Re: Mics and a PowerBook
I don't think he wants to get that complicated. Hell, i get a great drum sound with one microphone, non preamped, running from the XLR cable to the computer. That's what I did my solo with. EQ'd some lows in on the software and I'm up and running.
A really good pre-amp will have some EQ settings on it, but pre-amps are intended to capture the real presence of the natural sound.
I know in the studio, all of the mics go to a mixing board, where everything can be edited, but it's still going to be one stereo signal in the end, UNLESS you do it separately, and that can be a nightmare when you get it into the software to put it together.
I know tons of professionals who just run only a pre-amp right into a laptop. They monitor the final mix with headphones with a soundcheck before initial recording. I don't know of any engineer who doesn't do that with an instrument with more than one microphone.
I think the days are gone when we try to capture the natural sound of instruments. Different pre-amps treat mic's differently for sure, but everything now a days is what you can do AFTER the signal is recorded. If you're recording in your house, I can see a reason for doing reverb and compression, but still.
The sound that you're looking for should be heard BEFORE you press the record button.
It's kind of like recording a symphony. No one in the world (except in the studio) would record each section individually. They usually use two mic's at the front of the stage into a preamp into a recording device, because wouldn't the symphony get it's balance and sound together anyway? And ironically, even though they record each section in the studio, most of the time, they hardly touch anything after recording. Recording each section brings out the clarity of each section, but balance and sound usually is great.
I think trying to get the true sound you're looking for going into the microphone is more challenging than putting all kinds of jarble into the signal after you're done with recording.
That's why there's 1 in 100 really great engineers out there.