Recording question

[Norton]

Well, since this is the mp3 submission section, I tought it would be the right place for this thread.



Uh, can I use a tube guitar preamp(an mp1 to be more specific) as a mic preamp to record vocals? Mics don't sound bad through guitar amps. So I tought this would work. any ideas?

[Newc]

Yeah, sure, but you'll have to do a few takes first to make sure you're getting the right volume and no grit from the preamp.

I've never seen a manual for my MP-1 but I do believe it has some sort of tube-based Compression which should help a little, but you do realize that the ADA Clean Tube is not squeaky clean like a vocal track requires?

Then again, I guess it depends on the song

IIRC, I used mine to record my "attempt" at War Pigs that I posted a few years ago, but I used the S.S.

[Norton]

Yeah, sure, but you'll have to do a few takes first to make sure you're getting the right volume and no grit from the preamp.

I've never seen a manual for my MP-1 but I do believe it has some sort of tube-based Compression which should help a little, but you do realize that the ADA Clean Tube is not squeaky clean like a vocal track requires?

Then again, I guess it depends on the song

IIRC, I used mine to record my "attempt" at War Pigs that I posted a few years ago, but I used the S.S.

No cookie monster vocals for me


I guess it'll work out, thanks.

[bucknaked31]

You can do that, I wouldn't recommend it. An ADA is geared up to feed a line level signal, you would need to hit a line input for the impedence to match up and still have some signal to noise ratio left. An option however is using a direct box after the ADA, but that leaves two preamp stages in the signal path sice you will HAVE to plug it into a mic preamp. If you are looking for "tube warmth", forget it. What you need is a really expensive mike and an equally expensive tube mic preamp, and even at that a lot of the time "tube warmth" is mistaken for good solid state electronics that are prevalent in good preamp designs in general, tube or solid state. That said, you may just be looking for a weird sound... in that case go ahead and try it... it may sound cool to you and may very well work for whatever style of music you are doing.

[Newc]

Get an ART StudioV3. 12AX7 tube preamp with a real (XLR) mic input and a 1/4" input and XLR and 1/4" Output.

[Norton]

I'm not looking for the tube warmth or somethin'. I'm just trying to get a mic recording.

[Norton]

Alright, I got an Audiophile USB.

There are 2 analog inputs on it. I plug the cable to the left one. The signal path is:


Guitar=> MP1=> Sound card.

Is it supposed to sound good when I record this way?


I tried using KRISTAL to record, even If i select the Audiophile from the control panel, the mixer of KRISTAL, shows MME AC97 Audio as the "master". And it sounds very bad when I record.

Is this setup ok, and which settings should I use?

[Norton]

Alright, I got that "master" thing.I think it's just about the playback.


But the rest of my question still exists.

[Norton]

Someone?

[Newc]

The computer doesn't have the tonal reaction of a cabinet, which means you're getting the MP1 tone with no cabinet/speaker/poweramp color.

You're going to have to EQ it once it's recorded to make it sound like you want.

[Norton]

Well, I used the cab simulator of Guitar Rig, and it sounds good now when I record.




But the problem is, I can't use Guitar Rig as a stand alone unit. It sounds just like my on/board sound card used to.A lot of latency and a lot of noise.

[Newc]

The ADA is a noisy unit. I use a Digitech TSR12 for effects and EQ tone shaping with the ADA and it cuts out a lot of the noise, even with the noise gate off.

The latency may be due to the software setting. If you're using AC97 or WaveMapper or any other internal "el cheapo" driver for the incoming sound as opposed to specifying the sound card you're using (Soundblaster, whatever), then that's probably where the lag is coming from.

Then again, if you're using the el cheapo driver for the output, the latency may be occurring during playback of the incoming sound.