juicedlink riggy micro
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1. contact with the enclosure ground Any silver parts of the enclosure such as the female 1 4 20 tripod mounting hole are electrically connected to the enclosure So any components in contact with these elements are also in contact with the enclosure ground The camera mounting screw that goes through the preamp is Susoended by nylon shoulder washers so itis notin contact with the enclosure ground Inthe NORM position of the ENC GND switch the enclosure ground is connected to the ground of the circuitry inside the preamp So if the camera enclosure finds a path to the preamp enclosure you will have a ground loop The NORM switch position is what is typically used when the preamp is mounted to the bottom of the camera and there is only one ground connection between the preamp and the camera via the shield of the stereo minijack cable There is no ground connection between the enclosure of the preamp to the enclosure of the camera since the camera mounting screw that goes through the preamp and is in contact with enclosure of the camera but the camera mounting screw that goes through the preamp is electrically isolated from the preamp enclosure via the nylon shoulder washers Inthe LIFT position of the ENC GND switch the circuitry inside the preamp is electrically isolated from the ground of the enclosure So if the camera enclosure finds a path to the preamp enclosure you will LIFT the ground to the preamp encl2. gain to zero and you will likely need a pinch of analog gain 10qB o Canon Vixa camera Take mic off of automatic and set to manual Throttle back the gain to about 1 3 full gain o Some other cameras have mic sensitivity settings like high med low Use the lowest mic sensitivity setting SIGNAL LEVEL ADJUSTMENT Adjust the front panel potentiometer volume control for XLR L so the audio peaks splash up to 12dB on the meter of the camera HEADPHONES Plug headphones the camera s headphone output MOUNT ACCESSORIES TO YOUR PREAMP Affix the to the preamp or use the enabling you to mount accessories such as microphones wireless mic receivers etc Explanation of Switches O ENC GND NORM LIFT The NORM position connects analog ground to the enclosure The LIFT position disconnects the enclosure from analog ground See the Mounting Grounding Ground Loops and the ENC GND Switch section below for more details MIC LINE LINE inserts a 40dB pad at the XLR input before the preamp Circuit GAIN HI LO The preamp is typically used in the HI gain position LO gain is used when in a high signal level environment like a rock concert or the tarmac of an airport PHANTOM OFF 12V 48V This controls the switching power supply of the phantom voltage generating circuit PHANTOM XX gt ON The ON position routes the voltage from the phantom voltage generating circuit to the corresponding XX XLR
3. input See the WARNINGS Phantom Power section of this document L2 R PWR ON OFF Powers on off the preamps for the L2 and R XLR inputs STEREO MONO MONO mixes all XLR inputs together and presents them all to both the right and left outputs STEREO routes XLR R to the right output and XLR L1 and XLR L2 to the left output R OUT 16dB PAD ON OFF This engages an approximately 16dB attenuator in the right output channel It is used in conjunction with the MONO setting the GREEN switch settings to achieve Audio Output Bracketing for camera overload protection LiPoly ALK ALK sets the low battery threshold suitable for alkaline batteries LiPoly sets the low battery threshold suitable for Lithium Polymer batteries Mounting the Preamp O Mounting Grounding Ground Loops and the ENC GND Switch Ground Loops can result in a hum buzz in your audio and are created when multiple ground paths between pieces of equipment exist You will always have one ground connection between the preamp and your camera and that is via the shield in the stereo minijack cable that goes trom the MIC OUT of the preamp into the MIC IN of the camera However depending on how where you mount the preamp a second ground connection can be created between the preamp enclosure and camera enclosure The preamp enclosure is black anodized which is non conductive So any elements in contact with the black anodized portion of the enclosure are not in
4. Riggy Micro User Manual e Riggy Micro low noise preamp e Stereo mini jack cable Some cameras have a 2 5mm minijack input and a can be purchased separately e 1 8 hex key for rotating the camera mounting screw and mounting the preamp on the bottom of a camera e Cork strip for no particular reason other than it can be a handy thing to have sometimes e MOUNT TO BOTTOM OF CAMERA Use the included 1 8 hex key to rotate tighten the preamp camera mounting screw into the camera s threaded tripod mounting hole Set the ENC GND switch to NORM Read the Mounting the Preamp section below for more Tips on setting the ENC GND switch for other mounting locations e POWER Insert a fresh 9V alkaline battery into the battery tray in the correct orientation Set LiPoly ALK to ALK Turn L2 R PWR to the OFF position since we will not be using the L2 or R XLR inputs for a single mic extending battery life e AUDIO CONNECTION TO CAMERA Connect the included stereo minijack cable trom the preamp s MIC OUT into the camera s MIC IN Some cameras have a 2 5mm minijack input and a can be purchased separately e MIC SNR AND MIC PLACEMENT Low noise preamps are effective at improving poor signal to noise of downstream components like noisy cameras and recorders However low noise preamps can not improve poor signal to noise in upstream components This is to say garbage in garbage ouTt You willneed to use a microphone with decent sign
