Daking Audio Mic Pre EQ User manual

Daking Audio
Daking Audio Mic Pre EQ Manual
VERSION 1.0
Hendrik David Gideonse XIX
3/26/2010

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Safety Considerations
1. Read, follow and keep these instructions.
2. Heed all warnings.
3. Do not use this equipment in or near water. Do not place liquids on or near the
device because the device might be damaged during a spill.
4. Clean only with a soft dry cloth.
5. Do not block any ventilation openings. Install in accordance with the
manufacturer’s instructions.
6. Use only Daking supplied power supplies to prevent damage to your device or
create safety hazards.
7. Do not install near any heat sources such as radiators, heat registers, stoves, or
other apparatus (including amplifiers) that produce heat.
8. Do not defeat the safety purpose of the polarized or grounding-type plug. A
polarized plug has two blades with one wider than the other. A grounding-type
plug has two blades and a third grounding prong. The wide blade or the third
prong are provided for your safety. If the provided plug does not fit into your
outlet, consult an electrician for replacement of the obsolete outlet.
9. Protect the power cord and all connecting cables from being walked on or pinched
particularly at plugs, receptacles, and the point where they exit from the device.
10. Only use attachments/accessories specified by the manufacturer.
11. Unplug this device when unused for long periods of time.
12. Refer all servicing to qualified service personnel. Servicing is required when the
apparatus has been damaged in any way, such as when a power-supply cord or
plug is damaged, liquid has been spilled or objects have fallen into the apparatus,
the apparatus has been exposed to rain or moisture, does not operate normally, or
has been dropped.
13. Do not overload wall outlets and extension cords as this can result in a risk of fire
or electric shock.

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Contents
Safety Considerations ......................................................................................................... 2
Daking Audio Mic Pre EQ.................................................................................................. 5
1.1 About Daking Audio............................................................................................ 5
1.2 Quick Start Guide................................................................................................. 5
1.2.1 Don’t read the manual! ................................................................................. 5
1.2.2 Purpose.......................................................................................................... 6
1.2.3 Basic Set Up.................................................................................................. 6
1.3 The Power Supply................................................................................................ 6
1.4 Back Panel............................................................................................................ 6
1.4.1 In General: XLR Connectors........................................................................ 7
1.4.2 Microphone Input (XLR).............................................................................. 7
1.4.3 Line Input (XLR).......................................................................................... 7
1.4.4 Line Output (XLR) ....................................................................................... 7
1.4.5 Power Supply Connection............................................................................. 8
1.5 Front Panel: The Preamplifier Section................................................................. 8
1.5.1 The Output Level Knob................................................................................ 8
1.5.2 The Gain Knob.............................................................................................. 8
1.5.3 The Line Button............................................................................................ 8
1.5.4 Pad Button..................................................................................................... 8
1.5.5 +48 Button .................................................................................................... 8
1.5.6 Ø Phase Button ............................................................................................. 9
1.5.7 The Mute Button........................................................................................... 9
1.5.8 The Bypass Button........................................................................................ 9
1.6 The Front Panel: The Equalizer Section .............................................................. 9
1.6.1 General instructions...................................................................................... 9
1.6.2 The 20kHz Low Pass Button ....................................................................... 9
1.6.3 The 25Hz High Pass Button.......................................................................... 9
1.6.4 High Frequency Section................................................................................ 9
1.6.5 High Mid Frequency Section...................................................................... 10
1.6.6 Low Mid Frequency Section....................................................................... 10
1.6.7 Low Frequency Section .............................................................................. 10
1.7 Signal Flow: Patching Into and Out of Your Mic Pre EQ ................................. 10
1.7.1 Microphone to Mic Pre EQ to Audio Interface or Mixer ........................... 10

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1.7.2 Via a Patch Bay........................................................................................... 10
1.8 Specifications..................................................................................................... 12

