Rigging the Fostex DC-R302 Mixer/Recorder Rigged for DSLR Work

Battery Tests with the Fostex DC-R302 Mixer/Recorder

I just did two battery run-down tests of my Fostex DC-R302 mixer/recorder with two phantom powered AT3031 mics plugged in with the gain set to Medium and the trim pot set to position 7 out of 10, which sounded great two feet from the mics, and I plugged in a pair of Sony 7506 headphones and adjusted the volume to what is comfortable monitoring for me. ( loud but not too loud )

With the two AT3031 mics and the headphones plugged in I was able to record for just over 4 hours, running from 4 AA Duracell NiMH rechargeables. ( recorded at 48 kHz 24-bit )

I repeated the same test with only one phantom powered mic plugged in and was able to record for 4 hours 20 minutes on 4 AA rechargeables. ( recorded at 48 kHz 24-bit )

I am guessing that with phantom switched OFF, you would likely see at least 6 hours of recording time while still monitoring with headphones.

This means that I can record while powering two phantom mics for an 8 hour day using just 8 AA rechargebles, which is definitely good enough for me.
 
Steve House said:
Really ... a tool that tries to do everything usually ends up doing nothing very well. DSLRs are for stills, video cameras are for video.
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While I agree with the first sentence the second is kind of a head scratcher.

It's like saying Nagra's are for filmmakers all those handhelds are for recording band practice.

Of course that would imply that things should only be used for what they were designed for.

But wait, the new DSLR's have been designed with video in mind. Maybe you meant SLR's are for stills? But then they have also been used for years to produce stop frame animation so...

Actually what the second sentence most resembles is the old argument that "If man were meant to fly, he would have wings!"
 
TheDingo said:
Actually it works really well. I carry the Fostex with the Kessler QR as one unit in my audio case, and it snaps on to the tripod in a few seconds. Then I add the Kessler plate to my camera and this snaps into place in a few seconds. Once I've plugged in my audio cables and mounted a lens, it takes only a few moments to balance the rig and I'm ready to go.

Switching cameras takes less than 30 seconds. ( i.e. pull the audio cables, swap the cameras, reconnect the audio cables, and rebalance the rig )

I haven't used it handheld, as I think this would be too klunky for me and I perfer to use dual system sound with a UHF system for handheld work.

I also own a Sound Devices MixPre-D that could be used this way, but then I have to add an additional recorder to the mix if I want two simultaneous copies of my audio.

Originally I was interested in the Tascam DR-60, but the pots aren't continuous ( they are clickable switches ) and I feel the interface is overly complicated compared to the Fostex.

Since I've owned my first GH2 camera, I've used the HMC-150 for about 10 percent of my work, which is usually for live event work. The GH3 image quality leaves the HMC-150 in the dust, which is why I plan on upgrading it to the new PX270 this summer. ( my work is interview/educational and my camera is on sticks most of the time )
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So what is your appreciation of the Fostex DC-R302 compared to the Sound Devices Mix-preD. I have a Mix-pre (non D) version but I would like to know if there is a big difference between them as the inbuilt recorder would be a much more elegant solution. Unfortunately most people are just biased on forums and everything is always put out of proportion. If it is not X brand then you hear things like huge, crap etc etc. On most video audio site it is as if everything is crap va Sound devices. When I look here http://www.avisoft.com/recordertests.htm the older Fostex would be so close that people would need to crank the volume and but there ears on speakers t hear any difference. Unfortunately there is no test to compare at Avisoft and I have seen no proper review of the DC-R302. If it is the same as the FRLE, I guest it would be the perfect audio solution for the Dslr crowd at the newer $ 600 price.
 
Danielvilliers said:
So what is your appreciation of the Fostex DC-R302 compared to the Sound Devices Mix-preD.
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I've only done listening comparisons using the mics I own ( AT3031, AT4053b, AT875R, Sennheiser MKE600 ) and to my ears the Sound Devices MixPre preamps are better than the Fostex, but then the Fostex preamps are better than the preamps of the portable recorders I own. ( Olympus LS-11, Tascam DR-07 Mk2, Tascam DR-40 ) I used to own a Tascam DR-100 Mk2 which I sold because I did not find it to be noticeably better than the DR-40 recorder. By "better" I mean better sounding, with more detail in the lower and mid-range frequencies.

