Focusrite Scarlett vs Clarett & SM7 - which has the quality for dynamic mics on acoustic guitar?

What's the difference between the Focusrite Clarett and the Scarlett? We compare here with two condenser mics (Oktava MK-012 and Rode NT1a) and two dynamic mics (Sennheiser e906 and Shure SM7b). DAV BG-1 preamp also included as a reference. Aside from price, the level of clean gain from the Clarett makes it a clear winner, though the Scarlett holds its own and just about has enough performance for recording acoustic guitar with dynamics microphones. With condenser mics, the Scarlett does just fine. There are slight differences in character, and the Clarett has less noise.

[@Borrtex]

Finally EXACTLY what I was looking for. Thank you for your time on this great comparison video!

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Hurrah! Glad it helped!

[@perryomodeizorini6952]

Thank you for taking the time to make and posting this video. Well explained and to the point. Super-useful for choosing my new interface. I was surprised by how much noisier the Scarlett is compared to the other two interfaces. Took it off mi list. Thank you again.

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

I'm glad it was helpful for you! Thanks for commenting - JW

[@kjerros]

Great vid Jon. Lots of really useful comparisons and helpful information as ever. Can't wait for the new album 'Acoustic Blanket' by Goniometer.

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Cheers cuz! Yes, looking forward to hearing the new material...

[@VRados]

Thank you! A truly relevant question answered with clear and useful examples and explanation!

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

That was the aim, appreciate the affirmation!

[@beyondmywildestdreams6942]

Very nice and accurate review! Thank you so much for it!

[@EdThorne]

So much less floor noise on the Clarett. Great preamps and conversion compared to the Scarlett. Good real life comparison, thanks Jon!!

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

My pleasure my treasure. I know you did a similar comparison (or 50) Ed...

[@damomani6905]

Hi Jon, Nice honest review..it was very helpful in deciding what I need. May be I need something better upgrade for my dynamic mics.

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

I'm very glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching Damo

[@pulgargrind]

Great Video - thanks so much for all the effort you put in! The subtleties are real - though the one thing I keep playing over in my mind - if you record a killer song with any of these pre's ... no one will care less. I'm looking for a change from my Apogee Duet 2, and the Clarett is right up there with i/o options and sound quality for sure - cheers Jon!

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Exactly - good performance+cheap pre > bad performance+great pre. Clarett is a solid choice - enjoy!

[@rickybarr6007]

Thanking you for taking the time to make this concise and very informative video. I own both the Older Clarett 4pre thunderbolt and the newer 3rd Gen Scarlett 18i8..Both very good units in their own right. Still.. I found I needed to do far less on the mixing end (Pre & Post) when recording with the Clarett using a Sm7b or my preferred AKG C451 B's for acoustic guitar. The Clarett's preamps are simply richer and more natural sounding. Also a case in point in monitoring is the Clarett can handle high impedance headsets. It's a night and day difference between the Scarlett and Clarett range. I find myself always wanting more gain on the headphone output after maxing out the Scarlett when tracking. You can of course use low impedance headsets or invest in a headphone pre-amp with the Scarlett range but it's a point worth mentioning. An just to clarify the Mic gain range on the 2018 Clarett 4pre is 57db / Headphone Dynamic range 116 db Max Output 16db. The 3rd Gen Scarlett's Mic Dynamic Range is 56 db Headphone Dynamic Range 104 db Max Output 7dbu. Specs on the newer Clarett+ USB range are about the same as the old Clarett 4pre.

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience!

[@RafaelOliveiraBR]

Great comparison. Thank you.

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

You're welcome!

[@TrevorTsui]

Nice! I ended up going with the Audient id14 mkii as I found the preamp to be a little cleaner. My Neumann tlm102 needs a little bit more gain, but I still get a satisfactory sound. Thanks!

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Cheers Trevor! Glad things are working out - I like the Audient stuff 👍

[@HarvinderSingh-yy8th]

Right decision and judgement.

[@BetonBenni]

Great comparison. Only thing I'm missing on the Clarett 2pre is, that it doesn't have spdif in and output. The 4pre does, but it's more expensive... Is there another unit in the same ballpark, that comes with spdif?

