Fenderville
New member
Has anyone here recorded with just the pre's on their Yamaha mixer? Is this enough to get by or is outboard pre's needed?
Yamaha MG16/4 pre's question...
- Thread starter Fenderville
- Start date
cactuseskimo
New member
I had the MG10, and I really liked it. I would say better than the behringer/samson/nady stuff by far. I've heard them compared to mackie pre's. However, it depends on the quality you want. I'm sure a dedicated pre could do better.
The simple cost of the product for the # of mic pre's you get in a mixer should tell you that.
The simple cost of the product for the # of mic pre's you get in a mixer should tell you that.
Scottgman
Legend in Own Mind
Hey, I've been doing some A/B comparisons recently that might help you. Actually... I don't know if it will help you because it has just confused me. I setup the comparisons bascially to convince myself one way or the other about buying more preamps to record drums. I've been comparing my DMP3, RNP, and a Yamaha MG16/6FX. I've got 8 inputs and like to use 8 mics on the drums-- so I want 8 channels of decent preamp.
Since I'm mainly concerned with the drums, I've been doing comparisons on the low tom and kick. I'm mic'ing the kick with a Beta52 and the low tom with a ATM-25. I have the drummer play the kick or tom for about 30 seconds then switch preamps (not changing any mic placements, cables, etc.). The results have been fairly interesting. I wish I would've saved the samples-- but I didn't
.
Anyway, hands-down the RNP sounded *better.* In other words, if I could have 8 channels of RNP as opposed to what I have now (2 channels RNP, 2 channels DMP3, 4 channels Yamaha MG16/6FX) I would prefer that option. But beyond that, there wasn't a huge difference between the DMP3 and the Yamaha MG16/6 pres-- especially on the kick. In fact, the drummer said he preferred the MG16/6 kick samples over the DMP3 (the RNP sounded better than both... richer/fuller/bassier... better).
Here's where it gets weird. We had done this a couple weekends ago with just the RNP and the Yamaha pres on the low tom (using the same ATM-25). The difference was dramatic-- you could hear a big difference between the RNP and the Yamaha. However, this most recent comparison wasn't so dramatic. In fact, I'm not sure the RNP sounded significantly better than the DMP3 or Yamaha on the low tom. Why the different results? I dunno. Same mic, roughly the same placement, same drums, same room, same drummer.
So what did I conclude after these comparisons designed to definitively tell me if I need to buy more preamps? Well... I'm not sure
. I think what the comparisons demonstrated is that if I want a dramatic improvement... I'm going to spend *at least* enough to get another RNP. Buying 2 more DMP3s wouldn't really be cost-effective because I'm getting basically the same performance from the Yamaha pres. Yeah, the Yahama and DMP3 sounded "different," but not dramatically different one way or the other (the RNP was dramatically better than both).
YMMV
(Side note... I was tapping the channels on the Yamaha mixer and bypassing the channel circuit. I can tell you without needing to do any comparisons that the EQs on the Yamaha MG mixers aren't exactly pleasing to the ear.)
Since I'm mainly concerned with the drums, I've been doing comparisons on the low tom and kick. I'm mic'ing the kick with a Beta52 and the low tom with a ATM-25. I have the drummer play the kick or tom for about 30 seconds then switch preamps (not changing any mic placements, cables, etc.). The results have been fairly interesting. I wish I would've saved the samples-- but I didn't
.Anyway, hands-down the RNP sounded *better.* In other words, if I could have 8 channels of RNP as opposed to what I have now (2 channels RNP, 2 channels DMP3, 4 channels Yamaha MG16/6FX) I would prefer that option. But beyond that, there wasn't a huge difference between the DMP3 and the Yamaha MG16/6 pres-- especially on the kick. In fact, the drummer said he preferred the MG16/6 kick samples over the DMP3 (the RNP sounded better than both... richer/fuller/bassier... better).
Here's where it gets weird. We had done this a couple weekends ago with just the RNP and the Yamaha pres on the low tom (using the same ATM-25). The difference was dramatic-- you could hear a big difference between the RNP and the Yamaha. However, this most recent comparison wasn't so dramatic. In fact, I'm not sure the RNP sounded significantly better than the DMP3 or Yamaha on the low tom. Why the different results? I dunno. Same mic, roughly the same placement, same drums, same room, same drummer.
So what did I conclude after these comparisons designed to definitively tell me if I need to buy more preamps? Well... I'm not sure
. I think what the comparisons demonstrated is that if I want a dramatic improvement... I'm going to spend *at least* enough to get another RNP. Buying 2 more DMP3s wouldn't really be cost-effective because I'm getting basically the same performance from the Yamaha pres. Yeah, the Yahama and DMP3 sounded "different," but not dramatically different one way or the other (the RNP was dramatically better than both). YMMV
(Side note... I was tapping the channels on the Yamaha mixer and bypassing the channel circuit. I can tell you without needing to do any comparisons that the EQs on the Yamaha MG mixers aren't exactly pleasing to the ear.)
Fenderville
New member
Excellent response.. That is exactly what I was looking for... Thanks!