USB Mic Preamp with Clip protection that also resets back to normal

[Mordred]

Hi,

i am basically looking for a scarlett 2i2 4gen but with the ability to also bring back gain to normal.

At the current stage the scarlett stays at the level after the protection kicks in and you sound a lot quieter after that. Kind of a halfbaked solution if you ask me.

Is there a preamp available that does a better job at this? I only need one mic preamp but if the device is only available with more IO that is also ok.

 

[DVDdoug]

Normal practice is to simply leave plenty of headroom. Pros often record around -12 to -18dB.

Or, I think you want a compressor-limiter. But you'd need a separate preamp because they work at line-level. Or there are mixers with compression and you could replace the interface with a USB mixer.

Or Zoom (and I think Tascam) has interfaces that support 32-bit floating point and they can go over 0dB.

 

[ChrisG]

You need something with an insert point, or an external preamp.

Mic => Preamp => Compressor => Convert to digital.

 

[audio2920]

Roland Rubix44 might be the most similar thing in that market segment that has a [slightly more controllable] limiter in the analogue stage. Not sure how hard you can push it.

But, what's the scenario where you can't just turn the gain down to avoid clipping at acquisition in the first place?

 

[Randyman...]

If recording at 24 bits with a descent 24-bit ADC, leaving 20dB of headroom will not hurt anything, and you won't have to buy anything. Just add a bit less gain and problem solved. You can normalize after - or compress/limit to your heart's content in a non-destructive manner "in the mix"...

 

[Mordred]

i want this for podcasting reasons not recording. In recording yes i totally agree it would be the smart choice to just do it afterwards.

if 32 bit helps in someway the ssl2+ mk2 would be a wise choice? or the zoom 232?

 

[ChrisG]

Are you podcasting live? Like a radio show?

Or do you have the option to process the audio before release?


If the former, you need a compressor. You could probably do it in software if you're good and can keep the latency low, but I'd suggest hardware.
If the latter, even something as basic as Audacity has options to reduce the dynamic range.

 

[Mordred]

live and recordred. hmm what would be a good device there? i have seen a behringer mic pre amp that has compressor and limiter but from my experience the behringer devices add tons of noise (i have an x32 rack here this thing can do a ton of stuff but it is noisy af)

 

[audio2920]

In that case, I stand by my Rubix44 suggestion. It's not what you can achieve in post, nor what an outboard compressor or higher end mic-pre with dynamics processing can do, but at this price point and for basic podcast use, I'm confident it'd be fine. There's no HPF though, which is a shame.

Personally though, if I was doing this, I'd still just use the 2i2 you've already got, keep the preamp gain lower to avoid clipping, and put the signal through a DAW to control level, EQ & dynamics before sending it onward to the stream. (Obviously if it's with video, you might need to keep the audio latency down, but with 128 sample buffers, or less, and the right choice of plugins you should be able to do it in about a quarter frame and not worry about compensating with a video delay)

 

[ChrisG]

live and recordred. hmm what would be a good device there? i have seen a behringer mic pre amp that has compressor and limiter but from my experience the behringer devices add tons of noise (i have an x32 rack here this thing can do a ton of stuff but it is noisy af)

Go back to the X32rack and figure out why it's so noisy. I suspect a gain-staging issue.

 

[Mordred]

it is noisy cause it is not using the best components. this thing is good for livesetups in a event or something where there is tons of background noise anyway it is not suited for recording tasks. also the xusb card is a bitch under windows 11 it "kinda works" but not really so i would have to upgrade that card to a usb live or different expansion card which are more expensive than the middleclass usb 1-2 channel audio interfaces or almost as expensive as an ssl2+ mk2


also having this 19 inch rack on my desk is kinda annoying

 

[drumphil]

Should be possible to do this in real time in software, running through a DAW, and then using loopback recording to stream the output.

As I was typing this I can see that other people have suggested the same.

Another option with dedicated hardware, that I use frequently in radio production, is the DBX 286s, combining a mic preamp, compressor, de esser, HF and LF enhanecer, and a gate/expander. Around $250 USD.

The Rubix44 does sound like a neat option, with a simple one knob compressor, and ony one box needed on your desk. The UA Volt has a built in compressor too.

But if you use a DAW for the processing, you can have whatever compression you want.

