Hi All

I have a home studio that I have been building up for a while now. The vast majority of work is recording vocals to pre-recorded backings. Sometimes there may be a guitar backing to do but thats rare. So the current situation is that I have a nice collection of mics that started very basic 57s and a Behringer B1! but thank goodness I have progressed to buying some good vocal stuff like the RODE NTK, NT1000 and Classic (I like RODE!). I also have a AKG 414 and am in the process of buying some ADK mics A51 TT and Hamburg, Vienna.
I use Sonar and a FW-1884 with a DBX376 channel strip connected via SPDIF. I am now at a point where I really dont like using the pres on the FW-1884 and the Behringer 4600 composer as the sound is no where near as nice as the DBX channel.
So I am in the market for a "good" pre-amp. My logic now is that I am buying $1500 mics I should also buy a "better" preamp/compressor combo.

Given the above, recommendations for a good single or dual channel pre with compressor for around $1500~$2000. Alternatively if you believe that buying a seperate pre and seperate compressor is the way to go...weould love to hear your ideas.

Thanks
Mick from Oz.

Mick, the Safe Sound Audio P1 deserves a serious look for your needs. It's a great preamp / D.I. and an excellent compressor / expander / limiter. Very clean stuff but quite musical (not sterile). All designed and hand built by a former Neve employee in the UK.

I sell this stuff so I'm biased, but it's an excellent fit for vocal tracking specifically. The limiter is quite unique, in that the circuit detects how loud and how fast a signal is heading towards the peak...and actually brings the level down before nasty hard clipping occurs. A life saver when recording to digital as digital clipping is just plain nasty and can ruin a take.

The compression is very easy to dial in and will control levels without nasty artifacts or sounding overly compressed.

Very well thought out stuff.

My $.02.

War

Give that you are from Oz, Mick, I'd suggest looking at the Buzz Audio mic preamps.

I'd also look at one of the A Designs mic preamps. I believe for Australian sales that you'll need to contact them directly at http://www.adesignsaudio.com Here's a review of the MP-1 http://www.mojopie.com/mp1.html

I heard the Rode Classic (the original model) is the best R&B vocal mic ever. I've never gotten to use one but would like to give one a spin.