Focusrite Octopre and preamps in general

ogy

Hey guys
I'm planning on building up a semi-decent "one of everything" type setup over the next year and the two areas im a bit hazy on are pre-amps and acoustic insulation

i understand the technical aspects of both just don't have a lot of hands on experience with the stuff.

So, firstly, any experience with this

Seems like an awful lot of preamps for a very reasonable price, plus compression. is it any good? would it be much better than the preamps on my firepod? how would it compare to the bundled pres on something like an rme fireface800

Can anyone recommend other preamps around or under €1000?

Is it better to buy a pair of really decent pre-amps or 8 average ones? While it won't be the 100% main focus, I want to be able to record drums well so is it advisable to use a good pair for the overheads plus whatever else (i currently have a presonus firepod with 8 pres), or is it better to spread the budget to give all the drums a decent pre, either a rack unit like the octopre or a decent desk?

what say ye?

danjokill

decent desk i would think may stand to you better. Although budget here maybe an issue.

PaulBrewer

Mic Pres are one of the 'ceilings' in a system - with Mics and Conversion.

A good idea is a Quality pair (or one chan) of Pres that will be used on overdubs (vocals, acoustics etc. - the generally more hi-fi elements) .
They then might use the same top quality pair for, maybe, overheads whilst recording the kit (or what ever you deem to be most important)

A lot of my customers go for a plan similar to you and go for something like the Octopre which is good (beware the LE!). We've supplied a good few of them to RTE over the years.

We've now usually spec the Audient ASP008 which is an outrageous box for the price. It has the same mic pres in it as their console plus DIs. It really sounds much better than it should.

Our very own StudioRat took one to Morocco recently to record an ensemble!

ogy

cool cheers danjo and paul

so tell me about some good pairs or mono pre-amps that would justify spending a grand on 1/2 channels as opposed to something like the audient or focusrite?

on the mixer front any opinions on the 16 channel versions of the allen and heath zed and the mackie vlz3?

PaulBrewer

ogy wrote: »

cool cheers danjo and paul

so tell me about some good pairs or mono pre-amps that would justify spending a grand on 1/2 channels as opposed to something like the audient or focusrite?

on the mixer front any opinions on the 16 channel versions of the allen and heath zed and the mackie vlz3?

Maybe an SSL Mynx with one or two pres? That would then open up the possibility of an X-Rack in the future if that was of interest.

trackmixstudio

If you stretch the extra few quid an API A2D is amazing. 2 channels of arguably the best preamps money can buy and top quality digital converter all in one.
This unit has completely transformed the quality of my recordings and left me wanting more of them!
http://www.apiaudio.com/a2d.html

teamdresch

I'd go for one or two really good pres.
Everything you overdub will go through quality, and the benefits will stack up over the course of a mix.

Niall - Dahlia

We have the Octopre in the studio, to be honest they'd be a last resort choice for me, though in saying that I'd have been more than happy to have them when I was starting off. I'd only use them for scratch tracks and at the very most on a tom-heavy kit. Don't let the built-in compression factor into your choice, it's very basic as I've sure you've noticed, not something you'd want to be pushing and relying on.

I'd definitely go for a quality stereo pre. A quality pre you'll hang onto for years and years, I'm sure you'll want to ditch the Octopre or similar in about 2. So see it as an investment! The difference in quality between what's been recommended and the Octopre would be like night and day. Check out the TL Audio range aswell.

PaulBrewer

Niall - Dahlia wrote: »

We have the Octopre in the studio, to be honest they'd be a last resort choice for me, though in saying that I'd have been more than happy to have them when I was starting off. I'd only use them for scratch tracks and at the very most on a tom-heavy kit. Don't let the built-in compression factor into your choice, it's very basic as I've sure you've noticed, not something you'd want to be pushing and relying on.

I'd definitely go for a quality stereo pre. A quality pre you'll hang onto for years and years, I'm sure you'll want to ditch the Octopre or similar in about 2. So see it as an investment! The difference in quality between what's been recommended and the Octopre would be like night and day. Check out the TL Audio range aswell.

