Mono outputs from phantom powered XLR mike.

[Barry Kinslow]

I have a Zoom MRS 1044 multitrack Hard Disk recorder, and I want to tap into the cable from my phantom powered Behringer B2 condenser microphone in order to provide two unbalanced outputs.

The Zoom multitrack recorder provides phantom power for the microphone.

One unbalanced output will go to an Antares Autotune, which will feed the processed signal to the Zoom multitrack recorder, and the other unbalanced output will go to a monitoring mixer, where I can also monitor my backing tracks and dry vocal (but not the processed vocal track being recorded). This is necessary to avoid hearing the live effect of the Pitch Correction from the Antares whilst recording, since it can be very distractive.

The Zoom machine has two recording inputs. Each has an XLR socket and an unbalanced ¼” socket. So I could power the microphone from one XLR socket with its input switch turned off, and send the processed signal from the Antares Autotune to the ¼” jack socket of the other input channel.

Can anyone tell me how to tap into the phantom powered cable of the Behringer B2, please? I have built complex electronic equipment in the past, if it means knocking up a conversion circuit.

Kind regards,
Bazza.

 

[vox]

Does the Antares have a built in mic pre? If not it would probably be better and less complicated to just Autotune after you record.

 

[vox]

Ok, I think I just figured out how to do what you want without building anything.

Plug the mic into the recorder's mic input, plug a 1/4" jack into that channels insert point ONLY HALFWAY, that should allow you to steal a signal from the insert without interrupting the channel, plug that jack into the Autotune and plug the output from the Autotune into the other channel. Monitor from the first channel, record the second.

 

[TexRoadkill]

Cant you use an effects send? The Antares probably wants a line level signal anyway.

 

[Barry Kinslow]

Thanks for your well intended response Vox and TexRoadkill.

To explain my problem more: My Behringer B2 condenser mike is phantom powered, has a built in preamplifier, and has XLR balanced line connectors.

I need two unbalanced outputs – one for the Antares Autotune to feed my Zoom Hard Disk recorder, and the other to mix the dry vocal signal with backing tracks for monitoring.

The Antares has unbalanced 1/4" input and output sockets.

Monitoring the Antares Autotune output is difficult, because the slightest deviation from true pitch tends to make a vocalist alter their pitch to correct what they hear, and it becomes a vicious circle. Antares recommend the vocalist monitors the dry signal for this reason. Still recovering from damage to my vocal chords due to a recent illness, and yet needing to record my songs, had I known this I may not have bought the Antares.

A phantom powered line has three connections, pin 1=earth, pins 2 and 3 have a 48v dc bias, delivering two identical signals, but out of phase. As we all know, this is to cancel out any hum or noise arriving at the destination device's input. Just hooking up to them and combining the taps would not work - hence my question: How do I tap into the two conductors of the phantom powered cable?

There may be a ready-made unit that can be bought, but trawling the Internet for a solution has not been successful so far. Here in England equipment is not always so readily available as the USA, anyway.

Kind regards,
Bazza.

 

[Ziller]

I would think you could just tap into pins 1 & 2, and pins 1 & 3, getting 2 unbalanced lines (though out of phase), as long as you used some type of coupling capacitor to block the dc bias on where you tap into 2 and 3. you could proabably put it all in some small box, having balanced xlr in and out, and 2 unbalanced
outs tapping off the powered line. though these would be unbalanced, they would still be low impedence, so you may need to convert that.

or get some small mixer with phantom power, and use that to split the signal.

good luck

 

[Mark H.]

Barry,

I'm dealing with the same problem, since I'm often recording a single source to 2-track. Unfortunately, I'm with Ziller, in that the only solution I've found so far is to use a mixer to give me dual mono output in those situations.

I have two minidisc recorders, however, that let me input the left channel only for mono (which is output as dual mono on playback). For that, I purchased a used Rane MS-1 mic pre (a tiny thing with outboard power supply) that supplies phantom power and passes a clean signal to the recorders. But I still haven't figured out how to split the TRS balanced output from the Rane to record to multiple units (without having to buy a distribution box).

I hope someone here can give you a definitive answer. It will be helpful to me and others as well.

Many thanks,

Mark H.

 

[skippy]

The B-2 does not have a preamp that outputs line levels, to the best of my knowledge- it just has the usual impedance converter that outputs ~-50dBm mic levels. They call that a preamp in their literature, and it is in some sense of the word- but it does not output line levels. So you *are* going to need a separate preamp. Once you have the preamp output, you could either bridge both the recorder in and the autotune in on the preamp's output, or you could do an insert steal (if the preamp is part of a mixer).

Realistically, though- if you're doing this sort of complex routing, you do need a mixer. With a mixer, you could use an aux send or an insert steal to route to another channel. It will be much easier...

Once you have a line-level version of the mic signal (after the preamplifier), you can just parallel a couple of loads onto it. This is called "multing", and it is why preamps and patchbays get along so well! If you need two unbalanced copies of your balanced signal, just bridge them onto one side of it: ground sleeve and ring, and put both loads on tip, for example. There's no reason to try and balnce your unbalancing of the load...

 

[Barry Kinslow]

Thanks for your help Ziller, Mark H. and Skippy, it's much appreciated. When I have hit the best solution I'll let everyone know. Well done, fellas.

Kind regards,
Bazza.