David Grant wrote:

I'm having a good bit of trouble finding any info on design strategies that
are specific to microphone preamps. I've found some schematics on the net
but there's rarely any very detailed explanation given about why they were
designed the way they were, and what considerations were made. I understand
all the basic principles like CMRR, slew rate, etc... but there seems to be
some sort of understanding gap, and I'd like to bridge that gap. I realize
it's probably something I'm not going to be able to grasp over night, I'm
just looking for some kind of direction.

If anyone knows of any resources that would help me, I'd appreciate it.

John Hardy has an excellent literature package that he sends out on
request; some elements of it are available for download as PDFs on
his Web site at http://www.johnhardyco.com/products.html--see in
particular the PDF about the 990 discrete op amp--but make sure
to request the whole package.

Also be prepared (not at all with John Hardy, but with some other product
lines) to see a fair amount of mysticism and hand-waving that parades as
engineering--but you probably noticed that already.