Topic: Noob preamp question...

[powermonkey]

Howdy folks.

I have a question, and I apologise for it being a little basic. Essentially, I am planning to record an acoustic show in London on April 12th. It will be amplified, but  will I be screwed if I don't have a preamp between my CA cards and my Edirol R09? I'm concerned that I'll have to whack the gain up very high (and therefore the noise will be unbearable - and un-removable).

Will my R09 hack it, or should I be looking for a cheap little preamp to get me through, before I get my CA ST9000 ordered? I have had a brief look around, and the Art Micromix looks interesting, so would this do the trick?

Thanks for the help.

[Arni99]

Did you consider using MIC-IN instead of line-in?
I am sure you will get great results using MIC-IN without the need of an external preamp.
Set MIC-sens to low and start at gain 15 on your r-09.

[powermonkey]

I've tested the R09 in front of my cranked up stereo (much to the annoyance of the rest of my household ) and I'm still by no means convinced that the show I'm going to will be loud enough for me to get much of a signal (I've been going mic-in, plugin power in, low gain selected) - only really start getting much of a signal at an input level around 25.

I'm happy to bump up the volume whilst processing, but I can't help but think that the recording is going to be as hissy as hell.

[dmonkey]

I've been recording in 24 bit mode on my R09 and several times I've set the too low, so I boost in post processing and it sounds real clean. I've boosted some recordings quite a bit without any real obvious noise being amplified. You may be OK.

[Kindguy]

I've tested the R09 in front of my cranked up stereo (much to the annoyance of the rest of my household ) and I'm still by no means convinced that the show I'm going to will be loud enough for me to get much of a signal (I've been going mic-in, plugin power in, low gain selected) - only really start getting much of a signal at an input level around 25.

I'm happy to bump up the volume whilst processing, but I can't help but think that the recording is going to be as hissy as hell.

Your stereo is nowhere near as loud as amplified live music. Try what Arni99 said.
Good luck...post how it turns out.

[powermonkey]

I've tested the R09 in front of my cranked up stereo (much to the annoyance of the rest of my household ) and I'm still by no means convinced that the show I'm going to will be loud enough for me to get much of a signal (I've been going mic-in, plugin power in, low gain selected) - only really start getting much of a signal at an input level around 25.

I'm happy to bump up the volume whilst processing, but I can't help but think that the recording is going to be as hissy as hell.

Your stereo is nowhere near as loud as amplified live music. Try what Arni99 said.
Good luck...post how it turns out.

I most certainly will. I can't wait to get out there and get recording!

 

Thanks for the help, folks. I can't give out T's yet, but kudos all round nonetheless.

[Church-Audio]

I've tested the R09 in front of my cranked up stereo (much to the annoyance of the rest of my household ) and I'm still by no means convinced that the show I'm going to will be loud enough for me to get much of a signal (I've been going mic-in, plugin power in, low gain selected) - only really start getting much of a signal at an input level around 25.

I'm happy to bump up the volume whilst processing, but I can't help but think that the recording is going to be as hissy as hell.

Your stereo is nowhere near as loud as amplified live music. Try what Arni99 said.
Good luck...post how it turns out.

I most certainly will. I can't wait to get out there and get recording!

 

Thanks for the help, folks. I can't give out T's yet, but kudos all round nonetheless.

Let me know how you make out ok...

I hope it works out for you.

Chris

[powermonkey]

Hehehe... did I need a preamp? Nope - the show was nicely amplified and the levels were nice and consistent - until Pete's former Libertines bandmate Carl came onstage, at which point the crowd went completely mental. And rightly so.

I'm pretty pleased with how it's turned out thus far - I'm backing up the files (I recorded in 24/48) onto about 5 DVDs just to be on the safe side, then I need to give myself a crash course in post-processing to get it to sound all nice and shiny.

Such a good gig...

 

[Kindguy]

Nice T+.