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Daking Audio Mic Pre EQ
1.1 About Daking Audio
Congratulations! You’ve purchased a Mic Pre EQ, a very high end piece of
gear! The Mic Pre EQ uses all discrete transistor Class A circuits, Jensen
input and output transformers and printed circuit board mounted switches.
Signal capacitors are precision polypropylene or ultra low-leakage electrolytic
types. Our boards are assembled on a mil-spec assembly line. The chassis are
stainless steel for maximum RF and hum rejection and a long lasting finish.
Every unit is hand finished, tested, burned in, and tested again in a second
facility.
Also, we just couldn’t stand to use plastic knobs, so we designed our own
anodized, engraved aluminum knobs that give a much more precise and
quality feel. We designed our gear to be gear you’d own for life, not some
passing fancy you’d leave in the dust once you figured what the good stuff
sounds like. This IS the good stuff.
-Geoff Daking
1.2 Quick Start Guide
1.2.1 Don’t read the manual!
Most of you will already know how to use mic preamps perfectly well and
might be even a little offended at the idea of reading the instruction
manual. So don’t read it. This manual is not for you.
This manual is for someone that knows enough to buy the very best
(Daking of course!), but doesn’t have a lot of experience using recording
gear.
You might be a bass player who just got a DAW and wants a cleaner more
accurate sound from your mics in your home studio. You might be a
student that just got a check from Mom & Dad and who wants to go buy
something nice for yourself.
You might be the guy standing ankle-deep in a
pool of salt water, trying to yank the grounding pin
off your mixer’s power cord so you can plug it into
your 2-prong ungrounded outdoor outlet.
This manual is especially for you!
Whenever you see the Duh! Guy, you can be
assured that most professionals will already know
this stuff. Be sure to explain this stuff to your friends in a snotty and
condescending tone, so you too can be part of the tradition of know-it-all
engineers and recordists!

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1.2.2 Purpose
The job of a microphone amplifier is to make a mic level signal into a line
level signal so that it can be recorded, mixed or processed. The purpose of
an EQ or Equalizer is to boost or cut groups of frequencies to shape the
frequency response, tone or timbre of an audio signal. Many times this is
to correct for a particularly dark microphone, like a ribbon, or a
particularly bright microphone like some small diaphragm condensers. In
mixing, EQ is also used to remove frequencies from one source to make
room for another to prevent masking.
1.2.3 Basic Set Up
Plug a microphone into the Mic Input Jack on the Mic Pre EQ using a
microphone (XLR Female to XLR Male) cable. If the mic you are using
is a condenser microphone that requires phantom power, push in the +48
Button to engage phantom power. Patch out of the Output Jack of the
same preamp to the line level input of your recording device using either a
microphone (XLR Female to XLR Male) cable or balanced line (XLR
Female to a ¼” TRS Male) cable.
You can also plug line level sources (like the output of a different preamp
or an insert send) into the Line Input XLR jack.
1.3 The Power Supply
Your Mic Pre EQ ships with an external 48V DC power supply. External
power supplies offer many advantages over internal power supplies like
reducing hum from 50 or 60 cycle power sources and improving the safety
of the equipment you are using.
1.4 Back Panel

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1.4.1 In General: XLR Connectors
XLR connectors are more expensive, more reliable and offer a
stronger connection than ¼” TRS connectors. They also have
the option of a locking latch that helps to keep the cable from
being pulled out accidentally. If worse comes to worse, you can
connect two XLR cables together to make a longer run. The
XLR connection is strong enough that you can swing a hand-
held microphone around your head like a cowboy for quite a
long time before the mic flies off and knocks someone’s teeth
out.
XLR males are used for Outputs and XLR female are used for Inputs.
Makes sense, right? Many people confuse the male and female XLR
parts, because the female plug fits into the male plug to join together. The
male XLR has 3 pins (male pins…) inside the plug and the female XLR
has three holes inside the plug (female holes…). Check out the diagrams
below:
1.4.2 Microphone Input (XLR)
The microphone input accepts a mic-level signal. Mic level signals are
generally very low in voltage around a couple of millivolts or 1000thsof a
volt. The job of the mic preamp is to increase the mic-level signal by up
to 70 dB to be line level, which is between 1 and 2 volts.
1.4.3 Line Input (XLR)
The line input accepts line level signals and bypasses the microphone
preamplifier so that the EQ can be used by itself. The Line button needs
to be pushed on the front panel to use the line input.
1.4.4 Line Output (XLR)
The output signal from your preamp comes from here. The output signal
is line level, not mic level, so patching it into a mic pre-amp afterwards is
unnecessary and probably will just cause problems.

