Anyone recommend a pre-amp for use with Yamaha aw16?

[Aodhan85]

Hi, I posted on here not too long ago to get peoples assessment of how good a sound it was possible to get with the Yamaha Aw16, given that I'm on a budget and need to make use of the kit I have available to me.
The general feedback was that as a recorder the Yamaha was pretty decent, but that I should consider getting a good pre-amp to boost the input somewhat, and then bounce the tracks to a seperate interface for mixing.

So I was wondering what pre-amps people could recommend? I would ideally like one that did 8 tracks simultaneously but would consider one that did 4 +.

I don't have a huge budget, so would be looking at around the 300 or below range.

Many thanks in advance

Aodhan

[agent funk]

I would first like to know what you find is wrong with the onboard pre-amps? Not saying they are the best, just wondering what problems you are having with the sound. It might be you would see more benefit from spending some time/money on your acoustics etc. rather than pre-amps. If not maybe a new mic/mics?

Just seems wrong to me to spend more on the pre-amps than the whole recorder cost. I am assuming you are using the 16g - for the money you are thinking of spending you could get a second hand AW4416.

Yes better pre-amps, better mics, better AD conversion make a difference - but not as much as good acoustics or........ a better engineer! Seriously I often wish I had a pet engineer to get the best out of my limited set-up, because even though it's limited it's not as limited as me And false modesty aside, I'm not bad for a musician. It's just I have a lot of respect for professional engineers.

So maybe you do need a new pre-amp, I just hope you don't think that just by getting one, your recordings will become instantly professional sounding. A good engineer could probably get you closer with what you have already.

[The Elf]

… a good pre-amp to boost the input somewhat, and then bounce the tracks to a seperate interface for mixing.

Is this ‘separate interface for mixing’ an audio interface and DAW? Because…

… would ideally like one that did 8 tracks simultaneously

…at this point you have wonder if you’d be better just getting an audio interface with 8 mic inputs and recording straight into the DAW.

If I’ve understood you correctly the AW16 just seems like an extra, unnecessary step in the process.

..but I may have misunderstood.

[Findo]

or embrace the aw16g (many do), don't spend any more money (or spend it on the room) and experience the joy of mixing purely aurally (i.e. without the visual cues that you get when mixing on a computer)!