Hi guys,
Here my studio setup:

audio interface
1 Orion studio 12 as main
1 motu 828x to got more input
1 tascam 244 to make old record
1 patchbay rean

Mic
2 tlm 102
1akg c415b
1 shure 57
1 shure 58 beta
3 sennheiser e604

Preamp
1 Twin finity 710

Hardware ew e comp:
Warm audio eqpwa
Warm audio 76

Keyboards:
jupiter x
prohet
korg prologue
Mellotron
sub37
dx7
tiptop audio buchla
Rhodes 88 mk1

Instruments:
Guitar electric and acustic
electric bass
sax
violin
trumpet
drums
flute

and then i use to mix with plugins
waves
fabfilter
ssl
soundtoys
izotope

So i m focalized on trap/hiphop music but i make even pop,rnb,soul, dance music and other stuff.
I think i need more preamp with different caracter and i was thinking about the 500 series like 1 512c, 1 chandler tg2, 1 ssl six ch, i want different flavour cause i wanna use all my instrument in different varisation and then have all set for the case i mean when i need pop guitar stuff i use 1 preamp, when i make trap like travis scott i use another etc;What u think about and is better choose other pre?

i would start with a neve preamp (colored) and a millennia media preamp (clean). 500 series allows you to purhase these in quantities of one rather than two.

Good idea.

The same but cheaper: AML and DAV.

I don't have any trouble with the cheap Midas L10 rack for them either.

I suggest you look at Daking mic-pre 4t. It wraps the signal with a very nice saturation and it will work very well with a lot of things you have. You can connect up to 4 channels of instruments or microphones at the same time.

Cheap Seat$ here.
Already love my Useful Arts Hornet.

Got the Color Dial! 😊👍
Chris

which neve preamp? i ve told you about the 512 and tg2 cause i ve found them used at good price

If you want to go to the preamp route I’d look into an Avedis MA5 and an API 512v if possible. These are the ones imho.
You might even find the used from time to time.

(the TG2 might buzz/hum a bit depending on the lunchbox.. at least it did in some of the ones I found it into).

Another option could be the SCA N72 (they also have 500 series versions) or the A12..

If you want a tube unit, look at the new Locomotive tube preamp.

I hope this helps,

howdy

Cheu

Get both.

i wouldn't buy a preamp (anymore) that i cannot remotely control (except maybe for a channel strip)! - anyway, IF you can sink some money and want to go the 500 route, check out crane song syren and weiss a1...

http://www.cranesong.com/SYREN_MANUAL.pdf

https://weiss.ch/products/pro-audio/a1/#information

...however: considering the list of mics and preamps you already own, why do you want/need any in addition?!

So, just to summarise your somewhat confusing first post (correct me if I'm wrong and/or have misunderstood anything):

From what I can tell you currently own 15 preamps: 12 Orion, 2 MOTU and 1 Twinfinity (plus an additional 6 line amps on the MOTU) - Total = 20 inputs

You own the following 8 microphones: 2 x TLM102, AKG C415b, Shure SM57, Shure Beta58, 3 x Sennheiser e604

You are aiming to record: synths, electric & acoustic guitar, bass, sax, violin, trumpet, drums, flute, presumably vocals as well?

Let's begin with four basic questions:

1. In what sense are your 15 preamps inadequate for the task of amplifying microphone signals?
2. How many channels above 20 do you need to track with simultaneously, and how many of these will be taken up amplifying your 8 microphones?
3. What is your budget?
4. Why have you posted in the High End Forum?

He's planning on recording everything live off the floor, 1 take basically (Like Phil Spector but without a gun to your head), and since he has drums like Neil Peart, he needs 15 preamps for the 15 sm57s he's using to record the whole kit, and needs about 20 more preamps for everything else. It wasn't very clear in his initial post but I reached out to his manager and he clarified it all for me.

I also talked to Travis Scott's manager and this is exactly how he records, and not in a random hotel room with a UAD Apollo, a bunch of hookers piled on top of him, then sends the drivel for Mike Dean to sort out and provide the genius part.

What OP needs is an SSL Genesys console I think. It's only 60k so not bad.

15 SM57s !!! wow, who has the budget for that??

Major labels I guess.

the neve preamp is probably the most cloned and copied preamp ever. there has even been different "neve" companies: neve, rupert neve designs. averill makes clones. there is the 1073 series and the 88 series. the list goes on forever.

the 1073 preamp circuit is the one most sought (not the 88), and ams neve in the current company configuration is carrying on the traditional neve circuit designs, including proper components such as "marinair transformers". i would personally get this one:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...rophone-preamp

if you don't know much about preamps, the neve 1073 is the king of colored preamps, and the millennia media hv preamp is world-class for clean preamps. unless you are trying to recreate some sort of historical sound with very specific electronics, i seriously can't think of a single application where neither the neve nor the millennia would fail to get the job done very well. you can always find a quality solution with both a neve and a millennia preamp in the studio.

if you had to pick four preamps, the story may change. but two non-matched preamps? neve and millennia.

I know right, I can't afford that stuff over here.

Check out the Slate Fox preamp. Two channels. Four possible flavors per channel ranging from Neve to very clean. Reasonably priced on the used market.

