Help: USB pre-amp connection question
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Posted on Jun 04, 2010 12:32 am
julia365
Member Since: Jun 04, 2010
I'm doing some vocal recordings at home. I recently bought a Rode NT1000 mic, powered with ART Tube MP Project Series Tube with USB as preamp. It didn't take long to connect the preamp and mic to my computer through USB slot and it works fine. Here comes a question: if the pre-amp connect to the computer through USB slot, does it mean it bypass the sound card? I'm thinking to upgrade my sound card on my computer to possibly improve recording quality, but if the pre-amp bypass the sound card, it will make no difference whether I change the sound card, is it true? How to work around on this besides to buy a new pre-amp?
Thanks in advance! I'm a newbie, so don't laugh at me if this question is silly :P.
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CptTrippsCzar of Turd PolishMember
Since: Jun 20, 2006
Jun 04, 2010 03:35 am Yes indeed, it is replacing the soundcard but only the recording aspect. Playback will still be handled by your PC soundcard and I don't think replacing that will do much if any good. If using PC speakers you could do better for your monitoring setup but that costs money.
I personally, am not a big fan of the cheaper art stuff and thought the one I had sounded horrible. Never have tried your model though so just saying.
Really though, you have a decent mic so what exactly are you recording? Pre -recorded Instruments and just laying vocals? Do you have anything we could hear? Maybe we could offer some advice, suggestions, etc. I say this because I have heard some pretty decent recordings come from a horrible setup. When I started I thought my gear sucked, turns out it was me, and I still kinda do but am getting better everyday :)
In the end, I would not upgrade and spend the cash unless my skill level was beyond my gear (unless I had cash to burn, I could do that all day). No disrespect, I just don't know what your level is besides the self proclaimed title of "newbie" ;)
Jun 04, 2010 08:36 am thank you, CptTripps! You confirmed my doubt, so I can save some money for now.
I don't know how to play instruments, only love singing as a hobby (I know, looks like a serious hobby now :P). What I do is to find karaoke sound tracks, record my vocal and mix with cool edit pro on my home computer. I claimed myself as newbie, because I only used Samson CO3U to do home recording in the past. Samson CO3U is a usb mic, connecting to computer directly, so I never worried about sound card, pre-amp etc.gear setup. I only recorded one song with my new nt1000+ART setup, I can hear the big improvement on the clarity and warmness of my vocal using the new mic. Also, no need to do the noise reduction. it's a very quiet mic. Here is the song I recently recorded for your review (btw, it's a Chinese song, may sound a little strange to you :P and my mixing skill is so so, next thing needs to learn)
space.wenxuecity.com/media/1275652126.mp3
One more question: this pre-amps also has one XLR and one 1/4 output, so if someday, I do upgrade my sound card to a better one, can I use XLR output to connect it to my computer, instead of the USB cable? Here is the back picture of my ART
Thanks again!
CptTrippsCzar of Turd PolishMember
Since: Jun 20, 2006
Jun 04, 2010 12:24 pm The outs on the back of the ART are more for connecting it to an amp or mixer I believe, USB is definitely the way you want to get audio into your computer. If you ran an XLR from the ART into another interface you are basically stacking two pre-amps which I would try to avoid.
The ART is a soundcard/pre-amp combo in itself, we just call recording specific soundcards interfaces. There are two main portions to your interface, the pre-amp and the analog to digital converter which brings audio to your PC. Both will determine the quality you achieve on your computer (along with the mic).
Now you could get a nice interface "without" pre-amps that has only line inputs and said convertors. You could run the line out from the ART to something like that, this would bypass the ART USB along with converter.
So yeah, stick with what you got, I will check out your tune and let's see if we can't get better results from your current setup. When the future comes and you know your budget, we can definitely help point you in the right direction.
Jun 04, 2010 06:20 pm CptTripps, thank you again for your input!
As I said, I'm really new to the gear stuff, all I want is a simple setup that connect my mic to the computer and deliver a clean, uncolored voice that I can do all the effects afterwards through software. After reading all above, I think under my current skill level, the combination of nt1000+ART does the deal (even though, I never had a chance to pair nt1000 with other equipment). As you suggested, I will stay with this setup for a while, in the meanwhile, I'm going to focus on mixing.
Yea, please do take a moment to listen to the song I recorded. Besides the limits of my singing skill, I always feel my song lacks depth and layers. I think it's not all due to the hardware, I just don't know how to EQ my voice and add the right effects. Any suggestions on mixing techniques I'm missing from this particular song?
Thanks!
CptTrippsCzar of Turd PolishMember
Since: Jun 20, 2006
Jun 04, 2010 07:54 pm Cool deal,
I will take a listen and see what kind of suggestions I can offer.
cheers
listening now....
pffftttt, don't you dare touch that vocal or the backup layers or any sliders period. It sounds fantastic.
Newbie my @ss ;) Great voice, great song.
Jun 05, 2010 08:23 pm hehe, CptTripps: you are so kind!!! Thank you for the nice comments. You give me courage to sing more! Have a nice weekend!
