Everything Except Whirlwind EDB1
 

Thanks guys. I think I understand everything now, except for the Whirlwind EDB1.

The Phantom Power supply is a $49.00 2 channel Phantom II made by ART. I read the manual and it seems to make sense.

Your advice + equipment pictures + pdf manuals has helped me a great deal. But I haven't seen a sound board yet so I can't visualize how I can take the sound from the board into my camera.

Fred suggested the Whirlwind EDB1 and two CPR-110: 10 foot Male ¼ TS to Male RCA cables. I've ordered them and they should arrive next week. I've read the manual, but I'm still not understanding it because I'm not familiar with sound boards.

The EDB1 has an IN 1/4 TS-F and an OUT 1/4 TS-F on one side and an XLR-M OUPUT on the other side.

The XLR part seems obvious. Connect the Whirlwind to the BeachTek DXA-8.

The other side confuses me.

I assume I'm supposed to connect one or two of the RCA-M jacks into the sound board and connect the one or two of the TS-M ends into the Whirlwind.

The first thing throwing me off is that Whirlwind has IN and OUT TS jacks. IN makes sense. OUT doesn't.

I assume Fred suggested this equipment because the majority of sound boards will have RCA outputs. RCA to me means White and Red. And I assume that signifies left and right rather than IN and OUT.

Should I expect to get just one channel from the sound board. Or should I expect to get two channels and they will merge into one channel when they leave the Whirlwind and enter the DXA-8?

Should I expect not to use the TS OUT on the Whirlwind?

There is a pad switch on the Whirlwind adjustable from Zero to -20dB to -40dB. The manual said Zero is the norm, -20 for very "Hot" instrument signals and -40 for connecting to the speaker outlet of an amplifier.

I don't know the difference between these things. Should I think of every sound board I come across as "Zero" unless I run into a problem.

What about this? Is there one or two soundboard that are more common than others. Does the manufacturer have a site that shows pictures and has a manual. Maybe something like that would help me visualize the set-up.

Thanks again.
-Scott

Scott,
The Whirlwind's In and Out jacks are actually connected together in such a way that one is the same as the other. Whoever designed the Whirlwind probably decided it just didn't look right not to have the jacks labeled. The labels don't mean anything.

The pads on the Whirlwind are just an added feature. Pads are the same things as attenuators. I always leave mine set at zero and use attenuators at my camera position so if I need to adjust the amount of attenuation I don't have to run back to the sound board (the whirlwind is connected to the sound board by a short cable).

And yes, you can go to Mackie.com and download full illustrated owner's manuals for their sound boards. A typical Mackie is the 1604 VLZ Pro. There are a lot of these in the field and also ones that are very similar, just differing in how many inputs they can handle.

I would not say that the majority of boards out there have a pair of RCA output jacks, but some do. The Electro-Voice board at my school does.

Mackies are more common. For Mackies what you really need is that 1/4" TRS to XLR male adapter cable I keep mentioning. You plug it into the 1/4" BALANCED MONO OUT jack of the Mackie. Then run an XLR cable from that to your camera position.

By the way, I don't think I ever said to get 10 foot adapter cablles. 2-3 feet is plenty.