A hi-end mic with a normal preamp combo or a hi-end preamp with a normal mic combo??

[sj2six]

Lets say if you have limited budget which only allows you to purchase either a:

Hi-end preamp (such as Avalon, API, Neve, etc.) with a normal mic (such as Rode NT-series, AudioTechnica, etc.),

or a Hi-end mic (such as Neumann U87, etc.) with a normal preamp (focusrite TrakMaster, JoeMeek OneQ, etc.)...

which combination would you go for?
Hi-end preamp with normal mic?
or Hi end mic with normal preamp?
or above average (but not hi-end) preamp with above average (but not hi-end) mic??
And Why??




And apart from that, would you go for a..
tube-mic with solid-state preamp combo,
or a solid-state mic with a tube-preamp combo??
And Why??

[Audiop]

Solid state pre with solid state mic.

Get the best mic you can for the job and spend most of the money there.. meaning low enough noise and a polar pattern suitable for the job. Also a balanced frequency reponse and low distortion of course. Thise parameters is what makes a mic what it is. Price tag and goldplating is not a performance parameter.

Spend the rest of the money on a decent pre with good measured performance and in that situaiton you can take your time and try out better (and possibly more expenisve).

That's the only sensible approach IMO.


/Peter

[Shaolin]

+1 to audiop.

I feel strongly that people waste precious money (and mental energy) on the wrong things and worry too much about the gear they don't have. OK it's GS and we're all entitled to dream, but I know I have benefited from practical real world solutions that keeps me focused on producing music.

Most people say that the mic has more impact on the sound than the pre. So you'd probably see more impact with a better mic and an acceptable pre. I'd therefore avoid a tube pre at that price.

Backing up my high horse a moment, if you'll indulge me, pretty much the closer to the source, the more important things become. So of course the music/lyrics are most important - otherwise you could be capturing garbage perfectly. Next comes the performance. Then the room. To adapt your question, I'd take a good blanket or comforter over a good mic any day. Again, you would be capturing bad sound well without proper absorption. Better to capture good sound adequately for sure.

Only then should you consider mics and pres. My personal view and approach has been to ensure I don't have any weak links in my chain. So I spread my money over mics, pres, adda, monitoring etc. Then if I spot a problem or have the spare cash I upgrade.

Finally remember that high end gear is expensive because it (usually) is 'better' in some way, often subjective and personal, but sometimes you're hard pressed to hear that finesse against some of the decent mid range stuff, especially if the rest of your chain isn't able to keep up! Maybe head to head you'll hear it, but in isolation you could well decide that you don't need to waste $$$ for 0.% improvement.

[larry b]

Get the best sounding mic you can afford. Try to demo them, rent them, go to a studio and check a few out for a couple of hours, whatever you gotta do. Spend the money on the mic and get a basic, high quality (not necessariy high-end) mic preamp. The UA Solo 610 is fantastic for the price, if you want a tube pre.

[JPeters86]

In my experience a better mic will make more of a difference than a better pre. Although a bad pre can make good mics sound aweful. But a good mic into a decent pre will sound better than a decent mic into a good pre