What Vocal Mic/preamp Does Jay-z Use?

C

crazydave

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HEY everyone how are you. Just curious to see if anyone knew what microphone Jay-Z uses to record? He has very crisp vocal obviously due to top producers and equipment. But ive never heard anyone who knows what set up he choses? Thanks for your input everyone!!
 
he records at the hit factory. they should have a website check it out and peep what gear they have
 
Adlib311 said:
he records at the hit factory. they should have a website check it out and peep what gear they have

... he records at quite a few places..

And I believe his unofficial 'home' is Bassline... isn't Hit Factory Storch's spot?

I know he's recording w/ Storch NOW, but he hasn't before

And to the original poster:

Does it really matter? It isn't merely the equipment (which is hte best money can buy unless you're talkin one of his first 3 albums), it's the expertise of the mixing engineer also... which is priceless... even though Guru and Duro put a pretty hefty price on it...lol
 
no it probably wouldnt matter if you werent a producer. And stop kidding yourself YOU NEED A GREAT MIC AND PREAMP to get a quality and true sound. Whatever is low quality in the recording chain brings the recording down. You should know this if you produce any GENRE.
 
He records at numerous studios, even Rick Ruben's home in the past, but if you want to step into the big leagues, you need a preamp in the $1000 and up price range. Focusrite is a big name in the game, but at the same time I gotta tell you Jat-Z's vocals have the presence they do because of him more than the mic's or preamps. It's mainly what he brings out, I'm sure he'd sound the same through an M-box.
 
Lol! I agree mate nice post.Thanks for the input have a good one.:cheers:
 
What ever microphone Jay-Z uses may not sound good for you.

Most producers have an arsenal of good quality microphones because no one microphone sounds good on every one.

The thing to do is go down to your favorite music/microphone store and try out several makes and models.
 
crazydave said:
no it probably wouldnt matter if you werent a producer. And stop kidding yourself YOU NEED A GREAT MIC AND PREAMP to get a quality and true sound. Whatever is low quality in the recording chain brings the recording down. You should know this if you produce any GENRE.

I didn't say you didn't need expensive gear... but asking what one specific person uses is next to pointless.

ME>Equipment

Anyday.

That isn't to say that ME's are miracle workers, I know you can't record great quality on a bubble gum budget- that goes w/o saying. But don't undervalue the expertise of the engineer either.
 
I hate going down this road because it always gets me the "You don't know anything about engineering" posts, but give me a laptop, any condenser mic(or a good dynamic like the SM58) and an M-box and I can give you the exact same quality as the average rap album. Britney Spears...damn near. We're in the digital ages. Digital I/O 24bit 96kHz if you got that, you got the industry standard. Millions of major release albums are mixed and engineered with nothing but FX plug ins. And recorded directly thru M-Boxes. Even Cheryl Crow did an album like this, yeah, she takes it to someone else to mix, but if it came from an M-Box, how much did the preamp matter?
 
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You know why there are multiple articles devoted to recording vocals and guitars and such? Because even in this "digital age", proper recording techniques are still necessary. Ask any mixing engineer what the NUMBER ONE problem is with the files they get, and almost to a person they'll tell you it's that stuff is poorly recorded. Again, no matter if you have an 800G going through a classic 1073 and into Logic through Apogee convertors, if you don't know what you're doing you can STILL eff it up! Better gear makes the path to great recordings easier, but the person behind it is key.
Peace
 
but when you know what you're doing, you can do the same thing with a Lexicon or M-Audio Preamp. If you have someone mixing it for you, it would take an idiot to mess up. All you have to do is hit the record button.
 
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And we could make wine of piss too, because liquid is liquid. :rolleyes:

Creativity + Technique > Great equipment.
Great equipment > Mediocre equipment.
Mediocre equipment > Sh!t equipment.

Mediocre equipment + Creativity + Technique > Great Equipment - Creativity + Technique.

Great equipment + Creativity + Technique > Mediocre and Sh!t equipment + Creativity + Technique (because skill and technique cannot fix an inferior chain, it can only use it to it's best potential, which is lower than the potential of a greater chain).

Mbox/2 = some point between mediocre and sh!t, to me. But hey, using digital I/O is one thing, but this one thing has nothing to do with pres. Bad pres are bad pres, and a bad pre cannot compete with a great one. Recording via digital I/O into a unit has nothing to do with it's pres, one could very well track, then record elsewhere with a superior pre -- which is likely what those "people" are doing.

This is ofcourse if all things are in order, as far as the entire chain and the project team's skill. :cheers:

----

For the sake of not miseducating people: The Mbox/2's AD/DA operates at 48 kHz max, not this invisible 96 kHz "standard". And honestly, the only real hardcore standard in this industry is 16bit 44.1 kHz to compact disc, everything else are preferences and/or still setting in.
 
I didn't say it was a "standard" you are correct the m-box is 48kHz max. I was saying if you have an interface that goes up to 96kHz 24bit that's pretty much the same quality as alot of more expensive pre amps. I'm sure i didn't clearly state that, i apologize. Funny thing is hundreds of major hip hop albums were recorded using an M-Box, that makes it the "standard" that you speak of doesn't it?
 
deRaNged 4 Phuk'dup said:
I hate going down this road because it always gets me the "You don't know anything about engineering" posts, but give me a laptop, any condenser mic(or a good dynamic like the SM58) and an M-box and I can give you the exact same quality as the average rap album. Britney Spears...damn near. We're in the digital ages. Digital I/O 24bit 96kHz if you got that, you got the industry standard. Millions of major release albums are mixed and engineered with nothing but FX plug ins. And recorded directly thru M-Boxes. Even Cheryl Crow did an album like this, yeah, she takes it to someone else to mix, but if it came from an M-Box, how much did the preamp matter?


