4-Channel Mixer

PAULSTOTHEWALL

PAULSTOTHEWALL

Member
Word up, audio peeps.

Looking to buy a 4-channel mixer and not spend $2K. Work will mostly incorporate 3 lavs and a room mic for legal videography work, piped into my DVX.

Anybody have any suggestions? Don't want to buy a piece of crap but also don't want to spend over $600.

Also, anybody have any experience with Sony ECM-44 lav mics?

Thanks!

PAULSTOTHEWALL
 
LOL, the reputation in here is rather silly.

There is a fairly new mixer with very little track record but does actually fit Paul's bill: http://www.signvideo.com/fpamxr.htm

Cheap 4 channel mixers has been discussed before but not driven into the ground like some topics. (To those interested in the cheap mic count I am at 16 coming up on two months, but I haven't been on top of it as much so I might have missed a few).

As for the mixer, it is not on the level of the 442 but from what I hear is decent for the cash. I believe Ty Ford reviewed it on his site. Check it out.

Cheers
 
wabbit said:
LOL, the reputation in here is rather silly.

There is a fairly new mixer with very little track record but does actually fit Paul's bill: http://www.signvideo.com/fpamxr.htm

Cheap 4 channel mixers has been discussed before but not driven into the ground like some topics. (To those interested in the cheap mic count I am at 16 coming up on two months, but I haven't been on top of it as much so I might have missed a few).

As for the mixer, it is not on the level of the 442 but from what I hear is decent for the cash. I believe Ty Ford reviewed it on his site. Check it out.

Cheers
Click to expand...
Here is a link and Ty's review is excellent.
http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?p=563241&posted=1#post563241
 
Yeah I did a search for mixers and didn't come up with much, esp. of the 4 channel variety. i know G2's and countrymans are the way to go for lav's, just don't have $600 to spend on each mic. Someone told me the Sony's were industry standard for legal videography, but if they suck ass I don't want 'em.
 
Yeah, and dont forget that room mic has to be the Oktava mk12 with BBG and KSSM :) or the highway is over there !! heheheheh :)
 
Hey. Really...

I'd say for the legal work you've described you should FORGET a video/film production-style mixer (you don't need battery power and that form-factor, right?) and get a much cheaper audio-style mixer. Yamahas are good, and you can get one for $99 that'll suit your needs. In the under-$300 range you have tons of options. I mean, if you think you'll also be doing "production-style" work, sure, spend a lot more... in those situations the things that make production mixers so expensive will be worth it. But for your stated needs, no need to spend that much!
 
yeah, i know for a fact, that standard mixer for legal stuff is board stly, they're much easier to operate while shooting. Also, the guys that i know that shoot legal all use hardwired lavs.
 
Thx guys... yeah it seems like they rig the mixer into a box with a DVD recorder and monitor, then dolly it into the room. I'm hoping a macbook pro can act as the monitor and DVD burner but that's a question for another room... Unless someone has a burning desire to answer it of course! :)
 
Dude, just get a mackie board if you're in a location where you don't need to be mobile. For that same situation where you don't have to hide mics those Sony's will do an acceptable job.
 
