Noisy Mixer

Ive been using a behringer vmx 300 mixer I got for cheap on craigslist to sample from my turntable into the MPC (xl) but have noticed the signal coming into the MPC is pretty noisy. Ive tweaked all the gain and outputs on the mixer, and input on the mpc to get the best signal to noise ratio outta the mixer, but it still is super loud and obnoxious, and muddies a lot of articulation and upper order harmonic content out of the samples.
Ive looked around online a bit and havnt found a lot of info on noise floors in DJ mixers, but Im thinking its about time for an upgrade, and was wondering if anybody has had similar problems with noisy signals, or knows if any mixers are substantially quieter than others... I dont have tons of money to spend, probably like 200-300 dollar range. any help will be much appreciated, thanks!

what kind of turntable are you using?

there is a chance your turntable is outputting line signal and you've got it plugged into the phono port.

either let us know what kind of table it is (a picture of it, and of the cords might help), or try the line plugs instead of the phono plugs.

thanks for your reply

the turntable is an audio technica ATLP 120, its just stereo RCAs going into the phono inputs on the mixer. To have a proper signal strength coming from the mixer (peaking around -4dB in the sample window of the mpc) the noise floor is about -30dB, which seems really high.

I'm a little confused....is the signal coming out of the turntable too loud and obnoxious, or is there a backround NOISE that is loud and obnoxious?

If the signal from the turntable sounds too loud and, as you say 'muddies a lot of articulation and upper order harmonic content out of the samples', it sounds like you are plugging a line level signal into a phono amped input.

That turntable DOES have a preamplifier built in. From amazon:

Selectable internal stereo phono preamplifier

If that is the problem, it sounds to me like you've got the internal pre-amp on AND you are amping the signal again through the mixer preamp.

Try this first.
Don't touch the turntable, plug it into the LINE INPUT on the mixer.

Did that solve it?

If so, you've got the preamp on the turntable on. Find it, disable it, and plug it into PHONO IN, or just continue to use it at line level.

If it's truly just a very noise signal, I don't know...sounds like the output of your mixer is turned down low. Does it have multiple outputs?

My money is on the double-preamp, that is a very common mistake to make...but I could be wrong, and I'm sure some wiseguy around here will tell me when I am ;].