Connecting Transmitter to DJ's Audio feed

[Don Ptashne]

I have a Samson Micro 32 system and I want to conect the transmitter to the Dj's mixer. So I can have my shotgun mic on one channel and a direct feed from the DJ's mixer on the other. I would combine them in post.

I made a few adapters to go from mini XLR to RCA - mini XLR to 1/8 inch and mini XLR to 1/4 inch. This should allow me to connect to most mixers. My only concern is that the samson transmitter is made for a mic and mixers run at line level. Any ideas on an attenuator for this?

Thanks,

Don

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Don Ptashne

I have a Samson Micro 32 system and I want to conect the transmitter to the Dj's mixer. So I can have my shotgun mic on one channel and a direct feed from the DJ's mixer on the other. I would combine them in post.

I made a few adapters to go from mini XLR to RCA - mini XLR to 1/8 inch and mini XLR to 1/4 inch. This should allow me to connect to most mixers. My only concern is that the samson transmitter is made for a mic and mixers run at line level. Any ideas on an attenuator for this?

Thanks,

Don

A simple attentuator is usually not enough - you also have impedence issues to deal with. What you need is called a "DI" (Direct Injection) or simply "Direct" Box that takes a line level, high impedence input signal and outputs a low impedence mic level signal. They're available from a variety of manufacturers such as Art, Behringer, Whirlwind, and a number of others. They come in both active and passive types - the passive (transformer based) are particularly inexpensive, ranging from $50 or so up to a couple of hundred depending on the quality of the components etc. See http://www.whirlwindusa.com/dirbox.html for some examples.

But you might be able to get by with just another cable. I looked in the manual and it appears the transmitter will accept a line-level input with the appropriate cable. See the appendix on page 18 and at the bottom of the page you'll find the wiring setup for a guitar or instrument input.

[Don Ptashne]

Thanks Steve!

I looked in the manual and I didn't see anything for line level, but I did find this spec in the manual for instrument level.

INST input jack (27 dB attenuator at MIC input terminal)

Perhaps I'll still need a DI?

[George Bean]

I have that same mic, have not used it for years. I used to connect it directly to the djs board and never had any problems.

If possible I took a feed from the board with a level control. If the line out had no way to set the levels and/or was distorted I would try the headphone out.

The record out always sounded better than the headphone but was not always accessible.

A direct box would be a better solution but I never had any problems directly connecting to the djs board.

[Don Ptashne]

George what kind of cable did you use. I'm making my own.

[George Bean]

the transmitter input is a mini xlr 3 pin. i was to lazy to make my own cable. i used the 1/8 mini plug out on the receiver so the mini xlr plug was available to use with the transmitter.

i took the mini xlr output cable an plugged it into the transmitter, i used a turnaround and an xlr to xlr cable if the djs board was xlr out. if the board was rca i used the turnaround to a xlr to mini plug with a dual rca adapter.

[Don Ptashne]

Gotchya. Thanks George!

[Yang Wen]

Just ask for a balanced output from the mixer and plug it into your transmitter's mic input, you'd be all set...

[Don Ptashne]

Ok, so back from a recent wedding. I patched into the DJ's board and the signal was way too hot. I dialed down the trim pot almost all the way in the transmitter but still lots of clipping.

[Don Ptashne]

Update: I made one of these cables and now everything works great. Thanks for the suggestions.

http://www.crownaudio.com/kb/entry/279/