192I/O & Mic Pres

I'm usually loath to step into these, but recent experience has been pretty profound. I've got a pretty wide range of mic pres, from ancient RCA tube and solid state to a couple of Neves, some Dakings, etc., all of which I love. Recent experience involving an outside engineer (i.e. someone whose ear I trust far more than my own damaged by decades in front of Vox amps and cymbals), though, has put my D.W. Fearn preamps way out front. The headroom is miraculous, the sound is spectacular. Whether it's "transparent" or "colored" is beyond me....all I know is that whenever we're cutting seriously critical sounds we always end up with the Big Red Mic Pres.

Thanx all for your replies. For the most part my studio is rented out to different producers and my personal taste will not be as important. Therefore, I just want to get the model that is most widely used in studios which many different producers are familiar with. Wished I could buy couple of them but my budget allows only one for now. Any inputs please?

You won't go wrong with a Neve 9098. Everything else is all wanna-be-Neve!

Brent Averill 1272 (Neve) two channel for $1,700.00. It is the most admired basic, simple pre. It will color the low end and will make the bottom end sound huge. It will fatten samples, synths and mixes. Cheers

I've had experience recording vocals with the Avalon VT-737SP. I would not recommend it, if you're looking for consistency. I found the pre to have a particular sound (which sounds great) but is hard to keep consistent. Any slight adjustments to your settings, (especially if you're using the Avalon compressor) and everything changes. Sounds good, but if you do overdubbing later, you might not get the exact same sound. I like the sound, it's just too touchy. I also wouldn't consider it an "industry standard." If that's what you're looking for, you can't go wrong with a Neve. Although the Mackie pres probably qualify as an industry standard by now... -fb

You could get a Cranesong Spider and take care of everything it sounds like you need at the same time....8-channels of arguably the finest pres anywhere. It also has some other nice features...