iPhone problems with mixer

betee48

Member
One of my students plugged their iphone into the mixer, and it cracks and pops unless we turn down the volume on the iphone. Then we can control the volume with the fader, but the sound quality is not as good as it should be. Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks!
 
You might have two different issues going on. Typically, anytime I have had cracking or popping noises while connecting a phone to a mixer, it was because of the TRS plug not seating properly, often due to the phone case. They actually make cables where at least a portion of the body directly behind the plug is very narrow so it will not interfere. You might try taking the phone out of it's case and see if that helps.
Regarding sound quality, agree with rwhealey, check you are going into a line input. I would also make sure the content sounds good in the first place by plugging decent headphones directly into the phone.
 
An iPhone uses a TRRS jack (4 conductor) to connect a mic and a volume control along with left and right audio. The audio cable you have is a TRS (3 conductor). That causes the phone to try to put some DC, possibly pulsed, onto the ground line. That causes noises in the audio. Buy a proper audio output cable that uses the "Apple connector" for the iPhone, and it'll work OK. Connect it to a line input, not a mic input.
 
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This is your friend. We have a similar version of this (same thing, but made by a different company) and we never have issues. Although, once I had someone who had a bit of lint in their input which stopped the TRRS from being seated properly. It was pretty crazy actually.
 
An iPhone uses a TRRS jack (4 conductor) to connect a mic and a volume control along with left and right audio. The audio cable you have is a TRS (3 conductor). That causes the phone to try to put some DC, possibly pulsed, onto the ground line. That causes noises in the audio. Buy a proper audio output cable that uses the "Apple connector" for the iPhone, and it'll work OK. Connect it to a line input, not a mic input.
I've always used a TRS cable plugged into line inputs and never had any trouble. That is like saying you have to have earphones with a mic/remote for them to work properly. Not the case. This is no different than plugging in a normal set of ear/headphones with a TRS connector. The phone knows how to handle it based on the connection it sees. A case on the device that would not allow the plug to seat fully into the jack is much more likely the issue than TRS versus TRRS.
 
First there is no need for TRRS cables, you don't want them. You need a 1/8" TRS to a pair of RCA "why" cable such as http://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=9768
Next, if you need them you get a pair of RCA to TS 1/4" adapters like these http://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=7149
Please do yourself a favor and don't try and go from 1/8" to XLR, you are asking for problems. Pin 3 problems with older gear, impedance problems and others depending on how the thing is wired including being out of phase. If your console does not have RCA or 1/4" inputs then buy a direct box and plug the above cables into the DI and that into the console. The other thing you absolutely do NOT want is a 1/8" TRS to 1/4" TRS. The reason I post the Monoprice links is that, a, they are cheap and they work just fine and, b, they are cheap and you can buy a dozen sets cheap so that when one breaks or walks away it really won't bug you that much.
 
I believe the whirlwind PC DI has an attentuate switch which keeps the out put a line level signal, but continues to make it Balanced Stereo XLR.


[EDIT] This one does not allow for line level. But there are some out there that do :) The Pad switch is just a mic pad and may work for line but your signal will still be lower then it should. Still Quality hardware though. I have a whirlwind and Radial PC Direct Box. Both are Great.
 

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