AllyMusicGirl Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 The Presonus Eureka and a Shure SM7B - what does the forum think of these before I'm off to make a purchase? Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Nahmani Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Not familiar with the Eureka... and haven't used the SM7 but from what I understand it's the rap microphone, or the screaming microphone, the one that can really take a beating and isn't afraid of high pressure levels. Hopefully someone with more experience with those 2 devices can comment. What style of music are you going to record? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllyMusicGirl Posted May 22, 2007 Author Share Posted May 22, 2007 mainly rock vocals - know of any reasonable tube mics or tube pre's? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vpunk Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 I've got a Rhode NT2A - WICKED !!!! Especially for female vocals. It's not tube, but still sounds great. Maybe a tube compressor . .. .like my TL Audio . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikkik Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Presonus is usually decent gear. I owned a Presonus piece years ago, forget which, but never let me down. There is better, and there is worse. Personally, I would opt for a better pre. If you can only afford for a single "all around" pre...welll....hmmm...I might go with FMR Audio's RNC and RNP. These are absolute workhorse, good for everything, basic units. I know pro's that use the RNC all the time, I love them, and they are worth 10x's the price IMO. The RNP I have not personally tried, but have heard it is right up there with the RNC. On a budget, these would be my first choices. OK- the Eureka has an EQ. Yeah, it can be good to EQ when going to tape. But, I would opt for the RNC+RNP combo and EQ ITB instead. If you could afford it, seeing as you are also playing bass, the Avalon U5 is stellar as a bass DI btw. Then, use the RNC for that as well, and you are set...but, more $$$ than the Eureka. OR! Grab a DBX 166 off ebay/used, and then grab a used pre...maybe a Grace single channel or something else nice and clean. IMO, there are better pre's for about the same $$ or just slightly more. The mic...what is it for? As David said, it's uses are known. But if you are going to be using it for vocals, I would opt for one of many other mics. I would go for a nice multi-pattern large diaphragm, and use it for other stuff as well. A totally secret weapon mic is the Nady 1050. Yep- that little ~$200-300 LD tube mic is a wicked little bastard. I personally know pro studio guys using this in place of ~$5k-13k vocal mics, especially for those...erm...more accident prone clients with lower budgets Alternately, I would also suggest the Audio Technica stuff, the 4xxx series being preferrable. For vox, a 4033, 4050, or 4047 would be sweet I think, especially female vox, if you are the one doing the vocal work. For instruments, just grab an SM57. For mic'ing a bass cab, a 421 or D112 will also work, and they are not too costly. And when you can afford it: add a nice ribbon mic. With 3-4 of those mics, you would be able to do a VERY nice job of recording at home or in a project studio, with VERY good results (if the operator's techniques are good, of course ). My persnal suggestion is to look at the music you want to do most of the time. Then start with "all around" solutions intially, and add better, "job specific" tools later, as $$$ permits. Sometimes, you can make interesting deicisons work for you. For instance: with an Avalon U5, you have a great bass pre; add a decent pre for vocal work (RNP, used Grace, Earthworks, etc), and then if you grab a Nady 1050 mic, you are set! Grab an SM57 when you can. Add in the RNC from FMR, and you are looking at ~$1.3k for a GREAT all around, singing-bassist's dream home/project recording rig. Or, go with the Eureka, and add on later. But, I would sub an AT or the Nady for the SM, especially if vocal work is it's intented use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editbrain Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 i was gonna say just get a 57 and use it for everything for a while. i owned a Presonus MP-20, and I did not like it very much. I sold it. There are enough tools in Logic as far a compression/gate and EQ that you could actually get a 57 and more decent pre for the same price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prospect Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 Wow this thread is very synchronistic (sp) to a session I had today. We had access to several nice top end large diaphragm microphones and we ended up using an old beat up SM-57 going into a Focusrite Voicemaster Pro. In Logic all I did was cut some of the lows, apply a small bit of compression and pulled up the Tape Delay plug-in to get a vintage doubled up type of sound. We were all standing back in awe, it sounded wonderful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllyMusicGirl Posted May 23, 2007 Author Share Posted May 23, 2007 Everyone here is so awesome! Thanks to all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prospect Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 Wow this thread is very synchronistic (sp) to a session I had today. We had access to several nice top end large diaphragm microphones and we ended up using an old beat up SM-57 going into a Focusrite Voicemaster Pro. In Logic all I did was cut some of the lows, apply a small bit of compression and pulled up the Tape Delay plug-in to get a vintage doubled up type of sound. We were all standing back in awe, it sounded wonderful. Correction, we weren't even going into the VM pro, we were going straight into a Motu 828. