Featured
-
EXS24 Drum Kit -
Monome? -
Control logic from your iOS device -
Behringer Vs. Neve??!!! -
A controller in every hand!
You are here
Neve vs. Behringer
Preamps are the subject of audio engineer affection and lust. You plug a microphone into a preamp to bring their signal up to a level that electronic devices can record. Microphones leave a fingerprint on each recording by way of their frequency response. The preamp seems to do the same, but with much more subtlety. I recently acquired some nice preamps and was wondering how they compare to a behringer preamp. I have been using presonus xmax preamps on the digimax preamp but decided to use the utility behringer since it would have the biggest difference from my new preamps. I may have a cheaper preamp (sm audio!), but everyone is familar with the Behringer - so affordable, but still a usable preamp.
I recently soldered together an SCA (http://www.seventhcircleaudio.com) preamp kit with one of the modules being a Neve preamp - a favored microphone preamplifer in many studios. I also had one other lower quality mic preamp, but still costing much more than the Behringer.
I recorded a drumset with separate takes plugged into the same mics and then adjusted to match levels as best as I could using the gain on the preamps and then Logic level meter. I tried to make sure the level of the snare and kick channels peaked at the same measurement. My first 'shootout', and by no means scientific or accurate.
Behringer on the left, SCA on the right.
The Behringer is the UB802 6 channel mixer with two preamps. Retail $50 several years ago.
The 'Neve' is a Seventh Circle Audio kit with 1 N72 and 1 T15. The N72 is plugged into the kick. The T15 is plugged into the snare. The N72 is a Neve replica and the T15 can be compared to the DAV preamp from what I hear. So we'll say $500 and $250 for each of those equivalents.
Kick mic is a sennheiser e602 about 1.3 ft back from the kick. S
Snare mic is sm57 3-4 inches from the rim, up one inch, angled downward a bit, trying to get a bit of hi-hat.
I can hear a difference - what about you? My conclusion in the comments.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Behringer Drum Loop | 423.59 KB |
| SCA Drum Loop | 470.12 KB |
| 8 Measures of Behringer and 8 Measures of SCA | 841.55 KB |
Comments
Turn the speakers up...
To me, the kick sound totally changes, from a bit of a puffy sound to something else. Don't know how to describe, it but it's definitely better. Is it worth the money though? Hard to say. It's nice knowing you have top of the line gear to record with. I have a few solid mics, so now the weakness in the room seems to be acoustics.
Agreed, it's hard to say.
I agree, the SCA version definitely sounds better, but what's the value? Could the Behringer version be improved (with your existing plugins) to where the difference is lost in a mix -- especially if the money spent on the preamps had instead gone into acoustic treatment of the room?Choose one: A better recording of a bad room, or an "okay" recording of a good room.How much will the room's sound play into what you are recording?Of course, we only listened to 2 tracks. Differences will be compounded as more tracks are layered, a fact which applies to the acoustics as well as the electronics. We can't dismiss the need for a good room and good preamps, in the end.My thinking is this: You've got to tackle the acoustics, no matter what. So, first make the room sound good, then find mics and preamps that work in it. (And you may be satisfied with your inexpesive pres, in the end.)
Priorities
I totally agree about the acoustics. Performance, instrument, acoustics, mics, plugins, preamps. I think that might be a good priority for where to improve first.
It's all in the harmonics
What you can hear, especially in the kick, is harmonic distortion. I think the best word to describe the drums with the Neve type pres is "immediate". They are right there where as the behringer pres are a little more "back", not bad or terrible but definitely not as present as the other pres. I'm listening on my Macbook speakers at the moment so I can't comment on what's happening in the low end and other subtleties (going to take a listen later in the control room). What you should look at if you do a another A/B test is RMS output. I'm sure you'll find the Neve style pres are "thicker" than the behringers which gives them that "sound" so many people want.
Once I heard it, the
Once I heard it, the difference was night and day. You can't hear the sound of the snares on the bottom head in the behringer recording. As soon as you switch to the SCA pres it jumps right out front.