5. al to noise characteristics Additionally the microphone needs to be placed close to the person speaking no more than a foot and a half away for capture of high quality dialogue e CONNECT BALANCED MIC Connect a balanced XLR microphone into the L1 XLR input For simple dialog set MIC LINE to MIC and GAIN on HI for the LI channel Apply Phantom Power to the LI channel if necessary See the WARNINGS Phantom Power section at the end of this document e UNBALANCED MIC For minijack mics which are unbalanced use a Rode VXLR adapter to connect to the balanced XLR inputs of the preamp See the WARNINGS Phantom Power section at the end of this document SIGNAL ROUTING TO OUTPUT Since this setup only uses one mic set MONO STEREO to MONO This will mix all of the mic inputs together and route them all fo both the right and left outputs If you wish to have channel separation when you are using more than one mic then set to STEREO and L1 and L2 will be routed to the left output channel and R will be routed to the right CAMERA OVERLOAD PROTECTION You may wish to use Audio Bracketing for camera overload protection indicated by the GREEN switch settings This mixes all of the microphones together MONO and attenuates the right output by about 16dB R OUT 16dB PAD ON So if you blow out your main channel left you have a backup recording on the right at a safe lower level that you can pull from in post This approach has advantages ove
6. closure ground and you have enabled the LIFT switch to avoid a ground loop then you must have the cable connected between the preamp and the camera for phantom power to work because the XLR connector gets its ground reference from the enclosure and the phantom circuitry will not pass its ground reference to the XLR connector without the cable connection to the camera e Powering O A 9V battery must be placed in the battery tray in accordance with the polarity markings found at the bottom of the battery tray Different battery chemistries will have different drop out voltages The low battery threshold indicator is calibrated for both alkaline and lithium polymer rechargable batteries Select the appropriate switch setting for ALK LiPoly for the battery type used Preampsare high current devices unlike otherthingslike smoke detectors etc So they require that the batteries used are fresh Please note that it is possible to get bad packs of batteries from the store Weakened batteries have a buildup of their internal resistance The larger this resistance becomes the more of a voltage drop that will occur when supplying large currents thus triggering the low battery indicator Maximizing power efficiency Phantompowersucksalotofcurrentfromthe battery Whenever it is not needed make sure that phantom power is off Whenever you have the option to run a mic from its own battery or phantom power run it from its own batt
7. ensitivity settings like high med low Use the lowest mic sensitivity setting o Turn down the potentiometer volume controls all of the way for any Unused XLR input o Limitations in Signal to Noise Low noise preamps are effective at improving poor signal to noise of downstream components like noisy cameras and recorders However low noise preamps can not improve poor signal to noise in upstream components This is to say garbage in garbage out You will need to use a microphone with decent signal to noise characteristics Additionally the microphone needs to be placed close to the person speaking no more than a foot and a half away for capture of high quality dialogue e Achieving the Widest Dynamic Range o Camera Settings Before when we wanted to get the best signal to noise performance we switched the camera out of AUTO to MANUAL throttled back the noisy gain in the camera and let the Juiced Link low noise preamp do the heavy lifting of the gain This is the kind of setup you want to use when you are recording simple dialogue in a quiet room But in the situations when you may be concerned about the camera clipping because you are in an unpredictable signal environment out on the street birthday party etc you often are in a signal environment where the ambient sounds traffic kids are high enough to begin with where the noisy amps in the camera are no longer a problem as the camera noise is lo
8. ery and keep phantom power off or do not route phantom power to that mic if you are required to have phantom power on to power another mic that is connected It is offen desirable to use a mic that works from phantom power only since that mic can be much smaller and lighter without the battery compartment When you are in the market for a new mic many modern mics will work down to 12V phantom so consider one of those mics If consumes much less power to run from 12V instead of 48V The preamp has the ability fo power down unused XLR inputs vid the L2 R PWR switch Power off when those inputs are not in use and this will extend battery life considerably e Connecting to the Preamp Inputs O O The preamp inputs are balanced XLR where pin 2 is HOT pin 3 is COLD and pin 1 is GND So balanced XLR microphones will directly interface using the MIC setting The output of balanced mixers will interface directly as well and you may need to engage the 40dB attenuator at the input by using the LINE setting Unbalanced sources minijack mics wireless mics can interface to balanced inputs You will need to use a connector that connects pin 3 COLD to pin 1 GND For example the Rode VXLR connector provides such functionality going from minijack to XLR Never apply phantom power to unbalanced sources See the WARNINGS Phantom Power section at the end of this document Phantom Power Condenser type microphones require power Some
