22Nov iRig Pre DSLR Audio Hack
I was looking at the iRig Pre and realized it would be very easy to use the built in headphone jack as a standard output which would mean no hacked cable or extra parts would be required. If you remove the battery cover and battery, you’ll notice a small screw between the positive and negative terminals. Removing this screw allows you to take the iRig Pre apart to get to the internal wiring.
The headphone jack on the iRig Pre is passive so it’s really just a set of wires going out to the iphone plug, which means you only need to disconnect a few wires and hook them to the microphone output to get things working correctly. Once you have the cover off, you’ll see the wires you need to focus on and next to that the headphone output jack. Depending on how you plan to make the connections you might want to remove the 3 small screws that hold the electronics board to the case.
Once you’ve removed the 3 screws from the board, you’ll see the 3 terminals that you’ll need to connect together. The microphone output wire is the yellow arrow (yellow wire) and the left and right channel of the headphone jack is the red and black arrows (red and black wires). When I used an ohm meter on the iOS to PC adapter cable I realized that the left and right channel stereo outputs for the mic are tied together which makes this little hack even easier.
Basically this is a drawing of the back of the PCB board with wire colors and connections. All you need to do to convert the headphone jack to an audio output is cut the cable and connect the red, black, and yellow wires together. There are two black wires so make sure you have the one that’s connected to the correct point on the PCB board. The green wire and ground pin is already tied together on the board so you shouldn’t need to do anything with those wires. You can either remove the red, black ,and yellow wires and solder in a set of jumpers or solder the wires together and put a peace of tape on them to keep them from shorting to to something in the case either way will work. I just figured out the wiring diagram and i’ll post a how to video once I have a chance to do some soldering. But the basic hack is pretty easy and turns the iRig Pre into a very decent little pre-amp with audio gain.
I have a Neutrik Combo 3-Pin Female XLR / 1/4 Inch Stereo plug coming sometime this week that would also allow for multiple input options. I’m not 100% sure if that will fit in this form factor but if it does the iRig Pre will be perfect for all kinds of applications. I’ll keep you posted.
November 22nd, 2012 at 11:45 pm
Hello Deejay Hope you had an AWESOME Thanksgiving! I managed a privately owned Radio Shack franchise for 13+ years (Left many many moons ago) so all of this makes sense from a technical standpoint, however what exactly does this modification do for you? I have the 5D MkII and you mentioned I simply could just plug the iRig’s output into my Mic on the camera, however I would not have any audio monitor capabilities right? What would be a way of adding this, is this hack doing that? Thanks for clarification for me. I think I know why I went with the JuicedLink Dt454 now to get the audio monitoring capability. However would like to make this iRig work for me.
George
November 23rd, 2012 at 9:49 am
The extra adapter I’ve mentioned before takes the 4 pin cable and splits it into 2 parts. The first is a microphone input for your camera, the second is a headphone output. You can plug the microphone input directly into your camera. The headphone jack on the other hand is passive. No power, just an extension cord from what ever you plug it into back to the headphone output on the device.
If you hack the unit the way I mentioned, you can get rid of the cables and adapter and just use the headphone jack as your microphone out to your camera. If you want to monitor audio from a 5d mark II you’ll need an adapter for that, and you’ll probably want to be running magic lantern. If you are using the headphone jack on the dt454 your only getting audio before it hits the camera, not audio from the camera.
November 23rd, 2012 at 11:13 am
Hello Deejay so what they mention on page 41 in the DT454 manual http://www.juicedlink.com/downloaddata/DT_Manual_EN_02.pdf talks about Headphone monitoring and Play Back Headphone Monitoring is not really allowing me to hear what is really being recorded live right? I assume it means Playback monitoring meaning I will be able to hear playback through the camera and this will be the recorded audio so could do a test and playback vs. hearing it during the recording itself? Just out of curiosity if I am not running Magic lantern you said I will need an adapter what adapter are you speaking of? Thanks for your help!!
George
November 23rd, 2012 at 12:46 pm
The Sescom 5d mkII cable is what you’ll need for audio monitoring while recording. Read the description of the product, it pretty much explains things.
November 23rd, 2012 at 6:39 pm
I have to use Magic Lantern for this work right? I just trying to have to load ML as I shoot landscape Photography mainly with my 5D MkII is it easy to load and unload?
