Mic Pre and Mics for Home Studio

[bohemio]

I have a small home Studio with an 001. I am planning on cutting demo's and ideas for my band in my studio and want to get a good sounding mic pre (2 channels) and a couple of mics (or 1 stereo mic) to use on overheads.... I only got 1000-1500 to spare... any ideas?

I have heard that bellari pre-amps sound ok and are very cheap... what about mics? I have used a shure vp88 and liked it, AT4033's?

any comments? ideas?

thanks a lot
bohemio

 

[Bear's Gone Fission]

Is there a banner today that says "Please crosspost"? Anyhow,

There's worse than the Bellari, but there's certainly better. The Grace 101 has some fans, but I haven't personally tried it. I think most are like me in waiting for FMR Audio's RNMP preamp, which should be out within the next month, but who knows? The RNMP should list at $399, while the Grace is at $599. Get a pair of either and you'll have clean, accurate pres available for any occaision. You can always funk up the sound elsewhere in the chain, but it's impossible to un-funk a colored sounding preamp.

For overheads on a budget, look at the Behringer ECM-8000 and Marshall MXL-603s, both nice performers. Yeah, they're cheap, but they'll do the job and leave you the budget for the pre's. Great pre's help a decent mic more than cheap pres help a good mic. And the RNMP or Grace will improve the sound of whatever other mics you already have.

Bear

 

[atlasproaudio]

Personally for me on the cheap I would go with a Rode NTK's or MBHO 603's w/the cardiod capsules. For the pre I would with the FMR RNMP (Really

 

[anonymous]

How about Radio Shack PZM's for stereo drumkit / overheads? (do they still make em?)

For good pre's on a budget the Mackie VLZ series make a tiny 4 channel desk, those pre's are good & cheap...With that sort of budget a baby VLZ desk is a good idea IMHO.



Forgive me if I have aimed my suggestions 'too low'.

Weakest link on the 001 would be the converters, perhaps VLZ pre's and a Lucid A/D outboard converter (fed into the SPDIF input) would deliver a better overhead (and all post backing track overdub) sound, than blowing all your cash on high grade pre's - that you might not be able to hear well due to the quality of the conversion...

from a diferent angle..

 

[Kev]

Originally posted by Julian Standen:


How about Radio Shack PZM's for stereo drumkit / overheads? (do they still make em?)



I think they do.
... and I have a circuit and a mod. sheet to convert to balanced and phantom power if anyone is interested.

 

[gie]

Originally posted by atlasproaudio:
Personally for me on the cheap I would go with a Rode NTK's

I like to double this vote
The NTK's are quite nice (if you like a little colour). And find a nice pair of pre's to go with that. (There are a lot good "budget"(?!) pre's mentioned in this thread)

 

[Jon Best]

I'll second the vote for a little 4 or 6 pre Mackie VLZPro. You'll always have a use for a little mixer, and the pre's are fine- if it means you can buy a Lucid stereo converter, and a couple of mics, I think you'll be better off. If you can stretch the budget a touch, though, you'll never regret a Great River or Grace. Sytek is a good middle alternative- clean and pretty transparent. You should be able to get a 4 channel used around $750.

 

[bohemio]

hi alll...
thanks a lot ...
I already own a 16 channel Allen and Heath mixer that has pretty good pre's, so the mackie really won't be that much help... or are the pre's on it that great?

I was thinking more of the lines of a tube pre. Grace looks like a good expensive option, and so does the RNMP... bellari doesn't have much fans (though it is REALLY cheap) ... any other good tube pre's? I am even willing to extend my budget... if it will really improve my sound...

As for mikes, I hear the Marshalls and the Rode mics have some fans... any other options... I see that not too many are fond of the VP-88... The thing is that my band just finished recording a record, and our producer had one of those and it ended up all over the place (drum overhead, stereo guitars, and finally on my vocals!) so my question is... is that a good mic option for me? we did the recordings on an 001, through a demeter pre-amp... mixed it in analog... and the sound on the recorded ended up great...

thanks a lot
Manuel

 

[atlasproaudio]

If you can't afford the RNMP or the Grace, you will be wasting your money to get anything in between the cost of the A&H and the two I mentioned.

 

[Uncle E]

The Demeter is a great, great mic pre, that may be the biggest factor as to why you were happy with the sound of your recordings (that's assuming that you _were_ happy with them ). You can get one of their lower-end stereo pre's on Ebay for around the same price as a single-channel Grace, then still have enough for Swissonic converters & an AT4050.

I think anyone would agree about avoiding tube equipment that uses a wall-wart.

