Mic Pre's, for low budget is it worth spending more Options

[Seth Peterson]

I've been thinking of the berhinger ADA8000 to go with my motu mk2 828 for recording live shows. BUt I'd like to get more ideas for mic pre's, i.e. do they have more afferct than what mics you have, is it better to have different mic pre's for options, or should I get something with eight in's to have better portibility consistantcy and control. What do you use, for what. If I have a limited budget I could get a lot of stuff(nicer mics) for the money I would save bying a ADA8000. A motu rep recomended m-audio's octane and Focusrite's octoPre. What do you think?

[lepetitmartien]

Well, you're not far from a philosophical question…

First it depends af what you plan to do. If you need a few mics at the same time the solution will be the best multiple pre you can hav with a according mics for your budget. If you're less tight, you can on top of the multiple pre (a clean transparent one) have one pre with some caracter.

Or, you can rely only on a few pre each different, and a bunch of different mic. But you would need to know exactly what you buy before hand and especially how pre and mics sound, their use etc.

Tell us a bit more of the use you plan for them exactly…
Will it be a stereo couple or something needing 8 mics on very different targets?

On the mic side save if you in front of a dangerous rapper or rocker (not that all are) there are some very pretty mics out there for not too much $$$, now you may need some allrounders, and some specifics. On the pre side, it's a philosophy question as I said, so transparent (urgh I hate that) or not?

So exact use? Total number of mics at one time? Philosophy?