Topic: Using a UA-5 for a SBD feed

[yug du nord]

A fairly decent way to go about setting levels while running a UA-5 on-the-fly-mix is to plug both sources into the UA-5, unplug the XLR's so that just the RCA inputs are providing a signal....  measure the signal on your recorder.  Then turn down the RCA's and plug the XLR's back in, so that the XLR's are providing the only signal...  then measure that signal on your recorder.  Real easy to do without headphones if you want a 50/50 mix of Mics/SBD....  a little tougher if you want to really dial it in perfectly. 

[jibooer]

also, remember that there will bit a tiny time delay if you a running a matrix, depending on the distance that your mics are from the sbd...

[admkrk]

also, remember that there will bit a tiny time delay if you a running a matrix, depending on the distance that your mics are from the sbd...

you mean the stage right? 

[jibooer]

D'oh! yep that's what I mean. sorry

[yousef]

Hmm...

So I went with XLR>TRS and ended up with such low levels (at maximum gain) as to be absolutely unusable, even after the soundman very kindly boosted them for me from the board. I even unplugged the digital cable and tested the analogue outs at one point but the levels were consistently low.

Like I say, this is a board that I've always had to use attenuators with in the past, so I'm a little unsure as to what might have happened. Could this be consistent with the board using a different configuration for the XLRs than the UA-5 expects (ie something other than 1-gnd, 2-hot, 3-cold)?

Got a decent recording using my mics thankfully, but would really like to get to the bottom of what happened with the sbd feed.

Any ideas, criticism or amusing anecdotes would be much appreciated.

[admkrk]

i would think he was missing something in the feed he was sending you? the time i ran sbd>ua-5 was a festival and every time a band sent their "guy" to run the board he inevitably screwed up my feed from no signal with the ua-5 cranked to a solid clip with the ua-5 turned down to 0. only other thing it could have been was the ua-5 not liking the 1/4" plugs, never went that route so i really can't say if that was a factor.