what is the important stuff to know about preamps?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

I've been a solo amateur home studio recording hobbyist for many years
now and I used to think I knew what I was doing (but my gear wasn't
good enough.) Lately I have been reading this NG and have started to
question everything. Last night I spent a good deal of time going
through a very dramatic thread on mic preamps and started to realize I
don't really know what they do.

I think this: They take a weak electronic signal and power it up so
that it is useful to the gear you want to record the signal to. But
there are these concepts of coloring, tube warmth, noise floor,
linearity, minimalism ("gain down a wire," )etc. that make for a lot of
argument. So what does one want a mic pre to do? Be a neutral signal
gain or expand characteristics of your source sound?

I ask sincerely because I am starting to realize that going around and
around in this "if only I had better gear" mentality is not getting me
anywhere I could stand to make some big improvements if I actually
knew what my frigging gear does and how to use it sensibly. A few
years ago I got this little Belari "tube" mic pre and never used it
because I couldn't hear a significant difference between it and my
Behringer mixer pres, it only gave me the added bonus of having
distorted vocals when I turned it up.

Your wisdom on this is greatly appreciated.

gary

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

gary <memjaychims@yahoo.com> wrote:
>I've been a solo amateur home studio recording hobbyist for many years
>now and I used to think I knew what I was doing (but my gear wasn't
>good enough.) Lately I have been reading this NG and have started to
>question everything. Last night I spent a good deal of time going
>through a very dramatic thread on mic preamps and started to realize I
>don't really know what they do.

They give you between 20 and 70 dB of gain.

>I think this: They take a weak electronic signal and power it up so
>that it is useful to the gear you want to record the signal to. But
>there are these concepts of coloring, tube warmth, noise floor,
>linearity, minimalism ("gain down a wire," )etc. that make for a lot of
>argument. So what does one want a mic pre to do? Be a neutral signal
>gain or expand characteristics of your source sound?

That depends on your job. For the most part, I prefer a straight wire
with gain. But since you can't get that, and you always get some colorations,
you have to pick the colorations you want.

There are some jobs where you might want euphonic colorations, but I don't
see the preamp as being the best possible place to get that. Other folks
do.

The other problem is that because the preamp provides a load to the microphone,
different preamps can make mikes sound differently because they load it
differently. This is much more of an issue with ribbons and moving coil
dynamic mikes than condensers.

>I ask sincerely because I am starting to realize that going around and
>around in this "if only I had better gear" mentality is not getting me
>anywhere I could stand to make some big improvements if I actually
>knew what my frigging gear does and how to use it sensibly. A few
>years ago I got this little Belari "tube" mic pre and never used it
>because I couldn't hear a significant difference between it and my
>Behringer mixer pres, it only gave me the added bonus of having
>distorted vocals when I turned it up.

Get better monitors and spend some time listening. You might want to try
the Golden Ears program from Dave Moulton. If you don't have the monitor
chain or the hearing experience to tell the difference, you won't have
anything to go by other than the excuse of some random guy on the internet
like me. Spend time developing your listening skills and your monitor
system before you worry about anything else. Once you know what things
should sound like, then you can worry about getting them that way.

>Your wisdom on this is greatly appreciated.

People worry too much. But rent a really top-notch neutral preamp like
a Great River or Millennia Media for a weekend just to see if you can
hear what it's _not_ doing.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

What happened to that internet site with all the soundclips that
compared pres and mics? You could compare the Hardy, Great River,
API, etc.

Al

On 1 Oct 2004 23:04:59 -0400, kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

>gary <memjaychims@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>I've been a solo amateur home studio recording hobbyist for many years
>>now and I used to think I knew what I was doing (but my gear wasn't
>>good enough.) Lately I have been reading this NG and have started to
>>question everything. Last night I spent a good deal of time going
>>through a very dramatic thread on mic preamps and started to realize I
>>don't really know what they do.
>
>They give you between 20 and 70 dB of gain.
>
>>I think this: They take a weak electronic signal and power it up so
>>that it is useful to the gear you want to record the signal to. But
>>there are these concepts of coloring, tube warmth, noise floor,
>>linearity, minimalism ("gain down a wire," )etc. that make for a lot of
>>argument. So what does one want a mic pre to do? Be a neutral signal
>>gain or expand characteristics of your source sound?
>
>That depends on your job. For the most part, I prefer a straight wire
>with gain. But since you can't get that, and you always get some colorations,
>you have to pick the colorations you want.
>
>There are some jobs where you might want euphonic colorations, but I don't
>see the preamp as being the best possible place to get that. Other folks
>do.
>
>The other problem is that because the preamp provides a load to the microphone,
>different preamps can make mikes sound differently because they load it
>differently. This is much more of an issue with ribbons and moving coil
>dynamic mikes than condensers.
>
>>I ask sincerely because I am starting to realize that going around and
>>around in this "if only I had better gear" mentality is not getting me
>>anywhere I could stand to make some big improvements if I actually
>>knew what my frigging gear does and how to use it sensibly. A few
>>years ago I got this little Belari "tube" mic pre and never used it
>>because I couldn't hear a significant difference between it and my
>>Behringer mixer pres, it only gave me the added bonus of having
>>distorted vocals when I turned it up.
>
>Get better monitors and spend some time listening. You might want to try
>the Golden Ears program from Dave Moulton. If you don't have the monitor
>chain or the hearing experience to tell the difference, you won't have
>anything to go by other than the excuse of some random guy on the internet
>like me. Spend time developing your listening skills and your monitor
>system before you worry about anything else. Once you know what things
>should sound like, then you can worry about getting them that way.
>
>>Your wisdom on this is greatly appreciated.
>
>People worry too much. But rent a really top-notch neutral preamp like
>a Great River or Millennia Media for a weekend just to see if you can
>hear what it's _not_ doing.
>--scott

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

"play on" <playon@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:90isl09rmnq26gqrud1fep5481n2p88otr@4ax.com...
> What happened to that internet site with all the soundclips that
> compared pres and mics? You could compare the Hardy, Great River,
> API, etc.
>

http://www.thelisteningsessions.com/home.htm