[jpeele]

I'm doing a little shopping for new gear and wanted to get a few opinions from the folks here at GS.

What is the advantage of having a clean pre or a more colored pre?

I know at the end of the day, it's about the performance. Given you have a legendary singer walk in your studio today, what kind of pre do you use?

1. What advantages would a clean pre have over a colored pre when recording vocals?

2. Do engineers use more than one type on one recording? Maybe a clean pre for the backgrounds and a more colored tone for the lead?

3. Is a more transparent pre better when stacking a lot of background vocals?

4. Is it that the clean pre has more clarity or does it's advantage come in capturing a more accurate source? Perhaps it's to not tamper with the character of the vocalist's tone by not adding any coloration? I don't know.

So, if you had Sam Cooke recording in your studio, would you want a colored sound like the Neve or would you want something transparent like the Grace? For those of you who are not familiar with who Sam Cooke is, some of his recordings are "You Send Me", " A Change is Gonna Come", "Chain Gang", "Cupid" etc.

Maybe you have a different suggestion as far as gear. The specific gear is not really the question. I'm really curious to know more about the method. Colored or Transparent or both? I'm talking vocals only.

Please forgive the the long post.