SIgnVideo Four Input Audio Mixer - Economy With Quality

Ty Ford
Baltimore, MD
Portland, Oregon-based VideoSign (www.signvideo.com) makes a relatively long line of audio and video gadgets. The latest in their audio line is the ENG-44, a light-weight handy, economical ($529 list priced + $15 s/h 30 day unconditional money back guarantee) four input, battery/AC powered mixer.
The ENG-44 weighs 2.25 pounds with four AA batteries loaded. On its left side there are four, balanced 2 k Ohm XLR inputs, each of which can be switched to mic or line. 48 VDC @ 14 mA Phantom Power is also individually switchable on each input. A 6 dB/octave high pass filter at 100Hz is next. It sounds fine, but there’s a dead spot in the middle of the switch that, mutes the input. As long as the switch is firmly to one side or the other, you won’t have problem.
There’s also a three-position LCR pan switch (with no dead spots) mounted below each of the four channel pots. The fifth pot is the master. Under it and to the right are a Mix/Tone switch that routes a 1 kHz tone or stereo mix to the adjacent double line of ten LED lights (-20 to +3) that comprise the meters. The Limiter LED, slate mic button, External and Battery power LEDs are under the metering LEDs. Finally, there’s a 1/8 inch stereo jack for the 10 Ohm headphone output, a headphone level control and a Mix/Tape Return switch that allows you to choose what you’re monitoring.
The right side of the side is populated by by a slightly unconventional three-pin XLR that feeds an unbalanced stereo headphone (for the boom op or some other purpose), balanced left and right XLR outputs, unbalanced stereo 1/8” line out, Aux In, Tape Return In and Mic Out jacks. The slate mic also outputs to the unbalanced Boom Headphone output. Finally there’s a power switch.
On the bottom of the ENG-44 are labeled recessed switches for Mic/Line, Phantom, VU meter intensity (high and low) and posts for adjusting left and right Tape Return levels. The LED intensity switch is a nice feature, especially when working in bright sunlight. The Power LED does not change in brightness. If you’re off-axis from it it’s fine, but if you happen to be looking right down into it, it’s a bit bright in indoor lighting.
The back panel sports a 2.1 x 5.5 mm coaxial power plug (center positive; input protected against reversed polarity) and the drawer for the four AA batteries. A 12 VDC wall wart comes with the ENG-44. The mixer auto switches between AC power supply and batteries. The battery drawer was a nail breaker. When I called the company, they said I had a early unit and the drawer had been fixed.
IN USE
Operation is straight ahead. The limiter is not defeatable and seems to kick in above +3dB. Using the ENG-44’s tone generator, I adjusted the Master to set the tone at 0 dB. That put the master pot between 10 and 11 o’clock. Connecting the ENG-44 outputs to a SV-3900 Panasonic DAT inputs, I adjusted the tone to hit the DAT inputs at -12 dB. Plugging in a Schoeps CMC641 hypercardioid, and adjusting the input to 2 o’clock and the master still set between 10 and 11 o’clock, I was able to get peaks at 0 dB on the ENG-44 with the Schoeps about six inches above my head. The meters change quickly enough for me to guess that they are peak reading. The limiter is actually pretty nice sounding. I found pushing enough level to occasionally cross the threshold, using the LIM flasher as an infrequent Peak Meter, worked nicely and did not degrade the sound. As I pushed the limiter harder with more gain, the output LED showed a slight level difference between the left and right outputs. Under normal operation, you’ll probably never find yourself in this situation.
The ENG-44 passed my T-Power/Phantom Power drain test. Some Phantom Power supplies just don’t have the power to keep the mics fed. The result is distortion and sometimes power supply motorboating. I connected two Schoeps CMC641, a Sennheiser MHK 416 and the Sennheiser 435T through the converter and they all sounded fine. The headphone amp was passably loud with my Sony MDR7506 headphones.
The ENG-44 also passed my noise test. We all know that some mixers can get pretty noisy, especially when the master pot is turned up higher than the inputs. The ENG-44 is quite quiet, even in that unnatural state.
VideoSign claims 14 hours for a set of alkaline batteries. Phantom Power does pull batteries down. I got about nine hours with a fresh set of alkalines. During that period, I had one Schoeps CMC641 always connected. My experiment with the other three mics lasted about a minute and I spent about a half hour on one other occasion with a Sennheiser MKH 416 fired up. Still, nine hours on one set of AAs shows that the ENG-44 was designed with relatively newer components that don’t chew up batteries as much.
IN CONCLUSION
The ENG-44 is a very good value. I can see it being used in schools and the expanding minicam market. Even in professional and higher-end video and film sound, the ENG-44 would be nice to have around. My first grab is my Sound Devices 442. When the director wants me to go some place slippery, wet and/or gooey, the ENG-44 sounds like the perfect mixer.
Ty Ford is a location audio pro in Baltimore, MD. He may be reached at http://www.tyford.com
 
Wow Ty, were your ears burning? :)

I heard tale of the sound guy who when you spoke his name 10 times into a candle lit mirror he would magically appear.

Ty Ford, Ty Ford, Ty Ford....

With Halloween right around the corner I am too scared to repeat the rest. :evil:
 
Hey Guys,

I found a mixer from Yamaha (MG 10/2) for $99. More of a musician's mixer but seems like it'll do the job. Is there something I'm missing? I need to plug in 3 lavs (prob Sony ECM44's) and an Oktava, then run XLR into my DVX. Also need to run a line (think minijack) to a cassette recorder (backup audio) and be able to listen to the mix with up to 2 pairs of headphones. Would I run the headphones from the mixer? I'm assuming since there's only one jack from the camera.

Also if anybody can answer- I just ordered the new Core 2 Duo macbook pro and would like to use it as a monitor. Would I just run a firewire to the laptop from DVX and watch it realtime in iMovie?

Thx!

Paul
 
Wabbit,

They say some very unusual things happen in Seattle..........when one least expects it.

Ty
 
PAULSTOTHEWALL said:
Hey Guys,

I found a mixer from Yamaha (MG 10/2) for $99. More of a musician's mixer but seems like it'll do the job. Is there something I'm missing? I need to plug in 3 lavs (prob Sony ECM44's) and an Oktava, then run XLR into my DVX. Also need to run a line (think minijack) to a cassette recorder (backup audio) and be able to listen to the mix with up to 2 pairs of headphones. Would I run the headphones from the mixer? I'm assuming since there's only one jack from the camera.
Click to expand...

The Yamaha should do what you need. You'd run the main outs (via TRS->XLR cable) into the DVX, and the rec outs (via RCA->minijack) to the casette. The mixer has one headphone jack; so you could use 1 set of headphones connected to the cam and one to the mixer.

Should work well; will probably sound AT LEAST as good as a moderately-priced video-style mixer, and has additional benefit of handling up to 10 inputs, EQ, inserts, etc.
 
wabbit - that's some unusual powers you have, calling someone's name
and they appearing like that. Say, Brad Pitt for me...
 
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