PreAmp For Mic Input - Is It Necessary?

Hi Silver,
 
I'll give you my opinion for what it's worth....
 
I'm not a great engineer or anything, but I have had really good "better than average" recordings for most of my recording days. In most of them, I found I got the same results with a pre and without one. For example, I (thankfully) have had a good business going for numerous years and have been financially "safe" with buying gear. I've had so many mic pre's and outboard gear...it was crazy. One day I started getting rid of it because I found other methods that to me, gave me the same results.
 
Now, though this is going to sound stupid....it's really the truth. I've gotten a lot of compliments over the years on stuff that I've done. Rarely have I been asked to speak about my signal chain. One day I made a friend in someone that has about 90 million sales as a producer/engineer. He asked me what I used to get some of the sounds I was getting and he was blown away that I didn't use a dedicated mic pre.
 
I have for years, used a Mackie 32-8 console. I've either recorded direct or mic'd things up. Now granted, there is a mic pre on each channel on that board, but I used so little of it to get between -6 and -10 dB, to me a mic pre was barely used. Other times during my direct recordings, I never touched them ic pre trim knob because the ouput on the device was just loud enough and gave me the signal I needed. So yes, I sort of used a pre but not the way most people use pre's for coloration and all that other garbage. I found that unless I needed a specific color from a pre that absolutely had to be captured, there was really no reason for one.
 
Speaking of my friend with the 90 million sales....I happened to interview him one day just because I wanted to. One of the questions I asked him was "do you really need to use mic pre's?" His answer was No, you absolutely do not!" That engineer/producer is Beau Hill...who was quite famous in the 80's. I need to post the interview up here one of these days. :)
 
In this field, a lot of the sounds and situations you find yourself in will be subjective. Other things will only matter to you or a small amount of people. At the end of the day, you have to use what works for you. I have found that the more people I listen to, the more I go astray and lose my way. Of course there are things I have learned from others that have helped me....but other times, I've been taken on a wild goose chase that has sent me reading for nothing. You have to learn when to stop and read to where you can apply what you learned, and when to move on because something is a big bunch of hype. I've always felt that mic pre's are just that. A big bunch of hype where people feel the need to justify and brag about a pricey piece of gear that may make a 2% difference....and the key word there "difference" meaning *different* not necessarily "better".
 
So though a pre can and will make a difference, the big deciding factor for me has been "what am I going for and how do I need to get there?" In some instances, a dedicated, colorful pre is the answer. Even a tube pre. Other times, the pre in my new Midas M-32 console works perfectly and gets me to -6 dB the way I want....which is all I need.
 
See, I'm all for processing non-destructively. I am in the camp that feels we can process enough with plugins to come close enough to what hardware can give us. Not exact, as there are things that plugs and sims can't do.....but they can get so close, the only one that will notice is you when you solo something up....or some gear snob engineer that doesn't understand that the buying public listens to his $100,000000 recording as an mp3 through $3 earbuds. ;) Don't buy into the hype unless it is completely justified.
 
-Danny