4 Track

cpreston said:
I have been using my mixpre 3 quite a bit. Far more than I would have thought because it is so limited and only records to one card.

A couple of thoughts on it. It is really great for run and gun doc shoots. I use it in a small bag with a couple of receivers and boom. I use the 1/8" stereo out to feed camera hops. If I need timecode, I just feed it using my wireless timecode system. A couple of medium sized L batteries will run it for more than an entire day and the big dials and lights make it easy to glance down and see what is happening with levels. I have a full size system, but I find the nimbleness of the MixPre 3 to make it so much easier use when I am running around with just one or two channels.

Tip: you can actually take the card out of the mixpre 3 and put it into a six series recorder in order to create a sound report. The mixpre 3 doesn't have this function right now, but it does allow you to name channels and create notes using the bluetooth app.
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Great report, thank you. I am slowly talking myself out of buying the SDs or the F4 now because I don't want to work as a sound mixer really. I had to ask myself, "what do I need it for?" Yes, it has better sound than my C200 but I just shot an entire documentary with mics going straight into my C200 except for a few shoots where we had a sound mixer and the sound, for talking heads, is good enough. If you have a need for them, the new Mix Pres and the F4 are killer but you have to have a need.

I am shooting an interview next weekend with three subjects at once. I can plug in two lavs to the C200 and the remaining lav and a boom to my Tascam DR60 MKI. Won't sound as good as the Mix Pre but it's free and will sound good enough. I think I can even run the camera out from the DR60 MKI to the 3.5mm input on the C200 and record the third and fourth channels also to the camera 3 and 4 channels. So a Mix Pre or F4 is probably not in the cards for me right now as I can't think of a scenario where I NEED it. Sure, I want it, but I need to only buy gear that I need that will generate profit. Do you work as a sound mixer and get paid just for that?
 
I bought the F8 as a want, not need. But the luxury of the F8 quickly became a perceived need. I have a shoot coming up where I am using two wireless lavs and a boom. With 8 tracks to play with, I am now going to dual record those three mics with the second track of each being recorded 12db lower than the first (a feature of the F8). That, along with the F8 making two recordings onto two different SD cards simultaneously gives me a level of confidence that I didn't have before. It's not a need, but it sure feels like one once you have it.
 
puredrifting said:
I'm thinking I would power off of an Anker Candy Bar battery so battery consumption shouldnt be a factor
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I get 6 to 8 hours of on and off 4 channel recording at 24/48 from the internal batteries. And you can buy additional battery packs so you're ready to go with more power pretty quick.
 
puredrifting said:
I was pretty hot on buying one of the SD MixPre-3 or 6 but I am having a hard, long look at the F4, it is such a more versatile device, it's hard to ignore. I think the Kashmir pre-amps will sound a lot better than what the F4 has
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They don't sound a lot better. Any time people have put up online blind comparisons of F series vs SD files then voters haven't shown a clear preference for one over the other.

And under real recording conditions, after post is dealt with it by the end? No one will ever tell the difference. The F series is very good.
 
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