Low Budget Mic Pre Suggestions Requested

[mojobone]

I think this one's the best single-channel pre under $200:Studio Projects VTB-1I'm thinking you won't find a better AD converter than the Tascam for under $200; (particularly not with a good preamp included) IMO, you're better off putting your money in a pre and using the converter you got.If you simply must have a USB bus-powered all-in-one with zero-latency monitoring:Maybe this

[ernstinen]

This may be a little OT, but I own a Soundcraft 16-channel analog board that I bought in, oh, 1948. Actually, it's about 25 years old, and when I bought it new it was $5000! That's because it was the best board on the market, and had premium mic preamps. --- I still use it when I record with mics, and run all my sample players through it as well (I make one analog pass through the Soundcraft into a Empirical Labs Fatso, then into Pro Tools when I mix).If you have room in your studio for a board that has fantastic mic preamps, I'll bet you could find one on eBay for about a tenth of what I paid for it. Best investment I ever made. --- Plus, with 16 mic preamps, you can record a whole band with it if you want to --- A couple of years ago, I was thinking of replacing it with a Mackie. I went to Guitar Center, and was looking at boards. The salesman came up to me and I told him I had heard good things about Mackies, but loved my Soundcraft. He said "You have an old Soundcraft!???? --- KEEP IT! --- It's much better than a Mackie!" I was shocked, I tell ya, shocked! that a salesman would tell the truth and let me walk away like that! Ern

[mewman]

Maybe you can find an old Neve in your neighbors garage sale...

[diogenes]

If it were me, I'd just save my money and get a good one from the get-go.

[nickbatzdorf]

I think the Studio Projects is a good suggestion, but I'd take a step back and start by saying that you have to look at the whole chain. The most important link in the front end is the mic, followed by - long gap - the mic preamp and any other outboard gear like a compressor, followed by - fairly long gap - the A/D converter and equally the mic cable (not that you have to spend a fortune on the cable, but you will hear a difference if you're using total crap).So you can take diogenes' tack and live with an imbalanced front end until you can afford to update the entire set-up to match the good mic preamp you start with, or you can take intermediate steps. I personally would start with a good mic and use the preamps built into a good audio interface; lots of people are making excellent recordings that way.

[nickbatzdorf]

I should add that the ART mic preamp is a useful color for some things. It's not a pure tone, but it has a nice edgy sound that can actually work.

[gongchime]

When you say audio interface, what exactly do you mean by that?

[mojobone]

An interface is anything that allows you to digitize an audio signal so as to record it to your computer; They come in lots of flavors, there's USB, Firewire, even a soundcard can be an interface. (a few years ago all interfaces were soundcards) Some are audio only, some are audio/MIDI, and some require an outboard AD converter. I've even seen rack effect boxes with digital outputs connected to a sound card's S/PDIF input. My interface allows me to input analog, S/PDIF, AES/EBU, ADAT, and MIDI and also includes a handy control surface. USB microphones are interfaces also, or have one built in, rather, though some wouldn't consider them as such without an analog or digital output being included.The least expensive AD converters all "sound" pretty similar, if they can be said to have a sound; any noticeable improvement that can be attributed to an AD converter will probably be well north of $500. This is why I suggested the VTB-1, which can improve the sound of even inexpensive dynamic mics like the SM57.Experienced engineers (like Nick) tend to prefer to optimize each link in the recording chain rather than buy all-in-one solutions; without a schematic and a parts list, it's hard to tell where the manufacturer put your money: if you're getting four preamps, a converter, some switches and knobs, and a headphone output for under $200, how good can you expect those preamps to be?

[nickbatzdorf]

"Boss BR1180 Portable Recording Studio as a mic preamp. "Okay, I missed that. The BR1180 is about a grand, and it includes everything you need including a CD burner.If you're happy with it, chances are good that mojobone's suggestion for the VTB-1 would sound better. Studio Projects' stuff is surprisingly good for the money in my experience. I was very surprised by their mics when I reviewed them a few years ago for Mix magazine.However I'm totally skeptical that your problem is the mic preamp. What was it about the sound that made the mastering engineer unhappy? It's just not reasonable to believe that the recording would have been fantastic if only you'd used a better mic preamp.Don't get me wrong, I like mic preamps enough to have sold all my outboard gear a few years ago so I could buy the pair I now own (Millennia Media, and actually they're channel strips and not just mic pres). But in a track the difference is quite subtle. Even a $2000 mic preamp isn't going to make a beginning engineer sound like an experienced one on its own. I'll bet you dollars to donuts the mastering engineer is hearing something else he doesn't like, for example distortion.

[gongchime]

You're thinking of Hazineju. I'm the one with the Boss BR1180. Hazineju is the one with an unhappy mastering engineer. Excuse my ignorance but I also don't understand about converters. If I've got a good mic, good cables and a good preamp, what does the convert do? aka What does AD stand for? Is there any other piece of gear I don't know about that I need in the chain? Didn't someone mention compression? Don't most software recording and editing systems provide compression when needed? Isn't that good enough?