Opinions sought: Mic pre's for home studio

Want suggestions on a good sounding mic preamp in the $200-350 range for use on a home PC based DAW. Helping a friend put together an affordable home studio-ish. A couple of us thought that a stand alone mic pre might be preferable to a small Mackie mixer with its built in pre's. Agree? Any and all opinions and ideas welcome. Thank you very much.

 

Depends on which Mackie it is. Those XDR (or whatever they call them) mic pres are just short of amazing. Believe it or not. I've participated in several mic pre shoot outs in studios around town with some very expensive pres (some costing $5,000 a channel!) and the Mackie's performed stupidly well. They sounded almost identical to the Rupert Neve designed 9098 mic pre's, which are GREAT pre's.

Unless your friend has a few grand to spend you'd have a hard time finding pre's that'll beat those Mackies. You can go for a tube based pre but most of the lower cost models don't give you much tube sound and are poorly designed tube circuitry. It's basically a tube stuck in it for marketing purposes only.

As far as solid state goes, you'd have to go for something like a Neve or API to get a significantly better sound, and they're very costly.

 

Thank you, sirs!

 

The Mackie VLZ Pro is a good bang for the buck mic pre. You can get the 1202. Four preamps and a free mixer included!

Also check out FMR Audio's "Really Nice Preamp." I've heard mixed reviews, but if they are anything like their "Really Nice Compressor," you can't go wrong.

I've had a little experience with the Sytek MPX-4, which is a little out of your budget but a good option.

Many folks like the Grace preamps too.

Good luck!

 

Have to agree with all of the above...

Sad to say, you can't get much sound quality out of microphone preamps in that price range. (And I speak as one who owns his share from ART, TLA, Focusrite Platinum, etc.) Most of mine are in the $250-$500 *per channel* range, and while I consider them to be useful colors, depending on the tone I am going for, they are still a long way from the world of John Hardy, Neve, and the like.

The RNP might be worth a listen on respect alone, though I have yet to hear one, myself. The Grace 101 comes in at about $600 for a single-channel unit...but I kinda don't care for the cheap plastic-chrome case...Not very important, I know, whatever...

best of luck,

 

Which low-cost mics might be adequate for spoken-voice recordings using the Mackies?

 

Pablo, I've used (for quite a while) a Mackie 1402 VLZ (not VLZ PRO) with a Shure SM57, a Shure SM58, and a Marshall Electronics MXL 1000 (which I've been told it's the same as their better-known 603 model, only with a windscreen - you remove the windscreen for best sound).

The MXL 1000 is a phantom powered condenser microphone. NOT an electret but a true condenser microphone. It sounds very, very good for its price (which I can't recall now, but it's probably gone down now and it's quite inexpensive for its sound). You probably WILL need some kind of pop-screen in front of it, unless you use it with the windscreen which I suggest don't- takes all of the fun out of it. A stretch of pantyhose on a hoop works just fine, and costs dimes.

As for the Shures, well.. bothmodels are very much standards by now- to my ears the 58 has a slightly duller sound than the 57, but that might be because of the windscreen (just an off-the-wall thought). Nevertheless I do find the MXL mic to sound a bit more open and shimmery (in a good way) - I recorded some very nice acoustic guitars with it back when I was still playing with my buddies.

Hope this is of some help

 

That really depends on the voice, and the budget. Heck, a Shure SM57 might be fine.

For mics on a budget, I really like Audio Technica's stuff. I have the AT4050, which is a large diaphragm condensor that goes for about $500.00. It has a fairly neutral sound. However, it probably has more features than you'd need... multiple pickup patterns, a 10db pad and a low frequency roll off. For voice, you might just want a straight cardioid pattern with no rolloff or pad. The AT3035 is perfect for that, costing around $150-$200. Again, it depends on the voice. Some folks sound great on my 4050, but our bass player always has to use a different microphone when he sings lead. His voice has a nasel tone, and I have a Rode small condensor that works best on his voice.

You'll find that a lot of budget condensors will have a "scooped" sound... a notch taken out in the midrange and a hyped high end. Sound familiar?

I'm not sure what it's like where you live, but a lot of these music stores (Guitar Center, Sam Ash, etc) will let you try out their mics in the store. Bring in your voice talent, a pair of headphones that you know, and try out some mics. Or you can put a bunch on a credit card, take them home and audition them, then return the ones you don't want. Some mailorder companies will let you do this too.

Good luck!

 

Since many of you pros and home-studio enthusiasts will probably be reading here, .. anyone care to give his/her opinion on the gear above (in my above post, that is)?

Bash them to pieces if you must, I won't care - I'd like to hear other people's thoughts on what I, for the most part, thought sounded rather good. From what I recall, anyway.

 

I'm using an M-Audio DMP3 - very low frills, just a stereo box with super quiet XLR mic input, instrument input, and phase reverse. Balanced 1/4" jack out - these run straight into my RME HDSP card - I'm >extremely< happy with the sound. I'm just putting my mic in front of the singer, recording it - then I'm done .

Oh - and the VU meters reek of nostalgia!

This RRP on this here is about £199 pounds, so it should be in your price range in dollars.

Here's the link

FYI - I'm using this with a couple of Studio Projects mics - a B1 and C1. These are far too good for the money ...

 

Well, I'm not a big fan of those Marshall mics. I bought the MXL 1000 with the intent of modding it (there was an article on Tape-Op about making it into a tube mic). I tried it out without modding it, and wasn't too keen on it. As I said above about low priced condensors, there tends to be a scooped out midrange and an exaggerated top end. I also found it to be a tad noisey. I ended up selling it and not going with the mod, mainly due to time restraints.

That said, I've heard that the Marshalls aren't exactly consistent, so it could be that your mic sounds different.

I've heard good things about those Studio Projects microphones. I'm tempted to pick one up. I wouldn't mind having another large diaphragm condensor mic. I just have that AT4050 right now.

Has anybody tried the Oktava ribbon mics? They are moderatly priced. I'm sure they're no vintage RCA or a Royer. I also see that Nady is going to put out a ribbon mic soon... for $369 list! You probably get what you pay for...