8. Comparing Preamp Noise on Interfaces, Mixers and Recorders

Clean Cut Audio | The Science of Sound and the Art of Great Podcast Audio

When it comes to interfaces, mixers, and portable recorders, not all are created equal. I would even dare to say neither of them are comparable to each other! There are many reasons why I think this, but the spec we're focusing on today is the preamps, and specifically the noise created by budget quality recording devices. Let's start at the very beginning... Any electronic device creates noise, maybe on a microscopic level, but in terms of audio recording equipment, they can all sum up to something that's audible and very annoying to have in a recording. The metric we're concerned about when buying audio recording equipment is the signal to noise ratio, and that's dependent on a couple of things. The 2 specs I really look at when shopping for interfaces (which is about every 10-12 years if you buy right!!!) are EIN and Gain. This will determine how low the noise floor is (self noise, preamp noise, hissing and humming), and how high you can turn up the gain in order to get the loudest and clearest signal possible. Most budget interfaces we are dealing with, the Behringer UMC, the Scarlett 2i2, and things of that nature, only offer 51 to 55 dB of gain, which isn't enough to drive a Shure SM7b to a healthy input signal. What's even worse is when you turn the gain up to 11, it brings up a LOT of noise with it, cause your signal to noise ratio to be smaller, which results in low static mixed in with your voice that is terribly hard to get rid of. In this episode of the podcast, we'll listen to 3 different samples of audio recorded on 3 different devices (or 4 if you consider my recording as well), and we'll explore WHY there is so much noise in 3 of the 4 records, and what we could have done to record a better signal at the source.. Spoiler alert, we could have bought a better, but NOT necessarily more expensive recording device. Links: Clean Cut Audio on Patreon Tascam DR-40 Line 6 UX2 Allen & Heath Qu-16 Apogee Ensemble Signal to Noise Wiki Closing Song: Thank You by Joakim Karud http://www.joakimkarud.com My Signal Chain Hardware: Audio Interface: Apogee Ensemble Microphone: Shure SM7b Headphones: Audio-Technia ATH-M50x Earbuds: Klipsch R6i II Studio Monitors: Yamaha HS7 Mic Stand: Rode PS1A Boom Arm Software: IzoTope RX6 De-Mouth Click IzoTope RX6 Voice De-Noise FabFilter ProQ3 Waves LA2A Waves Vocal Rider Waves L2 Limiter Waves WLM Meter Waves Durrough Meter -Save 10% off the plugins above with this affiliate link from Waves!- *most of these links are affiliate links* For more info, or to ask any questions, check out my website and reach out to [e-mail]