Outboard Mic Preamp - Recommendations

[mojobone]

Well, what's the best flavor of ice cream? Mounds or Almond Joy? If I wanted an analog front end and had less than a grand to invest, I'd probably get something I know I'll still be using even after the next series of upgrades, something like an ART channel strip; it may not be Universal Audio or Manley Voxbox, but 90-95% of the function and at a very fair price. There's just too many ways to skin this particular hog.

[Len911]

90-95% of the function

Which is probably the difference between amateur, semi-pro, and pro? And those last couple of percentage points seem to be the most expensive.

Milk comes in 4% butterfat, 2%, 1% and skim. To some there's no difference, but to others there's a world of difference.
Ground beef is extra lean @ 4% fat. Lean is 8%. Ground chuck is typically 20% fat.
If milk used beef terminology, what is considered full fat regular milk, could be called extra lean, and what approaches half and half
could be called regular hamburger, or ground chuck,lol! Perhaps you don't consume all the fat in the beef, most is left in the pan, for gravy,lol, but that also makes bacon look more and more like a health food!
I think I might have went a little too far for that analogy, I must be hungry.

[mojobone]

90-95% of the function

Which is probably the difference between amateur, semi-pro, and pro?

Naw. Listeners don't care if the mic was an SM58 or the board was a Neve. Good songs, performances and technique have always trumped hardware and software. Besides, the gear we have now is almost universally better than what was available in the golden age of analog, and particularly in terms of fidelity. Take a track like Fleetwood Mac's "Rhiannon"; you'd be hard pressed to get a sound like that today, even harder pressed to find such a song, but that song and performance would probably still be a hit, if it was recorded on an iPhone.

[Len911]

Naw. Listeners don't care if the mic was an SM58 or the board was a Neve. Good songs, performances and technique have always trumped hardware and software. Besides, the gear we have now is almost universally better than what was available in the golden age of analog, and particularly in terms of fidelity. Take a track like Fleetwood Mac's "Rhiannon"; you'd be hard pressed to get a sound like that today, even harder pressed to find such a song, but that song and performance would probably still be a hit, if it was recorded on an iPhone.

An SM58? I always wondered if the lyric was "taken by surprise" or "taken by disguise", I just looked it up and it says "taken by the sky". I wonder if they had used a better mic??

There is much speculation. If I had to speculate as to whether Fleetwood Mac and Rhiannon would be a hit if they just arrived yesterday, I'd have to say no. For reasons other than talent perhaps.

In a double-blind taste test, can consumers do better than chance picking eggs from free range chickens versus caged ones? It doesn't matter, if I was going to raise chickens, I'd raise them the best I could until I went bankrupt and had to eat them,lol! There's a difference between having to and choosing to do.

[Lipskimusic]

I agree with Mojobone. And, finding that perfect middle-ground is a challenge. I assume we are all looking for 1) great-sounding, easy-to use and yet affordable gear 2) the right balance between the "creative" and "technical" side of each project and 3) we would like to be totally objective when reviewing / listening to our own stuff...

[Kolstad]

An SM58? I always wondered if the lyric was "taken by surprise" or "taken by disguise", I just looked it up and it says "taken by the sky". I wonder if they had used a better mic?? :lol

I love the 58 for this reason, but it is absolutely true that you shouldnt use it if you want detail!

[mojobone]

An SM58? I always wondered if the lyric was "taken by surprise" or "taken by disguise", I just looked it up and it says "taken by the sky". I wonder if they had used a better mic?? :lol

I love the 58 for this reason, but it is absolutely true that you shouldnt use it if you want detail!

You might be surprised how much detail you can capture with an SM58 and the right sort of preamp.

[Len911]

I was of course joking about the SM58, however, speaking of surprised and the SM58, it was my first microphone. It was before I knew what an LDC was, and they were 'everywhere', the standard. Eventually as a newbie, you upgrade and accumulate. I bought a Neumann TLM-193. Oh my god! My first and most stark audio epiphany, I couldn't believe it! I felt like I had been lied to and scammed thinking that the SM58 was anything but a step up from a tin can and string,lol! I know it's horses for courses, and it may not be as terrible as it seems, but that experience has been etched into my brain.

[Kolstad]

Well I actually prefer the sm58 to a Neumann tlm103 and other mics in that range. It does matter a lot how you record it, like mojo writes. I was joking but it has plenty detail for me (more detail is not always good as some details can be ugly ). Ive tried it with a Grace, a dmp3, an Isa One and more as well as some TC pedals and it did sound good in all of those chains. If direct into a soundcard Id go with the beta, though.