If you can spend the money a tube preamp is definitely a nice thing. My TL Audio Ivory really takes my simple Røde NT2A to another level. Gain wise you look all set.

Congrats on solving your issues. Also consider upgrading to Melodyne Editor if you're planning to get serious on your vocals. The included Melodyne sounds great but is basic. But you can see how you do first. Also, one of my favorite plugins on Vocals is Waves RVox.

Sanderxpander
If you can spend the money a tube preamp is definitely a nice thing. My TL Audio Ivory really takes my simple Røde NT2A to another level. Gain wise you look all set.

Congrats on solving your issues. Also consider upgrading to Melodyne Editor if you're planning to get serious on your vocals. The included Melodyne sounds great but is basic. But you can see how you do first. Also, one of my favorite plugins on Vocals is Waves RVox.

yea, iv'e heard the difference.  Tube Pre's are great!
 
cool thanks for the suggestions - hopefully my singer won't need Melodyne, but if she does, then yes, I will make that purchase!
 
thanks again!

FWIW, I have the first version of the Tube Pre and do like it.  Even though my Focusrite 18i6 mic pres doe sound decent, the Tube Pre adds both gain and variable tube-iness that I prefer.
 

Hello Everyone,
 
Sorry for resurrecting this old thread.  I just wanted to make sure I am getting the sound out of the mic and the audio interface that I should be getting.
 
I understand dry vocals never sit well in a mix, but I just want to make sure everything is sounds good now.   

How do the "S" sound and overall tone?   

I guess I am trying to know if this is a normal sound for a dry AKG C214 mic going right into an interface (no preamp).
 
https://goo.gl/ZtZMrX
 
Thanks everybody!