Mic Pre-Amp Questions.

[brandondrury]

Yeah thats how i meant to say, and yeah id probably agree it is the mixing, but he seems to feel more comfortable with improving his gear regardless.

There is nothing wrong with improving his gear. Unfortunately, if he's going to upgrade, he needs to do it right. I feel that a $200 preamp is a total waste of time and money.

There is a preamp called the RNP, that is supposed to sound great on a budget and a lot of the pro guys love it. I think it's $400 for 2 channels. I wouldn't bother buying anything else in this price range. I you can see in my Preamp Shootout, the difference between a Mackie and a $1,000 per channel preamp is not as high as to be expected.

The rap guys seam to be big on the Avalon preamps. Most of the rock guys aren't into them so much. Since he's doing rap music, luckily he only needs one channel. For a grand, he might be able to get something pretty cool.

Either way, I still think that skill is way more important than gear and all of us could improve our skills without spending a dime. (Unless you consider time to be money).

Brandon

[richiebee]

Would dude be interested in posting something? There are a few people with production skills that can probably point him in the right direction...

R.

[1 M.I.C]

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/song...songID=4761317

theres a tracc.. hes the 2ne dude.. his parts starts at 1:17

might wanna make sure u dont listen to the 1st dude.. hes not good... :P
oh and i personally hate the 2nd dudes voice.. but i wanna learn about this shit so thats why im following up on this :P

[brandondrury]

Okay, I'm trying to figure out what's going on here.

Did your buddy only engineer the second half of the song?

Aren't we trying to figure out what would improve his vocal chain because he lacks "clarity"?

So did he record the whole song or just the second guy?

I'm not a rap guy, but it's clear to me that these guys did not record with enough "charisma". To me, I hear little more than attitude in rap music, and these guys needed a producer to kick them in the ass or something. No preamp is ever going to fix that.

As for the actual clarity, I think it's fine. I've heard Ludicris recordings that were much darker than this.

personally hate the 2nd dudes voice

No piece of gear will ever fix this. If I dont' like a guy's voice, I don't record them (unless they are paying well!)

Brandon

[richiebee]

2nd dude sounds like his mom is next door and he don't want her to hear him swear. Where's the attitude? If you're going to swear, you have to do it with attitude.
There's a lack of depth in the vocal line. Listen to the first guy... he's got that depth. What is it? I dunno - proximity effect? EQ? Pitch shift harmony? I'm pretty certain the one thing that won't bring the depth is a change in the pre-amp.

R.