 

[anonymous]

Id say the VLZ pre's were a little better than the A&H but then the EQ is much better on the A&H ... So you dont need another little desk.

HHmmmm...

Eric's statement above "The Demeter is a great, great mic pre, that may be the biggest factor as to why you were happy with the sound of your recordings"

IS VERY WISE INDEED!

 

[aztro1]

I'd stick with the A&H over the mackie any day,as far as mic pre's use your ears .if the big D gave you good results or you have acsses to the one you used see if you can use it to check out a couple of mics.maybe purchased one of the mics your interested in with a return policy .and check it out before you commit the piggy bank based on others opinons.I dont think it can be stated enough .use YOUR ears.happy hunting.

 

[Papasean]

Anyone here every used the Aphex 107? If so what's your view on it far as sound quality & low noise. Thanks!

 

[Jon Best]

I'll second Nate- I don't think there is a lot worthwhile between your A&H and a Great River, with the possible exception of the Sytek and maybe the Peavey.

I also think the only thing worse than a cheap mic pre is a cheap tube mic pre.

The sound you get from tube (or solid state for that matter) designs is all over the map, and deciding that you need 'a tube pre' is kind of like deciding that to race you need 'a red car.' Doesn't mean $*^t compared to research, design, and build and parts quality. Concentrate on getting good sounding gear, and don't worry so much about how the designer got there, or what color the faceplate is, or whatever.

Originally posted by bohemio:

I was thinking more of the lines of a tube pre. Grace looks like a good expensive option, and so does the RNMP... bellari doesn't have much fans (though it is REALLY cheap) ... any other good tube pre's? I am even willing to extend my budget... if it will really improve my sound...

 

[gavinchan]

I also think the only thing worse than a cheap mic pre is a cheap tube mic pre.


I totally have to agree, and take it one step further, a cheap mic pre with tube emulation. YUK!
I just finished testing a Behringer Voice Channel, spent 3 hours with it and no matter what I did, it sounded like a turd. And not just any turd, the kind of turd that all the other turds talk about saying "Man that guy really stinks...."

 

[Recording Engineer]

On a positive note, when using a quality pre, you CAN get quite a nice sound out of a Studio Projects C1 or C3 or AT 4033 and other mics in the $300-$600 range. Another VERY positive note is that one of the VERY few pres worth considering under the Great River price is made by DaviSound.

If you're interested in hearing a TLM103 into a DaviSound TB-3, here's a link: briefcase.yahoo.com/recordingengineerus

Click on My Documents, Read the description, Right-Click on "Put Out The Dog", and Save Target As

I wish I had the original write-up about it as it gave more detail of what I don't recall, but the description tells you the recording chain for the most part. What it doesn't tell you is that it was mixed to a computer through a LynxOne card and I used WaveLab for mastering and editing.

As far as the song, it was strickly recorded for the use of our band. That is why the vocal tracks were not muted at the beginning of the song. At the time, my brother had just finished writing the song and he wanted to get a little recording of it so the rest of our band could get a rough idea for the arrangement more than anything else; even though the song didn't really have an ending yet. All the electric guitar, harmonica, and harmony parts, and the entire ending were all made-up on the spot and strictly for "play". Anything else you'd like to know? Did I miss anything?

 

[atlasproaudio]

Originally posted by Recording Engineer:
Another VERY positive note is that one of the VERY few pres worth considering under the Great River price

...[snippity]

The dual channel Great River is $1750. That's $875 per channel. Here are some pro preamps under that price:

Millennia Media HV-3 - $850/channel

Vintech 1272 - $675/channel

Amek 9098 - $775/channel

API 3124 - $625/channel (but you have to buy 4 channels)

FMR RNMP (estimated street is $350/channel)

Earthworks LAB 102 - $675/channel

Don't misconstrue what I am saying, the GR is an incredible mic pre, just that the quoted statement isn't quite true.

 

[Recording Engineer]

It isn't quite true as you say when you break it down into cost per channel... Though that'd mean the TB-6 is only $162.50/channel. I'd be the first to buy an HV-3 for $850! Unfortunetly, I can't buy an HV-3 for that price or a Vintech 1272 for $675; not anywhere near that price. But I can buy a TB-6 for $650.

 

[atlasproaudio]

You made a blanket statement that one of the very few mic pre's that are of quality under the price of a Great River is the one you mentioned. I just listed 6 that are under the cost of the GR per channel, and all of those except for the API are under the price of the GR for two channels in total. Did you happen to mean something else...maybe I misunderstood what you meant?

 

[Recording Engineer]

Yes, if only you could buy those pres in 1 channel. Unfortunetly, you simply cannot.