Topic: patching cables into my newly acquired JB3 (I read the FAQs)

[Kush]

I've been searching the FAQ and reading up on the archive sections but I don't seem to be finding out my exact answers. My friends and I are having the 2nd Annual Locust Grove Summer Weekend (very small free music festival near Lock Haven, PA) and I have been nominated to tape the festivities, since I just purchased a JB3. The festival is very small (about 100-200) folks and we are going to run a powered Mackie 8 channel mixer. My buddy told me that it has a tape out? which I figure is just RCA outs (anyone with more knowledge on this is welcome to comment). I'm scrambling to get everything I will need to patch out of this and into my JB3. I could use a little help in figuring out how to do this. Here's what I'm figuring:

analog RCA outs into a mini-stereo adapter plugged into the line-in of the JB3.
record line-in 16 bit, 44.1 kHz, wav

I'm thinking that the mixer will have a manual control for the gain which will be used to control the levels and that way I won't have to adjust the levels with the JB3. Is this safe to assume? I'm sure you guys have more knowledge about what I will need.

I was reading that I might need line attenuators to lower the levels but that is for SBD patching with hot levels. I don't know how hot a signal the powered Mackie 8 channel mixer will put out.

Any and all feedback is welcome. I don't have the cash to buy an external A/D converter (V3, AD-20, etc.) at the moment; so I will be looking for a low-budget way to make this work.

The JB3 also came with a bunch of interconnects, here is what I have.

40GB JB3
2 JB3 batteries
Radioshack stereo-mini adapter
Radioshack stereo adapter (1/4 female)
1 pair RCA 1-way Monster cables (male to male)
1 pair RCA 1-way Monster cables (male to male)
1 pair Radioshack RCA cables (male to male)
7-pin digital cable (since I'm assuming the connection is analog, this isn't needed?)
1 meter optical digital cable w/right angle adapter (since I'm assuming the connection is analog, this isn't needed?)
1 meter optical digital cable (since I'm assuming the connection is analog, this isn't needed?)

Any info on how to put these together or what else I will need is appreciated.
Thanks in advance for the help.
I was going to post this in the recording gear section, but I'm assuming this is the better spot.
I've also updated the post several times when I get more info.
 

[John R]

You don't say what Mackie board you're using so these are only general statements.

The small boards I've seen all had RCA/m out puts to either tape, line or Aux.  There is also likely a headphone jack.  These will have level controls and possibly level meters. 

Take what ever this board offers as an out (RCA or possibly 1/4" plug) and get into your cables.  You really don't say if your Monster or Rat Shack cables terminate in a 1/8" stereo male or not.  I assume so.  Run straight into the JB3 with that.  Set the JB3 record source as LINE-IN and leave the levels at 0db. 

Make adjustments from the board on the fly to set the levels on theJB3.

Good luck

i agree with office dog, with a couple of additions;  just to be on the safe side(even though you may have shore power) make sure the IR is off, and that idle shutdown is off.  to get the maximum space from your drive clean off ALL the preloaded crap from creative.  be conservative with the meters, they are worthless.  make sure you have the updated firmware.  really, the only cable needed in this scenario is rca>mini(stereo)

btw, affordable adc:  http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=36811.msg469002#msg469002

[Kush]

I was just looking to find out about the cables. Thanks very much for the answers. I didn't know what kind of interconnects I was going to need since my slick buddy who scored the mixer said, "It even has a tape out." I wasn't sure what the heck the type of out was going to be. I found the other info about operating in the JB3 FAQs. I just didn't want to get there and be stuck w/o a way to patch out of the mixer. Once again, thanks for the answers. I'm sure all of you are sick of answering the same questions over and over again. Thanks for not being a jerk about it, on some messageboards they just flame the heck out of you for asking questions that get answered over and over again.

[Kush]

After returning home, I feel my first taping experience was a success. The powered Mackie 8 channel mixer had RCA outs. I went SBD > RCAs > stereo mini-adapter > JB3. Thanks for the help! I set the levels during the soundcheck and used the gain control to make sure I didn't brickwall the levels. 

[todd e]

After returning home, I feel my first taping experience was a success. The powered Mackie 8 channel mixer had RCA outs. I went SBD > RCAs > stereo mini-adapter > JB3. Thanks for the help! I set the levels during the soundcheck and used the gain control to make sure I didn't brickwall the levels. 

nice work!  have you transferred the show to the computer yet?  wavelab is a great program for editing, and if you are just looking for tracking, CDwave is great for it's price (free!!)

[Kush]

I uploaded the .wav file to my computer the other day. I used audacity to check the levels and there was no clipping of the levels on my recording. I used CD Wave to cut it up into tracks and saved them as smaller .wav files. Then I tracked the cdrs out over the course of two discs. Then I encoded the tracks to Flac. I sent a copy to the band and I'm waiting for them to send me back a setlist. Thanks for the help everyone. When I get a setlist, if there is any interest to hear this, let me know and I'll seed it via Bit-Torrent on some site.

[John R]

Kush, glad everything worked out ok, keep rockin'