About time you gave the SSLs a blast Niall, they're way better than people give them credit for. Suit yer Ensemble recording buzz ....

ogy

thanks for all the advice so far lads.

i think i will probably go for a quality pair of pres, would stuff like the SSL and API be considered very pristine/true? What about the stuff that colours the sound (in a positive way obviously) like Neve stuff etc?

i57dwun4yb1pt8

THE DAV BG1 IS GREAT FOR 600 EURO - STEREO

http://www.davelectronics.com/bg1.htm




i use the dav for overheads , vocals , and the FMR RNPreamp for kick snare bass and amps .( with the matching compressor = 600 quid )

the rest is the mackie onyx.

the pres in the mackie onyx are also very good for a cheap desk
( one on adverts at moment for 500 ) - 8 pres included.

trackmixstudio

ogy wrote: »

thanks for all the advice so far lads.

i think i will probably go for a quality pair of pres, would stuff like the SSL and API be considered very pristine/true? What about the stuff that colours the sound (in a positive way obviously) like Neve stuff etc?

API is far from pristine/true. They are very aggressive pres and you can really drive them. They make things sound very forward which is what I need since I do lots of rock/metal stuff in the studio.

hexagramer

i have a quick question!


i use the maudio projectmix but am wandering are the pres at each channel on this desk standerd or are they good compared to say like the API's?

Last Angry Man

Hi

For what it's worth, I recently sold my Xenyx desk and bought a Joe Meek Twin Q. The Xenyx was my first experience of pre-amps and they were alright but I have to say the difference in the quality of my sound now is unbelievable. I'm no pro but I did plenty of research and for me the Meek seemed like the best option because I never need to record more than two tracks at a time and I can also use the device as a stereo outboard compressor - haven't gotten around to it yet.

I don't know what people's opinions are of Joe Meek products here but I was very very happy with my choice. The free mikes aren't great though. Don't really understand the point of them to be honest because anyone spending €500+ on pre-amps probably has nice mics....

As someone who's project studio grew organically from a laptop and a US122 to something I consider to be failry decent, my best advice would be to really think about what you need and get the best you can afford of each. I didn't know what I was doing when I started and I had some wierd combo's running when all you really need is a DAW, an interface, some nice pre's and some nice mics....

My set up now is pretty simple and I'm getting great results.

Anyway hope that helps..

PaulBrewer

Last Angry Man wrote: »

As someone who's project studio grew organically from a laptop and a US122 to something I consider to be failry decent, my best advice would be to really think about what you need and get the best you can afford of each. I didn't know what I was doing when I started and I had some wierd combo's running when all you really need is a DAW, an interface, some nice pre's and some nice mics....

My set up now is pretty simple and I'm getting great results.

Anyway hope that helps..

Good Post, Last Angry Man.

godfrey

look around - thomann are NOT the cheapest out there. try studiospares, dv247 etc.

I have 5 Octopres and love 'em (one more to go to finish the set!) however don't get into their compressors. they're primarily designed for 'safety' if you're in a festival situation with no time to refine your gains when feeding a DAW or multitrack recorder. you shouldn't be tracking with compression anyway, IMO...

godfrey

sei046

Thats a lot of pres.....

dav nagle

godfrey wrote: »

look around - thomann are NOT the cheapest out there. try studiospares, dv247 etc.

I have 5 Octopres and love 'em (one more to go to finish the set!) however don't get into their compressors. they're primarily designed for 'safety' if you're in a festival situation with no time to refine your gains when feeding a DAW or multitrack recorder. you shouldn't be tracking with compression anyway, IMO...

godfrey

I love my octopre, gentle comp on the guitar never did it any harm at all. They are a great unit, the fact that they have 8 inputs, low pass filter, phantom, phase inverse. Great bargain for the price and a solid unit too.

godfrey

for a studio it would indeed be a lot of pre's, but I have a mobile unit for festivals etc. and you can never let yourself be caught short. I can record 48 tracks, hence the need. 'only' ran 36 tracks at Electric Picnic - Cosby stage, but some of the other units were running 48, plus fx mics...

g