How much will a new pre-amp change the sound of my mixes?

[heisleyamor]

I have a firepod and I'm thinking about buying an external pre to run line in through my firepod. Will I hear a big difference? I use a Shure SM7 with vocals...My ears are good and equipment (guitars, amps, drums) sound exactly how I want them to sound. I just can't get it to sound nice and ambient and spread out. I know miking techniques and room mics help all of this but I am really thinking my next purchase should be a new pre with 2 channels. What will a change in the pre do to my recordings?

[ryanojohn]

Depends on the pre. There are a ton of clean preamps out there, preamps with character are much harder to find. Chandlers, API, Summits etc. will certainly add a character to your sound, and if that character is the sound you're looking for then it'll certainly help!

[Marty J]

How is your monitoring and room treatment? I'd worry about them before I worried about upgrading pre-amps.

[mattoxxx]

I don't think a 2 ch pre is gona help you capture the sound you want any better. I think good room/convertors/monitors will help you more so than a mic pre.

Matt

[warhead]

At the end of the project (depending on the pre) you will definitely hear the difference in clarity, depth and separation.

War

[heisleyamor]

I'm in a pretty decent room for recording...the ceiling isn't incredibly high which isn't really good for drums, but there are a lot of long corners so it's not really parallel flat walls anywhere. I'm using 2 KRK RP6 monitors...I compare it to a lot of mixes that I like the sound of...I just can't get the sound I want, especially with drums...I just thought that if I got a good 2 channel pre then I could hook the overheads up to it and it would give more a more clear/live sound...any suggestions?

[ryanojohn]

what are some of the recordings you're referring to?

[mattoxxx]

I still don't think a 2 ch pre is gona save your recordings. What mics are you using on drums? Did you try experiementing with mic technique? The converters on the firepod aren't that great a 2 ch mic pre will make a noticeable difference but that still won't gurantee the sound you're trying to get. I'd mess around with mic placement before you drop some cash on a mic pre.

Matt

[mrpony]

I had a firepod (that´s the presonus interface right?) when my rme fireface broke down for about a month or so (the ff was broke when I bought it). I thought it sucked, sorry for saying that. When I upgraded to my fireface it was a night and day difference. This summer I bought 2 vintage design pres ans 1 api512c for my lunchbox, and it was the same experience there. Now I don´t like the fireface anymore, ha ha! So I think that good pres really can change the sound of your recordings, and that it´s worth the investment. But as other people said, without a good room it´s hardly not worth it.. You can build a good room fairly cheap if you have some time, friends to help you out, carpenting skills and are patient.

[heisleyamor]

The Scenery in Detail We Are History partial - Putfile.com

new song for rob - Putfile.com

new clip for gearslutz2 - Putfile.com

those are 3 recent things I've worked on...They are not finished song and I'm still working on them and trying to learn more before I edit them more. I really think new pres would make a big difference for me though, because everything sounds pretty dead and not really acoustically spread and clear. Let me know what you think still, thank you

[Faderjockey]

I don't think you know what a pre is going to do...

It will help..but not for the same reasons you want..Well sort of..

But those clips sound more a like a mix issue then what pres will do...

You would get more out of it working more on the mix..... Retracking something with better pres is not going to make those clips sound better just because of the pre..

The on board pres on those clips could be mixed better and I think if you nail that you can save some money...

But nothing wrong with getting new pres for next time...Just be sure why your getting them and what you expect they will add to your tool box.

[heisleyamor]

Well what does anyone think the next thing I should do is? Anything I can get to improve my mixing? Or something in my mixing that isn't right? Let me know what you think, thank you!

[Kiwiburger]

If the s/pdif input on your Firepod is spare, why not buy an API A2D to add two more channels of classy preamp and good conversion. Then you could add more room mics, if that's what you need.

A preamp can't give you (significantly) more ambiance or solve your stereo panning decisions or substitute for time based effects.

Compression can suck a bit more room sound out of dry recordings. As can distortion (which is very similar to fast extreme compression). Maybe experiment with parallel compression or distortion.

Use of artificial delays and reverb might give you the ambiance you say you want.

Everybody will have their own creative vision of how to improve those mixes. You need to develop your own vision. You would probably hate what I would want to do with them - because I would tend to want to steer them into a more commercially accessible pop sound.

Personally, I would want to introduce more contrast between sections; wider panning of parts; greater tonal differences; more blatant use of delays and effects. And I probably would push the drums into the background with more ambiance.

But who cares about my vision. What's yours? And why do you think a different preamp can achieve this? Nicer preamps are cool - if you can afford them, get some. But they aren't going to magically transform anything.

[heisleyamor]

I would like to pan some of the things I did wider also...But I did that with another song and everyone commented that the guitars shouldn't be that spread apart because it doesn't sound as strong...And I like the "commercial pop" sound too. I just don't know what I would do to change my mixes to make them sound anymore "commercial pop"