Using a microphone preamp at Mixdown

jaymenon · September 2022

I usually record myself singing and I’d like to buy a nice microphone preamp perhaps a Golden age 73 or a tambourine Audio EC1.

I am however wary of setting it up, singing something and ‘committing it to tape’ and then being unable to edit it later (In case I have overprocessed it or something).

and therefore my question: can I commit something unprocessed to tape and then run it through a microphone preamplifier at mixdown, adding colour and saturation to taste?

Or is the interaction between microphone and preamplifier very important at the tracking stage?

Musicwolf · September 2022

Hi Jay

What mic and pre-amp / audio interface are you using at present? Unless you already have a very good mic then personally I'd be more tempted to spend the money on a mic rather than a pre-amp.

jaymenon said:

tambourine Audio EC1.

I think that your auto-correct / spell checker kicked in there. Cranborne Audio, but I like the sound of Tambourine Audio - especially aimed at singers

.

Chris

jaymenon · September 2022

Musicwolf said:

Hi Jay

What mic and pre-amp / audio interface are you using at present? Unless you already have a very good mic then personally I'd be more tempted to spend the money on a mic rather than a pre-amp.

jaymenon said:

tambourine Audio EC1.

I think that your auto-correct / spell checker kicked in there. Cranborne Audio, but I like the sound of Tambourine Audio - especially aimed at singers .

Chris

You’re absolutely correct Chris, it was AutoCorrect‘s fault (actually Siri‘s fault)

I use a rode NT2000 - but sometimes I feel my old Shure beta 87 a sounds a little better on my voice…

also have an MXL Genesis that I got from Paul White - haven’t tried singing through that yet

Musicwolf · September 2022

Finding the right mic for your voice (and having a suitable, treated, space in which to record) can, in my opinion, make far more of a difference than switching pre-amps (assuming that your audio interface has a half decent pre-amp).

If you're reaching for a new pre-amp before trying the MXL then my diagnosis would be a severe case of GAS. I also suspect that you are being over critical of your own vocals, I wish that I could sing like you.

Macca_25387 · September 2022

What you need is Warm Audio Wa12 which i have for sale in the classifieds. Jokes
Im all for outboard Preamps while recording (compressors for that matter aswell, but that’s another subject) not just mics, but simple DI recording of Bass and guitars you can add a lot more character than an interface preamp. Do a test section of recording and listen back to set your levels so you know you aren’t going to cook it. It’s like anything the more you do it the better you’ll get at setting levels consistently.

I wouldn’t use one during Mixdown, but that’s not to say you couldn’t, it’s not really common practice.

jaymenon · September 2022

Thanks @Musicwolf for your very kind words.

Thing is - my vocal recordings thus far have been done with relatively basic gear - the last one you heard was a Shure Beta 87 into a Zoom TAC2 interface

.

I have spent way more on my guitars - and I'm not even really a guitarist (I'm competent, but mostly as a backing / rhythm player).

So I keep wondering if I might possibly sound better with a better quality microphone - signal chain.

victorludorum · September 2022

I always go for a good, clean recording with just the mic and the pre, and then treat afterwards as necessary. There are so many plugins available nowadays that you can pretty much do what you want in the box at mixdown. It seems like you have the mics to get a good sound, and with either of those pres you mention you'll get a jump in quality. That Warm Audio WA12 in the classifieds is worth considering.

AntonHunter · September 2022

Musicwolf said:

Finding the right mic for your voice (and having a suitable, treated, space in which to record) can, in my opinion, make far more of a difference than switching pre-amps (assuming that your audio interface has a half decent pre-amp).

If you're reaching for a new pre-amp before trying the MXL then my diagnosis would be a severe case of GAS. I also suspect that you are being over critical of your own vocals, I wish that I could sing like you.

I'd agree with this. I recently went down a rabbit-hole of researching preamps to upgrade from the Focusrite ones in my interface, I made the mistake of watching a couple of YouTube videos about whether or not you really need one and... realised I didn't.

roberty · September 2022

I record vocals with a UAD Arrow using a Neve plugin directly on the input. Couldn't tell you what it does to be honest. Something something harmonics. It's a case of it being there so might as well. I don't mix my own stuff

Winny_Pooh · September 2022

You can't really overprocess a preamp unless you're intentionally distorting it. The effect of a good one is subtle and once you use it you'll want to keep using it.

I've never wanted to use one later and the way it reacts to a mic can't be duplicated later. Plus you'll get better gain before noise with a quality preamp and only that is enough reason to use it all the time.

octatonic · September 2022

jaymenon said:

I usually record myself singing and I’d like to buy a nice microphone preamp perhaps a Golden age 73 or a tambourine Audio EC1.

I am however wary of setting it up, singing something and ‘committing it to tape’ and then being unable to edit it later (In case I have overprocessed it or something).

and therefore my question: can I commit something unprocessed to tape and then run it through a microphone preamplifier at mixdown, adding colour and saturation to taste?

Or is the interaction between microphone and preamplifier very important at the tracking stage?

I wouldn't do it- 'colour and saturation' from a mic preamp is pretty subtle if it sounds good
Even if you had an API/Neve/BAE preamp it isn't really worth doing that way- it sounds better going in.

Also you may need to go out of your interface, into a DI (to get the line level down to mic level) and then amplify it back up to line level and re-record it?
The preamps you are naming won't really add much- nothing you actually want anyway.

I sometimes use my Groove Tubes Vipre preamp to run pre-recorded things through, but that is a bit of a special case, and it usually isn't vocals, but rather bass, snare or soft synths.

It was fashionable in the 00's to use a passive summing unit, like the Folcrum, which required you to amplify the summed mix with a stereo preamp. I did a bunch of A/B tests and preferred the in the box mixdown.

There are loads of really terrific 'analogue-style colour' plugins.
My favourites are Soundtoys Decapitator, Plugin Alliance Black Box, UA Thermionic Culture Vulture.

Also consider UA Distressor or the even better Empirical Labs Arouser plugin.
Or a tape plugin- the best being UA Ampex ATR102.

Decapitator is the one I go to most- it is on every track I've made since it came out, usually at least 3-5 instances of it.

victorludorum · September 2022

Anyone used the Roger Mayer 456?

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Using a microphone preamp at Mixdown

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