Different Preamps or Same Preamps

[channelcat]

Ok, so the title sucked. Anyhow, yeah, I've got a question for you Princes of Maine... You Kings of New England.

And what of us Children of Industry in Chicago? Just razzin ya!

Well, I didn't know that Michael Caine had worked an orphanage in Illinois, my apologies!!!

Sorry, I should've googled the quote. I haven't seen a Caine movie since Blame it on Rio, unless you count his cameo in Austin Powers.

[ChrisCo]

I find that having a number of pres to choose from gives you more options in terms of overall tonality and spatial placement. If the drums need to be hard-sounding, forward, and powerful in the context of the other instruments, I'll use preamps that are foward-sounding. If the drums need to be less "featured," I use pres with a softer transient response. Sometimes bright mics with thick pres make those mics more pleasant to listen to than something clearer. Sometimes a low-gain mic needs a high-gain preamp.

Just like any other piece of gear, it's important to know a bit about what each preamp does to really be able to take advantage of its strengths. I happen to like tracking stuff through different pres, so if I'm working somewhere that has a variety of stuff, I'll use it. That's not to say that I haven't done stuff on a console or with a limited number of preamp choices that I thought came out okay, but my personal preference is to have a number of different preamps around during tracking.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

jEEEEEEEzus!!! Man, you cats make me feel reeeeeeeally dum sometimes! This totally seems so common-sensical!! (and yes, I made up that word).

Ok, so here's another question for you... My MOTU 896(not HD) comes with 8 pre's. So, where do THEY fit in with everything (quality/wise)? I don't dislike them, but I end up using them because I've only got an Aphex 207 that I'm working with in conjunction, so there's only 2 channels of "outboard" pre's to work with so far. I hear they're better than Digi's 002 pre's, but I've got no way to compare.

[GooberNumber9]

I'm not a big fan of the 002 Pre's. I prefer MOTU pres for sure. One thing you might keep in the back of your head is the idea of getting a Presonus Digimax, which I have and I think is a pretty good deal on 8 pres that sound better than either of the above, and you can hook it up to the ADAT in on your MOTU. I've heard tell (but not heard myself) that the Mackie Onyx pres are good and they have a similar unit.

Hehe.. I said "unit".

Todd Wilcox

[vvv]

My own little lazy/weirdness:

I have a few different pre-amps that in my bedroom studio I like to leave set up as "defaults".

I have my Meek VC3Q set up as I like for my AT4040 for vocals.

I have one side of an ART TPS2 set up into a dbx163X for "P" bass, the other side for an Alvarez bass with EMG'z.

I have a Studio Projects VTB1 typically set up for guitars with an SM58; I also switch to a NOS R2 ribbon and a C1000S with this pre, or occasionally a cheap Chinese LDC, and use ITB compression (if any.)

I have my Mackie 1202 old-school set up with a couple guitar channels, drum machine channels (with compressor), and a backing vocal channel for a MXL 1006 and for a Bellwanger B1.