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Hmm, not sure! SPDIF seems to be among the features to be removed when they make the minimalist units...

[@JoelAzia]

Thanks for those precious informative and educative details. The sound quality of your voice is remarkable here. Can you tell us what MIC + CAMERA you are using here?

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Sorry, I can't remember the mic. Might have been a Rode NTG3. The camera was a Fuji X-T4.

[@karlderdelinckx]

For me the DAV preamp makes the most difference. How it makes de bass sound clear, low and well defined. Nice vid!

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Thanks again Karl!

[@karlderdelinckx]

Ah I see my double! First reply didn’t show up after publish so I re entered a new one.

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

@@karlderdelinckx Nothing wrong with a bit of double tracking!

[@thoveler]

Am I the only one hearing the disgusting high-pitched whine on the DAV with the Oktava (and a little at the end of the Røde take)?

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Are you talking about that squelchy noise? I spotted that and don’t know where it’s coming from. Not had it before or since - it’s a concern!

[@mikebush3834]

Yea I heard it

[@KixPanganiban]

Came here to say this too

[@sergio_grez]

Exactly what i was looking for. I have a Motu M2 and sometimes when recording a sudden noise like a plane taking off comes and stays there for about 30 seconds. It's a USB interface, so i'm not sure what might be going on. Would it be related to ground issues? or the USB itself?

[@yarbgreat1]

Lol, yeah I was about to comment the same.

[@mickeyscott1054]

Well done.

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Cheers!

[@HandsonHensley]

That intro = immediate sub

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Finally someone gets me... bless you my child

[@JVsMusicalSoundscapes]

Try the Arturia AudioFuse Studio with up to 72bB of preamp gain, enough to handle any dynamic mic. Its price point is approximately Clarettt + (Clarett - Scarlett).

[@RoyBattyLives]

A bit weird but I was recording earlier tonight using mid-side on a Rode NTK and a Ribbon, quite frustrated with the output, using Komplete Audio 2. I looked at my phone and there you were 🤔

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Ha! Glad I'm not the only one who gets distracted by YT when I'm supposed to be recording. Hope the recording worked out in the end

[@RoyBattyLives]

@@JonWrightMusicTV Thanks Jon, it did so far. I love recording using mid-side but it reduces the gain even further when you have to turn the ribbon to the middle so I might need a booster, like cloud pre-interface

[@axilleas]

Nice shootout! How would denoising change those results? I know it's not magic but could it offset the Scarlett's higher noise floor enough to make a significant difference? I'd like to hear a full song done on a 57/58 through the Scarlett both with and without denoising in post, I think it might be interesting.

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

I try to avoid denoising as much as possible as I find the artefacts are generally not nice when the part is exposed. I think for the cost of a good denoising plugin ie RX or Acon, you might as well buy a nice quiet preamp. Or, just live with a bit of hiss; it's not like there isn't noise all over some classic records 😁

[@axilleas]

@@JonWrightMusicTV one might even say noise is all over the best records! ;)

[@HigherEdutech]

Really helpful between the Scarlett and the Clarett. Do you have any thoughts on the Clarett versus the Clarett+? I couldn't tell what gain you were using on the Clarett. Was I missing something obvious.

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Glad it was helpful! I haven't tried the + = my guess from the specs is that it'll be very similar - the non-plus Clarett is already extremely clean with very good headphone amps so the + will be a relatively minor incremental improvement. Prob just to get the numbers up to compete with other products rather than a particularly noticeable improvement in most cases.

[@han1218]

What's important is also the D to A conversion, which transmits a clearer signal to the monitor speakers. Did you hear a big difference?

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

I was really only looking at the performance 'on the way in'. Comparing the D/A would be a whole other thing really. My impression is that the Clarett would be quite a bit better but that may be as much expectation as something I'd spot in a blind test.

[@albertotapia9006]

James McAvoy! Pretty Nice video, thank you!!

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Cheers!

