Line to Mic for an press box

[wolfman005]

So our school is hosting a special Olympics and they have requested 3 wireless mics at our press box. Ok no problem.
Well actually there is a tiny one. The existing system consist of a wireless mic, a zone mix 760, and 2 crown amps. I plan on just unplugging the existing wireless mic, and patching the wireless mic and 2 more mics into my mixer. Than plug the mixer into input 3 (where the wireless mic is normally plugged in). If I'm thinking right, the input is configured as a mic in and the mixer will output line signal. This has been problematic in our gymnatorium when we do add ons like this before.
So I need a device to go from line to mic. I've seen stuff about using a DI box in reverse but never gathered if that is a legit thing. Is it that simple? The other thing I saw after some googling is this.
In short what I am asking is can I for sure use one of these devices to fix the mic/line level issue? I'd like to do a test run but I probably won't get anything other than an hour before the event starts. That's cutting it closer than I would like.

 

[TheaterEd]

You may want to take a look at the current set up. The wireless receivers I work with can be set to output at either mic or line level. You might not need to do anything at all.

If it is set at mic level, then I think you found the right product. In the product description they describe the product doing exactly what you need. You might not want to plug this directly into your board though due to the weight of the set up. Plug it into a jumper first, better safe than sorry.

Otherwise, when I set up my mixer in the gym for graduation I just set the output of the mixer as low as is practical and leave the microphone volume in the house system where it is. Make sure you aren't turning down the house mic volume and sending and overpowered signal. Of course your results may vary.

 

[Lextech]

If the input is line level go right in or if it is mic level plug your board into a DI using your output to the 1/4" in. Then the DI to the input. That is assuming you have a DI.

 

[Chris15]

Drop an attenuator like you linked in and you should be all set.
You can make your own it's not that hard, just a bit of maths to work out the resistor values for a (say) 50dB attenuation...

 

[FMEng]

Here is a great source of information about making pads.
Uneeda Audio - Build your own attenuator pads

For this application, use a balanced U pad. Use 470 ohms for R1 and 10 ohms for R2. Radio Shack part numbers 271-1317 and 271-1301 for the resistors but anything close will work. That'll get you 40 dB of attenuation, which should be close enough. Your mixer goes to the input, and the pad output goes to the zone mixer.

A passive DI box would work, but not all DIs are passive. If it just has a transformer and some resistors in it, it would work in reverse. An active DI has an amplifier circuit in it, so it cannot work in reverse.

 

[wolfman005]

I'll be doing a test sometime later today to make sure it all works. I took the attenuator home and it work for a mock setup I made but this is a big deal to the school so it's gotta be guaranteed.

I do have a few DIs (some passive some active) so I'll bring one or two along in case.

Now that the planning committee knows that I'm running a larger mixer they have asked about doing more things (choir mics for the national anthem and stuff like that) so I'm gonna bring my bag of random audio components that might come in handy.

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[standup]

The passive DI is probably the easiest way to do it. I don't know how big this event is, but a very useful item to have for a taking a device from line to mic level is something like this. We use these in our arena when we do press conferences after basketball games or other big events. One line level input that goes to multiple (6, 12 or 24) mic level outputs. If you have a news crew show up to cover the event, they usually appreciate/ expect a direct feed from the board, this is one of the easier ways of accomplishing this that I've seen.

 

[wolfman005]

I actually looked at those in my research but we really only need 1 adapter/converter. We are doing an A and a B sound system. A will be the actual staduim and B will be the Olympic village. Really all they want synced is a announcing mic so I'm just gonna take an extra receiver and assign two receivers to one mic. Worked great for us in the past.

I don't think there will be press. I'm also on yearbook and I was told that we're not allowed to take pictures because it can turn into a HIPA violation. Makes sense.