Focusrite's Saffire PRO 26

[jesseturton]

What I would like to know is - Ok so you have a really nice mic. Then what should you have - a great pre amp ( ie Grace audio , Avalon - ect) - then what if anything ( as I am just learning ) would you have before your DAW? Would you have someting like the Focusrite's Saffire PRO 26 or someting else.

I would like to know what the best sounding options are regardless of price

[dolivas]

If you have a great mic the second most important thing to get after that should be a mic preamp. The higher the quality the better your mic sound should translate. After that great compressors, equalizers or secondary stuff like maximizers, effects would be what you look for.

However if you get something like a Focusrite Pro, which has some very nice preamps to begin with, you can just worry about getting good effects to chain in.

[jesseturton]

Originally Posted by dolivas

If you have a great mic the second most important thing to get after that should be a mic preamp. The higher the quality the better your mic sound should translate. After that great compressors, equalizers or secondary stuff like maximizers, effects would be what you look for.

However if you get something like a Focusrite Pro, which has some very nice preamps to begin with, you can just worry about getting good effects to chain in.

I guess I want to know how the analog signal gets to the computer.

[dagosto]

The mic preamp is just an analog device used to amplify the weak signal froma microphone to a line level signal (which is like what comes out of a keyboard or a mixer).

The next step is that it needs to be changed from an analog electrical signal into a digital one. Analog to digital converters (or ADC's) see an electrical wave and change them into digital words.

The next step is making this digital signal into a format that can be sent to your computer via USB or Firewire and also allow for multiple channels to be sent simultaneously, this process is sometimes called multiplexing.

The Focusrite Saffire does all of these things and it belongs to a group of products that has become known as audio interfaces. Not all interfaces have preamps but this type of interface is seen less and less in the consumer and prosumer level.

Even though the Saffire has some nice preamps built in, it can probably not compare to a Grace, Avalon, Neve, Great river, etc. These companies focus all of their resources on quality analog products and pro's will continue to use outboard preamps like these when they can as long as this is the case.

[PupatingOmnivore]

In my experience, a really nice mic through a so-so preamp is . . . good.

But a really nice preamp can make even so-so mics sound waaaay better than they should.

I saved up for a while for a nice pre and it really brought things together. Very worth it.

Just my 2 cents.

[dagosto]

Originally Posted by PupatingOmnivore

In my experience, a really nice mic through a so-so preamp is . . . good.

But a really nice preamp can make even so-so mics sound waaaay better than they should.

I saved up for a while for a nice pre and it really brought things together. Very worth it.

Just my 2 cents.

Which pre did you end up deciding on?

[PupatingOmnivore]

ADL 600

Waaay better than anything I ever used before. Bass DI sounds wicked good. Miced acoustic guitar, real nice. Miced guitar amp, same. Night and day difference, really. It adds a lot of flattering coloration to the signal. Just sounds more "3D" like everyone talks about with nice pres. TapeOp and other idealists like to talk about how it's not the gear, it's the engineer. I'm sure there's something to that, and I love TapeOp, but holy crap having a nice pre makes things a lot easier. Haven't tried the ADL 600 on drums yet but really want to.

And of course, TapeOp also reviews plenty of really nice preamps--for a reason.