Recording Tips: Preamps

Which preamps are best is one of the most debated subjects in the pro audio world. Preamps are extremely subjective and one of my top three most important things for good recordings. It’s not surprising that this is a confusing subject for many people entering the recording community; there is simply no clear-cut answer on what exactly is needed. In keeping with sticking to the basics as I have done in my last several discussions, I hope to clarify this topic for you all to some degree. I will be focusing on preamps in a general term and will not be getting into the tube vs. solid-state debate right now. We’ll save that for another day.

Preamps are very simple actually, their function in your recording process is to take a low audio signal and amplify it so you can capture the recording. In it’s most basic form there is an input for you to plug your microphone into and an output to plug in to your recording interface. You will have a gain knob to adjust how much the signal is amplified, a phantom power button to power condenser microphones (+48) and typically (although not always) and input impedance to help color the sound depending on the source. Sounds pretty simple right? Well, in a perfect world, yes, but the preamp has to boost this signal without adding too much noise to your recording. A mark of a good preamp is being able to increase the gain with very little noise. Many less expensive and poorly designed preamps will create buzz and hiss as their volume is increased, thus adding unwanted noise to your recordings.

So how do you choose one? Well, as I mentioned earlier, it is subjective and if you are just starting out, your choice will probably be governed by your budget. Good preamps can be very expensive; many go for as much as 3-5K. Many mixers and DAWs have them built in and you will likely find that there is a considerable amount of noise created when the built in preamps are used (not always the case, but more times than not). If you are not looking to spend much money, say less than $400, I’d suggest saving for a little while until you can afford a decent model. There are some very acceptable single-channel preamps currently on the market in the $500-1000 price range. Waiting and getting a quality preamp will make a very noticeable difference in your recorded sound. Noticeable to the point that it will likely expose problems you did not even realize that you had. Usually problems that were concealed by the noise floor that your ears were used to.

You do need to know that if you purchase a great preamp, it might not be the silver bullet that makes all of your recordings masterpieces. There are many things in the signal chain that can affect the sound and the preamp is only as good as the other devices in your signal flow. Considerations are your microphone, A/D (Analog to Digital) converters, recording environment and really just about anything that the signal flows through prior to being captured. Think of recording as if your are building a road for sound to travel on as it is heading toward it’s final destination, in most cases today, your computer. The longer you make the road and the more circuitry that the sound has to travel through the bumpier the road will be and higher the probability of creating unwanted noise. Keep it simple, find what works and sounds good and don’t try to take too many shortcuts, especially when it comes to the preamp.