Microphone or Preamp? Which to Budget More For

So you are looking to beef up your home studio by adding a new microphone and preamp combination.   Now let's say you have a budget of $4,000 to put towards the pair.  You begin to search all the websites and catalogs, but you keep coming back to the same question: Which should I spend more on? The mic or the preamp?  In this post we will explore the pros and cons of each scenario that should provide some good direction when purchasing.  So let's begin.

Like always the results depend on what you are trying to accomplish with the new equipment.  So in our hypothetical example let's say we want an all-around studio mic that can produce crisp, clear sounds.  We also want a preamp that can provide a good signal to noise ratio and does dirty the signal.  So what's the answer?  Well in short, you want to spend more on the preamp than on the microphone.  There are exceptions to this, so let's dive a little deeper into the reasoning behind these answers.

The microphone comes first in the signal chain, and is the first thing that captures the source.  So it is important to have a good quality microphone that properly captures the source content and its nuances.  However, plugging a $2,000 microphone into a $200 preamp will degrade the quality of the signal.  A cheap preamp is more likely to add noise to your signal and even shave off some of the harmonic content through signal loss.  It may also yield a flat, dull sound.  So what's the point of having such a great microphone if the signal is getting destroyed by a cheap preamp?  If you haven't figured it out yet, the goal is to find a nice balance between the two costs that fits your own needs. This doesn't necessarily mean to split your budget and spend half on the mic and half on the preamp; although it could be a good place to start. 

When researching microphone and preamp options carefully read reviews and look at popular combinations that people are already using.  If you are looking to pair a microphone with an interface with multiple mic preamps, then read the specifications to check the quality of those preamps.  There are many great microphones that fall into the affordable range.  Purchasing one of those will leave you with enough to buy a decent preamp to pair it with.  This will give you a killer combo to capture some great sounds. Just remember that the preamp is more important, but don't let the cost gap between the too get too big.  A great preamp won't make a crappy mic worse, but it won't necessarily make it better either.  I bad preamp will almost always make a good mic worse.   Do your research, read the reviews, and compare various combinations until you find a good balance of cost to quality.  

Home Recording Equipment Basics

     So you want to build up a home studio but don’t know what to buy?  You have money to spend but no clue how to spend it?  Well thankfully, this post is dedicated to home studio budgeting basics.  In this blog post I will discuss useful ways to spend that money and some common misconceptions that can keep you from spending more than you have to.  

Basic Equipment:   

  First let’s talk about what you need to get started.  A computer is key for smaller project studios.  Most home studios run off some sort of DAW software inside a computer.  With that being said let’s talk about software.  There are many options when it comes to DAWs.  There is Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase, Nuendo, and Cakewalk.  Those are the top level DAWs that are recommended by professionals.  There isn’t much difference between them in terms of functionality.  The difference comes down to the user interface and what you feel comfortable with.  So download some demos and try them out.  A common misconception is that you need a separate piece of software for various tasks.  For example, Pro Tools for audio tracks and Reason for digital music.  This is incorrect.  All the professional level DAWs can record audio and produce digital music.  You really only need one DAW.  Then you can purchase third party plugins and virtual instruments to beef up the capabilities of that software. So pick a DAW, and purchase a simple interface.  Something with 2-8 channels is acceptable for a small home studio.  This interface will allow you to record audio into your DAW.  

     The next thing you need is a microphone.  Purchasing thing an external preamp is not necessary right out of the gate but I get a lot of people asking about this.  They want to know what to spend more money on; a mic or a preamp.  A good preamp can make a bad mic sound decent, but a cruddy preamp will make an awesome mic sound like trash.  So it is always better to invest in clean preamps.  You can purchase a good preamp and then get a mid-level microphone.  That’s a winning combination right there.  A great budget mic is the Rode NT1A or the Blue Bluebird.  I have been using both of those for years and love their sound.  

What about monitoring?

     The last piece of basic equipment you need is something to monitor with.  So get yourself some speakers or headphones.  When it comes to headphones you want as flat of a frequency response as possible.  This means NO BEATS HEADPHONES!!!  Beats headphones emphasize the lower frequencies and boost some highs, so this makes them terrible for mixing.  You want headphones or speakers that will give a good representation of the audio as it sits in the mix.  So shop around and make sure to look at the response curves in the specifications.

     So hopefully you now have some idea of the basic equipment you need to get your home studio up and running.  Some next steps may include buying plugins, virtual instruments, more microphones, or external gear.  As always, have fun with it.

-Jon

Sources:

http://bluemic.com/bluebird/

http://www.rodemic.com/mics/nt1-a

http://lifehacker.com/5853193/how-can-i-set-up-a-home-recording-studio-on-the-cheap

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/determining-what-you-need-for-your-home-recording-.html

Professional To Consumer: How The Recording Industry Has Shifted

     Let me paint a picture for you.  You are in a band and want to record an EP.  So you call around to professional recording studios until you find one you like.  You book the time and spend a few days in the studio tracking.  Then the engineer mixes the tracks and you get your finished product.  Now you have to build up to a release of the EP.  Finally after a long campaign, the consumer gets their hands on the music.  

     The scenario I just describe is that of the old model of the recording industry.  Recording and distributing music hardly goes through that process anymore.  Now don't get me wrong, there are still many labels and bands that prefer to work in this method and I applaud them for it.  However, the recording industry has been undergoing a major shift in recent years from a professional centric system, to a consumer centric one.  So what exactly does this mean?  Well let me explain it.  

     Since the dawn of digital recording the technology has been getting more compact and easy to use.  Now anyone with a laptop can record and mix music.  Since recording is more accessible and affordable than ever, it has caught the attention of the consumer market.  Consumers are now recording themselves and their own bands instead of paying to record at a professional studio.  Even though the quality if vastly different, the incentive of not having to pay loads of cash is appealing.  Since the demand for consumer recording has skyrocketed, it only makes sense that the manufacturers would follow that path.  Manufacturers like BLUE have halted their professional series microphones and focused on consumer grade products.  They have shifted their niche focus and opened up a whole new market in the process.  Many other companies have entered the market to just focus on the consumer.  IK Multimedia is a company that just makes products for mobile devices.  Their niche is the mobile industry and they have seen much success.  

     So to conclude, the recording industry has taken a major shift to the consumer market.  Since the technology is only getting more convenient, I don't see this trend fading anytime soon.  So if you are a professional in the recording industry it may be wise to think about how you can make this new shift work for you.  I have seen many professional studios close because they refused to shift their way of doing business to keep up with the current demand.  In a future post I will discuss ways that professionals int he industry can adapt to the changing business. 

-Jon