I don't know exactly what I need. I think I need a powered mixer.

I recently bought a set of Nady DMK-7 drum mics. But the mixer I've used in the past for miking drums with regular mics doesn't deliver phantom power. Nor is it able to in any way. That presents a problem with the pair of cardioid condensers, now doesn't it? Yes. Yes it does.

I have another mixer that has capacity for phantom power, and the cardioids work with it fine. Unfortunately, it's "preoccupied" for another purpose.

So what's the absolutely most cheap thing I can possibly get away with right now, considering I want the drum mics in stereo rather than mono?

(It'd be nice if I could find something with a compressor, too, but that's a lesser problem right now.)

Its been awhile since I've looked into the stuff but I'm pretty sure Behringer mixers have phantom power on them. They are fairly low budget as far as price goes (quality is great though).

You could just get a cheap dual-mono mic preamp like the M-Audio DMP3 or use a cheap Behringer mixer for phantom power.

Any suggestions?

:p

You could get a pair of Studio Projects VTB-1 tube preamps for under $200 US. I have one, and I think it's a great pre.

The internet is a nice place to live.

Did I say something untrue? :/

Haha! I posted that a few days after I read it, so all I remembered was mic pre-amp.

So... does phantom power come directly from the board, or is it incorporated from a power amp somehow?

In a mixing console, phantom power comes from a power supply (either built into the mixing desk or external (rackmount) for larger/more expensive boards).

In the signal chain, phantom power is always the first thing there.

Mic -> 48V (Phantom) -> Pad -> Preamp gain/trim -> Insert send/return -> Hi-pass -> EQ -> Aux (Pre) sends -> Fader -> Aux (Post) sends -> Pan -> Direct outs -> Output buss

There's no power amp in there anywhere. There is no power amp in a mixing desk, unless you have a powered desk for live applications. The only thing being powered by the power amp, in that case, is the speakers.

Just about ALL consoles have phantom power, unless it's really old or really cheap. Older consoles didn't have phantom power, because at one point it just didn't exist. They used external power supplies to power the microphones, which all used tubes to amplify the condenser signal. Once transistors started replacing tubes in microphone designs, the external power supply because obsolete because transistors not only require less voltage than tubes, but they discovered a way to discretely power the microphone over a standard XLR without disrupting the audio signal.

The best way for you to get phantom power would be to replace your console, or get external mic preamps with phantom power capability (like the VTB-1 or DMP-3). DO NOT GET A POWERED MIXER FOR RECORDING. Powered mixers are noisy as hell for recording purposes.

All you have to do with a mic preamp, is plug your pencil condensers in (that's why I'd suggest the DMP-3, it's dual channel for cheap), activate the phantom power, set your gain structure (never turn on phantom power with the gain set high, always keep the gain at 0 and give the microphone 15-30 seconds to charge before setting the gain). Then just head from the balanced line-outs from the preamp to two line-ins on your board.

I'm looking into getting a Behringer MX 2004A. How's that?

I'm not a Behringer hater. However... that is a fairly limited mixer. I'm not saying that you need a huge SSL desk, but that mixer is very limited. I'd use it for mixing a couple music sources for a party or a small conference with a couple mics.

For recording, you're going to be limited by the fact that there are no direct outs on the channels - meaning that you'll be only sending a stereo mix to your sound card, instead of each individual mic. The only way to tap directly into each mic signal would be to use the insert sends - meaning that you couldn't use them for compressors or gates, but that wouldn't be too much of a problems if you don't own any physical comps/gates/expanders/other dynamics processors.

Another limitation in recording - no tape returns means that you wouldn't be able to use this desk for mixing your recorded music, without unplugging everything already plugged into it and plugging your sound card ouputs into the line-ins of the mixer, and then sending your stereo outputs back to the computer. However, if you're doing all of your mixing in software, this isn't a problem.

That mixer has only two auxes too, one of them is post-only. You wouldn't be able to make a stereo headphone mix.

But hey, you know your needs better than I do. In fact, you never told me what kind of recording setup you're using. If you're using some minimal sound card, this mixer will be more than good enough. Anything more would be a waste.

But if you're using a decent sound card (Echo, MOTU, M-Audio, etc...) with a lot of I/O (8 ins/8 outs, or more), I'd definitely look into more elaborate mixers.

I'm only using it for live drum mix, maybe for some recording. I'm still working on saving up for some better recording stuff, but the problem is that I need a mixer for a live thing in like a week. And I'd have a 12-channel one for around $40 if I hadn't fallen asleep right around the time I was needing to bid on one at ebay last night.

I was going to go to Guitar Center today, but... didn't.

I'm going to save my paycheck from Friday and from this next week and go Saturday and get something a little more expensive than I intended. I'm hoping to get a decent 8-channel mixer with built-in compressors. Assuming I can run it on each channel. I discovered compressing the whole drum mix is not good for the poor hihat. And rack-mount compressors are rediculously overpriced. I have schematics laying around somewhere. They're not all too hard to make.

[edit: Bam! If only I hadn't maxed out my Musician's Friend platinum card. :(]

I guess I won't need it in a week. :-\