George
November 23rd, 2012 at 7:05 pm
Yes, and yes.
November 23rd, 2012 at 8:08 pm
uggghh ok : ( I am a member of Canon Professional Services and get all my equipment (5d MkII and 7D) cleaned and maintenanced by Canon repair facility here in Newport News, VA and the disclaimer that the ML will void my warranty scares me. Thanks!
December 7th, 2012 at 8:08 am
This is a great hack!
Deejay, is it possible to change the trrs ios plug to the normal 3.5mm microphone plug ? I want to keep the irig built-in headphone jack for my headphone. Could u teach me how the wires go for wiring to the microphone plug?
Many thanks
Kf
December 7th, 2012 at 5:07 pm
You could wire the cable for a 3.5mm plug, but it wont help with headphone monitoring. The Irig pre’s headphone jack was designed to get it’s power from the iOS device which you wont be using so the headphone jack is basically useless for anything DSLR related except this hack.
December 7th, 2012 at 7:36 pm
Thank you very much for your reply.
The reason that i asked is that i want to use the irig pre to create a wireless boom mic with the rode ntg3 shotgun that needs external phantom power and the sennheiser g3 wireless transmitter that has no phantom power. My plan: the shotgun mic connects to the irig pre and irig pre in turn connects to the wireless transmitter. This diy setup is cheaper for me as i already own the relevant equipment
Do u think the wireless transmitter can provide enough power to the irig pre’s headphone jack for the use of headphone? I know the sound coming from the headphone jack is not the same as the final sound being transmitted and recorded; but at least the boom operator has a reference if he can use the headphone to hear it.
November 23rd, 2012 at 4:36 pm
So.. if the headphones jack is converted to a line-out output for the camera whith this hack, what is the purpose of the irig incorporated cable?
November 23rd, 2012 at 7:05 pm
Nothing, after the hack you simple remove it.
November 23rd, 2012 at 6:08 pm
Hi, thanks for the diagram. I have an iRig coming my way next week.
Since the headphone is just passing through, isn’t it possible to wire it so the headphones jack serves as left input and the xlr as right input giving two channels out on the mic output?
This would basically make it a mini two-input box and would work great with one active device like a wireless receiver plus a xlr shotgun or something like that…
November 23rd, 2012 at 7:10 pm
The audio amplifier in the unit is mono. You could wire it in parallel with the XLR input jack if you wanted, but you wouldn’t be able to use the parallel jack if phantom power is turned on or you’d risk damaging anything plugged in. Also the final output would have the two signals mixed together.
November 24th, 2012 at 2:27 am
hmm…
Couldn’t you wire like this? Just imagine one of the xlrs is the headphone out plug…
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/attachments/sony-hvr-z1-hdr-fx1/1970d1170161858-3-5-mm-stereo-2x-xlr-1_8-2-xlr.jpg
Or does the phantom power mess it up?
You might have to change the output plug since it is an TRRS on the irig.
November 24th, 2012 at 9:27 am
The xlr jack on the unit goes through a single channel audio amplifier (TI LM386) before being output on the yellow wire. If you try to feed any thing else through the amplifier it will be mono on the output. You could wire in a second channel on the output of the trs jack on the unit by connecting the yellow wire to the red wire and connecting your second mono input between the black wire and ground. However the second channel wouldn’t go through the amplifier stage of the unit and you’d have not volume control.
November 24th, 2012 at 10:21 am
Cool, that’s what I was thinking about. I have a videomic pro with the -10, 0, +20db switch to get me in the ballpark of the irig preamp. I could fine tune the VMP gain in camera.
Not the slickest sollution, but extremely compact for two inputs as long as one is minijack with gain control…
November 24th, 2012 at 10:54 am
If that’s the route you plan to take, I would say grab a little trs (stereo) 3.5 mm jack, squeeze it into the whole were the cable used to be and wire the black wire to the tip, ground wire to the sleeve and leave the ring disconnected. Just make sure you use a stereo jack, the rode video mic doesn’t like to have the tip and ring shorted together.
November 24th, 2012 at 11:00 am
Yeah, I could do that. Do you think it will fit between the circuit board and battery compartment?
