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I just purchased a brick a couple weeks ago. So far everytime iv'e set it up to use it on a project i end up not using it, becuase it is too "hot". I am familiar with the fact that it automatically adds +25db to the signal with the gain all the way down. I was just wondering if anyone else has had this problem and if so is there a way to possibly add a "pad" or something to the signal. So far ive tried using it on the bottom of a snare with a ksm 32 with the pad on the mic on going through a MOTU 2408mk3,
With the gain all the way down i was clipping my converter. I know i had the digital gain down on the converter so that was'nt the problem. I tried moving the mic a couple more inches away from the snare, but still had a verry hot signal. I ended up not using it for the sake of too much bleed on that mic at a workable distance. so far this has happened to me in 3 different situations. Im thinking of taking it back. What should i do?

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anonymous Wed, 06/01/2005 - 19:16

yeah im using the +4 option on the in's for my motu, this is not good? Im using the balanced in's for noise rejection. I know theres no further amplification in the signal path going in to the motu balanced , I just figured it's still good for noise rejection? The 2408mk3 does not have any mic pres..just d/a a/d conversion. I'll have to try on the -10 see what happens??? huh....got me thinking again on it hahaha. The reason i bought the brick is becuase i herd sooo much good stuff about it here, Ill play around with that see what happens. I also have some trident and focusrite pre's... should i be running into the motu non balanced also....Im not having this problem with those pre's.

KurtFoster Wed, 06/01/2005 - 22:38

perfectwave wrote: The output of the brick is balanced xlr, so how would i go about connecting it to the motu? My in's on the motu are optional +4 or -10 trs through the same jack. Can i just run balanced cable with -10 selected?

You should have +4 line inputs to make the most of The Brick ... I am surprised that tthe MOTU doesn't have that ability ... actually I suspect that is does. Look into it.

anonymous Fri, 06/03/2005 - 00:13

yeah that's how im doing it at the moment, I was just wondering with that setup if i select the input to -10 on that jack in the motu instead of +4. The motu gives that option in the options panel +4 or -10 for each input jack. The original problem im having is that the brick automatically adds +25db of gain with the gain knob all the way down, My motu is clipping with the gain knob on the brick all the way down. I havent had a chance to get into the studio yet to see if switching over to -10 is gonna make a difference. Ill probably get in there tomorrow and let you guys know. Thanks everybody for your help so far.

anonymous Fri, 06/03/2005 - 00:20

Kurt Foster wrote: [quote=perfectwave]The output of the brick is balanced xlr, so how would i go about connecting it to the motu? My in's on the motu are optional +4 or -10 trs through the same jack. Can i just run balanced cable with -10 selected?

You should have +4 line inputs to make the most of The Brick ... I am surprised that tthe MOTU doesn't have that ability ... actually I suspect that is does. Look into it.

That's the way i have it connected at the moment , but with the gain knob all the way down on the brick im still clipping my converter, like the auto +25db on the brick is too much with a condenser mic?? Not quite sure whats going on here? Like i said with the pad on on the mic i had to move the mic too far away from the source to efficently use.

Big_D Fri, 06/03/2005 - 04:14

I was just wondering with that setup if i select the input to -10 on that jack in the motu instead of +4. The motu gives that option in the options panel +4 or -10 for each input jack.

-10 will only make it worse. -10 is more sensitive than +4 so the overload would be worse. Are you sure it isn't set at -10 already instead of +4.

I'm not sure if this is true with the Motu stuff but I think with Mackie unbalanced ins are about 6db less sensitive than balanced. So inserting a TS acts as a -6db pad. Try an XLR to TS converter and see if it helps.