what's going on out there I'm Sean Divine hope you all
are doing well today I've got a quick video where I'm gonna answer the
question this is something that came directly from a subscriber on the
channel he was curious about what the difference is between an audio interface
and a preamp and why would you need an external preamp do you need an external
preamp and you know what kind of interface is going to be the best for
you what are some things to consider you know these terms preamp channel
strip interface we kind of throw them around casually and I think there's some
confusion out here about you know what all that means
so let's just first clarify that a preamp is a component that is going to
amplify the signal of your microphones right so certain mics require more gain
they require more power phantom power 48v you've seen this on your preamp when
you activate that some require that to be powered properly and amplified
properly to be fed into the interface and ultimately recorded into your
computer and those have certain characters about them because there's
different types of preamps so for instance in my channel strip I have a
tube preamp so that means being amplified by a tube an actual physical
tube is going to give you a different tone so versus the preamps that are
built into my interface which a lot of you are using audio interfaces with
built-in preamps most of these are going to be solid-state meaning they're not
going through a tube they're just actually built into the the board inside
this interface and they're digital now some of you're gonna ask what are the
preamps in my interface are they good enough why would I need an external
preamp and it's exactly what we're just saying there's different tonalities so
for some of you you may be working with different vocalists who have completely
different vocal qualities they perform with different dynamics so different
preamps are actually going to work for you you may want a preamp with more
color with more tone with more character to it the preamps on my ufx interface
they're pretty good but they're very sterile I would say they're they're
clean they don't color the sound which is what's intended but I wanted a little
bit more color and you know I use different types of mics that just sound
better with a bit of warmth the other thing to consider is that those of you
who have you know more affordable audio interfaces they're generally cutting
costs on your mic preamp component first so the quality is just usually not as
good with the built-in mic pre so if you're not happy with the sound that
you're getting from your pre you may want to consider you know getting an
external granted your signal flow your converters and your audio interface are
good which we're going to talk about here in a second but as long as that
signal flow is good then you may want want to just step up the quality of your
preamp a lot of you have come to me and said hey Sean I'm just a producer I'm
working in logic and you know do I need to really consider my interface or can I
just pick up $100 interface plugging in some headphones and go this is where the
convertor comes into play because ultimately you're having to change that
signal even coming out of your computer out of logic or Cubase or Pro Tools into
an analog signal going from digital to analog and then if you've got inputs
you're going analog to digital right that conversion process actually changes
the way that you're monitoring what's going on there are differences in the
accuracy of converters people some people will say that it's all you know
in your head I've had a lot of different audio interfaces throughout the years
and have definitely noticed a difference in the quality of the converters and
what I'm hearing from my speakers and those of you using headphones the
headphone amplifier or the headphone output on your audio interface some of
them are not as good at quality as others so that ultimately affects how
your headphones perform how they sound how accurate they are
if you've ever plugged a pair of high quality monitoring headphones into your
laptop and then compared them to what you're hearing out of a good audio
interface with quality headphone output you know what I'm talking about it's
definitely a different thing alright y'all so I hope that gives
you a little bit of clarity again just noting that the preamp is a single
component it is amplifying the signal for your microphone or your inputs but
they are actually included in a lot of audio interfaces and then some channel
strips which this here the aphex channel is a channel strip or input processor it
has a preamp and then we're processing that preamp signal so just again we've
been throwing these terms around and I wanted to clarify that and also give you
some things to consider I still stand behind what I've said in the past which
is the audio interface is the most important thing in your studio for
producers for mix engineers for artists if you're doing recording because it is
controlling everything that's going in and out audio wise into your da W and
it's controlling how you're monitoring that so you don't want to slack on that
you want to get something that's doing a good job with everything that we just
talked about and as far as the preamps again the preamp is going to give you
different character depending on what type of preamp and the quality of that
preamp so for those of you recording using microphones different microphones
you're gonna want to consider possibly having an external pre if the onboard
preamps and your audio interface are of inferior quality hope this helps y'all
if you have any questions about audio interfaces preamps or how to make the
best decision for what you need in your studio feel free to leave a comment
below if you learned anything in the video please like subscribe and consider
sharing I'll talk to you soon