Sound card question?

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Member Since: Jan 13, 2003

I am new into the PC recording thingy and i have a couple questions on sound cards and what not. First, i just bought a MXL2003 microphone, i have a SB live with the live drive in front, and also i have recording software. If i buy a mic preamp(to supply the phantom power for the microphone) what gain setting should i use. I ask this because there is already a gain knob on the live drive.

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Cone Poker
Member
Since: Apr 07, 2002


Jan 13, 2003 04:48 pm

For the most part you're going to want to get that mic as hot as you can before clipping. The thing about gain though is when you use too much of it you introduce noise and buzz to the signal. Just play with the knobs and see how things sound

Chief Cook and Bottle Washer
Member
Since: May 10, 2002


Jan 14, 2003 04:21 pm

Scott, You're everywhere! Easy captain! Try keeping it to one thread and let us catch up. I've worked with these guys for about a year now and they work together real well! A lot of regulars. You have found a real good site, probably the best for home / project studio recording. My two cents. A Behringer mixer is a great idea. I commented on that on another of your threads. I have two. Best testomony possible. The sound card thing, well I recomend shopping a little at musiciansfriend for a little better quality a/d converters on a sound card. Behringer pre-amps are great! If you want to color the pre-amps later there is a ton of stuff out there to do that and the mixer will give you the routing you need to utilize the stuff.

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Jan 16, 2003 09:37 pm

And Scott, just a rule of thumb. Gain staging can be sort of important in a chain of multiple piece's of gear with gain or level knob's. You will want to start at the beginning (mic pre-amp) with a higher gain setting, then as the chain progresses, reduce the gain level at each following stage. This should help eliminate some of the noise you may encounter with teh lower quality A/D's in the SB card.

And I do agree with Walt. You might be better served to hit Musician's Friend and check out a small Behringer mixer. The pre's on those baby's are very nice, and as does Walt, I too own 3 of their mixer's and would not trade them for anything.

Contributor
Since: Sep 09, 2002


Jan 17, 2003 04:37 am

scott, just so you know, the gain settings on your SB Live drive support line level AND preamped signals. since you'll already be using a preamp (mixer etc) to power the mic, and understanding that the preamp outputs at line level, you'll want the Live drive's gains all the way down to accept that line level. got it? if you're still fuzzy feel free to ask -j

Member
Since: Feb 14, 2003


Feb 15, 2003 05:17 pm

Do you really need a recording soundcard or will any quality card do?

Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002


Feb 15, 2003 05:23 pm

Any sound card will do the job (to some extent) just not very well...if you are even semi serious I would gte a recording sound card.

The thing most people don't know is that a decent recording card from M-Audio is actually a few buck LESS than what you would pay for a top-of-the-line SoundDisaster Audigy in any big-box store. Amd they will do a mUCH better job. SoundBlaster SAYS their cards are made for musicians...they lie...

Cone Poker
Member
Since: Apr 07, 2002


Feb 17, 2003 07:09 pm

Yeah soundblaster is rubbish for recording. Sorry to say. Even I got sucked into buying an audigy when I first set up my studio. I'm using a delta 1010 now.

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