let me try this one guys--I think you could sneek in thru the insert and bypass the preamp.As far as xlr or tsr try both see what sound you like better if you can hear a difference.

The Speck has a special consideration ... it does not like to drive an unbalanced input .. so the TRS line input is the best choice..

You would normally want to plug a mic pre into the return side of an insert loop as Mike notes but on most mixers this is usually unbalanced so in the case of the Speck 5.0, use the balanced line input instead. Just keep the trim turned down as low a possible and pull all the gain out of the Speck.

PS, be sure to use a balanced cable too ..

Goose3 wrote: I'm new to the whole music recording industry, but coming from a digital video background I have worked with sound a little.

Bottomline of my question is if I use a preamp such as so http://www.speck.com/mp50/mp50.shtml

And run it into an analog board like so
http://

if I ran it into the mixers preamp is it going to change the sound or add color? Or will it retain the sound coming from the first mic pre. If it doesn’t is the answer to run it thru the TRS input jack. Last question does going thru a TRS jack verses XLR compromise the quality?

Yes, of course. Anytime you chain one preamp into another, it going to change the sound. IMHO, if you run the MP 5.0 into the mixer's preamp, you can forget retaining the original sound of the MP 5.0.

Your best bet is to take the MP 5.0's XL output into the mixer channel's balanced line input.

An alternate method could be MP5.0 --> direct to recorder input --> recorder output --> A&H line input. This way the A&H is being used only as a monitoring platform for the recorder.

Regards,

Vince Poulos
Speck Electronics

Thanks for the reply Vince,
My next question is, what audio interface to use, since most I’ve looked at all have “preamps” built into them, and you said that daisy chaining pres changes the sound. I've looked at the Q10 http://www.aardvarkaudio.com/products/q10/hardware.html

And I also looked at the http://www.staudio.com/products/dsp3000.html which also says that it has preamps, I’m a bit confused. I want something that’s going to have a +4db XLR line level input. Not another “preamp” built in, one more place to have to adjust gain. And if I’m all wrong and everyone does it this way please let me know.

I think the main thing is always be aware of gain stageing and don't double pre amp unless it's an intentional sonic choice.
For most pres going into a board, you'll want to go in trs line level.
If you're recording, you should bypass the board entirely and only use it to monitor your results.
cheers,
chap

The MOTU 2408 and 828 both have 8 TRS +4db line inputs.