mic pre's??

[LadyElectrikStudios]

I was wondering if I could get some advise.. Should I spend some cas on getting some good Mic pre's?
right now i have a AMR production series 32 X 32 Board with 4 band sweep Eq.
this consol is about 12 years old it all woeks good but some people have told me that i need better mic Pre's.
If you got to my website you will see pics of the consol
any feed back would be great
thanks
Lady Electrik Studio

[Ducky]

Digimax (Presonus)? Focusrite? Budget?
These are the only ones I've seen discussed lately.

[Captain_Pants]

Behringer?

[jeffwuollet]

NOOOOO!!!! DON'T SPEND A CENT ON SOME STUPID MIC PRE BEFORE UPGRADING YOUR CONSOLE!!!!!!!!

Okay, let me slow down....

(breath)....first, since I belive your console was made in the IC era(A good era), I'm predicting that when you pull out one of those modules, you'll find some tiny little chips that look like eight legged bugs. They're called operational amplifiers or simply op-amps. www.ti.com distributes aftermarket op-amps from a company called Burr Brown. They are the BEST AND ONLY op-amps to install in anything. Assuming your pre's are 80'-90's you'll probably find ones labled NE5532. The best replacement for these are Burr Brown OPA2604's. Slew rate, S/N ratio, headroom will all be improved by 1,000,000%(Not actual figures). If you have good mics, don't spend your hard earned money on a preamp that's just doing the job your console needs to be doing.

Second, depending on how often you do it, re-capping your modules with panasonic electrolytic cans will get rid of your noise by leaps and bounds. Also, what kind of voltage is running through your power supply? Not the stuff coming out of the walls, but the power coming from the rack unit into the console(+/-18V, 24V, etc.)? Mouser is a company that distribues both Industrial and medical power supplies and the medical PS's work wonders on consistent sound(You'll never believe what a good PS will do till you've tried one).

Only until you need a DIFFERENT sound, use a separate preamp especially with a console like yours.

[Chris Cavell]

Well, you could play with the opamps if you really wanted too...but I doubt it would really help out a Peavey/AMR board enough to make it worth the effort...and there is the distinct possibilty of destroying your power transformer by drawing WAY too much current with the Burr Browns.

If these are your only pre's, I'd say that looking into new ones wouldn't be a bad idea.

Before I make any reccommendations, what kind of sound are you going for? High-end pro, pro, pro-sumer, cheap, suprisingly good for cost, etc...are aspects you might want to think about as well. If you mention some of the styles of music you work with the most, I might be able to make some more educated reccomendations.

[LadyElectrikStudios]

hmm right now i am recording different styles of music anything from blues to punk
havent done any dance or hip hop stuff and i probably never will
as far as spending money i was just wondering where to start as far as compared to my board pre's what would be a good upgrade.. in product line
thanks

[Chris Cavell]

Okay, you didn't mention classical in there...so that narrows it some. Is it safe to say that you primarily work with popular forms of music?

Essentially, there are the two classic styles of mic pre, Neve and API. If you look toward neve, I reccomend 1081's or 1073's (or their clones). However, we are at a fortuitous time in audio engineering where a slew of quality preamps have hit the market that cater to the pro-sumer market at near hobbyist prices. Presonus and focusrite, among others, have brought the ability to make great recordings to the public at large. Before I go into reccomending some of the cheaper (costwise) products, you should consider and give a rough estimate on how many channels you'd like, and what you're budget might be.

[LadyElectrikStudios]

well i am not sure how many mic pre's i should start with i am recording 16 via the consol pre's but 16 pre's to my will prabably get expensive and dosent sound like a wise decision..
i would probably say using the mic pre's for vocals and acoustic instruments would be more esential .. i would guesss getting 4 pre's for now would be within my budget depeneding on how expensive each mic pre would be

[LadyElectrikStudios]

well i am not sure how many mic pre's i should start with i am recording 16 via the consol pre's but 16 pre's to me will prabably get expensive and dosent sound like a wise decision..
i would probably say using the mic pre's for vocals and acoustic instruments would be more esential .. i would guesss getting 4 pre's for now would be within my budget depeneding on how expensive each mic pre would be

[Chris Cavell]

Well, there are a few items that come to mind when you say 4 pre's:

Fousrite ISA428 (not my favorite Neve based design, but many use and love them)
API 3124 (my personal fave for a simple yet high quality 4 channel pre...just one rack space too)