A microphone preamplifier is a sound engineering device that prepares a microphone signal ([[Microphone level]]) to be processed by other equipment. Microphone signals are often too weak to be transmitted to units such as [[Mixing console|mixing consoles]] and recording devices with adequate quality. Preamplifiers increase a microphone signal to [[Line level]] (i.e. the level of signal strength required by such devices) by providing stable gain while preventing induced noise that would otherwise distort the signal.