Is there a way to...?
Home > Home Recording Forum > Recording Techniques > Is there a way to...?
Posted on Mar 19, 2008 10:48 pm
xlakejunkiex
Ryan
Member Since: Dec 28, 2007
is there a way to Turn off/ disable preamps in a mixer because my mixer AND interface have preamps and i have a TUBEPre as well and I have no Idea what to do because I heard that running multiple preamps means GAIN GAIN GAIN. thanks
[ Back to Top ]
WaltChief Cook and Bottle WasherMember
Since: May 10, 2002
Mar 19, 2008 11:39 pm No worries, you'll be fine. All of your equipment has enough latitude in gain that you will be able to chain them together if you choose to. Fancy phrase used in the industry is gain staging. There is plenty of latitude to set the output of each unit to come into the next unit at a reasonable level. A more reasonable concern is noise. Every unit will produce some noise. It's enharent to the beast. Usually this added noise is impreceivable to slight. You might consider just not puting all three of your units in a chain to avoid the noise involved from each unit. Do some testing to see if there is a preceivable difference. I will often use a tube pre-amp chained into my mixer as my mixer is routed into my soundcard. It is just convenient. The noise from chaining the two units is impreceivable and the 'warmth' I get from putting the tube pre in front of the mixer is a very pleasing "effect" in this case.
Mar 19, 2008 11:52 pm ok. thanks alot for your help. :)
Keith WarrenMans reach exceeds his graspMember
Since: Oct 23, 2007
Mar 19, 2008 11:53 pm Yup, Walt said it.
It's all about gain staging. You could put 5 devices in line, and so long as you're staging the gain right, (and provided there's little added signal noise) you'll be just fine. I've used my MXL 990 condenser going into a tube pre, then into a mixer, then into an interface with a preamp and it came out just peachy. It actually was one of the best things I ever recorded. It's on my profile actually, the song is called, "Residue."
You'll be fine- just don't jack the gain on both devices and you'll be fine.
