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Mike Rivers
Guest
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 Posted:
Sun Nov 06, 2005 3:05 am Post subject:
Re: Audio interfaces with robust preamps |
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Paul Stamler wrote:
| Quote: | Yes, I've noticed gains in mic preamps trending downwards, which goes along
with the increasing hotness of condenser mic outputs.
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Also with the trend (often boosted by the lack of any useful acoustic
qualities in the marjority of recording spaces today) to place mics
very close to sources. Not much recording done at a distance these days
except at the "pro" level, whatever that means.
| Quote: | The trend arrives just
in time for the return to popularity of ribbon microphones.
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That's why we're seeing ribbon mics with built-in amplifiers - so they
can keep up with the condenser mics.
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Chevdo
Guest
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| Posted:
Sun Nov 06, 2005 4:31 am Post subject:
Re: Audio interfaces with robust preamps |
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In article <FL8bf.107207$ir4.20099@edtnps90>, Lorin@DAMNSPAM!v5v.ca says...
| Quote: |
"Chevdo" <chev@dont.com> wrote:
[...] The pre-amps on these audio interfaces are fine if you don't
crank them up all the way.
Great. So what? The issue this person is facing is that he needs to
crank it up all the way to get enough gain.
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Why do you think he needs that much gain? |
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Kurt Albershardt
Guest
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| Posted:
Sun Nov 06, 2005 5:42 am Post subject:
Re: Audio interfaces with robust preamps |
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Paul Stamler wrote:
| Quote: |
I've noticed gains in mic preamps trending downwards, which goes along
with the increasing hotness of condenser mic outputs. The trend arrives just
in time for the return to popularity of ribbon microphones.
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So we can all run out and buy "ribbon preamps" of course. |
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Kurt Albershardt
Guest
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| Posted:
Sun Nov 06, 2005 5:42 am Post subject:
Re: Audio interfaces with robust preamps |
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Colin Henein wrote:
| Quote: |
I rented a pair of AKG 414s and a Drawmer 1960 in the past, and I
remember that combo being very hot indeed. In my memory it was hotter
than the LSD2 and anything I'm matching it with today.
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Another trick I have used is to set my A/D converters for -10 and use
them with a +4 preamp output. Sometimes this produces a less noisy
result than cranking the preamp up does. |
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Colin Henein
Guest
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| Posted:
Sun Nov 06, 2005 8:50 pm Post subject:
Re: Audio interfaces with robust preamps |
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Mike Rivers wrote:
| Quote: | OK, you just conned me into about $100 worth of work, but what the
heck, it's Saturday. I set up my LSD2 and C414B-ULS.With both set for
Figure-8 (which seems to be your interest, and placed head-to-head
about 5 feet back from a speaker, I played pink noise into the speaker
and set the level to 85 dB SPL A-Weighted at the mics and set the gain
of the Great River preamp to 50 dB each channel. The output of the
preamp from the C414 was an eyeball average of 0 dBu (which is why I
picked 50 dB gain). The output from the LSD2 was about +0.5 dBu,
practically the same. So anything you could do with the C414, you could
do with the LSD.2.
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Wow. Thanks for going to that trouble. If I had access to a 414 right
now I could see if I'm getting the same gain off both, myself. Perhaps
I'll ask the "mic store" if they have a rental 414 they'd be willing to
lend me.
It's also reassuring to know that a good LSD2 is going to be capable of
the same kind of tricks as a pair of 414s, as I am very happy with the
recording I got off the 414s. |
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Guest
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| Posted:
Sun Nov 06, 2005 10:30 pm Post subject:
Re: Audio interfaces with robust preamps |
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Patient: "Doc, it hurts when I do that"
Doc: "Don't do that"
Seriously, I've found that since leaving 16 bit recording and the
interfaces of that era, I've stopped treating the meters like tape
VU/peak meters. If the level from a good sounding but not hot enough
mic through a good sounding but not hot pre is hitting at something not
as high as I usually get, and I don't want to go into the pre's top
range, I usually leave it there if it sounds fine going in. Plus,
after years of hitting everything so hard in multitrack sessions and
then bringing everything down to avoid master clipping (I know it's a
different situation than the OP, but still...) I found it didn't suffer
to lower my meter hitting goal in tracking.
Something's gotta give when raising the level, no matter how it's done,
and I haven't found just letting it be, to avoid preamp shmutz in the
top range, and letting the software in mixing and mastering raise it
bring in any objectional issues at all, relatively. |
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Carey Carlan
Guest
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| Posted:
Mon Nov 07, 2005 5:31 am Post subject:
Re: Audio interfaces with robust preamps |
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"Colin Henein" <googlegroups@juicer.orange-carb.org> wrote in
news:1131202382.685622.12910@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:
| Quote: | If I'm moving around
during a sound check to try to find a reasonable spot in the hall,
where should I be happy? Should I be happy with levels peaking at -24
dbFS? -18 dbFS? Obviously more is better, but where on the scale is
"not enough"?
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Moving around the house is going to change your source levels, but likely
not your background levels. Air exchangers, street noise, dimmer buzz and
the like will be uniform across the space.
Unless you're in a "silent" room, background racket will swamp your source
long before your source is quiet enough to be swamped by preamp noise. |
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