Sound Devices Mixpre Vs. juicedLink DT454?

You might check out the discussion at jwsound this morning. They are discussing this very topic. A mixer used a mixpre with padded cables into a 5dmk2 with very good results.
 
The MixPre is a fantastic little mixer, but it sends out a signal that is much to strong for the 5D so it would need to be padded down. Plus... is there a way to defeat the AGC on a 5D yet? I seem to remember hearing that there was some sort of third-party software modification, or maybe that Canon has released, or is about to release, such an upgrade.

The challenge with DSLR audio is that the AGC is horrible, and typically non-defeatable. The Juicedlink adapter defeats the AGC by sending a strong tone or noise to one record channel, meaning that you are left with only one record channel.

There are all sorts of patches and workarounds for mediocre, and the fact is that audio recording on a DSLR is far from practical. The best bet is second-system. Get an external audio recorder and sync sound to picture in post.
 
The 5D MKII has manual gain control now. I just need a very good portable mixer/preamp that I can use to send audio into the camera that will allow for headphone monitoring. Double system sound is not an option for the work that I do.

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Chris Santucci said:
The 5D MKII has manual gain control now. I just need a very good portable mixer/preamp that I can use to send audio into the camera that will allow for headphone monitoring. Double system sound is not an option for the work that I do.
Click to expand...

So then it's down to a matter of comfort. Are you okay with a mixer hanging from your shoulder, with cables running all over, or would you rather have something neatly attached to the bottom of the camera?

Plus, the MixPre only offers line-level out, so again it'll have to be padded to mic-level to send the right signal to the camera.
 
Chris Santucci said:
I need something small that I can mount to the camera rig for sure. Is the tape out also line level?

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Click to expand...

Yes, the tape out is line-level (-10dB). And there's no way to mount the MixPre to the camera/rig, or at least no easy way that will not make the rig unwieldy... so that answers your question.
 
I can definitely mount the Mixpre to my camera rig. It's just a little bigger than the juiceLink preamp I had on my rig already. I may just opt to mount 2 older Sennheiser EW100 receivers on the rig since they have adjustable preamps.

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My main concerns are having a cleaner preamp to input 2 channels into my camera and portability.

That Azden mixer is too big to mount to my camera rig which is why I'm considering the Mixpre and juicedLink units in the first place. I have a decent 4 channel mixer already for when I need to send more feeds to the camera.

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Mike Brent said:
For another $170 you get a real mixer, 4 inputs so you can add more mics if needed, two outs (two XLR outs to a sound recorder) + a mini stereo out to go straight to the camera (to record sound twice for backup or whatever) its not too big, you could rig it with no problem.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/493791-REG/Azden_FMX_42_FMX_42_Microphone_Field_Mixer.html

I think its worth the extra money....
Click to expand...

thats a real mixer?
Hardly.


My suggestion to the original poster is to go with the mix pre and a padded cable.
Sound quality aside..
you should also think of resale value with a unit like youre talking about.

The juicedlink will more than likely lose a lot of its value quickly where
the mixpre will probably sell close to what you bought it for even a couple years from now as long as you take care of it.

Not to mention with the mix pre you're giving yourself room to grow
in the future.

My opinion.
 
Rippie said:
The juicedlink will more than likely lose a lot of its value quickly where
the mixpre will probably sell close to what you bought it for even a couple years from now as long as you take care of it.

Not to mention with the mix pre you're giving yourself room to grow
in the future.

My opinion.
Click to expand...


Yeah, there is that, and that is a very good point. Thanks.

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I have a MixPre and I seldom use it on my solo shoots. It's simply too much trouble to deal with. I use the MixPre mostly when I'm hired as a dedicated soundman for other shooters.
 
The MixPre does not come with a hole for mounting to a camera. I had mine modified for mounting by Greg Winter for 150.00. Still you have to remove the caseing to put it on or take it off. It's a far superior mixer, but not easily mountable. It is only "Line out" but you can pad down the signal to your camera using this:

Get the one with a -20db pad.
http://www.core-sound.com/attenuator-cables.html

For ease of use a juicedLink may be your best bet. It's a real drag to take off 10 screws to remove the mixer. I had it semi-perminantly attached to my modified VX2100 a few years ago, and only just took it off since I shoot with an EX1 now.

http://precisionintermedia.com/chadsVX2100pics/
 
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