Is a mic preamp necessary with the Mbox 2 mini?

[bwandon]

I have been recording some vocals directly into my Mbox 2 mini using an Audio Technica AT3035. Im getting a pretty good sound, but I know it could be much nicer. Someone recommended I get a mic preamp to make them sound even better and sit in the mix. I thought the Mbox had built in preamps? I know it has phantom power, so why would I need a mic preamp? If so, any recommendations for a budget studio? Thanks!

[stoneinapond]

I have been recording some vocals directly into my Mbox 2 mini using an Audio Technica AT3035. Im getting a pretty good sound, but I know it could be much nicer. Someone recommended I get a mic preamp to make them sound even better and sit in the mix. I thought the Mbox had built in preamps? I know it has phantom power, so why would I need a mic preamp? If so, any recommendations for a budget studio? Thanks!

As with most things in life, there are different levels of quality in product families.

Yes, as you mention, the Mini obviously has a preamp already, otherwise you would find it difficult to use a microphone with it.

As to whether you should get an external preamp that would be used with the line in, that's up for argument. To my mind you would have to spend signifcantly more than you spent on your whole system to get any real appreciable improvement in sound. Mind you, you could, but would it be worth it?

Without knowing the full specifics of your studio, it is quite possible that that kind of money would be better spent elsewhere.

[bobwitte]

You do not NEED mic preamp, the mini has one built in. An improvement in sound quality is always possible whenever you upgrade items in the signal chain and as long as the items later in the chain are not limiting audio quality - Mic, preamp, A->D conversion.

Since you could spend thousands on a preamp compared the hundreds for an entire Mbox, the quality of the preamp could be improved by buying a decent pre. The same goes for the mic you are using and how clean/accurate the A->D converters are.

I am only familiar with high priced units. My son owns a Universal Audio 2-610, which of course is an awesome mic pre (2 channels), but I have not used it with any M-Boxes since we typically multitrack record live performances off of an Allen and Heath mixers direct outs into an Alesis HD24 and then import the audio into PT's for remixing.

Hope this helps.

[bwandon]

Thanks for all of the answers. I guess the main concern I have is not necessarily the functionality of the preamp (phantom power, gain control, etc.), but that I would like to warm up my vocals and give them a sweeter sound. I guess I will look into getting something with tubes, maybe a compressor, since I don't really need a preamp. Thanks again for the input.

[stoneinapond]

Thanks for all of the answers. I guess the main concern I have is not necessarily the functionality of the preamp (phantom power, gain control, etc.), but that I would like to warm up my vocals and give them a sweeter sound. I guess I will look into getting something with tubes, maybe a compressor, since I don't really need a preamp. Thanks again for the input.

Agian, I don't know what you have in your setup. However, a compressor (tube or otherwise) in of itself will be useless to you. The only place you could use it would be before the preamp in the Mini, and since a compressor is a line level processor, there is no place to attach a microphone.

You could buy an external mic pre/compressor combo, but to get anything halfway decent will cost. There are some low cost units, but I'm not sure that you will benefit from something like that.

There is a range of relatively inexpensive tube microphones out there which might help you. But please, see if you can try before you buy. Just because something is called a tube product does not necessarily make it good sounding.

[dougied]

you can also try different compression and maybe some EQ plug-ins when you mix as well... Like stone said, you need to experiment and try out stuff before you throw down and blow away money you could use on something else.

[bwandon]

stoneinapond, thanks again for the advice. My setup is basically what I mentioned in my first post: Audio Technica AT3035 mic going directly into my Mbox 2 Mini, which goes into my Macbook Pro laptop. I see what you are saying about my mic not plugging into a compressor. If a low cost unit wouldn't be a benefit, is there something you would recommend I add to my setup to warm up my vocals? Should I look into getting a tube mic like you said? Maybe some sort of tape simulation plugin?

[joerusi]

I want to buy a Joemeek Twin Q for my 003. Is that an option?

[stoneinapond]

I want to buy a Joemeek Twin Q for my 003. Is that an option?

It's certainly an option. It has all the bells and whistles, but I haven't used one, so I can't comment on its quality.

Pay a little more and buy it from a dealer that will not give you are hard time about returning it. Then you can try it out in your own environment. (But please support the dealer if they let you do that).

[joerusi]

Thank you. That is a good ideea. I'd do that tomorrow and I'll post after!