{"id":372,"date":"2012-03-10T00:36:40","date_gmt":"2012-03-10T07:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.michaelwdean.com\/?p=372"},"modified":"2012-03-10T00:36:40","modified_gmt":"2012-03-10T07:36:40","slug":"changing-the-tube-on-an-art-mp-usb-tube-preamp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/?p=372","title":{"rendered":"Changing the Tube on an ART MP USB Tube Preamp"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Changing the Tube on an ART MP USB Tube Preamp\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lPwF5091GKA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>(Watch full screen at 720 P for best audio for the before and after tests.) Changing the Tube on the inexpensive ART MP USB Tube Preamp gives a MUCH better sound. But it&#8217;s hard to figure out how to open the case, and it&#8217;s easy to damage things while doing so. Here&#8217;s a step-by-step tutorial on how to do it, easily and without breaking anything. Also included here are audio comparisons of before and after replacing the tube.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B000G1E59U?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;tag=www30dollarfi-20&amp;amp;linkCode=xm2&amp;amp;camp=1789&amp;amp;creativeASIN=B000G1E59U\">Get the ART MP USB Tube pre-amp<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B0018SJLFS?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=www30dollarfi-20&amp;linkCode=xm2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creativeASIN=B0018SJLFS\">Get the Tung-sol replacement tube<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Microphone: The Nady RSM-4 is apparently discontinued, but the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B000DZB8H6?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;tag=www30dollarfi-20&amp;amp;linkCode=xm2&amp;amp;camp=1789&amp;amp;creativeASIN=B000DZB8H6\">Nady RSM-5 is very similar sonically and not much more expensive<\/a><\/p>\n<p>SETTINGS<\/p>\n<p>Here are the settings I use on the Pre-Amp, left to right on the front panel. These are a good place to start, but different mics will require different settings:<\/p>\n<p>GAIN knob: 36 db<br \/>\nButtons:<br \/>\nGain: in<br \/>\nImpedance: out<br \/>\nFilter: in<br \/>\nPhantom: out (for ribbon mics and dynamic mics. Should be In for Condenser mics. Condenser mics will also require much lower gain settings)<br \/>\nLimit: in<br \/>\nPhase: out<br \/>\nOUTPUT knob: 1 db<\/p>\n<p>In addition, I did a little bit of sound fluffing on both the before and after samples, same on both of them. It looks like a lot, but it&#8217;s subtle. The sound before doing this sounds largely the same, but I can tell the difference, and this is what I do always on my podcasting audio anyway. I take the sound recorded out of the pre-amp (recorded via USB into my computer on SoundForge), and bring it into Sony Vegas. I add a little bit of EQ:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/184.173.194.236\/~worm64\/michaelwdean.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/VegasEQ.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-374\" title=\"VegasEQ\" src=\"http:\/\/184.173.194.236\/~worm64\/michaelwdean.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/VegasEQ-221x300.jpg\" alt=\"EQ in Vegas for Ribbon Mic\" width=\"221\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/VegasEQ-221x300.jpg 221w, https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/VegasEQ.jpg 468w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 221px) 85vw, 221px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>And a tiny bit of Track Noise Gate:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/184.173.194.236\/~worm64\/michaelwdean.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/VegasTrackNoiseGate.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-375\" title=\"VegasTrackNoiseGate\" src=\"http:\/\/184.173.194.236\/~worm64\/michaelwdean.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/VegasTrackNoiseGate-237x300.jpg\" alt=\"Track Noise Gate in Sony Vegas for ribbon mic\" width=\"237\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/VegasTrackNoiseGate-237x300.jpg 237w, https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/VegasTrackNoiseGate.jpg 486w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 237px) 85vw, 237px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>and a tiny bit of Track Compression:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/184.173.194.236\/~worm64\/michaelwdean.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/VegasCompressor.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-376\" title=\"VegasCompressor\" src=\"http:\/\/184.173.194.236\/~worm64\/michaelwdean.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/VegasCompressor-236x300.jpg\" alt=\"track compression in sony Vegas for nady ribbon mic\" width=\"236\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/VegasCompressor-236x300.jpg 236w, https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/VegasCompressor.jpg 481w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 236px) 85vw, 236px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Then I render it out, bring it back into SoundForge, and normalize:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.freedomfeens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Normalized-before.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Normalized-before\" src=\"http:\/\/www.freedomfeens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Normalized-before-300x229.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"229\" \/><\/a> <em>Before normalizing in SoundForge<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.freedomfeens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Normalize-setting-speech.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Normalize-setting-speech\" src=\"http:\/\/www.freedomfeens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Normalize-setting-speech-300x226.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"226\" \/><\/a> <em>Normalizing in SoundForge<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.freedomfeens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Normalized-after.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Normalized-after\" src=\"http:\/\/www.freedomfeens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Normalized-after-300x207.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"207\" \/><\/a> After <em>normalizing in SoundForge<\/em><\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s how I&#8217;m getting amazing podcast audio these days. Enjoy!<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re recording singing instead of talking, use the &#8220;music&#8221; setting for normalizing in SoundForge instead of the &#8220;Speech&#8221; setting.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Video and tutorial is by Michael W. Dean<\/strong> of FREEDOM FEENS Podcast &#8211; Michael W. Dean and Neema Vedadi&#8217;s fun &#8216;n&#8217; feisty weekly chat about Constitutional, libertarian, voluntaryist, minarchist and anarchist issues, abuse of authority by police, the War on Drugs, self-defense, States&#8217; Rights, Natural Rights, Austrian Economics, DIY art, low-budget filmmaking, digital recording, activism, punk rock, hip-hop and more.<br \/>\n<a title=\"http:\/\/www.freedomfeens.com\/\" dir=\"ltr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.freedomfeens.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.freedomfeens.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now with streaming audio for mobile:<br \/>\n<a title=\"http:\/\/www.freedomfeens.com\/streaming-audio\/\" dir=\"ltr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.freedomfeens.com\/streaming-audio\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.freedomfeens.com\/streaming-audio\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Watch full screen at 720 P for best audio for the before and after tests.) Changing the Tube on the inexpensive ART MP USB Tube Preamp gives a MUCH better sound. But it&#8217;s hard to figure out how to open the case, and it&#8217;s easy to damage things while doing so. Here&#8217;s a step-by-step tutorial &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/?p=372\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Changing the Tube on an ART MP USB Tube Preamp&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[16,47,70,79,83,181],"class_list":["post-372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tools","tag-art","tag-diy-audio","tag-great-podcast-sound","tag-hotrodding-tubes","tag-how-do-i-get-a-great-podcast-sound","tag-usb-preamp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}