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllyMusicGirl Posted May 23, 2007 Author Share Posted May 23, 2007 I decided on a: APEX460 Large Diaphragm Vacuum Tube Condenser & Focusrite VoiceMaster Pro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeDunn Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 I tried out the voice master pro... it's defenatley a sweet unit. but if your doing more rock stuff you should consider a seinhizer 421 (a dynamic over a condenser).... they take a beating, and give a nice sound to a male voice anyway... not sure about female.... I like the NT-1 for a female voice... but it has a more crystal sound to it. The UA LA-610 is a damn sweet preamp, but with the voice master pro you'll defanitley get more bang for your buck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcel72 Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 I don't know if you already spent your money, but IMHO those Apex mic's are not up to much. They have that over-the-top top typical of cheaply made condensers that just gets harsh every time you use it. Please, get the SM-7. Great mic for the money. Will do anything a '57 will do, only flatter and smoother. Great for vocals, guitar amps, bass cabs (don't you play bass?), horns, and just about anything else for general use. One of the most under-rated mics around, IMHO. I don't want to talk about preamps, other than to say that one very good simple amplifier will serve you much better than an 8-channel-preamp-compressor-eq-de-esser-FX processor-limiter-AD converter with firewire outputs ever will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoink Posted May 26, 2007 Share Posted May 26, 2007 I put up another vote for the SM-7B. I also recommend the FMR RNP as a preamp, it's clean but not overly bright. People love Great River stuff, and a single channel will just top $1000, which isn't so bad for a (good) preamp these days. You can also get a well respected tube preamp for half that. The Groove Tubes "The Brick" is a quality mono valve preamp for about $500, more or less the same price as the FMR RNP. (You should know that if you have an FMR RNC it will NOT play nice with this particular product.) Addendum: It's cheaper in the long run to buy lots of (hopefully used and inexpensive) microphones to get the sound you want than lots of very expensive pres. Also, understanding the true fundamentals of microphones can really help alleviate the mystery that people attribute (partially) to uber-high end gear - the same goes with knowing any tool you're using well. There are some really good (coherent) discussions about microphones. A chat in PDF form is attached for anyone's information. I find the Chat format, and the questions and answers very helpful in an easy-to-read kind of way. MIC_CHAT.PDF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Threlly Posted May 26, 2007 Share Posted May 26, 2007 (edited) §§§§§ Edited May 28, 2007 by Threlly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumbug1 Posted May 27, 2007 Share Posted May 27, 2007 I have a Presonus Firebox, preamps are excellent, not had any problems, latency goes right down to 2ms no probs. A quick aside (Ally - sorry for temporarily stealing your thread!): Threlly - how are you measuring your latency? I've got a Presonus Firepod and I've been curious about it's latency. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DryCounty Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 I absolutely love my Apex 460 and while I wouldn't recommend it as a "first mic purchase" mic I find it is an incredible value. I'd experiment a bit with going from cardiod to figure 8 and back again (after all, you paid serious money for those 9 polar patterns. Better get some use out of them! And when you have learned and recorded enough on them, check out some of the mods you can do with them (or spend on them) on the Prodigy Pro forums. Here's a great discussion of this mic when you get the time (it's 15 pages long but worth it). I'm planning on getting the $250 upgrade later this summer. http://studioforums.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1526095781/m/5301078451 For anyone on a budget (read: me), this mic is freaking amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymbaline Posted May 31, 2007 Share Posted May 31, 2007 Ive got a presonus pre amp and honestly Im ^retty dissapointed...my m-audio pre's are way better. Try Focusrite...Theyve got a lot of good gear thats not very expensive. as for a tube mic, maybe the Studio Projects one, Its pretty decent, and not very expensive. good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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