Hi,
This is a studio gear question. I'm self taught live sound guy (3yrs pubs and clubs), but now want to do some home studio recording. I originally posted this on the live sound LAB Lounge forum and it was sensibly suggested to post here.
I am querying the best Mic pre amp and A/D convertor to use with my microphones.
Budget is low moderate – 5 to 600 dollars with some wiggle room maybe...
Music to record will be gentle solo Indie Folk with some Ambient sound / fills distant in the background. Home studio covered in carpet and soft material (a genuine fire hazard but sounds great)
I'm in Australia
Mics I have Rode NT 1 and Rode NT2A
Rode M1 (used for gigging)
Shure 57 and 58 gigs / drums / instruments
Beyerdynamic TGV 50d – quite nice mic.
So nothing superfi but still okay I feel
Mixers
Midas MR18 – just got and love it.
The Midas preamps are noticeably nice when I mix live sound compared to the Yamaha.
Yamaha MG16 usb analogue but with 2 track USB
(And Zoom R16 used for quick stuff in rehearsals but even I think the preamps on it are noisy)
And I have Zoom H6 – used for live recording.
Current interface - A/D convertor
Presonus 1818 VSL
My question is how to get the best mic preamp and A/D conversion within budget.
If I buy a mic pre amp say a DBX 580 it still has to go through the Presonus or Midas or Yamaha to get onto the computer.
Given where I'm at with gear is the presonus going to be good enough, or should I get a single channel pre amp A/D convertor – is there such a thing. Is that what the DBX 376 is. This may seem a stupid quiestion but how do I get the 'digital' signal from the 376 into my computer as the 376 has no USB on it. My presonous 1717 has adat and spidf (rca looking inputs) The 376 digital outs has an XLR and the spidf looks like an rca in the photo)
On the live forum the Audient ID14 or ID22 were suggested. ID14 looks nice but I like the idea of having some tubes in the preamp...
I'm not a gear dude – I just buy stuff for particular jobs and this is what I've got at present.
Thanks for reading. I'm okay if you tell me my current stuff is rubbish – I'd love all sorts of things but for now this is where it's at.
Cheers'
Thank you for any advice