My first choice for audio with the gear I own would be to plug my mics into the MixPre and feed the line-out into the Fostex unit. My second choice would be the Fostex unit all by itself, which was my main reason for buying it, as I wanted something better sounding than the Tascam recorders, but still simple to set-up, and affordable. The Fostex unit was originally priced at $1,100 but it took a huge price cut in the past year, which is why I became interested in it.

I just bought a Sanken CS-1 mic from eBay that should be here in a day or so, so I will definitely do another mic comparison with both the MixPre and the R302 when I get a chance. ( If I can dig up some real musical talent, I will record my tests )

Also a friend just bought a Roland R-44 recorder which can take the digital output from the MixPre-D mixer, so I am curious to see what this combo sounds like. ( I expect the main difference will be the 110 dB dynamic range of the MixPre which should produce very low noise-floor recordings, but will otherwise sound identical to the analog version )

...So the bottom line for buying the Fostex DC-R302 unit was good sound and convenience. It's better than most portable recorders, it's a three channel mixer with proper pots to ride levels while recording, it's got a noise-floor that is lower than -80 dB RMS, and it's built with a metal casing that makes it much more rugged than plastic. For $600 it's a bargain if you can live with two channel recording. ( not a problem for me )
 
Thanks for your account. If ever you have the chance when testing your new microphone to do just some simple dialogue and some silence and record it from the Mixpre-D + recorder and the Fostex dc-302 standalone as mixer/recorder and post it in wav it would very interesting for the community. The Fostex had such a bad start with all sort of bugs and quite a high price. But at $ 600 for a rugged recorder with very good sound quality and functionality, it should have a second chance as it could be the best bang for buck.
 
First off:

Go watch the movie "Act of Valor". It's an action movie about Navy Seals. Completely shot of 5D cams. Audio was recorded separately with Zaxcom wireless using the built in audio recorder on the transmitter as well as on a Deva (I'm friends with the production sound mixer from that movie). It looks good. I use a 7D for my product videos, and it's fine for that. I use a rode videomic plugged into the camera for a reference audio track and then a Sanken CS-1 going into a Tascam DR-60D. If Fostex would like to give me one of their recorders I'd love to try it. The idea of putting the Fostex machine in the setup that is shown in the OP is not a bad idea. Are DSLR cameras the best for shooting video? Nope, but they sure as heck aren't the worst either. What I'm seeing with the OP is a focus on getting good audio by running dual system. This makes me happy to see rather than just putting a videomic on the camera, plugging directly in, and calling it a day.

We can chastise the OP all we want about camera choice, but that isn't going to make him go out and buy an ARRI. He's working with what he has, and a nice low profile setup like that gets the job done for what he needs. Plus, sound is half the picture, and he looks to have that covered pretty well for a DSLR setup. Besides, people are willing to forgive bad picture but not forgive bad sound.
 
I own a Fostex DC-R302. It has excellent pre-amps with a ton of gain available. It's noise floor is a touch higher than a Sound Device, but not by much. It blows away most other lightweight solutions. As a dual mixer, recorder it's a great solution. I think the only minus would be that it only has a stereo bus limiter, not an input limiter, and as such would be poor choice from a professional mixer's point of view.
 
I had the DC-R302 and used it heavily for about a year, I rigged it about 90 degrees different than the OP did, so the pots and meters were on the back-XLR inputs on what seemed to me the 'proper' camera left side. I would run a 3.5 mini from the Fostex mic out (next to the XLRs) with a splitter into the mic in on the camera body and into the mic in on the B camera, it was very easy to sync both cameras in post on the bloop/slate mark. I thought the Fostex mic pre's were a significant step up from the zoom (that was available then) the Tascam DR's and the Sony D100. Afterwards I went to a SD 702t + smart slate rig, and of course the SD pre's are much better. Still, if you can find one at a reasonable price I think the Fostex is sonically superior to the DR-60 (which is pretty much a knock-off).
 
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