbasa, fried in olive oil, with red onion, jalapeno, garlic. Then added roma tomatoes, mushrooms, and a pound of chopped spinach. 3/4 stick of butter and 4oz cream cheese. Served on whole grain angel hair pasta.

I ate enough for two of my skinny asses.....

Great response Paul! Listen to these guys MDK! :D
 
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