Not to make anyone angry on purpose, but...preamps are pretty neat, but assuming a minimum level on the pres, mics are more important. I'm not so much implying that you go out and buy more mics first, but there is a point of dimension returns when you peel off big bills for the subtle flavor of another preamp. That said, I picked up a Behringer 1273 recently, $700 and tax ($770 total in the somewhat free state of California), two channels with EQ, stepped input gain, variable output gain, patch points, etc. That could cover one of your base, but not 500 series.

Not sure what level of subtlety you're looking for—with traditional preamps the flavor is subtle, seems like you could spend a lot looking for shades. But for more you could also try something like the Tone Breast TB12, not too expensive. Also, @ chessparov2.0 mentioned the hornet, not 500 nor 19" rack but inexpensive and dial-in-flavor.

I highly recommend a heritage audio OST 500 rack, there's a 10 slot one used on reverb for $680

For an API pre the warm audio WA12-500 mk2 is incredible, it has a tone switch on it for switching the transformer impedance and a DI on the front. Very versatile and punchy with plenty of colouration with the tone switch engaged.

thanks for the fadvice but i said to myself never more warm audio stuff i have the eqpw and the 76 and are the most unasble gear of all time i mean the sound could be even cool but they got so much noise taht's everything become trash

i ve already bought an neve r6 is fine? and the api 512 c, i ll look for the ma5 thanks

the mics right now i m ok even if the tom mic senneheiser are trash, for the other mic i m fine even i think i should buy 1 with a big diahpram like an akg 414 or tlm 103 but right now i m ok.
For the preamp i want just add some flavour to all my instrument and enter inside the daw with a nice sound to mix in the box, anyway at the end cause i wanna just use some hardware gear ahah

yes i forgot i ve even a rhodes mk1 and 1 warm audio 76 and eqpwa. Anyway
1. my 15 preamps works well are good but i think they could be better or with different flavour for sure i think with some classic as i mentioned.
2.max 8 channel for the drums but the preamp are not focused for that i mean i want them to pass everything mono signal i have just to colour or clean the signal.
3.i ve already bought the r6 case and one api 512 right now i wanna spend max 1200.
4.i don't know ahah i ve just subscribed to gear space the day i ve posted it i thought was the right categorie, if u kn0w the right one maybe i can move all?

imo the effect of preamps in terms of their contribution to the sound you can achieve gets hugely overrated: they first and foremost bump up a low level mic signal to line level and behave mostly linear... - or in other words: if you're after 'colour', spend your (time and) money elsewhere!

It's pretty clear, you need to buy 15 1073s and 15 c800g microphones and call it a day (and you also need 15 Cl1b compressors as well for the ultimate flavor). Not rocket science. This is how you make hits in the modern industry. If you can't do that then you're in the wrong industry.

What a console Genesys is. The design, the colors always trigger something in me.

The Chandler TG2 is a great preamp.

API has sizzle. I use 7600s. Depends on the mic and vocal.

Yeah, buddy, better to stick with what you have than buy either of those mics.

Modern '414's are plastic imitations of a formerly decent microphone, now made in Asia by a once great company that's been gutted and repeatedly r@ped by South Korean investors who'd rather sell you a television.

TLM 103's are a headache and an earache with a premium badge. They excel at only three things: 1) tracking voice-overs for books on tape; 2) generating extra business for third-party mix engineers because it takes a genius to make them sound less annoying; 3) recording a drum kit from the perspective of your drummer's crotch.

There are some really nice mics out there at decent prices and regular GS readers know where to find them*. Good mics sound like themselves no matter what preamp you run them through; bad mics also sound like themselves, regardless. I have some cool preamps, but I'd much rather use my mic locker and your interface preamps than use my preamps and your mic locker. You're gonna record violin, trumpet, and sax with what?

Sorry, I'm just a bit grumpy today. Some unelected @sshole is destroying my country to "save" it, sort of like what happened in South Vietnam. I should probably chill out by reading a few posts by @ chessparov2.0 , but I always end up snorting milk out my nose.

David

*The search feature is your friend. Newbies always think they're the first person to ever ask an obvious question like "What mic/preamp/speakers should I buy?" If that were true, old codgers like me wouldn't be so grumpy. You can easily find out what @ PaulCheeba thinks are the best sounding clones for the money, which mic many of us think is the modern replacement for a '414, and which under-$2k Neumann mics are actually worth the money. You can find out a dozen ways to mic any instrument under the sun. You can find out the signal path for a classic Motown hit from the actual session engineer. You can have plug in signal processing explained by the actual engineers who coded it. It's all here, just by clicking on that button that looks like a magnifying glass.

I would get a pair of those Hornets, and these OC818s that are at a fairly good price:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...BoCt3AQAvD_BwE

Yeah it's an amazing console, looks so cool and sounds great! There's 1 room in Toronto where they have one.

The TG2-500 series I have sounds better than modern 1073s in my opinion.

@ David Rick (and my other Usual Suspects of Comedy ) Thanks!

What IS (sorta) funny/ironic to me is
(Yep here I go again)…

How much bigger of a factor than “Which Pre” is proper Breathing for Speaking/Singing.

To create fairer comparisons, just learning this to a decent level, puts any clips on a more reliable level.

Now Sourpatch here was blessed with a beautiful/naturally Placed Voice.

Whereas ‘ol Chessparov here, was/is like the other 98%+ of us.
So…

I’ll be gradually going through all my mics again, now that the lower half of my Voice…

Is getting stronger (credible Burdon/Animals 60’s/early 70’s style vocals last night )

Although I’m humbled by the Vocal Weight he had when so young.
Spill that wine!
Chris