Passive mult - sound quality issues?

[Rasmus Schwenger]

Hello all - question for you.

In my studio I use both an analog board and a digital board for different
projects (Digi=post, analog=music). To eliminate patching all the time I
would love to have my U-87 going into both boards at the same time: thru my
Fairman TRC pre-amp to the analog board, and to the built-in mic pres on the
digital (DM-24).
If I patch the mic to a passive mult in my patchbay and from there go to
both the preamp and digital board (getting 48V from either source) will that
cause a signal degradation?

I know patching is easy and that's why we have patchbays in the first place,
but I have engineers working on different projects, and they are not all up
to speed on the patchbay.

Thanks

Rasmus Schwenger

[Mike Rivers]

In article > writes:

> In my studio I use both an analog board and a digital board for different
> projects (Digi=post, analog=music). To eliminate patching all the time I
> would love to have my U-87 going into both boards at the same time: thru my
> Fairman TRC pre-amp to the analog board, and to the built-in mic pres on the
> digital (DM-24).

It's not a problem to put a couple of loads on a line level output,
but loading your mic with both the Fairman and console preamp will
almost certainly change the sound of the mic. Why not leave the mic
connected permanently to the outboard preamp then send its output to
line inputs on the analog and digital consoles? Unless the DM-24 has
some amazing kind of preamp that the U87 loves, you'll probably like
the sound better that way anyway.

> I know patching is easy and that's why we have patchbays in the first place,
> but I have engineers working on different projects, and they are not all up
> to speed on the patchbay.

Well, then get them up to speed or show them the door. This is so
basic that anyone who calls himself an engineer (or someone else calls
him that) should be able to figure it out. But I don't recommend
patching mic level signals anyway, unless you really have to do it.
Lazines and ignorance should not be accepted as excuses.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
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you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
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[WillStG]

(Mike Rivers)

>It's not a problem to put a couple of loads on a line level output,
>but loading your mic with both the Fairman and console preamp will
>almost certainly change the sound of the mic

Not to mention when one mic is multed mic level to two consoles turning
phantom power on on both mixers could cause a problem.


Will Miho
NY Music & TV Audio Guy
Off the Morning Show! & sleepin' In... / Fox News
"The large print giveth and the small print taketh away..." Tom Waits

[Mike Rivers]

In article > writes:

> Not to mention when one mic is multed mic level to two consoles turning
> phantom power on on both mixers could cause a problem.

It seems like maybe it should, but it's happened to me accidentally
and I never noticed it. I essentially do that (and commit the horrible
sin of loading the mic with two parallel console inputs) every time I
use a Y cable to split a mic to two channels to do M-S recording using
a mixer as a "decoder."

--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo