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Offline dallman

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 4
« Reply #255 on: January 17, 2018, 11:41:51 AM »
Hi All,
Just joined the MixPre team and was wondering about the line option as I've not seen any mention of it in the thread
I've got a 722 and use the line input almost all the time as I record mainly heavy rock show.

Is the line in on the MP the same as the 722?
I'm pretty sure the limiters in the 722 (I don't use them) only work on the mic in. Is that the same with the MP

I still haven't managed to understand what the Faders on the MP do. Do they control the LR mix levels?
If yes would I be able to run the separate channels low and the mix high (controlled by the fader)? or the other way round so I've got a kind of safety track going on
hope that makes sense



Duncan

I do not own a 722, but can answer most of your questions.
First off, when you mention going line in to your 722, is that with an external preamp? It would seem to me that you would not have enough power to get a detailed signal using mics with the line in and no preamp, but I have not really looked at this closely so I may be totally off base with that assumption.
As for the MP6 which is what I am familiar with (and this likely holds true for the MP3 and MP10), I would think you could go mic in even at a heavy rock show, as it seems you have a Gain range from very quiet and low for loud signals, to very high and strong for quiet signals, so that is something you might want to try out. The limiters do work with line in as well as mic in. They are analog limiters, and while I never use the limiters on any of my other decks, I do keep them active on the MP as I can only see it helping in a major screw-up, which generally is just at the very start of a show. They are not artificial sounding at all when they kick in.

As for faders, to give a very non technical idea, the easiest explanation is this:
Think of "Gain" as the incoming volume for your recording. Any adjustments up or down (stronger or weaker hence louder or softer) will be captured on the recording.
Think of the "Faders" as the volume you would output when playing a recording. You can raise and lower the faders all you want and it will in no way affect the recording. If you remember that the MP series are mixers as well as recorders, you might be sending a mix of your tracks to another storage device or editor, and the volume or loudness of each track is what the faders control.

So your idea of making a lower volume track would not work in this case unless you only were recording 2 channels. The MixTrack can be designated in a number of ways, but if you have multiple channels in on left and right, you cannot block their going to the mix. However you may want to play with those limiters, because you may be surprised at their effectiveness.

I hope this helps.
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Offline Duncan

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 4
« Reply #256 on: January 17, 2018, 02:40:46 PM »
Hi All,
Just joined the MixPre team ...[snip]

I do not own a 722, but can answer most of your questions.
First off, when you mention going line in to your 722, is that with an external preamp? It would seem to me that you would not have enough power to get a detailed signal using mics with the line in and no preamp, but I have not really looked at this closely so I may be totally off base with that assumption.
As for the MP6 which is what I am familiar with (and this likely holds true for the MP3 and MP10), I would think you could go mic in even at a heavy rock show, as it seems you have a Gain range from very quiet and low for loud signals, to very high and strong for quiet signals, so that is something you might want to try out. The limiters do work with line in as well as mic in. They are analog limiters, and while I never use the limiters on any of my other decks, I do keep them active on the MP as I can only see it helping in a major screw-up, which generally is just at the very start of a show. They are not artificial sounding at all when they kick in.

As for faders, to give a very non technical idea, the easiest explanation is this:
Think of "Gain" as the incoming volume for your recording. Any adjustments up or down (stronger or weaker hence louder or softer) will be captured on the recording.
Think of the "Faders" as the volume you would output when playing a recording. You can raise and lower the faders all you want and it will in no way affect the recording. If you remember that the MP series are mixers as well as recorders, you might be sending a mix of your tracks to another storage device or editor, and the volume or loudness of each track is what the faders control.

So your idea of making a lower volume track would not work in this case unless you only were recording 2 channels. The MixTrack can be designated in a number of ways, but if you have multiple channels in on left and right, you cannot block their going to the mix. However you may want to play with those limiters, because you may be surprised at their effectiveness.

I hope this helps.

Hi Dallman
Thanks for the reply
Yes it does help

I'll have to say I don't bother going under the hood too much with my recording gear, so I'm not sure what the 722 does other than it give phantom power and I don't need to have any preamp.
with this set up I have the level at about 3/4 and it doesn't get near 0db

So with my nice new MP6 the faders are of no use for what I do as I'm not outputting to anything
At the moment I'm just going with 2 mics but I have 6 mics so I might add a pair if the mood takes me, but as I always stealth it makes it a bit of a pain
So is there a way to have a 'safety track' recorded in case I'm peaking a bit?

I have to say I like the suggestion by todd (I think) about just using advance mode and keeping the gain down and not having to ride the levels
It's the way I've worked with 95% of my 722 recording and I'm happy with those. The added safety net of the limiters is more encouragement to go that way. I'm thing that if I was going with more mics I'd not do a mix track.

One other thing that I'd be interested in hearing is views on archiving the masters. I've always kept an untouched copy of the master recording from right back but I'll have to say I sometimes wonder why and now these files have ballooned in size I'm more inclined to just keep the mix or the individual tracks, dependent what I end up using for the final version.
What are others doing?

I"ve only recorded with it once so far and managed to get away with it even though I had it set up badly and got a little clipping. A visit to Dr. iZotope's declipping clinic sorted that out. That's a fine bit of kit!

Cheers
Duncan


Recording for 39 years and counting, down not up
Schoeps CCM5--SD722
DPA 4061--SD722
AKG CK 61-ULS--Naiant Actives--SD722
DPA 4061 - DPA d:VICE - iPhone 6s+
MixPre6 with some mics

Offline fanofjam

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 4
« Reply #257 on: January 17, 2018, 03:38:07 PM »
Since you're a long time taper, I'd just set in up in advance mode and operate the knobs like you always have.  If preferred, you have the nice option that you had on your 722 of having one of the knobs control gain and the other control balance.  I've set up my presets so that one preset puts the unit in the traditional configuration where one knob controls left and the other controls right.  The other configuration is where one knob controls level of both channels and the other controls balance.  I usually use the traditional mode because that's just what I'm used to.

I have absolutely no use for writing the LR mixdown track to my SD card, so I save the ISO tracks and don't record the LR tracks.

As far as your question about raw masters, I had also been saving a separate raw master for many years.  About 4 or 5 years ago, I took stock of my recordings and, after giving it some thought, realized that in all of the years I'd been saving my raw masters, I never once went back and did anything with the raw master after I'd finished up mastering a recording.  After that I stopped saving masters and haven't regretted it because even now, I can't say I've ever wanted to go back to my raw master after the fact.

That said, I back up all of my final masters on multiple hard drives...I've got at least ten drives probably closer to fifteen that I've collected over the years.  I have hard drive failures all the time, so having backed up drives saves my ass at least once every other year because that's about how often I have a hard drive die on me. 
« Last Edit: January 17, 2018, 03:40:22 PM by fanofjam »

Offline dallman

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 4
« Reply #258 on: January 17, 2018, 04:17:25 PM »

Hi Dallman
Thanks for the reply
Yes it does help

I'll have to say I don't bother going under the hood too much with my recording gear, so I'm not sure what the 722 does other than it give phantom power and I don't need to have any preamp.
with this set up I have the level at about 3/4 and it doesn't get near 0db

So with my nice new MP6 the faders are of no use for what I do as I'm not outputting to anything
At the moment I'm just going with 2 mics but I have 6 mics so I might add a pair if the mood takes me, but as I always stealth it makes it a bit of a pain
So is there a way to have a 'safety track' recorded in case I'm peaking a bit?

I have to say I like the suggestion by todd (I think) about just using advance mode and keeping the gain down and not having to ride the levels
It's the way I've worked with 95% of my 722 recording and I'm happy with those. The added safety net of the limiters is more encouragement to go that way. I'm thing that if I was going with more mics I'd not do a mix track.

One other thing that I'd be interested in hearing is views on archiving the masters. I've always kept an untouched copy of the master recording from right back but I'll have to say I sometimes wonder why and now these files have ballooned in size I'm more inclined to just keep the mix or the individual tracks, dependent what I end up using for the final version.
What are others doing?

I"ve only recorded with it once so far and managed to get away with it even though I had it set up badly and got a little clipping. A visit to Dr. iZotope's declipping clinic sorted that out. That's a fine bit of kit!

Cheers
Duncan

Because it sounds like when you record your MP is likely somewhere on your body, I would keep things the way they are. It would seem to me that if you changed the settings so the fron knobs controlled your gain, it'd be really easy to accidentally adjust, as there is no way currently to lock the buttons.

Regarding making a second lower track. It seems to me if you only use 2 mics, and set the deck to record the 2 ISO tracks and also the Mix track, you will be recording the same thing twice. So...(I think)...if you go into the advanced mode "Record Menu", sub menu "Rec L,R Mix" (not linked), then you can set go sub menu "Left Gain", Sub Menu "Right Gain", and set those lower than ISO track 1 and ISO track 2. That would give you 2 identical recordings at different levels.

Regarding masters, I wish I had the answer. For me Cloud storage whenever possible and I hope the price keeps dropping. Archive.org wherever possible too. Having started recording on a cassette in 1971, I have seen many recordings go bad. Some on tape, but much more on hard drive and older burned CD's. My 45 year old cassettes have held up better in many cases than my 15 year old CD's. Now I only buy Taiyo Yuden, but CD's are kinda going away and I just keep moving forward and not worrying too much about my masters. Also once upon a time, I figured the technology would be there for editing and fixing some of my old early (crappy) recordings and that has happened, but there is just not enough hours in the day for me to tackle all I have recorded and saved over the years.
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Offline rigpimp

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 4
« Reply #259 on: January 18, 2018, 11:16:33 AM »
Firmware v1.53 available.
https://www.sounddevices.com/support/downloads/mixpres-firmware

Last update Jan 18, 2018

Changes introduced in 1.53 include:

Changed
The MixPre-10T transport control's orange LED brightness is dimmed in stop mode to make it clearer when the unit is recording.
The Take List indicates which file is playing back by displaying it in green text.

Fixed
  • Limiters were not always enabled when switching from Advanced to Basic Mode
  • Pans were not always correct after switching to Basic Mode from Advanced Mode with Inputs Linked.
  • If timecode backup time expired when the MixPre-10T was powered off, TOD timecode was incorrect when next powered on.
  • Rare stuttering of audio during playback of some files
  • Audio crackling noise in headphones when turning HP encoder
  • Incorrect gain values when channels are MS linked
  • Sound Reports were not automatically copied to the USB thumbdrive (MixPre-10T only)
  • New Project Name was not retained after a power cycle if no files were recorded in that project
  • Long file names were not being displaying fully
« Last Edit: January 18, 2018, 11:24:28 AM by rigpimp »
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Playback: Jolida 1501 Hybrid > McIntosh MX 130 > Von Schweikert VR-4 JR, or Little Dot MK III > Sennheiser HD700
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Offline justink

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 4
« Reply #260 on: January 18, 2018, 02:05:25 PM »
Is there a HOLD...?
Mics:
DPA 4023 (Cardioid)
DPA 4028 (Subcardioid)
DPA 4018V (Supercardioid)
Earthworks TC25 (Omni) 

Pres and A/D's:
Grace Design Lunatec V3 (Oade ACM)
Edirol UA-5 (bm2p+ Mod)

Recorders:
Sound Devices MixPre10 II
Edirol R-44 (Oade CM)
Sony PCM‑M10

Offline Duncan

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 4
« Reply #261 on: January 18, 2018, 02:53:43 PM »

Hi Dallman
Thanks for the reply...[snip]

Duncan

Because it sounds like when you record your MP is likely somewhere on your body, I would keep things the way they are. It would seem to me that if you changed the settings so the fron knobs controlled your gain, it'd be really easy to accidentally adjust, as there is no way currently to lock the buttons.

Regarding making a second lower track. It seems to me if you only use 2 mics, and set the deck to record the 2 ISO tracks and also the Mix track, you will be recording the same thing twice. So...(I think)...if you go into the advanced mode "Record Menu", sub menu "Rec L,R Mix" (not linked), then you can set go sub menu "Left Gain", Sub Menu "Right Gain", and set those lower than ISO track 1 and ISO track 2. That would give you 2 identical recordings at different levels.

Regarding masters, I wish I had the answer. For me Cloud storage whenever possible and I hope the price keeps dropping. Archive.org wherever possible too. Having started recording on a cassette in 1971, I have seen many recordings go bad. Some on tape, but much more on hard drive and older burned CD's. My 45 year old cassettes have held up better in many cases than my 15 year old CD's. Now I only buy Taiyo Yuden, but CD's are kinda going away and I just keep moving forward and not worrying too much about my masters. Also once upon a time, I figured the technology would be there for editing and fixing some of my old early (crappy) recordings and that has happened, but there is just not enough hours in the day for me to tackle all I have recorded and saved over the years.

Shit 71!! I thought I was an old timer with a 79 debut, fortunately most of my first recording have held up well. My Joy Division tapes were still good and retransferred within the last 5 years.
I lost a good Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees (my first recording in fact)
I think I've got all of my recorders still apart from the ghetto blaster I used at the start!!

Yes you are indeed right I have it in a bag round at the front so best to have less things to risk pressing or twisting. Holding out for a Hold option

I'll have a mess with the advance level suggestion for getting the safety, it sound ideal for what I'm after

I think with the masters I'll be keeping whatever stereo tracks I end up using and bin the rest unless I got 4-6 mic then I don't know, the mix I guess.

Well that was well off topic, sorry

Duncan

Recording for 39 years and counting, down not up
Schoeps CCM5--SD722
DPA 4061--SD722
AKG CK 61-ULS--Naiant Actives--SD722
DPA 4061 - DPA d:VICE - iPhone 6s+
MixPre6 with some mics

Offline rigpimp

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 4
« Reply #262 on: January 19, 2018, 03:56:32 PM »
Has anyone used the linear timecode feature as a timecode trigger with the MixPre-6?

My camera is the Canon XA-10 and I do not think that it has a timecode generator or records timecode.  I'm guessing I should bypass trying to use the trigger and just clap?
Mics: Schoeps MK 5 MP, Schoeps MK 8 MP, Schoeps MK 41 MP, KCY 250/5 > PFA
Pre/A>D/P48: Sonosax SX/M2, Sonosax SX/M2-LS, E.A.A. PSP-2, Baby Nbox, Neumann BS48i-2 (for sale)
Recorders: Sound Devices Mixpre-6ii, Sony PCM-A10
Playback: Jolida 1501 Hybrid > McIntosh MX 130 > Von Schweikert VR-4 JR, or Little Dot MK III > Sennheiser HD700
http://archive.org/bookmarks/kskreider
https://www.concertarchives.org/kskreider
https://archive.org/details/thespps

Offline fanofjam

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 4
« Reply #263 on: January 19, 2018, 06:09:24 PM »
Has anyone used the linear timecode feature as a timecode trigger with the MixPre-6?

My camera is the Canon XA-10 and I do not think that it has a timecode generator or records timecode.  I'm guessing I should bypass trying to use the trigger and just clap?

The Mixpre-6 (or in my case the Mixpre-3) doesn't generate timecode.  It's timecode capable, so if you don't have a device that generates timecode, you can't timecode sync with the mixpre6. 

I've been looking into the potential uses of the Tentacle Sync or Nano Technologies Lockit.  You said your camera doesn't have timecode...what you do is connect one of the Tentacle Sync units to the audio input of your camera and it writes timecode to one of the audio tracks on the camera audio (the other track records scratch audio although you probably wouldn't ever need to use it).  You'd then jam sync the same timecode stamp from the same Tentacle sync unit into your Mixpre-6, which is of course recording the high quality audio tracks.  The Tentacle Sync's have software that is used in post to synchronize the timecode stamps of the audio and video files.  From the demo videos I've seen on YouTube, looks like it's a snap. 

It's a pretty dang cool concept and I've been dying to try it out, but I haven't put up the $$ yet for the Tentacle Sync units...and I'm also not sure if I need to buy one or two of them to do what I want to do.

Offline rigpimp

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 4
« Reply #264 on: January 19, 2018, 07:23:24 PM »
Has anyone used the linear timecode feature as a timecode trigger with the MixPre-6?

My camera is the Canon XA-10 and I do not think that it has a timecode generator or records timecode.  I'm guessing I should bypass trying to use the trigger and just clap?

The Mixpre-6 (or in my case the Mixpre-3) doesn't generate timecode.  It's timecode capable, so if you don't have a device that generates timecode, you can't timecode sync with the mixpre6. 

I've been looking into the potential uses of the Tentacle Sync or Nano Technologies Lockit.  You said your camera doesn't have timecode...what you do is connect one of the Tentacle Sync units to the audio input of your camera and it writes timecode to one of the audio tracks on the camera audio (the other track records scratch audio although you probably wouldn't ever need to use it).  You'd then jam sync the same timecode stamp from the same Tentacle sync unit into your Mixpre-6, which is of course recording the high quality audio tracks.  The Tentacle Sync's have software that is used in post to synchronize the timecode stamps of the audio and video files.  From the demo videos I've seen on YouTube, looks like it's a snap. 

It's a pretty dang cool concept and I've been dying to try it out, but I haven't put up the $$ yet for the Tentacle Sync units...and I'm also not sure if I need to buy one or two of them to do what I want to do.

That looks like a cool TC generator.  I dont want to buy something unless I am actually gonna put all the pieces together to start doing video.  I still need SD Cards, to hack my AC cable to make it a DC cable, and I need something to mount it to.  What I would like to do it mount it on my mic stand somehow.
Mics: Schoeps MK 5 MP, Schoeps MK 8 MP, Schoeps MK 41 MP, KCY 250/5 > PFA
Pre/A>D/P48: Sonosax SX/M2, Sonosax SX/M2-LS, E.A.A. PSP-2, Baby Nbox, Neumann BS48i-2 (for sale)
Recorders: Sound Devices Mixpre-6ii, Sony PCM-A10
Playback: Jolida 1501 Hybrid > McIntosh MX 130 > Von Schweikert VR-4 JR, or Little Dot MK III > Sennheiser HD700
http://archive.org/bookmarks/kskreider
https://www.concertarchives.org/kskreider
https://archive.org/details/thespps

Offline celticrogues

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 4
« Reply #265 on: January 19, 2018, 07:43:21 PM »
Has anyone used the linear timecode feature as a timecode trigger with the MixPre-6?

My camera is the Canon XA-10 and I do not think that it has a timecode generator or records timecode.  I'm guessing I should bypass trying to use the trigger and just clap?

The Mixpre-6 (or in my case the Mixpre-3) doesn't generate timecode.  It's timecode capable, so if you don't have a device that generates timecode, you can't timecode sync with the mixpre6. 

I've been looking into the potential uses of the Tentacle Sync or Nano Technologies Lockit.  You said your camera doesn't have timecode...what you do is connect one of the Tentacle Sync units to the audio input of your camera and it writes timecode to one of the audio tracks on the camera audio (the other track records scratch audio although you probably wouldn't ever need to use it).  You'd then jam sync the same timecode stamp from the same Tentacle sync unit into your Mixpre-6, which is of course recording the high quality audio tracks.  The Tentacle Sync's have software that is used in post to synchronize the timecode stamps of the audio and video files.  From the demo videos I've seen on YouTube, looks like it's a snap. 

It's a pretty dang cool concept and I've been dying to try it out, but I haven't put up the $$ yet for the Tentacle Sync units...and I'm also not sure if I need to buy one or two of them to do what I want to do.

You would need two - one for the camera and one for the MixPre-6.

I use this same setup and it works well.

-Mike
Michael Fowler
www.mobilemikesny.com

Offline fanofjam

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 4
« Reply #266 on: January 19, 2018, 09:48:10 PM »
Has anyone used the linear timecode feature as a timecode trigger with the MixPre-6?

My camera is the Canon XA-10 and I do not think that it has a timecode generator or records timecode.  I'm guessing I should bypass trying to use the trigger and just clap?

The Mixpre-6 (or in my case the Mixpre-3) doesn't generate timecode.  It's timecode capable, so if you don't have a device that generates timecode, you can't timecode sync with the mixpre6. 

I've been looking into the potential uses of the Tentacle Sync or Nano Technologies Lockit.  You said your camera doesn't have timecode...what you do is connect one of the Tentacle Sync units to the audio input of your camera and it writes timecode to one of the audio tracks on the camera audio (the other track records scratch audio although you probably wouldn't ever need to use it).  You'd then jam sync the same timecode stamp from the same Tentacle sync unit into your Mixpre-6, which is of course recording the high quality audio tracks.  The Tentacle Sync's have software that is used in post to synchronize the timecode stamps of the audio and video files.  From the demo videos I've seen on YouTube, looks like it's a snap. 

It's a pretty dang cool concept and I've been dying to try it out, but I haven't put up the $$ yet for the Tentacle Sync units...and I'm also not sure if I need to buy one or two of them to do what I want to do.

You would need two - one for the camera and one for the MixPre-6.

I use this same setup and it works well.

-Mike

Thanks Mike.  I've been trying to find someone that has some experience using the Sync's...I wonder if you might have some feedback for a couple of more questions I've got...

1) My interest in the Tentacle Sync's is actually sync'ing two audio sources together...like say one that is located at the SBD of a venue and a second one located in the sweet spot on a mic stand in the audience.  All of the examples I see on YouTube are syncing multiple video angles and a single audio track.  To your knowledge, would the Tentacle Timecode Tool work for sync'ing more than one audio source and no video?  It seems like the output file format choices don't include audio format, such as xxx.wav, but only video file formats.

2) I don't have a Mac.  The Tentacle Timecode Tool is Mac compatible software.  Are there any options you're aware of for PC users? 

Thanks.

Offline willndmb

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 4
« Reply #267 on: January 21, 2018, 08:56:00 AM »
If you are buying stuff to form a video rig, I would buy a camcorder with mic in over a time code device.
Imo it's just easier. Run a cable out of the mp_ > into the camcorder, done.
Then edit the footage if you want or need and if you want to be real picky you can very easily dubb the higher quality mp_ audio over the video file.

The only downside is if you have an issue, there isn't a "backup".
I run two camcorders so that's not a concern for me though
Mics - AKG ck61/ck63 (c480b & Naiant actives), SP-BMC-2
XLR Cables - Silver Path w/Darktrain stubbies
Interconnect Cables - Dogstar (XLR), Darktrain (RCA > 1/8) (1/8 > 1/8), and Kind Kables (1/8f > 1/4)
Preamps - Naiant Littlebox & Tinybox
Recorders - PCM-M10 & DR-60D

Offline rigpimp

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 4
« Reply #268 on: January 21, 2018, 01:28:58 PM »
If you are buying stuff to form a video rig, I would buy a camcorder with mic in over a time code device.
Imo it's just easier. Run a cable out of the mp_ > into the camcorder, done.
Then edit the footage if you want or need and if you want to be real picky you can very easily dubb the higher quality mp_ audio over the video file.

