tommygdawg
Well-known member
I've been raging over this for a while now. A little while ago I made a post on here asking for preamp suggestions. I finally went with the Juicedlink cx211 for it's price and I know that Juicedlink is pretty popular. At first I liked it, but after using it for a while, I'm about ready to pull my hair out over this! I can NOT get the signal anywhere near line (or even audible) level. The cx211 has a gain switch that lets you choose between "low," "medium," and "high" as well as a trim knob for the input. Herein lies the problem:
If I set the gain switch to "high" the audio clips out on the preamp very easily. This is most annoying. Seriously, even basic talking clips out. I learned this the hard way when doing a short. Sounded fine on set, had to boost the audio in post quite a bit and it started clipping out at -6db to -10db, not good.
Okay, so I just set the gain switch to "medium" and all should be hunky dory. The problem is that at that point you have to boost the trim knob to it's max, and even then it's not loud enough. I tried a test with these settings just now with my mouth literally on the mic and had to boost in Cubase by almost 30-40db's. With the gain switch set to "medium" there's simply no way the level comes even close to loud enough.
Generally, this can all be cured by the next step (it's very jury rigged). When recording audio I take my SGM-1x shotgun mic into the cx211. That then runs out to a Tascam DR-1. I figured at this point the recorder shouldn't really matter. The preamp should boost the mic up to line level and you just need something decent to capture it with. The problem is that the loudest you get on the preamp without clipping is -20db's at the MOST. So, I have to run the preamp into the mic preamp on the Tascam and use the Tascam to boost the signal even farther. This is an audio NIGHTMARE.
As you can imagine, this nightmare gives me a metric nut-ton of noise. It's very annoying and very glaring on the final video. Does anyone have tips for this? I've tried new batteries and cables for all of my devices, still problems. Is this a common issue with the cx211? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
If I set the gain switch to "high" the audio clips out on the preamp very easily. This is most annoying. Seriously, even basic talking clips out. I learned this the hard way when doing a short. Sounded fine on set, had to boost the audio in post quite a bit and it started clipping out at -6db to -10db, not good.
Okay, so I just set the gain switch to "medium" and all should be hunky dory. The problem is that at that point you have to boost the trim knob to it's max, and even then it's not loud enough. I tried a test with these settings just now with my mouth literally on the mic and had to boost in Cubase by almost 30-40db's. With the gain switch set to "medium" there's simply no way the level comes even close to loud enough.
Generally, this can all be cured by the next step (it's very jury rigged). When recording audio I take my SGM-1x shotgun mic into the cx211. That then runs out to a Tascam DR-1. I figured at this point the recorder shouldn't really matter. The preamp should boost the mic up to line level and you just need something decent to capture it with. The problem is that the loudest you get on the preamp without clipping is -20db's at the MOST. So, I have to run the preamp into the mic preamp on the Tascam and use the Tascam to boost the signal even farther. This is an audio NIGHTMARE.
As you can imagine, this nightmare gives me a metric nut-ton of noise. It's very annoying and very glaring on the final video. Does anyone have tips for this? I've tried new batteries and cables for all of my devices, still problems. Is this a common issue with the cx211? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