No offence, but if you can't hear any difference between recording through the mbox converters and pres as compared to the quality heard on the average major rap album or being anywhere "damn near" a britney album... well, then you are just kidding yourself.
 
dvyce said:
No offence, but if you can't hear any difference between recording through the mbox converters and pres as compared to the quality heard on the average major rap album or being anywhere "damn near" a britney album... well, then you are just kidding yourself.
I must know more than you think. In my 1st post I said that would be someone's response. I engineer at major studios in L.A., of course I can tell the difference, but at the same time, if you know what you're doing you can get an equivalent sound from an M-Box/Lexicon/M-Audio Interface as a top of the line pre amp with a good mix.
 
deRaNged 4 Phuk'dup said:
IDigital I/O 24bit 96kHz if you got that, you got the industry standard.

I can read gud, jah?

I was saying if you have an interface that goes up to 96kHz 24bit that's pretty much the same quality as alot of more expensive pre amps.

There's more to pres than converters. Not to mention the "usual list" of great pres are analog not digital, which means they have no regard to wordlength and bitdepth whatsoever.

Funny thing is hundreds of major hip hop albums were recorded using an M-Box, that makes it the "standard" that you speak of doesn't it?

No, it's actually not funny, but I did smile. To be honest, I don't take that as a pro, I take it as a con. It's rare to have Hip Hop albums sound like the likes of Dr.Dre's team or such -- I wonder if it's because he uses the best equipment, with a great team, as opposed to an Mbox. The world may never know. The standard I spoke of has nothing to do with the unit used for recording. The standard I spoke of is Redbook standards for audio compact discs. You spoke of invisible standards.

Sidenote: I'm not a fan of Dr.Dre, but I do know quality technique. Secondly, this is not an attack, it's more me sorting through information that I feel is misleading and untrue.
 
hel said:
I can read gud, jah?
No, it's actually not funny, but I did smile. To be honest, I don't take that as a pro, I take it as a con. It's rare to have Hip Hop albums sound like the likes of Dr.Dre's team or such -- I wonder if it's because he uses the best equipment, with a great team, as opposed to an Mbox. The world may never know. The standard I spoke of has nothing to do with the unit used for recording. The standard I spoke of is Redbook standards for audio compact discs. You spoke of invisible standards.
Dr, Dre's not the "average rap album" is it? As far as redbook standard, you can quiz me on it all day, know it like the back of my hand, the problem lies in you're analog, I'm digital. Analog is a better sound, true, but it is no longer the hip hop industry's choice. I agree, a preamp means everything if you are recording analog, as you have to agree it doesn't mean much if you're recording digital. I'll fall back, you win this aguement, being that you're on a completely different page. I will reword. If you are recording digital(I swear I said this b4)a preamp doesnt' make a huge difference.

deRaNged 4 Phuk'dup said:
I hate going down this road because it always gets me the "You don't know anything about engineering" posts, but give me a laptop, any condenser mic(or a good dynamic like the SM58) and an M-box and I can give you the exact same quality as the average rap album. Britney Spears...damn near. We're in the digital ages. Digital I/O 24bit 96kHz if you got that, you got the industry standard. Millions of major release albums are mixed and engineered with nothing but FX plug ins. And recorded directly thru M-Boxes. Even Cheryl Crow did an album like this, yeah, she takes it to someone else to mix, but if it came from an M-Box, how much did the preamp matter?
Yeah I mentioned digital and "average rap album" didn't I?
 
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deRaNged 4 Phuk'dup said:
Dr, Dre's not the "average rap album" is it?

It was a ratio of quality difference, as it were. Britney Spears isn't the average Hip Hop album either is it? As much as I dislike her music, the engineering (and equipment used, obviously) is often of the likes of Dr.Dre's team, and Britney Spears was the reference you used. My comment, "I don't take that as a pro, I take it as a con" was in response to the "average Hip Hop album". Meaning, if it's quality engineering/sound your denoting, the average Hip Hop album isn't a good reference point. But, I'd even go on to say that even the average good indie Hip Hop album uses better equipment than an Mbox. But, then again, what's average,? There are some tons of mainstream albums, and some tons of indie, and tons of backyard basement albums. Where are you getting your perspective of averages? Is Jay-Z in your averages? Try getting those results with an Mbox and it's pres.

As far as redbook standard, you can quiz me on it all day, know it like the back of my hand, the problem lies in you're analog, I'm digital.

I'm not quizing, I'm simply stating that it's the only hard-press standard in this industry, What's to know about it? 16bit 44.1 kHz, that's it, easy peezy, lemon squeezy.

Analog is a better sound, true, but it is no longer the hip hop industry's choice.

Not really better, it's just a different sound -- some prefer one or the other, I use both. Hip Hop industry's choice, huh? The Hip Hop Police are hard at work making-up a huge census, eh? I guess if you say so, then, I should believe you. ;)

.....as you have to agree it doesn't mean much if you're recording digital.

Nope, totally disagree. That makes no sense, whatsoever. :D

I'll fall back, you win this aguement, being that you're on a completely different page.

Okay, thanks, bye bye. I wasn't arguing, nor tring to win, but okay whatever you say. I think were in two different books actually, based on our opinions (not the subject matter).

I will reword. If you are recording digital(I swear I said this b4)a preamp doesnt' make a huge difference.

Ehggnnt, wrong again.

Yeah I mentioned digital and "average rap album" didn't I?

Sure did. What's your point?
 
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You are sorely mistaken if you think the preamps don't matter. In fact, I'd suggest that they mean even more in the "digital age". But, hey, to each their own.
Peace
 
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