Marantz PMD660 & SD 302?

M

MarxWays

Member
I have a Marantz PMD660 recorder.
And I'm thinking of getting a Sound Devices 302 mixer and wonder if a could plug in two mics in the mixer and (through a breakaway cable) get two different audio signals in the recorder from the two different mics?
Or will a just get one (mixed) audio signal out of the mixer?
 
On the SD302, each input (mic) channel has a three-position switch so you can select to send its signal to the left, center (both equally) or right channel output. Some mixers use "pan pots" instead so you can adjust the left-right balance of the microphone to any apparent location between the two outputs.

- GDS
 
depends on what is on those channels. Some people do wireless on one channel, and boom on the other. Most dialogue will eventually be mixed center once you get to the re-recording mixing stage. The idea of having them out the L/R channels is just to have them separate for dialogue editorial purposes.

Speaking of which, when you do picture editorial, put at least 10 to 15 second handles on all the audio. Your dialogue editor will thank you.
 
MarxWays said:
ok great! But what if I have tree mics, which mics will go to which channel?
Click to expand...

The technical "how to pan" has been answered, but then there's the other issue: you need to figure out which mic absolutely must be isolated, and which two can be mixed. And with the two that are mixed, you will need to actively mix them. This kind of setup is fine for magazine-style pieces. I've worked on many lifestyle (home and food related) programs that were shot on-location. If we only had two mics, they were split. If we had three mics running (hot interviewing two people) I'd always put the host on the iso channel, and then mix the two proprietors/homeowners to the other channel. Having two mics that are mixed means there's nothing you can do about it in post, so you have to be on top of it to listen for phase problems if the two people are really close to each other.

For narrative, this isn't the best solution... but then you can do most of what you need to do there with a boom mic.
 
Don't forget, back in the day, production sound mixers used to mix several channels of audio to just ONE mono track. There's more to it than turning knobs and pushing buttons. Talk to the some of the guys like Jeff Wexler or John Coffey about it. When the stereo nagra came out it was a HUGE deal. "Oh my god! two tracks?! What are we gonna do with two tracks?"
 
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