9. f the plating of the hot shoe adapter is electrically conductive or not Unfortunately suppliers are not consistent in their application of plating So to start set ENC GND to NORM with the assumption that the plating Is not electrically conductive and run a quick test recording in the camera to make sure if sounds OK Change ENC GND to LIFT as needed Note that plating can get scratched off with wear So if your plating is non conductive but has some scratches on the base of the adapter going into the camera hot shoe you can wrap the base in some masking tape to ensure that a scratch won t create a conductive path when you are using the NORM position Mounting to some other place on your rig Please see the Mounting Grounding Ground Loops and ENC GND section above Your grounding scheme will dictate what O position to use for the ENC GND switch Mounting on top of a Tripod Screw your tripod plate into the female 1 4 20 on the bottom of the preamp e Mounting Accessories IT S RIGGY O Affix the 191 to the preamp use the g Kit enabling you to mount accessories such as microphones wireless mic receivers etc e Audio Connection Between Preamp and Camera O O Connect the included from the oreamp s MIC OUT into the camera s MIC IN Some cameras have a 2 5mm minijack input and a can be purchased separately Note if you have an electrical connection between the camera enclosure ground and the preamp en
10. ls for each XLR Channel O Each XLR channelhasa MIC LINEswitch GAIN switch and volume control potentiometer on the front panel For typical use with a microphone recording simple dialogue you will have MIC LINE set to MIC GAIN set to HI and you will adjust the volume control potentiometer so the peaks splash just solash up to the 12dB on the meter of the camera The LO GAIN setting is used for very high signal level environments like a rock concert or the tarmac of an airport fo provide more headroom in the preamp e Routing Preamp Intputs to Camera O MONO mixes all XLR inputs together and presents them all to both the right and left outputs STEREO routes XLR R to the right output and XLR L1 and XLR L2 to the left output e Achieving the Best Signal to Noise O The way to improve the signal to noise performance of noisy cameras is to throttle back the noisy amps in the camera and replace the noisy gain with clean gain from the juicedLink low noise preamp Cameras have different ways of throttling back their mic gain Here are some examples with some popular cameras 800 5DMkIll In the audio setup menu set the camera to MANUAL and turn down the mic gain to 1 click above off If you need to boost up the gain a few more clicks for less sensitive mics then that will be fine Canon Vixia camera Take mic off of automatic and set to manual Throttle back the gain to about 1 3 full gain Some other cameras have mic s
11. mic which requires it otherwise you are basically shorting 48V to ground and risk damaging your equipment Check your microphone user manual for its requirements When the phantom power gets shorted it sucks a huge amount of current from the battery so your battery life will be awful Plus the phantom power IC will get extremely hot After a period of time it may not be able to handle it and burn out Plus whatever you are applying phantom power to can get damaged such as mixers and ribbon mics Never apply phantom power to 1 wireless mic receivers 2 any unbalanced mic 3 ribbon mics 4 dynamic mics 5 mixers 6 condenser mics already being powered by their own internal battery Risk of Hearing Loss During production you will be using headphones for monitoring audio Headphone amplifiers are capable of driving signal levels which are damaging to hearing Protect your hearing Start with the volume at a low level and use at the lowest practical signal level Don t wear headphones when plugging headphones into headphone amps when powering on off your equipment when plugging external equipment into your mixer mics mixers when powering on phantom power Risk of Electric Shock The enclosure is electrically conductive and electrically connected to the shields of the mic cables plugged into the mixer Avoid electrocution and observe caution with cable runs in areas where high voltages and or currents exist