[@mihaibotgros5628]

Hi! I own a clarett 8pre, just like the one in your video, and I recently bought an sm7b. When I tested it, tuned the gain knob to max, I could a hear a crackling noise in the recording. I had plugged the mic into one of the 6 preamps that has the socket on the rear of the interface. Then I tried the other preamps on the rear of the interface and the same noise. But then I tried plugging the mic in the first preamp. The first two preamps on this interface are hi z, and both their sockets are located on the front of the interface. And with those 2 preamps, no crackling noise, the recording was clean. Have you faced this problem? And whether you did, or not, what do you think might be the cause? Great job with the video by the way!

[@karlderdelinckx]

DAV-BG1 : for me makes the most difference. How clear low and full it makes the bass sounds.

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Yes, the DAV performs very strongly in the low end - I actually found the extended low end was particularly emphasised in the noise test. Not always useful frequencies but as a performance indicator it's pretty pretty compelling.

[@accentontheoff]

I have had the Scarlett for a while and I am not really enjoying it’s low mic input and from what I am understanding here (and elsewhere), the Clarett is no better. Could you please recommend something else. How about the entry level UAD, the Solo, or the RME Babyface perhaps, or even the Apogee Duet 3. There is also the Arturia Audiofuse. Thanks!

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Hope you sorted something that worked for you. Clarett however is better than Scarlett by some way.

[@accentontheoff]

@@JonWrightMusicTV I delayed the purchase but will most likely get Audient ID.

[@accentontheoff]

@@JonWrightMusicTV Have you compared both? How’s the mic input on the Clarett.

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Audient is solid. Yes I’ve compared both - in this video!

[@accentontheoff]

Ah yes it was a while back.

[@666tonsofsquirrels]

You have some serious grounding / emf problems (listen to 3:28, a descending sine settling around 9khz) somewhere in the chain with the DAV. Really excellent video overall, but that issue is unacceptable from such a piece of gear.

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Correct. I got to the editing stage before I noticed it, however it's intermittent so I hesitate to to blame the gear. There is something happening between the DAV and the Clarett when phantom power is involved - as you say, likely a ground issue.

[@geroy8119]

I have a Scarlett solo Gen 3 and a shure sm7b with cloudlifter and I get so much stupid hiss

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Even with cloudlifter? I think that's the old gen - bit low gain.

[@TheMartinStreet]

I have the Scarlett 6i6 Gen. 2 and an SM7b with a Cloudlifter. I also had the hiss & noise, but was told to move the Cloudlifter away from the Scarlett. It's about 3 feet away now & its clean now.

[@andrewcurtis4568]

Why not just buy a separate preamp like the cloudlifter for the scalett?

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

You could - but not everyone like what they do to the sound

[@mojoxide]

Something sounded especially magical about the Oktava MK 12 / DAV bg1 combo… until the aliens came and landed at the end… what was that?

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Honestly? I don't know. Something wasn't right!

[@androidgameplays4every13]

How does the Audient compares against the Clarett ?

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Both very nice!

[@Stewer1000]

I have just bought a Scarlet 3rd gen 2i2 so i can get two microphones and record my acoustic. Now I just need to buy the microphones and wanted to ask you for help. Is there any lower budget microphone you d recommend? Btw I quite afraid of ambiet noise from my computer and I live on kind of busy street with cars pasing by...

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Yes - have a look at my video about budget mics on acoustic guitar: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZvNl6SarK1mrrc

[@13_cmi]

The only thing that would drive me away from the claretts is the front panel is red and the lights are really small. The scarlet has a black front and the whole words light up so you know what’s on and what’s off.

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

I love the red front! It's a lovely colour IRL and the lights are very clear

[@gibson2623]

Such a mic in such an entry level audio interface is overkill

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Which interface are you referring to?

[@Hyder61112]

Clarett is clearly the best

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

yup!

[@jaredholton3145]

What is making that horrible digital noise at 3:28??? It must be the audio interface, the Focusrite doesn’t seem to be making that high pitched digital whiny noise.

[@JonWrightMusicTV]

Yeah, I think it's a grounding issue with the DAV and Clarett. Haven't been able to figure it out as it's a bit intermittent

[@jaredholton3145]

@@JonWrightMusicTV I listened to it again. I don't think it's grounding. This might sound strange, but it actually sounds like a problem with the phantom power of the unit.

[@Fiveash-Art]

@@JonWrightMusicTV I don't hear it with the Clarett.