QU-32 Mix3 peaking?

[JonParticipant]

Hi everyone,

I help run our A/V equipment at our church and we just replaced our old analog mixer with a QU-32. On our old mixer we ran a 1/4″ aux send to the RCA input on a DVD recorder in order to record our services, and that always worked fine. On our QU-32, we have our Mix3 setup to do the same, with the XLR out going to the RCA input on our DVD recorder. However, since the QU-32 was installed a few weeks ago we’ve had a horrible crackling sound in the recordings. It almost sounds like Mix3 is peaking, but the meter on Mix3 does not show that it is peaking. I know that it is not an issue with the DVD recorder, because I used an RCA to 3.5mm cable to plug in my headphones and listen to the Mix3 line directly, and I still hear the crackling. So it seems that there is either a problem with the cable itself, or there is something going on with the board. Is it possible that Mix3 could peak even if it does not show that it is peaking on the meter? Is there some other way that I could be over-driving the sound on Mix?

Thanks for your help!

[GCumbeeParticipant]

How is the cable wired? The output xlrs are balanced. Your RCA is unbalanced. First try connecting a 1/4 mono plug from ALT OUT LR to you DVD RCA. Adjust level on the Alt out to match what you need. Make sure the Alt out is selected to send out LR. If that works then you need to figure out if the Mix 3 out is wired correctly. Balanced to unbalanced. You might also try it in a different mix out. My guess is wrong wiring.

[JonParticipant]

Thanks for the help. I tracked down the problem. It turns out that the cable going from Mix3 on the QU to the DVD recorder was not wired properly. The RCA is spliced to the microphone wire, and it was not spliced correctly. The ground/shield wire from Mix3 was spliced to the two black wires on the RCA, which is correct, but the red and black wires from the XLR were spliced together with the two red wires from the RCA. Basically, the red and black wires were being crossed in the splice and that must have been what was causing the crackling. I’m not sure who wired it that way, or why, but it definitely was not right. Thankfully, it was an easy fix!

[Author]

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