Low Budget Mic Pre Suggestions Requested

[hazineju]

Hi Everyone. Frodo, who is mixing and mastering some of my tunes for me, has convinced me that my Art Tube MP Studio that i use for vocals isn't cutting it and that i need to upgrade. problem is i don't have much of a budget to upgrade. i was enviously reading Jeff Greenleaf's post about a $1000 preamp budget. Mine is $200 max. Frodo has already suggested a couple, can anyone offer opinions on these or others under $200? I need it to have a USB connection and would prefer it to be light/portable. Tascam US 122Lhttp://www.zzounds.com/productreview--TASUS122LM-Audio Mobile Prehttp://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOMOBILEPRE E-MU 0202http://www.zzounds.com/item--EMU0202

[anne]

Hi -I used to have a the 122 (not 122L) - its a bit noisy if you really need to crank the inputs. I thought it was fine for midi / loops / but not quiet live audio recording. This may be better in the 122L - I don't know what the new model featured over the older one. HTHIf by any chance you get up to $400, the Presonus FP10 (Firepod, not the firestudio) are a great buy - they dropped the price from 700, they are very very good, quiet, lots of headroom, but they are not portable

[hazineju]

Thanks Anne, i am a sucker for a great deal but portable is pretty important right now. thanks for the info about the 122. i am trying to eliminate as much hissing/room noise as possible, so it's good to know that was an issue for you. i'll see if i can find how the 122L compares to the 122. BTW i am from Albuquerque myself!

[gongchime]

My question is, if you've got a $750 mic and very good cables, how much improvement do you get with a comparable preamp? I'm currently using my Boss BR1180 Portable Recording Studio as a mic preamp.

[jh]

IMHO Wait until you can afford something "way better", trust me, you save in the long run.Apogee Duet would be perfect, but it doesn´t have USB...Quote:My question is, if you've got a $750 mic and very good cables, how much improvement do you get with a comparable preamp?It depends, but the improvement can be substantial. Sometimes you can´t believe it´s the same mic - JH

[hazineju]

JH, i hear you, but what if it's years before i can upgrade to a $1000 mic pre, and for that matter a $1000 (or more) microphone? could this be a "tide me over" kind of thing? i just looked up the apogee duet, that is a cutie, i'm very tempted to add to my credit card debt. i noticed it was about $500. out of curiosity, what would you say would be the bottom line price tag for a professional-sounding mic pre/interface? frodo and i compared 2 dry vocals, one that i ran from the mic pre directly into my computer and one that i ran through my little tascam portastudio directly into the computer and honestly the tascam sounded a lot better. in regards to the art, i was thinking, "why do i even have this piece of *%^&?" the tascam still had some noticeable hissing however. Gongchime, i don't even have a $750 microphone myself, but i agree with jh, i've heard a good one can make an amazing difference. it's like casey h said in his line for the day "Being a songwriter is a great career if you can afford it." tell me about it!

[billg]

Aug 8, 2008, 8:16pm, gongchime wrote:My question is, if you've got a $750 mic and very good cables, how much improvement do you get with a comparable preamp? I'm currently using my Boss BR1180 Portable Recording Studio as a mic preamp. I've got a first generation Joe Meek pre-amp compressor that I bought over 10 yrs. ago and it brings my MXL V69 mic ($300) into the "high price" mic area sound-wise. A good pre-amp can make a modest mic sound very good and make a better mic sound awesome.

[jh]

Well, I don´t know "your situation", so it´s hard to say...But if you´re extremely serious about your musicand maybe you already have library deals etc.(possibly some money coming in) then it mightbe a good idea. btw. Keep in mind that your rig should beconsistent. If you have an expensive mic andpreamp, then you also have to have a good ADconverter to "gain the full potential". One idea would be to buy them used and/or sellsome stuff you don´t need. HTH- JH

[jh]

Quote:a first generation Joe Meek pre-amp compressor that I bought over 10 yrs. ago That was EXACTLY what I meant by "you save in the long run". - JH

[Mark Kaufman]

Do you need a pre amp or an entire audio interface? If you need an interface with its own pre amps, here is an exceptional deal on a good product that is being discontinued...it comes bundled with Cubase Studio 4, quite a deal for $219. It is firewire (a very good thing, but only if your computer has a firewire port).http://www.zzounds.com/item--YAMGO46If you already have an audio interface, maybe one of these for $99 bucks is all you need to provide some analog-sounding warmth and boost to your mic signal before it hits the interface.http://www.zzounds.com/item--PRSTUBEPRE