Re: What's the deal with preamps for recording?
I'm a big fan of a genuine tube preamp for DAW recording, because it gives the option of a different sounding preamp to those found in an audio interface. Generally, the goal for interface manufacturers is to use the cleanest, quietest, highest headroom preamps they can, which is just how we need it to be. However, for some applications, it's good to be able to warm up the incoming signal before it hits the potentially cold world of the DAW. I was very lucky to be introduced to one of those mad professor tube guys back in '99, a crazy New Zealander, and he was building these beautiful all tube preamps based on the old Pultec circuit. What I didn't realize at the time was that he was going as far as using vintage Mullard tubes, which were obviously a major contributing factor to the gorgeous tone that his preamps produced. He also built me an all tube compressor to complete the "front end" of my recording setup, which at the time was based around the dedicated Fostex hard disc recorders.
When I changed to computer recording with my Mac, I obviously needed to get an audio interface, and I opted to go for broke and get a Metric Halo ULN2. Now these are some serious mic pre's. These days I tend to audition my input source through both the ULN2's pre's and the Pultec, and decide from there which will suit best. This makes for a very versatile system, and by having signals recorded through different pre's there seems to be an added dimension and distinction to the various signals. I might have acoustic guitars which have their open sweetness through the Metric Halo's pre's, sitting alongside electric and bass tracks which have been warmed up through the Pultec. I recently recorded some tracks for a female vocalist who had a very open, clean vocal tone, and by putting her through the Pultec, I was able to add density, warmth and complexity to her sound, which complimented it beautifully. It also meant that very little needed to be done at mixdown to have her vocal sit comfortably in the track.
With regard to the brands and models available, there needs to be a distinction made between true tube preamps and the more ubiquitous pretenders, which usually have maybe one 12AX7 sitting in a prominent place with a cheesy orange light behind it to make it appear to be glowing. These are not true tube preamps. They are solid state devices with some small part of the circuit being graced by the tube, in some cases, I seriously doubt that the tube is doing anything at all. This is a case of manufacturers jumping on the trend towards old school recording methods in the recording industry, and attempting to filter this down to the home consumer by throwing around terms like "tube warmth" and including the cheesy, useless "tube in the window" into their products. This is one area where you truly do get what you pay for. To give you some idea, my tube compressor has a total of six tubes in it, assigned to various gain and threshold functions to achieve its results. I'm a little out of touch with what's available these days, but I'll do a little research and see if I can find some contenders for a good place to start with real tube preamps.
Cheers.....................wahwah
