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Author Topic: Field Recording Gear  (Read 11855 times)

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Offline digifish_music

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Re: Field Recording Gear
« Reply #15 on: June 05, 2008, 09:30:12 PM »
Digifish,

While this was intended to be a pre-amp review, can you you tell us how you like the mixpre? I found these comments on a forum, I think they mainly do audio for video, though.

the battery life is shi* with phantom power on and led illumination ,
no mic level outs , no individual high pass filter
no individual channel monitoring , no ms matrix , no headphone ms matrix
the pots are to small
let say if you need mixer its not something to consider , if you need additional preamp to add to your setup it could work .
by the way it sounds good what doesnt make it ideal for normal jobs
http://dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=110933

About the MixPre...

Battery life, a couple of thoughts 1. the battery life is about on par with my R09's batteries. That is 3~4 hours, phantom on. Honestly my R09 always goes flat before my MixPre, I have never even worried about it as I always carry spare batteries with me. The MixPre warns you when the batteries are low, and that said, I have never seen the warning. I just don't record for that long between changing the batteries. 2. Field recording is not like concert recording, you have plenty of time to manage your batteries etc and recordings seldom last longer than 5-10 minutes.

Let's get this straight, the MixPre has been the darling of the 'quietude' field recording set for years (also appears as a Shure FP24), it has the lowest noise floor of any mic preamp I have used, sounds fantastic and is built like a tank. It will turn a $300 consumer digital recorder with a decent line-in into something that is audibly indistinguishable from a 700 series recorder under all but the most critical of analysis or listening conditions. Actually I'd like to see a blind comparison.   

I don't think of the MixPre as a mixer (each channel can only be panned switched into one of three positions, L, C or R anyway), it's really a pair of pristine mic preamps and phantom power front end to a digital recorder (R09 & R44 in my case). It gives you 700 series recording quality when paired with an R09 for ~$1000. Spend the $1500 you save on mics. And while recorders and recording formats become obsolete, I am confident the MixPre will outlast them all :)

Yes it has linked high-pass filters (80 or 160 hz), I don't see the fact they are linked as a real limitation. The compressors, which are adjustable and excellent, on the other hand can function independently.

No ms matrix. How many mic-pres do?

Pots too small? Then the pots on all the Sound Devices gear are too small. I have never had any problem with them (even while wearing gloves). They are rubberized which makes them even easier to grip.

It also has the very nice feature of a mini-stereo-phono line-out to connect it to consumer recorders or XLR if you have those inputs on your gear. It's been very well thought out as far as connectivity goes.

What does suck is the size and location of the power switch, but it's no big deal. Of all the gear I have ever owned there are two pieces I will recommend without reservation, they are the Sound Devices MixPre and a Rode NT1-A.

digifish
« Last Edit: June 08, 2008, 08:09:56 PM by digifish_music »
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Offline digifish_music

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Re: Field Recording Gear
« Reply #16 on: June 05, 2008, 09:37:24 PM »
http://www.avisoft.com/recordertests.htm is essential reading for nature/ambient recordists.

Yes, nice site.

Just a note, that is comparing the inbuilt mic-preamps of all the gear. If you are running line-in, where available, then they improve significantly.

digifish
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Offline a-dub

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Re: Field Recording Gear
« Reply #17 on: June 07, 2008, 12:05:54 AM »
Digi, you are the man!  By the way have you used the R-09HR yet and if not have you heard great things about it, worth getting? :o

Ratasean: What do you think? Fostex MOD or R-09HR + SD Mixpre?
Shhh, silence is golden.

Offline digifish_music

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Re: Field Recording Gear
« Reply #18 on: June 07, 2008, 12:59:46 AM »
Digi, you are the man!  By the way have you used the R-09HR yet and if not have you heard great things about it, worth getting? :o

Ratasean: What do you think? Fostex MOD or R-09HR + SD Mixpre?

Not yet, but I should have one in the next week, so will do some A/B comparisons. I can't imagine it will be worse than the R09 :o

digifish
« Last Edit: June 07, 2008, 01:32:57 AM by digifish_music »
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Offline rastasean

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Re: Field Recording Gear
« Reply #19 on: June 09, 2008, 12:21:52 PM »
Digi, you are the man!  By the way have you used the R-09HR yet and if not have you heard great things about it, worth getting? :o

Ratasean: What do you think? Fostex MOD or R-09HR + SD Mixpre?

Well, honestly...I would like the R-09HR because its so portable and everyone seems to like it (the R09 at least). I have two pre-amps on hold for me right now, Church Audio 9100 and a Edirol UA-5 so I think I should be able to live without the mixpre for a little while. I originally fell in love with the fostex because it has XLR inputs and overall, people don't have too much to complain about it especially after the mods. If I do get a fostex, I will get at least the basic mod to tweak the pre-amps a little.
I'm not that concerned by what people say about the mixpre because I watched a couple clips on youtube it was was much quieter than anything else they were demoing.

Do you have an extensive microphone locker? These recorders we're talking about with these pre-amps will use XLR mics. Do you have any? I don't know what set I want to get first. The NT5 set is pretty tempting to me and its been the set I've wanted for sometime but after hearing digidish's recordings from the NT4. There's also a good sounding pair of AT3031s and AT3032s for this kind of work. I should make an excel sheet or something. People do that when trying to reason which mics to buy, right?
« Last Edit: June 09, 2008, 01:46:26 PM by rastasean »
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Offline rastasean

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Re: Field Recording Gear
« Reply #20 on: June 09, 2008, 01:16:45 PM »
not to mention, after you get mics and the recorder and the preamp you'll need mic/light stands, shock mounts, wind screeens, cables, recording media.

Oh, damn this is an expensive hobby.  :-\

then you have the tickets to buy to the shows, if you're going to record music as well.
« Last Edit: June 09, 2008, 01:43:33 PM by rastasean »
Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

Offline F.O.Bean

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Re: Field Recording Gear
« Reply #21 on: June 11, 2008, 01:18:05 AM »
I say get a modded FR2LE ;) But its not as stealthy as the Mix Pre>R-9 rig, if that matters at all to you ;)

Hmmm, dunno what mics to suggest. Maybe some Audix Micros? Theyre TINY and have Card/Hyper/Omni capsules ;)
Schoeps MK 4V & MK 41V ->
Schoeps 250|0 KCY's (x2) ->
Naiant +60v|Low Noise PFA's (x2) ->
DarkTrain Right Angle Stubby XLR's (x3) ->
Sound Devices MixPre-6 & MixPre-3

http://www.archive.org/bookmarks/diskobean
http://www.archive.org/bookmarks/Bean420
http://bt.etree.org/mytorrents.php
http://www.mediafire.com/folder/j9eu80jpuaubz/Recordings

 

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