No pre is needed, the cable depends on the board you're patching out of. Either it will have 1/4", RCA or XLR outputs, so you need to have cables to for all situations. Basically you just need a Y cable that goes from the single 1/8" connector to dual whatever (XLR, 1/4, RCA) and you're all good. The level should be fine if the engineer sets it for you, just ask them to turn it down if it's too loud.