The only downside is if you have an issue, there isn't a "backup".
I run two camcorders so that's not a concern for me though

I had two but sold one to pay some bills.  The one I have has XLR in so I can do that from my MP6.  At first that is what I am considering since I'll probably just poke the camera out of the side of my Petrol to start.
Mics: Schoeps MK 5 MP, Schoeps MK 8 MP, Schoeps MK 41 MP, KCY 250/5 > PFA
Pre/A>D/P48: Sonosax SX/M2, Sonosax SX/M2-LS, E.A.A. PSP-2, Baby Nbox, Neumann BS48i-2 (for sale)
Recorders: Sound Devices Mixpre-6ii, Sony PCM-A10
Playback: Jolida 1501 Hybrid > McIntosh MX 130 > Von Schweikert VR-4 JR, or Little Dot MK III > Sennheiser HD700
http://archive.org/bookmarks/kskreider
https://www.concertarchives.org/kskreider
https://archive.org/details/thespps

Offline celticrogues

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 4
« Reply #269 on: January 21, 2018, 09:18:30 PM »
Has anyone used the linear timecode feature as a timecode trigger with the MixPre-6?

My camera is the Canon XA-10 and I do not think that it has a timecode generator or records timecode.  I'm guessing I should bypass trying to use the trigger and just clap?

The Mixpre-6 (or in my case the Mixpre-3) doesn't generate timecode.  It's timecode capable, so if you don't have a device that generates timecode, you can't timecode sync with the mixpre6. 

I've been looking into the potential uses of the Tentacle Sync or Nano Technologies Lockit.  You said your camera doesn't have timecode...what you do is connect one of the Tentacle Sync units to the audio input of your camera and it writes timecode to one of the audio tracks on the camera audio (the other track records scratch audio although you probably wouldn't ever need to use it).  You'd then jam sync the same timecode stamp from the same Tentacle sync unit into your Mixpre-6, which is of course recording the high quality audio tracks.  The Tentacle Sync's have software that is used in post to synchronize the timecode stamps of the audio and video files.  From the demo videos I've seen on YouTube, looks like it's a snap. 

It's a pretty dang cool concept and I've been dying to try it out, but I haven't put up the $$ yet for the Tentacle Sync units...and I'm also not sure if I need to buy one or two of them to do what I want to do.

You would need two - one for the camera and one for the MixPre-6.

I use this same setup and it works well.

-Mike

Thanks Mike.  I've been trying to find someone that has some experience using the Sync's...I wonder if you might have some feedback for a couple of more questions I've got...

1) My interest in the Tentacle Sync's is actually sync'ing two audio sources together...like say one that is located at the SBD of a venue and a second one located in the sweet spot on a mic stand in the audience.  All of the examples I see on YouTube are syncing multiple video angles and a single audio track.  To your knowledge, would the Tentacle Timecode Tool work for sync'ing more than one audio source and no video?  It seems like the output file format choices don't include audio format, such as xxx.wav, but only video file formats.

2) I don't have a Mac.  The Tentacle Timecode Tool is Mac compatible software.  Are there any options you're aware of for PC users? 

Thanks.

Most of my work is working with timecode capable cameras, so I've actually never had a chance to use the Tentacle Sync software. However, Tentacle Sync does now have a PC-compatible version. It says it supports WAVE files as both input and output formats, so it should work fine to sync up multiple audio files.

https://tentaclesync.com/timecode-tool

That said, just keep in mind that this tool only works to convert audio timecode (timecode that has been recorded to an audio track) into metadata timecode that a DAW can read. It will not sync your files automatically; you will still need to plug the files into a DAW like Pro Tools, Reaper, Nuendo to sync the files.

Keep in mind too that timecode is not the same as sync. Timecode (even when recorded as an audio track), just lines up the start of each file. Everything else is still dependent on the recorder's internal clock. This isn't an issue if your takes are only a minute or two long, but over the time of a show (an hour or more), it is likely that the internal clocks in two or more different recorders will drift apart. That will mean that although your files start off in sync, they gradually get out of sync as the show goes on.

-Mike
Michael Fowler
www.mobilemikesny.com

 

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