Preamp Importance

Thatbastarddon

Thatbastarddon

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Something that I’ve preached over and over, over the years, in relation to home recording…preamps…they can play a huge part in home recording results. I know that I’ve successfully communicated this to @BFT Gibson , and he’s often publicly acknowledged it.
…Well…I bumped into this video today, and I thought it did a pretty decent job of explaining and illustrating my feelings on the topic.


I found this guy’s approach pretty clear(no pun), and easy to get a grasp on. So I wanted to share it here.
Particularly from around 14:50 onward.
 
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Thatbastarddon said:
Something that I’ve preached over and over, over the years, in relation to home recording…preamps…they can play a huge part in home recording results. I know that I’ve successfully communicated this to @BFT Gibson , and he’s often publicly acknowledged it.
…Well…I bumped into this video today, and I thought it did a pretty decent job of explaining and illustrating my feelings on the topic.


I found this guy’s approach pretty clear(no pun), and easy to get a grasp on. So I wanted to share it here.
Click to expand...
Yeah man, preach it brother ! my GAP 73 & JoeMeek 6Q are as much a part of my sound as anything these days. That is the final thing before the interface, i want no sound color out of my Steinberg interface just nuetral interpretation of what signal was crafted right before it.

Have figured out my signal chain ,to capture exactly what is in the room. Depend on those 2 preamps to do 2 completely dif things , but compliment one another !
 
IMO, it isn’t necessarily about having a pile of big $ preamps around(although… :hmmm: ), as it is about finding the best uses for what you have…or can afford to have…in the toolbox.

Now…I like my choice of interface, for me…my habitual way of working/playing. I like my “mixer” format. I like the routing it allows, and the way it integrates with the other stuff that I’ve collected over time. Does it have the best preamps? No…not by a long shot, but they are useable for a good amount of things. They are also not my only option with this interface. I can easily make use of my other outboard gear…and that’s the way I like it. I can easily use any of the channels on my old GB mixer(which I do think are pretty darned good), or whatever else I want/have, just by patching in and routing properly to the DAW.

Personally, I would encourage anyone looking to get into the home recording thing to give some thought to investing in at least one “good” outboard preamp(or channel strip) to run into a line input of their interface…particularly if they plan to record vocals, or acoustic instruments. It can be a real game changer.
 
I don’t produce professionally anymore, so I sold my UA 610 preamp and just use an interface now. The only thing I’m recording with a mic is the occasional vocal, and my vocals are far from being worthy of a special pre. Frankly, there’s not much of a difference. I had a friend who dropped $3,500 on a massive preamp, and plugged a Neumann into it. He still made poor recordings.

Knowing what you’re doing is more important than what you do it with.
 
I've never spent the insane amount of money of purchasing a singular $3500 preamp, but I have to admit it that when I was once upon a time in full GAS mode....I fell prey to the overstated accolades of purchasing preamps and wasting my money in the process. To my way of thinking, preamps are solely a tool to increase gain without "colorizing" or adding a perception of "warmth".
YMMV
 
Seamus OReally said:
I don’t produce professionally anymore, so I sold my UA 610 preamp and just use an interface now. The only thing I’m recording with a mic is the occasional vocal, and my vocals are far from being worthy of a special pre. Frankly, there’s not much of a difference. I had a friend who dropped $3,500 on a massive preamp, and plugged a Neumann into it. He still made poor recordings.

Knowing what you’re doing is more important than what you do it with.
Click to expand...
I am not saying anything about $$ layout…I certainly don’t deserve anything too crazy. I feel like I have that covered with my UA-6176s, and I only have those because I was patient, and found really good deals.

Although the average interface preamps are much improved in comparison to some of their predecessors, there are options.
Options that would present an upgrade, and at reasonable prices.

The person in the above video, I felt, was able to sum up what I feel about the subject pretty well. In his summary, toward the end, when he explained that one may be happier with their results if they capture tracks that don’t require much surgery in post.
His choice of a $250 preamp seemed to do a bang up job of showing that it doesn’t have to be super expensive to get excellent harmonic content.
 
My JoeMeek was $100 & Gap 73 $250, wanted old school & a neve effect on purpose

In fact 10 minutes from leads going on this weeks song being tracked. MXL DX2 into Gap & MXL r144 going into JoeMeek
 
Just tracked a Super lead 100 at volume, the preamps were so important. Could precisely gain stage without changing my amp settings and tone i worked so hard to place in this mix.

I would tend to think, preamps are way more important if you are using mics on real speakers from real amps vs things already set up in digital world .
 
BFT Gibson said:
I would tend to think, preamps are way more important if you are using mics on real speakers from real amps vs things already set up in digital world .
Click to expand...
Yep…the preamp is kinda like the V1 tube in a tube amp. Everything that goes on further along the line amplifies what takes place in the mic preamp.
 
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