November 24th, 2012 at 11:09 am
It’ll be tight. You might have to do a little bit of dermal work, it depends on what form factor the 3.5mm jack is. If you aren’t feeling brave you could wire up a custom cable for the job and do it outside of the case.
November 24th, 2012 at 11:24 am
I’ll look at it when I get it. Do you think I could just use the TRRS cable and short the two rings?
December 5th, 2012 at 11:26 am
hello want to avoid asking irig pre will resolve h4n ntg 2 + with low
December 6th, 2012 at 12:24 pm
Did the Hack. Works great! Thanks
December 18th, 2012 at 5:57 am
hi
i have bought a rode videomic pro and an irig. How can i use bought together? i use a pentax k with acg and is not controllable. I’d like a preamp to use with my video mic. I realize that even without the hack i can use the irig and videomicpro throught the rode xlr adapter? is it correct? then how can i connet irg vicdeomic pro to the camera? i need to connect also the iphone?
thanks
February 20th, 2013 at 2:41 pm
Hi
I have just brought an irig to connect up to my rode video mic and to my 600d. But the audio doesnt even output through the audio jack on the irig.
connections are:
video mic > 3.5 to 6.3mm adapter > 6.3mm to XLR adapter > irig > adapter cable to split the iphone output > 600d
any help would really be appreciated
February 20th, 2013 at 4:41 pm
Not sure what the 6.3mm adapter is, but if I had to guess your adapter isn’t wired properly for the rode videomic. Your adapter needs to support a stereo plug to xlr adapter. You can get the adapter from rode for about $13.
February 21st, 2013 at 9:30 am
Hi
I have just done your irig pre hack, it works great but
Is these a way to bypass the preamp and use the irig only for the phantom?
I use the Sony M10 and i would like to use his preamp
Thank you
Ciao
February 21st, 2013 at 9:50 am
Simply turn the volume output down, the lower the level is set the less gain is applied by the iRig pre.
February 28th, 2013 at 12:05 am
Hi
I have just done your irig pre hack, it seems to work great.
I use it coupled with a Sony M10.
I like ask you: is the recorded signal the same using the adapter cable and after the hack? Is it not affected in any way by hack?
Thanks.
March 18th, 2013 at 4:12 am
In addition to what Nikolai said, don’t avoid asking it…. ASK IT!
Will it boost the gain of the NTG-2 to boost the input levels for H4n Zoom?
March 18th, 2013 at 6:22 am
It will boost the gain on any microphone. I don’t have an NTG-2 for testing, but the iRig pre provides a strong signal when turned all the way up.
April 11th, 2013 at 6:42 am
I performed the hack but I have no sound on the camera, just “noise” … (Seinnheiser mkh 416 ==> IRIG pre hacked ==> 3.5 jack to 3.5 ==> canon 550d). Do you have a solution ? Thank you
May 26th, 2013 at 7:58 am
PAY ATTENTION!!!! I jjust disassemble my irig pre and realized that my wiring is different the green and black are switched, in my case black is a ground and green is a left channel
August 15th, 2013 at 1:24 pm
Would it be possible to simply rewire the existing TRRS output such that it could be plugged directly into the camera? That way you could use the existing 3.5mm plug instead of sacrificing it. I figured you’d hook it up like this:
T – Mic output (yellow)
R (upper) – Mic output (yellow)
R (lower) – Ground
S – Ground
If my (admittedly lacking) visual interpretation of the jacks is correct, this would mean you could plug this cable directly into a camera to act as a mono source, and you wouldn’t have to cut any cables (just reroute them internally).
Does this sound reasonable/correct?
January 23rd, 2014 at 2:22 pm
Ian did you do this rewire? Theoretically sound good but i need more confirmations. Thanks
January 23rd, 2014 at 4:10 pm
I’m using iRig with original 3.5 plug converted into mono output. It’s working connected directly to mic port in my Nikon D5100. I set camera to lowest mic sensitivity, and iRig to almost max preamp.
November 5th, 2013 at 5:49 pm
My idea was to transform smartfone jack into mono output jack, and transform headphones port into mic mono output. I’ve unsoldered yellow cable (m), and soldered to ground (g), connected R and L and m. Now i have two the same mono outputs – male, and female. Gain is too weak for headphones, but I can check if Mic is working.
