RNC compressor - no phantom?

[chalkncheese]

Hello and Happy New Year to my readers… I need some advice: I am recording some acoustic guitar material soon and my raw attempts using a capacitor mic into a Scarlett are decent but indicates the need to tame peaks especially from nylon strung guitars. I only need one channel and my budget is limited so I’m thinking possibly fmr rnc compressor which has received good reviews over the years BUT … there’s no phantom supply on the rnc to power my preferred capacitor mic … yes I could use a battery in the mic instead but I thought I’d ask the forum first.

 

[Peter Ostry]

The signal of a microphone is too weak.
You need a preamp between mic and compressor.

As a budget solution you can get an ART or Presonus preamp for around $150. Better preamps cost a lot more. The preamp brings the signal up to line level and this is what the compressor expects. After the compressor you would then use the line input of your Scarlett. But I don't know if these low-priced preamps are fast enough for your string transients. If not, then the fast NRP after the preamp doesn't help much because it wouldn’t get the transients to work on.

A cheaper, technically easier and definitely workable way is to record at a lower level directly through the Scarlett and deal with the peaks in Logic. Since you record with 24 Bit, lower volume is normally not a problem. Just make sure that your microphone is good and that it fits to your guitar. Using the right mic and proper recording setup, including slightly reflective surrounding, is much more crucial for the sound than having a hardware compressor or not.

 

[bayswater]

Phantom power is on the RNP, which is where you’d want it. The RNP is often bought with the RNC.

But doesn’t your Scarlett have phantom power? Mine does. I didn’t think they made one without.