Fireface and SM7

[Shaolin]

I heard the Fireface has 60 DB of gain, which isn't bad but not really in ribbon country. And how does the SM7b sound through it? Anyone know if you get enough juice or is it a bit of a strain for these mics (especially the SM7B)?

[j-madd]

Well I don't know about the fireface, but my ISA 428 has 65 db of gain and I have to get pretty high on the gain output for my sm7b to sound good (close to max). That thing needs a good deal of gain. Maybe you could try the mic and send it back if it's not working for you, ie. not enough gain with the fireface.

It is a wonderful mic though and I have been getting good distorted guitar tracks with it.

Justin

[strewnshank]

You need to be in Ribbon country with the SM7b, as far as I'm know.

[Shaolin]

Yeah that's what I'm worried about. Does the RME sound ok all the way up to 60 DB? Or does it sorta crap out maybe at about 45-50 DB?

There's no chance I'd ditch the sm7 but I'm just wondering if I'll need an additional pre for it - I've got my eye on the new grace 101...

[mcsmitty]

i used the built-in pres on my Fireface 800 and an SM7 to record some strummy acoustic last week.

sounded great! the knob was pretty far around, though.

[buzzjoe]

Originally Posted by mcsmitty

i used the built-in pres on my Fireface 800 and an SM7 to record some strummy acoustic last week.

sounded great! the knob was pretty far around, though.

Great that it works for you :-) Personally I dont like the pres of my fireface 800 at all (maybe the pres in the ff 400 are better?) but they are somehow "usable". I prefer e.g. the DAV Bg No1 by far (or any other good pre). The SM7b needs a lot of gain, 60 db might be enough for a strummed acoustic though (but not for fingerpicking). I like the SM7b very much btw (one of my favorite dynamic mics) but imho it requires a really good pre.

Oliver

[Shaolin]

I find the 800 pres kinda vanilla myself. Of course I'll try the sm7 through it direct but I've got access to a Summit 2ba-221 so I'll call that favour in I guess. Then maybe buy it or the grace 101 if necessary

[Broken]

The FF pre's get much too hissy for me when using dynamics. They're ok with higher output condensors.

[Newcleardaze]

I tried this a few weeks ago. For vocals, you'll have to turn the FF almost all the way up. The pre won't get noisy or anything. As others have stated, though, they aren't real exciting, but not problematic either. You'll be good running the SM7 through it until you can get a nicer pre.

[headwerkn]

I've been using an SM7 for vocals over the past few days and am surprised how far I have to wind up the wick on a Digimax FS. Helps to get in real close to the windshield.

[Shaolin]

Thanks for the confirmations guys. Good excuse to buy a new pre. Grace m101, summit 2ba-221 (which I get to try soon), speck 5, ua 610, p-solo....hmmmm (wasn't keen on the fmr I heard a few times).

[willythekid]

I would much rather keep the fireface and buy a great microphone.

[Shaolin]

Wow willythekid,

I agree the ff is great but I think you might be the only person in the universe to shun the sm7.

[Flying_Dutchman]

I have a SM7B and used it with Fireface 800 Preamps.
You´ve got to use a lot of gain, espacially when you got to record singers and not shouters.
The FF gan give enough gain, but the preamps are unuseable for me for vocals.
It´s a flat, boring and lifeless signal compared to other preamps. In reality i use the FF preamps just for drum tirggers atm.
When you choose a very coloured preamp and got only one preamp, than you could run into problems. Maybe the preamp colour would help one artist, but make another performance worse. So i would try to stay in the clean preamp land.
If you search a clean preamp, Foressell SMP-2 is great, lots of gain, 3D, build like a tank.
got it since some month and never regret it.

[Shaolin]

Thanks for the info flyingdutchman - I'll look into the Foressell - never heard of it before.