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1.4.5 Power Supply Connection
This is the jack where you connect your external 48V DC power supply.
1.5 Front Panel: The Preamplifier Section
1.5.1 The Output Level Knob
The Output Level knob is akin to the fader on a channel on a mixer. You
use this to control the level leaving the Mic Pre EQ. If you are boosting
with the EQ heavily you will probably need to turn the output level down
and if you are cutting heavily with the EQ you may need to bring the level
up.
1.5.2 The Gain Knob
The Gain Knob allows you to control the amount of gain added to the
input signal. The knob is stepped in 5dB increments. The gain should be
set as high as possible without hearing audible clipping or distortion, or
overloading the following stage in the signal chain. For instance, your
Mic Pre EQ can support outputs up to +28dB, but most audio interfaces
clip at +18dB. The gain control would have to be set so as to not overload
the audio interface. Professional consoles are capable of handling levels
as high as +30dB in some cases.
1.5.3 The Line Button
The Line buttons switches the input of the Mic Pre EQ from the Mic Input
to the Line Input bypassing the microphone preamplifier.
1.5.4 Pad Button
The Pad button is a 20dB attenuator useful when the gain switch is in its
lowest position and the peak indicator (*) is still being lit. Most
commonly the Pad button will be required for extremely dynamic sources
like drums and percussion, or extremely loud sources like electric guitar
through a large amplifier. The Pad button only works on the microphone
input, not on the line input.
1.5.5 +48 Button
This button controls the 48 volt phantom power which is used to power
the onboard electronics in condenser microphones or active direct
injection (DI) boxes.

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1.5.6 Ø Phase Button
The Ø button flips the phase of the audio signal by swapping pin 2 and pin
3 of the XLR jack of the microphone input. This does not affect the phase
of the instrument input because it is unbalanced.
Most often this is used when two microphones are being used on the same
source, like the top and bottom microphones for a snare drum. Often the
phase is flipped on the bottom microphone so that the two microphone
signals will be in phase. When two microphones are out of phase and
mixed together the sound often is hollow sounding, with some frequencies
boosted and some frequencies cut. Phase flip is also commonly used
when two microphones are used on a single guitar speaker cabinet.
1.5.7 The Mute Button
As you might expect the mute button cuts signal from the output of the
Mic Pre EQ.
1.5.8 The Bypass Button
The Bypass button removes the EQ section of the unit from the signal
chain allowing you to use the microphone preamp without the equalizer.
1.6 The Front Panel: The Equalizer Section
1.6.1 General instructions
Each of the four bands of EQ available has its own frequency and gain
control. If you aren’t using a band of EQ turn the frequency control knob
to the “out” position. This will ensure that you are adding the least
amount of noise to the signal chain.
1.6.2 The 20kHz Low Pass Button
The 20K Low-Pass Filter button rolls off high frequencies at a rate of 6dB
per octave. The Mic Pre EQ has high frequency extension well past
40kHz. Rolling off un-needed high frequencies can improve headroom.
1.6.3 The 25Hz High Pass Button
The 25 Hz High Pass Filter rolls off bass frequency at a rate of 12dB per
octave. This improves headroom and eliminates the possible problems
with sub-audible frequencies.
1.6.4 High Frequency Section
The High Frequency band of your Mic Pre EQ is a shelving type filter
which means that all frequencies beyond the turnover frequency are
boosted or cut by the same amount. The turnover frequency can be set to
8kHz, 10kHz, 12kHz, 15kHz, 20kHz and “Out” which bypasses the high
frequency band of EQ.

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1.6.5 High Mid Frequency Section
The High Mid band of the Mic Pre EQ is a peak/notch type with variable
Q. The center frequency can be set to 1.5K, 3K, 5K, 7K, 9K and
“Out”which bypasses the filter.
1.6.6 Low Mid Frequency Section
The Low Mid band of the Mic Pre EQ is a peak/notch type with variable
Q. The center frequency can be set to 125Hz, 250Hz, 500Hz, 1K, 2K and
“Out”which bypasses the filter.
1.6.7 Low Frequency Section
The Low Frequency band of your Mic Pre EQ is a shelving type filter
which means that all frequencies beyond the turnover frequency are
boosted or cut by the same amount. The turnover frequency can be set to
30Hz, 50 Hz, 80 Hz, 100 Hz, 150 Hz, and “Out”which bypasses the low
frequency band of EQ.
1.7 Signal Flow: Patching Into and Out of Your Mic Pre EQ
1.7.1 Microphone to Mic Pre EQ to Audio Interface or Mixer
Basic Cables Needed:
(1) Microphone Type Cable (Female XLR to Male XLR)
(1) Female XLR to Male ¼” TRS Balanced Cable
Patch from the microphone to the mic input on the Mic Pre EQ using the
female XLR to male XLR microphone cable. Patch out of one of the line
outputs to a line input on your audio interface or console using either a
female XLR to ¼” TRS cable or a female XLR to male XLR cable.
1.7.2 Via a Patch Bay
In most professional setups, processors are racked and then installed as
part of a patch bay system. This makes it easier to make connections,
because you don’t need to go behind the rack to plug and unplug cables.
Patch bays are usually made up of modules with 2 jacks in the front, one
over the other, and two jacks (or solder terminals, or DB25, etc) on the
back. For the sake of this manual, we’ll assume you’re using a ¼” TRS
patch bay with jacks on the front and back.