another benefit of UA-5 > recorder - all you need is mics and cables when you get more $ and youll have a full AUD rig as well plus you can still run on the fly matrices
from the team ua-5 thread:
"the front inputs are seperate and live at the same time. you can record four tracks simultaneously, and the box mixes them down to two track stereo on the fly. phantom power is only available for the front xlr inputs though, so keep that in mind"
kinda new hear. So is this saying I can run auds in as well as sbd and it will create a matrix automatically? Is it still better to have more control and record seperately, and then mix?
Well, it's a mixed bag with the UA5, but it sure makes it easy. What I've done is run my mics into the front xlr channels with phantom power and separate channel gain control. Then I've run the sbd through the rca's in the back of the unit. This "issue" here is that while there are separate inputs (red & white), there's a single gain knob.
What I'm not sure of is how those rear rca inputs disperse across each channel - if there's a true A B that disperses across each channel directly, or if it mixes the signal and applies it evenly across both channels.
But how you set it up is to test both signals separately to get an approximation of where your gain levels will be. This will show you how each signal sounds and give you an indicator of where you'll want to be from a gain perspective. Then "final" set your mic in levels on the front xlr alone. Once you're happy with that signal, bring up the gain on the rear input to the level desired by your ears.
So when the show starts and you're on the fly, you'll only need to make very minor adjustments to the sbd feed coming in the rear inputs (that will remain fairly constant once the sbd dude is good to go), and you can make adjustments as required for your mic gain, as usual.
Make sense? That's not as clear as I could've made it, but it's all the time I've got for now... Bottom line is don't overthink it cause it's really simple with the UA5 - only 3 variables.