March 9th, 2014 at 7:10 pm
awesome of you to share this. i hadn’t anticipated the whole “passive headphone jack which requires plugging into an iphone style in/out jack to work” situation, but your clear instructions provided just the info needed to do a bit of light soldering and arrive solidly at the functionality i needed, thanks!
May 4th, 2014 at 5:27 am
Hi. Just did the hack. Worked fine for me with Nikon D5100. Important as i noticed in my tests is to set camera to to lowest level and IRig to nearly highest level. I had no background noises and a clear voice!
Thank you for this manual!!!
June 4th, 2014 at 8:51 am
Brilliant! Thanks so much for publishing this hack. I’d initially bought an adapter (Startech 4-pin splitter) but on my Panasonic HC-X900 it was only recording on the left channel, despite it being ok when plugged into the PC. This hack has sorted out the problem and is a much better solution, and so easy to do.
September 16th, 2015 at 12:08 pm
Hi Deejay,
I have noticed a lot of questions on converting the Irig Pre to full stereo. And you are absolutely right that the Irig is mono. But a simple extension of your innovative hack would convert TWO Irigs to an inexpensive FULL stereo setup.
1. Buy 2 Irig Pres (I will term A and B).
2. Follow your advice on isolating the wires BUT DON’T CONNECT BLACK AND RED TOGETHER.
3. Instead connect RED to YELLOW on A.
4. Connect BLACK to YELLOW on B.
5. Irig A (red + green) is right channel. Irig B (black + green) is left channel (if I have my colors right; either way just swap final mono cables if I don’t).
6. Use TWO male 1/8 stereo jacks (acting as mono on A and B) combined to single true stereo male jack into camera. (This may require some imagination to accomplish. It may need working via RCA jacks or converting a male stereo Y splitter by unscrewing the jackets from 2 male 1/8 plugs entering the Y and cutting and soldering the tip/ring wires so the erstwhile plugs are both mono — middle ring on A, tip on B.)
Ole, for under $80 you have a FULL 2 mic stereo DSLR rig. Caveat: you may have to put a mark on the gain wheels to align the Irig output. Otherwise one channel is going to be louder than the other. Upside is you have differential gain by adjusting A and B separately.
Ian
December 23rd, 2015 at 4:03 pm
Ian- actually, all you’d need is a stereo breakout cable in 1/8 jack size. I have one, they look like Y-splitters (to share a headphone jack) except that they are designed to break a stereo signal into L+R mono ones. In this case, we are using it in reverse. It doesn’t matter what you feed each side (isolated stereo, dual mono, etc), as they are each mono anyway.
So I’d say just make 2 iRigs that are dual mono to avoid confusion, use them when you just want a single input, and then combine them with a breakout cable when you want 2 independent inputs. Problem solved!
Meanwhile, I stumbled onto this while looking for an inline 1/8″ amp. The mics I’m trying to use are self powered (Azden SGM 2x and Rode NTG-2), so I don’t really even need the phantom power option at all. But I’d like an analog knob to adjust the gain going into the camera and/or Atomos recorder. In fact, the atomos recorder seems to have them going in too soft (perhaps line level instead of mic level), so I’d like a preamp that offers some boost to the signal. Is the irig a good option for this sort of thing? Or is there a better option that’s just an amp without the PP? At this price its hard to think that there might be something cheaper, but perhaps something I don’t need to open up and solder?
February 27th, 2016 at 12:43 am
Hi DJ,
I was inquiring with IK Media about the iRig PRE and found it frustrating because they always responded with a single sentence response and only after nearly a week.
In short, I need something that can allow me to plug an external microphone into an iPhone/Android phone with synchronous streaming (i.e. hearing what is going in through the mic in real time) however, I wish to use a smaller mic with 3.5mm jack.
I have purchased a number of simple splitters that turn a simple smartphone jack into two 3.5mm female plugs – one for mic and one for earphones.
Neither have worked on iPhone and one worked only with an HTC Android phone but badly.
The iRig PRE only has an XLR plug.
I asked them if I can use an XLR-to-3.5mm adapter, however their response was that they don’t recommend it as it may damage the unit.
Can you please explain and/or provide an alternative to what I am seeking to achieve?
Thanks.
Lincoln.