Again some questions... XL1s/DXA-6/...?
 

I bought the Beachtek DXA-6 Adapter from someone on these boards for my XL1s. Now I still have some questions, and I appologize at forehand if there are some stupid or simple questions included:

1. On the DXA-6 adapter are Volume knobs, but you can't controle those properly I think, without really seeing the db meters. If I would put a mixette with VU meters on the XL1s, on which volume do I leave them? Completely open, more closed, or in the middle?

2. I think it's pretty difficult to a)control the levels on the beachtek adapter while filming, if you look at where it's placed (beneath the camera), but in the manual they advice not to do it while shooting anyhow.
But the problem is that seeing the level meters on the XL1s is pretty difficult too, because when you're filming you are watching trough the viewfinder, and your soundman can't just look at the level meters of the XL1s, because that's placed pretty unhandy too.
So I need seperate VU meters, or a seperate Mixer with VU meters.
Beachtek sells VU meters, the SVU2 or something:
http://www.beachtek.com/svu2.html
The problem is, it's not a mixette, because you can't control the volume of the input from those VU-meters, so I couldn't really use it, right?
So are there cheap mixettes who can do this? I know there are, but I don't know brands and so, and I tried B&H but I got a little bit lost (English isn't my native tongue, and I tried mixers, but I don't think that were simple mixettes, so I got confused)
If people have model suggestions or links to them, that would be great, calculating my budget isn't that big. Then I could connect a mixette with the DXA-6 and put the XLR mic's into the mixette, right?
Which settings do I then use on the DXA-6? Also, do I then need to send phantom power to that mixette? I think not, because most mixettes already provide phantom power, but I need to make sure.

3. Are there simpler methods or other options for this all? I thouht those VU meters from Beachtek, that SVU2 looked great, but you can't control the volume from there, so...

4. Erh... Don't know if I had any questions left, maybe I did, don't know anymore.

Thank you very much,

Think of the level controls on your Beachtek as being trim controls, adjusting the level of the signal going to the camera to the proper level. If you don't have a mixer, you would control the actual recording level with the camera's controls just as if you didn't even have the Beachtek at all and had plugged your microphone straight into the camera. What the Beachtek is doing for you in that case is 1) providing phantom power to microphones that need it 2) adapting the XLR microphone connector to the miniplug jack on the camera; and 3) trimming the microphone output to the correct level for the camera's input. The Beach SVU you're talking about can help the camera operator monitor the sound but you're correct, it won't be a lot of help controlling it during the shot.

For better control a field mixer that has meters like the Sound Devices "MixPre" or those from Shure would be handy. If you have a mixer it would be connected like this ...

mic -> mixer ------> DXA6 -> Camera

The sound person would carry both the mic and the mixer and he would control the recording levels during the shot using the mixer and its VU meter. The mixer, not the DXA, would generate the phantom power to the microphone if it was needed.

You set up the controls like this ...

1) On the mixer turn on its reference tone and adjust the mixer controls so the tone reads 0db on the meter. If your mixer doesn't have a built-in tone (the better ones do) you can get a plug-on tone generator that plugs into a mic connector to use for setup for not too much money.

2) Set the camera to manual and adjust its record level controls to about 60% to 75% all the way up. Not 75% on the camera meters, just turning the knobs so they're both about 3/4 of the way to full-on. Some operators even put a little piece of tape on them so they don't get accidently moved.

3) Now while looking at the camera meters adjust the Beachtek's controls until the recording level of the reference tone indicates -12db. If you have the DXA turned all the way to maximum attenuation and the signal is still too "hot," reading too high on the camera meters, turn on the camera's input attentuator to reduce it and readjust the DXA's controls until the meter reads correctly.

4) Turn off the tone on the mixer and don't touch the controls in the camera or the DXA again. You now have everything set and aligned so that when sounds in the microphone cause the mixer's meter to show 0db, the level in the camera will be just right for best recording without clipping. The sound person monitors the mic positioning and the mixer meter to keep the sound at the right level.

Hope this helps ...

S

Yes it helps a lot. It's actually all the information I needed, exept for maybe a link to those field mixers, but I'll do some research on my own, but if you have some links or model numbers, that would be great.
Another question: as the field mixer with battery would supply for the phantom power (as I thought), would the beachtek then need a battery? Sorry if this is a stupid question.

That I don't know. I wouldn't think so but if it was me, I'd put one in anyway just to be sure. Cheap insurance.

Thanks,

Anybody who knows links to or model numbers from cheap field mixers?

Depejnds on your defintion of "cheap." Try scanning over these and see what might work for you ...

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home;jsessionid=DTWwTGMdrJ!-10455877?O=NavBar&A=search&Q=&ci=4962

Thanks for the link,

I was thinking about 300 dollars, but I see that if I want the VU meters, I'm looking at 450 dollars minimum.
Well, so be it :-)
Anyway, thank you for the links!