What to do with my two stereo tracks?

[4-Man Takedown]

I've been using my Yamaha MX 12/6 mixer to record my band and it sounds pretty good, but I am using all 8 XLR inputs on the mixer. I still have two stereo tracks that I want to use left, but they are either RCA inputs, or 1/4" phone jacks.

Whenever I use an unbalanced cable which is XLR->1/4", I get more noise than I want, and not enough signal, which isn't good since I'm using the tracks for vocals.

Can anyone give me ideas of how I could hook up some mics to these two tracks with minimal amount of noise and a good input, or can I get a balanced XLR->1/4" to use?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[maskedman72]

a dual mic pre would allow you to plug in 2 more xlr mic cables and its output would be 1/4 inch jacks that could feed your mixers line inputs. there are a million mic pres that are cheap like art's dual mp unit.
the other option is to contact mercenary audio and tell them you want a special cable made and they will do it. i called and wanted the same exact cables you want and they were about $35/ea.
or you could build the cable yourself if you have a soldering iron and some time and know how.
if you dont have the know how there are a lot of people on this site that know what pins to tie to what.
hope that helps.
the mercenary site is www.mercenaryaudio.com
give them an e-mail
-jay

 

[Sennheiser]

The cable (XLR to 1/4") you are using is not changing the impedance for the input you are using. All it's doing is changing the connection. The noise is caused from having to crank up the trim on your input to try and get a decent signal level and mis-matched impedance.

You can try an impedance matching adapter or just get a pre-amp to use with the 1/4" inputs.