 

[Mordred]

hmm ok, so i just look for a decent mic preamp that is low noise and then get a daw to do the rest

recommondations for daw? ssl comes with the vocalstrip 2 seems to do what i want sadly no highcut available as far as i can see. Presonus studio one pro7 seems to have everything but the hardware is worse (quantum es2 would it be in that case)

damn this is complicated

 

[Lambda]

The X32rack is absolutely overkill for the job! it dose not need "the best components" to be absolutely fine for this simple job.

A Decent audio interface with enough channels and good preamps is all you need. I would suggest Motu M4 (if you only have 2 microphones)
Set the gain so it never clips and do the rest in software.

Or if you prefer this you can buy a lot of hardware to do the same Job... But your entering a very Subjective and esoteric field of audio gear.
"Preamp compressor" combos are not at all neutral and most of them try to sell you some special mojo

 

[audio2920]

I'm a pro tools guy so I'd use protools intro for this. But it might not be the best option because routing between a physical interface (mic in) and then out to a software loop back (output to the stream) and monitoring simultaneously (headphones, on 2i2?) can be clunky on the free version.

Are you on Windows or Mac? And what software do you use to send the stream out to world?

If you can get the gain low enough not to clip the 2i2, which I think you should be able to easily, you might find you don't need a better/additional mic pre. The one in the 2i2 isn't terrible.

 

[Mordred]

the first post was maybe misleading i do not own a 2i2 i mentioned it cause it got this clip protection feature. What i "own" (it was a leftover at work and nobody wanted it so it went home with me) is a x32 but there is the problem of the expansion card being outdated and not getting new drivers and quite some noise. Otherwise this thing has a lot of cool features but it is overkill af cause i only need 1 mic (the scarlett solo does not feature autogain or clip protection that is why i mentioned 2i2 as example)

oh and btw i found out the elgato wave xlr does exactly what i want BUT the thing sucks otherwise

 

[Lambda]

So if you only have one microphone just set the gain right and Compress in software. Almost any interface will do. (waht mic do you have? )

if you to lazy to set the gain right the zoom thing is maybe waht you want.

It just recorded 2 channels with different gains and automatically combines them.
( but it might limit you in the software to chose to work with this "32bit float" )
Its never ideal but almost always good enough.

 

[Mordred]

setting the gain right is kinda hard in livestreaming situations when you get angry at something and raise your voice or shout/scream at something it is very likely to clip unless your are going really really low with the gain but then it is way to silent in my opinion. That is proabably why elgato came up with the "clip guard" that lowers while you are too loud an d instantly resets so you do not have to start at -30 or whatever is needed to not clip while your voice is at a higher volume. It is a great idea but as i said pretty much everything else about the elgato is not that great form what i can see

i currently have a pretty cheap condenser behringer tm1 that was also a "leftover" i know that for what i am doing at somepoint i should switch to a dynamic one but thats what i got.

i watched the zoom video it seems to net work flawlessly with obs (which i use)

 

[Lambda]

setting the gain right is kinda hard in livestreaming situations when you get angry at something and raise your voice or shout/scream at something it is very likely to clip unless your are going really really low with the gain but then it is way to silent in my opinion.

And somehow we do this since may decades.

You don’t need any fancy proprietary "clip guard" or dual DAC like zoom.
if you just keep the signal below clipping.
Do a sound check, raise your voice shout/scream. Dose it clip? lower input gain.

then set up software: EQ, compression, limiter, expanded, gain, De-essing, Dynamic effects, gain, noise reduction, normalization... what ever you like.
It has never be that easy and cheap as today there is like a million pod casters and live streamer and tutorials on how to set this effects up.


If your microphone is not "fancy" super high dynamic and super low noise you don't need a Fancy interface or preamp.

Condenser microphones generally have a preamp build in anyways

And still waht dose a good Podcast/Live stream is the podcaster.
The same way a Fancy camera don’t make a good photographer.


Maybe search for " basic voice actor mic techniques". if you want to scream get away from the microphone and scream of axis and so on

 

[Mordred]

uhm no i have seen/heard tons of channels that do clip when they raise their voice a lot or are extremly quiet (that is a problem on the tubes in general with constantly changing audio levels depending on what you watch). So no i would not say this has been solved for live streams where you can not easily adjust in post. It certainly works when you just record and then simpley normalize it and be done with it.

the livestream situation is another thing. Some stuff records at 2 levels at once (the zoom 232 does this) to work around this i also know some videocameras having this feature for uncontrolled situations.