12. microphones can be powered by their own internal battery Other microphones require power to be sourced by the equipment that the mic is being plugged into and transmitted up the mic cable from the mixer to the mic This is known as phantom power The PHANTOM OFF 12V 48V This controls the switching power supply of the phantom voltage generating circuit Check your microphone user manual for its powering requirements Select the lowest phantom setting that is required by all mics being used PHANTOM XX gt ON The ON position routes the voltage from the phantom voltage generating circuit to the corresponding XX XLR input IMPORTANT See the WARNINGS Phantom Power section at the end of this document Phantom power sucks a lot of current from the battery Whenever it is not needed make sure that phantom power is off Whenever you have the option to run a mic from its own battery or phantom power run it from ifs own battery and keep phantom power off or do not route phantom power to that mic if you are required to have phantom power on to power another mic that is connected It is offen desirable to use a mic that works from phantom power only since that mic can be much smaller and lighter without the battery compartment When you are in the market for a new mic many modern mics will work down to 12V phantom so consider one of those mics It consumes much less power to run from 12V instead of 48V e Signal Level Contro
13. osure to eliminate the ground loop A potential O O O path could be where your camera is mounted to a rig and the preamp is mounted to the same rig via the silver female 1 4 20 tripod mounting hole on the bottom of the preamp However if you LIFT the enclosure ground trom the circuitry of the preamp when there is no ground connection between the camera enclosure and the preamp enclosure then you will be disabling phantom power This is because the XLR Connector pulls its ground from the preamp enclosure so the XLR connector needs to get the ground reference from the enclosure of the camera when in the LIFT position Additionally if you disconnect the stereo minijack cable between the MIC OUT of the preamp to the MIC IN of the camera you will also be disabling the phantom when in the LIFT position Mounting to the bottom of your camera Align the male 1 4 20 camera mounting screw of the preamp with the female 1 4 20 tripod hole of the camera Use the included 1 8 hex key to rotate the screw into the hole Set the ENC GND switch to the NORM position You will retain access to the camera s battery compartment for most popular camera while the preamp is mounted to the bottom of the camera Mounting to your camera hot shoe using the or other hot shoe adapters In this configuration there is a potential ground path between the preamp enclosure and camera ground on the hot shoe via the hot shoe adapter If depends on i
14. r other types of overload protection such as limiters First Audio Output Bracketing consumes no power from the battery and also adds no noise or distortion to your audio Second every camera gain setting and every different camera will have a unique signal level at which clipping will start to occur So if you were to attempt to use a limiter approach you would need to re calibrate the point at which the limiter would kick in for each different gain setting of the camera and each different camera CAMERA SETTING FOR SIGNAL TO NOISE The way fo improve the signal to noise performance of noisy cameras is to throttle back the noisy amps in the camera and replace the noisy gain with clean gain from the juicedLink low noise preamp Cameras have different ways of throttling back their mic gain Here are some examples with some popular cameras o 800 5DMkIIl In the audio setup menu set the camera to MANUAL and turn down the mic gain to 1 click above off If you need to boost up the gain a few more clicks for less sensitive mics then that will be fine o Canon DSLR running MagicLantern 3rd party firmware This firmware is not from Canon so you use it at your own risk But it adds a lot of nice features for filmmakers including meters visible while recording manual audio control and headphones from the camera may not be available for all camera so you need to verify You will want to set the MagicLantern firmware AGC off digital
15. wer and masked by the ambient noise Here it is perfectly fine to run the camera in its AUTO mode and let the camera s algorithm ride the gain for you providing you with extended dynamic range coverage o Audio Output Bracketing You may wish to use Audio Bracketing for camera overload protection indicated by the GREEN switch settings This mixes all of the microphones together MONO SETTING and attenuates the right output by about 16dB R OUT 16dB PAD ON setting So if you blow out your main channel left you have a backup recording on the right at a safe lower level that you can pull from in post This can be used with any camera You can change gain settings in the camera with no problem You can even combine it with the camera s AUTO setting for even further extended dynamic range This approach has advantages over other types of overload protection such as limiters in preamps First Audio Output Bracketing Consumes no power from the battery and also adds No noise or distortion to your audio Second every camera gain setting and every different camera will have a unique signal level at which clipping will start to occur So if you were to attempt to use a limiter approach you would need to re calibrate the point at which the limiter would kick in for each different gain setting of the camera and each different camera WARNINGS O Phantom Power NEVER apply phantom power to anything other than a
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