Do Expensive Preamps Make Your Audio SOUND Better?

my friends there comes a point in every engineer's life when they start questioning the preamps they're using it's been a while since we did a vid on preamps and i'm pretty amped about making this video so let's get to it most of us have come a long way from using an mbox or the classic fast track pro that was my first interface with a preamp by the way the newer interfaces today that come with preamps are more than enough to get the job done but i want to talk about strictly preamps not ones that come packaged with interfaces and converters because we have to realize something as amazing as these products are they're obviously aimed at a budget-friendly market it would be quite difficult to pack preamps converters interfaces dac and monitoring options into a neat little box and then make those preamps beta solidified preamp by the end of this video i have given you the lowdown on the most sought after preamps and what they're best used for so what's happening fam miami here with jst and over the years i've acquired ssl api neve chandler and daking preamps honorable mention to audient who punches way above its weight class but isn't as expensive as the others i love to pump up audience so i might as well pump up my audience by asking them to hit that subscribe button that's my first transition but we got more today we got more so those preamps well those are the ones i've kept anyways and for good reason they are the best of the best and all have their own unique flavors and purpose but people always want to know which are my favorite or what they sound like or this is my favorite one which should you use for what well i'm happy to actually answer because after using them extensively some are actually better for specific applications so let's get into it coming in with possibly the most legendary preamp of all time the neve 1073 i'm looking at that little guy over there let's take a listen to this beauty real quick [Music] [Applause] preamp has a special power that people that aren't in the industry don't know when you're a studio looking to get into the commercial category and want to rent your room out the three most requested pieces of gear are a neumann u87 a c01b and a neve 1073. just for this reason this might be your smartest choice for getting a big boy preamp but let's talk about the actual characteristics of the preamp because some of us are sound engineers that actually care about how the stuff sounds over the perception specific gear gives off so neve 1073 preamps are associated with having an airy high end a full low end and present mid-range literally hitting all of the marks and this would make sense because the og 1073 had a three-band eq that made it possible to alter those three areas to your liking also has one of the best high-pass filters you can use to cut off your subs but why would i ever want to cut off my subs and if you aren't subbed yet make sure to hit that sub button tap the bell and give it a like if you're enjoying this video my transition game is crazy and has leveled up these characteristics lead to it being amazing on pretty much anything but specifically vocals overheads and full-bodied bass up next is one of my favorite preamps ever made the api 3124 or 312 if you want the solo let's take a listen to this as well this preamp has a faster transient response than neve and has the most pronounced mid-range of the legendary ones this actually brings up a really good point as to why recording on a console has a particular sound because all the preamps have the same transient response and everything is working in unison when you have different preamps on different sources there's no way they're going to work together as well as preamps that have the same exact design the api as i said is the most famous for its mid-range so it kills on bass and drum shells this is also due to the fact that it has the fastest transient response so anything with tons of transient information is going to do well with this preamp i don't absolutely love it on vocals over something like a neve pre but it still gets the job more than done mid-range guitars do really well with api preamps by the way might as well move on to the third of the legendary trio the ssl sso preamps are known for being the transparent brand whereas neve and api are known for color ssl is known for giving you a clean and clear sound when choosing sources for this you really only need to decide if you prefer a pristine sound or if you're looking for something that you want to add flavor to let's take a listen to this ssl alpha preamp [Applause] [Music] very smooth and since they really don't have any color to them they work well on any source drums bass vocals keys etc all will be very true to form they're also a bit cheaper than the other two legendary priums so if you just want something that's pretty affordable and you like to add your color in the box this might be the one for you moving on to one of my favorite preamps of all time the chandler germanium this is without a doubt a preamp that you're either going to love or hate i love it it is the most analog sounding preamp in my opinion and i would define this as having a very round low end extremely creamy mid-range and a neve like air depending on how you set the preamp let's take a listen to that [Music] there's a thick button on the preamp you can engage for exaggerated lows and it can be made to sound darker or lighter depending on how you mess with the feedback knob the best use for this in my opinion are overheads that you think are too bright uh vocals for indie pop or post rock guitars and bass anything that just needs tons of color and warmth this is definitely what i would consider a color piece but i don't think i would use it as my desert island preamp to be honest it has its own mojo and sounds very 60s but if that's the kind of music that you're going to make i would take a look at this one for sure let's actually take a listen to this versus the nev1073 [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] let me know what you think about those differences in the comments we talked about ssl so i want to mention what i consider is this little brother the audient preamps remain very much a slightly warmer ssl at a cheaper price point i wanted to add this into the bunch because i wanted to make sure that there was an affordable option out of all of these very very expensive preamps let's take a listen to that now versus an ssl preamp [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] these are great on pretty much anything like an ssl but won't give you the color that you would get from a neve api or chandler germ so now i want to talk about a preamp i've been using pretty frequently lately the daking mic pre-one it's this guy right over here this preamp is based off the trident a range if you've ever heard of one of those there was a console built for trident studios that caught attention it's very punchy and pristine and i found myself really liking these on distorted guitars as of late really nice low end as well but also make a great vocal preamp and since it comes in a nice little desktop style box you know it's very well built sturdy can handle anything that you throw at it and comes with a nice high-pass filter to boot let's take a listen to something i recorded with this a while back [Music] now we're going to take it to something that most people have used at some point which is an interface the focusrite the onboard pres are probably one of the most notable simply because of the sheer volume of how many of these have been sold and here's the reality no one should expect these to sound like a neve preamp they're made at an affordable price for the consumer so that they have the chance to work on music and make solid recordings these are great for travel in case you need to make a quick setup somewhere or you need a cheap portable rig even good for something like podcasting on the go and if there's no other option people have recorded amazing songs using nothing but uh this little guy so just try to remember that everything has a price point for a reason so we've gone over the legends api ssl and knee uh tapped into some more boutique style preamps like chandler germaniums and daking and some affordable options like the focusrite and audient preamp here's the kicker these are all real preamps there's no such thing as a fake one just different categories and classes it's up to you and your wallet to decide which one is best for you are you going to be recording a lot of guitar di do you see yourself doing mostly vocals are you going to be renting your studio out to make back a little cash so many things are important when trying to figure out which is the smartest approach for grabbing a preamp but hopefully with the knowledge provided it makes it just that much easier for you to make a purchase are there any preamps that you wish i had mentioned have you had any experiences with these preamps in the past leave it in the comments below and we will chat about it like we always do if you're an engineer on the come up give this video a thumbs up don't forget to subscribe you only have to do it one time and tap that for notifications so when a video drops you know the location until next time i am out of here mic drop except as engineers we know i never really dropped this thing because that get really expensive even if it is a piece of shirt later

Channel: Joey Sturgis Tones

Views: 49,790

Keywords: home recording, audio production, mixing tutorials, Joey Sturgis Tones

Id: ZI_FedYmJR0

Length: 10min 4sec (604 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 17 2022