8pre: mics work fine, but line in is gritty and pops

felixnine · Post by **felixnine** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:33 am

i'm just got my 8pre yesterday and i guess i'd call myself a total noob, so please don't get mad if my questions are noobish. anyway, the first thing i did when i got my 8pre was to try to record using a 1/4" stereo plug. the input comes from a bad tape boombox, so i have to use a 1/8" to 1/4" adapter (we use it to record practices). even when i'm not recording anything, just playing it through the 8pre, the audio sounds really gritty and i'm pretty sure i can hear some pops. i know for a fact that it's not supposed to sound like that, and furthermore, i know it's not the fact that i'm using the adapter. i've done the same thing before using an m-audio audiobuddy, but that was going direct in to my soundcard.

to make sure the unit wasn't broken, i tested all the mics i have, both those that require phantom power and those that do not. i wasn't able yell into them or anything, but it was loud enough where i was able to tell that the audio quality was solid, not gritty and no pops.

i'm using adobe audition 2.0 and whatever drivers motu had on their website. am i being a total idiot here? insults and suggestions are welcome. thanks.

Pappy725 · Post by **Pappy725** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 3:21 pm

Is the output of the boombox a line level or is it a headphone jack? I've lofied audio into a mixing board that way but not through my 828.

felixnine · Post by **felixnine** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 3:27 pm

the output from the boombox is a headphone jack. i know this seems like a really stupid thing to complain about, but i feel like it should work without issue. thanks for the reply.

zara_drummer · Post by **zara_drummer** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:00 am

I definately think this is an impedence issue.

I run line out from my vocal pre to the line in on my 8pre and have no issues with poping or scratching sounds.

The inputs on the 8pre are line level so the signal your sending it is way too hot...have you tried turing on the 10db pad? That might help some...

I wouldn't expect the same results as you got from device to device.

dr. Fill · Post by **dr. Fill** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 2:25 am

he first thing i did when i got my 8pre was to try to record using a 1/4" stereo plug. the input comes from a bad tape boombox

If you try to record a stereo signal into one balanced input of the 8pre. The unballancing inside the preamp (turning phase to get rit off noise) will put the rightchannel in counter fase to the left channel resulting in a lot of bad sound

and have you tried the boombox output on anything else? Maybe the boombox is busted

Pappy725 · Post by **Pappy725** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 5:59 am

Try using a stereo mini plug(from the boombox) to two 1/4 plugs, use two channels on the 8pre and record to two tracks.

felixnine · Post by **felixnine** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 4:59 pm

okay, i did try a stereo --> mono adapter (it takes 1/8" stereo and gives two mono outputs). i then just connected this to a 1/4" adapter and... what do you know? it works, no grittiness, pops or anything. i had to do some playing around with the 8pre plus the volume on the shitbox so it didn't clip too bad, but i think i figured it out. thanks for your help and suggestions.