Cable Confusion - RCA to XLR OK?

Chadfish

Chadfish

Veteran
Hi

I have solved my immediate problem, but this post is to find out WHY...

I have these cables I got for recording off of a sound board to a recorder like the Edirol R-44 or my camera. The cables are RCA-to-XLR.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...A=details&Q=&sku=274503&is=REG#specifications

So I have 23 cassette tapes full of original 4-Track material, and I have been capturing them here and there over the years. This last capture session I used my new cables. RCA out of each track on the cassette recorder, XLR going into my MOTU Traveler. It sounded worse than usual, clipping often though the signal itself was very low. I figured my 4-track was biting the dust so I captured the last 3 tapes I have. Out of frustration I went back to my old way, using a regular RCA cable, with a 1/4" adapter going into the MOTU combo jack. It worked fine and no distortion, and the levels matched the levels on the tape tracks. All good.

I need help understanding why my new cables didn't work, and if they might not be the best choice going from PA to Camera/Recorder. They seemed to work when I have gone from the back of a PA mixer into a recorder. It seems that if the XLR-in on the MOTU is "mic" level the signal would be loud and distorted, not low and distorted. I imagine the 1/4" in on the MOTU is HI-Z line in for Guitar maybe?

I know it's a nerdly/boring topic, but hey that's what we're here for!
 
I think you're right on target regarding impedance. It sure sounds like the inputs are being loaded down via XLR.

I know it's a dirty work to some sound professionals, but this Behringer active stereo direct box has saved me time and time again.

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.co...-DI-2Channel-Active-DI-BoxSplitter?sku=182481

I use it to take my stereo 1/8" line out from my tascam DR-100 and provide two balanced XLR feeds to the camera. I use a short 1/8" stereo to left and right 1/4" into the box. It runs for days and days on 1 9v battery and has delivered a quality signal every time I've needed to use it. Take a look.
 
I think it is the issue with the XLR inputs being mic-level, and the signal being -10dB line. It will clip the pre-amps (possibly damage them if you keep doing it), even if the recorded level is not so loud. And if you've enacted a pad on the input, or turned the input gain down assuming a line-level signal, it's still going to clip the pres.
 
God I hope I didn't damage my preamps! It seems OK now - I'm recapturing the 4 tapes now and it sounds OK. I guess the XLR inputs on the R-4 Pro are mic or line depending on how I set the trim, so I didn't get any distortion coming out of a PA.
 
And I'm very happy now that I don't have to try to find a Yamaha MT1X 4-Track Cassette recorder from 1986! I have to use the same model for these 4-Track tapes because it used DBX noise reduction. It's actually a pretty nice sounding unit that recorded 4 inputs at once. It came out at the beginning of the 4-Track cassette era, and had a lot of bells and whistles, before they started figuring home recordists didn't need so many features. All I've had to do is replace some belts in 25 years.

http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/ContentDetail/ModelSeriesDetail.html?CNTID=1581&AFLG=y

http://forum2.magnetofon.de/showtopic.php?threadid=11065

I love that thing...
 
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