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DS214 User ManualDS214 Online User Manual - Items Covered Below
Overview Video
Here is an overview video on the DS214 inputs, outputs, switches, functions, and basic operation:
Because of the way the circuit board is placed inside the enclosure, the markings on the pots may cause some confusion. Here is a little explanation:
Mounting Options and Ground Loop Considerations There are various Accessory Mounting Brackets which can be used to attach the DS214 to the camera, via its 1/4-20 female threads. This photo shows the DS214 (as well as other camera accessories) attached to the DIY107 Accessory Bracket.
 The aluminum enclosure is connected to signal ground. Here are some considerations to ensure that you do not create a ground-loop when mounting to your camera:
Meter Calibration
Different cameras have different operating points for the optimal signal level. So, you will need to calibrate the meter of the DS214 for your camera. This will require a 1/16" screwdriver (normal type, not philips).
CANON 5D/60D: The Canon 5D, and 60D have Manual control of their audio. So, the way to get better signal-to-noise performance from noisy camera amplifiers, is to manually throttle back the gain in the camera, and replace the noisy gain with clean gain from the JuicedLink low-noise preamplifier. This will result in two clean tracks to record on. Although these cameras do have meters, they're only visible while you are setting up, not while you are recording. This video shows you how you can calibrate the meter of the DS214 to the camera:
CANON 7D/T2i: Unfortunately, the Canon 7D and T2i do not have Manual control of their audio. So, you will need to use the AGC disable feature of the DS214. This will inject a signal (noise) into the right track of the camera, to force it to throttle back its AGC amplifiers, yielding a clean track for recording on the left side. Engaging the AGC disable will pan both microphones to the left channel. In post-production, you will need to delete the right track (see How to Delete the Right Track). In the field when you play back your recording, you will need to play it through another device, such as a monitor or the DS214 itself, and omit plugging in the right channel during playback (see the "Playback Headphone Monitoring from the Camera" section on this page). These cameras clip at around -4dB when the AGC is forced down. So, the DS214 meter needs to be calibrated to provide sufficient headroom in the camera. When you pull your audio track into your timeline, the audio signal level may appear lower than you may have used with other cameras. This is to provide sufficient headroom in the camera. Typically, many people will normalize their audio clips to have the peaks run at -3dB or so. This will bring back up the signal to a level where you are more familiar, with acceptable signal-to-noise performance, where the camera's AGC can not ride up during the quiet periods and generate lots of noise. This video shows how to calibrate the meter of the DS214 for use with these cameras:
PANASONIC GH2: The Panasonic GH2 has its own meters, and you will use those as your guide (not the meters on the DS214). So, you may wish to adjust the meters in a position where they will flicker a little less frequently. You can set the meter setting to "L", and adjust the "L" potentiometer full counter clockwise. The camera has 4 audio level settings. You will use the lowest setting in the camera (throttling back the camera amps as much as possible), and use the camera meter as your guide for setting the levels on the DS214. This will yield 2 clean tracks of audio from the camera.
Unconnected Microphone Input Settings
When a preamp has no microphone at its input, the preamp sees a high impedance at its input. This makes the preamp produce lots of noise. So, for any input (Right or Left) which does not have a microphone connected to it, make sure to turn down the corresponding Right or Left potentiometer down all of the way.
Dual-System Audio Recordings with H4n and Camera Here is how the DS214 can be used with a Zoom H4n for dual sound. You will set the H4n headphone amp to 100%, and adjust the rest of the H4n settings as you would for normal recording.
This technique depends on how quiet the headphone amp is in the recorder. It works will with a H4n, but does not work well with a H1.
2 Microphone Sources
Here is how you can use a Hosa YMM-261 (about $6) to have individual control of 2 microphones.
Playback Headphone Monitoring from the Camera
The DS214 can be used as a headphone monitor when you are playing back clips from your camera. This is especially useful if you needed to use the AGC Disable feature, so you can play back your clean track on the left channel without listening to the AGC Disable noise track on the right channel.
Your camera probably came with a cable which plugs into the camera's AVout port, and has 3 RCA plugs on its other end (Video, Audio-Right, Audio-Left). You will need to purchase a separate cable that will go from RCA to a stereo minijack plug (see Hosa part numbers YRA-167 or YRA-154).
Signal-to-Noise Expectations with Various Mics and Cameras
You can not remove noise from electronic equipment. The name of the game is to optimize the signal-to-noise performance. This becomes more important when recording things like dialogue in quiet rooms. There are many elements in the signal chain which impact this (noise in the camera, noise in the microphone, how close the microphone is placed to the source). Low-noise preamps can improve the signal-to-noise performance of noisy downstream elements such as a camera. This is accomplished by throttling back the noisy camera amps, and replacing the noisy gain with clean gain from a juicedLink low-noise preamp. The amount of improvement will depend on how noisy the camera amps were in the first place. However, a preamp can not fix poor signal-to-noise upstream that gets plugged into its input. So, low-noise preamps can not fix microphones with poor signal-to-noise, or the effects of poor microphone placement.
In practice, what does this all mean?
Run-n-gun microphones with unbalanced outputs (stereo minijack) will typically not have as good of noise performance as reasonable quality balanced XLR microphones. Plus, they are used on-camera (such as the Rode VideoMic) which is further from the speaker (resulting in much less signal getting into the mic ... important in signal-to-noise), compared to booming the mic and getting it really close to the speaker. Since the signal level going into an on-camera mic such as the VideoMic will be lower, so will its signal-to-noise ratio that will be presented to the equipment downstream (even though the VideoMic has decent noise specs). This will set the signal-to-noise of the system, masking any improvement in signal-to-noise that the preamp can get from the camera. So, the value of the DS214, in this case, is to be able to dial in the signal level for the camera (not too high, or too low) as the microphones have limited controls, and also providing metering and headphone monitoring. There are unbalanced minijack microphones of such poor quality (we won't call out names here), where the low-noise preamp can not provide any improvement in signal-to-noise of the camera at all (because the noise from the mic masks the improvement), even at close distances.
So, the DS214is not being marketed as a low-noise preamp that can improve the SNR from your camera for run-n-gun, because of the typical type of minijack microphones used and where they will typically be placed (on camera).
So, there is a little tradeoff between the convenience of run-n-gun, and optimal signal-to-noise performance.
The DS214is being marketed as a low-noise preamp if you are using a decent SNR mic (>76dB SNR) and booming it to get it close to the source (< 1.5ft from source). These will typically be XLR mics, so you will need to use some type of XLR adapter to feed the DS214 (Hosa MIT-156, Beachtek passive, juicedLink CX211/CX231/CX431low-noise preamp (much preferred for better frequency response)).
New DSLR customers should consider the juicedLink DT454 integrated DSLR audio solution for added flexibility, convenience to minimize multiple connectors, XLR balanced preamps tend to be quieter, and the frequency response going directly into the juicedLink DT454 XLR inputs will be better.
You can learn more about the principles quality audio from our Tutorial Videos on Audio.
Warnings
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