Needledrop volume control help

I seem to be having an issue with my needle drop setup. All of a sudden, I cannot control the volume going into my computer. I had my phono amp (Lehman Black Cube) output going into a Behringer 802 mixer, and that is what I used to control my recording level. I just put a record on and the volume was much too high - the volume could not be adjusted by the controls on the mixer. I checked the cables and everything was fine. I still have power going to the mixer - do these things just die in sections, where some parts work and some don't?

My question is, what do people do for recording levels when doing needle drops? Am I better off shelling out the $60 for a new Behringer, or is there something better that is transparent to the sound but just controls the volume? The Behringer, admittedly, has more functions than I need or use, but I need a solution to this problem.

Help!!??

Thanks in advance.

 

Are you going through a microphone preamp on the mixer? Line level?

 

If you suspect the mixer try a different phono channel. Are the level meters peaking? From the mixer does the signal get attenuated? On your audio interface is the signal boosted on the inputs/ phantom power on? In your DAW does the incoming signal show its louder? there are a lot of things that could be going on.

 

Line level

 

Any possibility it got switched to have another gain stage? Either for a mic or an instrument level?

 

I'm running from the mixer into my sound card (Xonar Essence XTX), recording with Adobe Audition. The levels are maxed/overloaded. No matter what I do with the main volume in the mixer, the volume does not change in Audition. None of the connections have changed since the last time I recorded vinyl. As I mentioned, the unit powers up but I can't change anything in the signal with it.

I used to be able to raise and lower the recording volume using the mixer, so louder records could be set lower so they didn't overload, and softer records could be increased so they weren't too quiet. Now - nothing. There is only one set of RCA jacks on the mixer, so I can't switch to another input/output.

Any advice either on how I can troubleshoot/fix, or advice on another method for volume adjustments would be greatly appreciated.

 

I suppose anything is possible, but I wouldn't know how to do that. Seems doubtful it would have happened.

 

try plugging your Black Cube SE directly into the sound card and check the level in the computer. I read a review on the Behringer and someone mentioned the gain controls fail on those. Behringer XENYX 802 Mixer »
hope that helps you to isolate the problem.

 

Duh - good idea! Sometimes I wonder why I don't think of these things. Thank you - trying now. will report back shortly...

 

Sigh... Still overloaded without the mixer - I need the mixer to reduce the volume, but it's not working. Looks to me like the mixer is shot and I need a new one - good thing they are only $60...

 

Put everything back together like it was (I had only disconnected the outputs from the mixer and plugged them into the phono stage) and now the thing works fine. I guess I should be glad for that but I have no idea what could have been wrong. Oh well, off to 'drop another slab of vinyl...

 

I bet you had a ghost in the machine.

 

Thanks for the advice, everyone. You gave me troubleshooting ideas I didn't think of. I don't know how it got fixed, but at least it works now...

 

sometimes its the Ghost in the Machine like the other posted stated... glad you got it sorted out.