Topic: UA5 Owners

[DMBprez]

I recently bought new mics (AT 4041's), and all my recordings are coming out very...weak.  The sensitivity levels have turned about 3/4th's the way up, and I have the output know pretty much all the way up.  I am running line out via the red and white plugs (no clue what they're called, sorry). 

There is just very little UMPH to my recordings recently.  Any ideas?  Should I crank those sensitivity knobs up more?  I know the best way is to experiment, but I don't have many shows at my expense at this point.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[slightlys]

What are you recording onto from the ua-5?

[slightlys]

If you have the capability it is really easy to boost the levels with normalization in post with software ie. wavelab, sound forge, audition.

[DMBprez]

^^ By that do you mean add gain?  When I add gain, it seems to add enough gain, it adds a good deal of distortion.


I run into a rockboxed iRiver.

[Todd R]

The iRiver can take an optical digital input.  Try recording out of the toslink digital out from the UA5 into the optical in of the iRiver instead of the RCA outs of the UA5.  That should sound much better and solve your distortion problems.

[Big Perm]

The iRiver can take an optical digital input.  Try recording out of the toslink digital out from the UA5 into the optical in of the iRiver instead of the RCA outs of the UA5.  That should sound much better and solve your distortion problems.

yup, is your UA5 modded or stock...doesnt matter really, either way this should drastically improve your situation
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[DMBprez]

I have that one iRiver that doesn't do optical in =(

Can't remember the model, and it's at home (I'm at school).

The UA5 is Pmod

[jbell]

Give it more gain and turn on the safty clip feature on the Iriver.  Do alittle home testing to figure out where you need the gain levels. 

[DMBprez]

By giving it more gain, you mean on the iRiver, yes?

Any ideas how to turn the safety clip on? I'm stupid when it comes to this thing.

Thanks for all the replies.

[vanark]

If you are coming out of the RCA outputs, the output is also controlled by the monitor switch.  You should turn that monitor level knob up all the way.  I find that my levels into an R-09 need to be around 1 o'clock on the sens knobs.

[runonce]

Think of it this way...

Pretend the UA5 is not hooked to anything.  It has a certain level that will be ideal for itself. Use the peak light to get the channels lighting the peak light on only the very loudest passages.

Two ways to think of addressing the recorder...(which is the 320 if remember from the other thread)

1 - Ua5 output at max and  set the levels accordingly on the iriver. (pitfall here is a potential brickwall situation, you'll have to test your gear.)

2 - Set Iriver to unity gain (nothing added or subtracted) and use the Ua5 output to drive the recorder. (which ideally, will be all the way up, provided you have your mic gain set right)

In either scenario - you need to get the level at the mic inputs set first, and work from there...

[vanark]

2 - Set Iriver to unity gain (nothing added or subtracted) and use the Ua5 output to drive the recorder. (which ideally, will be all the way up, provided you have your mic gain set right)

Yes, this is basically how I do it.  Unity on the R-09, monitor output on max, adjust levels on Mics using Sens knobs.

[DMBprez]

If you are coming out of the RCA outputs, the output is also controlled by the monitor switch.  You should turn that monitor level knob up all the way.  I find that my levels into an R-09 need to be around 1 o'clock on the sens knobs.

Thank you, I will try that out!

[DMBprez]

Think of it this way...

Pretend the UA5 is not hooked to anything.  It has a certain level that will be ideal for itself. Use the peak light to get the channels lighting the peak light on only the very loudest passages.

Two ways to think of addressing the recorder...(which is the 320 if remember from the other thread)

1 - Ua5 output at max and  set the levels accordingly on the iriver. (pitfall here is a potential brickwall situation, you'll have to test your gear.)

2 - Set Iriver to unity gain (nothing added or subtracted) and use the Ua5 output to drive the recorder. (which ideally, will be all the way up, provided you have your mic gain set right)

In either scenario - you need to get the level at the mic inputs set first, and work from there...

I have set the iRiver to unity gain, and this is where I run into problems.

[vanark]

If you are coming out of the RCA outputs, the output is also controlled by the monitor switch.  You should turn that monitor level knob up all the way.  I find that my levels into an R-09 need to be around 1 o'clock on the sens knobs.

Thank you, I will try that out!

Now that I think about it, I think it is the phones knob, not the monitor knob.  One will be the answer to your issue.