Sound Devices MixPre-3 Setup Guide
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- Опубліковано 16 лип 2024
- Case: amzn.to/3Qw3esX
Battery (from video now in stock):
amzn.to/3ONEivy
MixPre-3: www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...
A simple walkthrough to get you up and running with the Sound Devices MixPre-3. This is not a review, but simply a setup guide. Let me know if you have any specific questions and I'd be happy to answer them in the comment section below!
Edit: Tom Kaszuba ran a test for battery life and discovered that the anker I linked below provides up to 6 hours and 45 minutes while recording with 2 XLR mics that required phantom power. This battery should be able to cover any needs you might have. Thanks for running that test, Tom!
- Contents of this video -
0:00 Intro
0:57 Accessories
2:07 32-Bit Float Rant
3:46 Zoom F6 vs. MixPre-3
4:13 Powering Options
5:03 Power On
5:48 Arming Additional Channels
6:47 Setting Up Each Track
7:45 Phantom Power and Mic vs. Line
9:00 Master Record Settings
11:17 Mic Level Setting
12:19 Mic Demonstration
14:05 Close - Розваги
Just got this unit and trying it out. Mainly plan to use it for voiceovers, interviews, and as a PC audio interface.
Let me know if you figure out how to use it as a PC audio interface. I couldn’t get it to work at all
@@itsaaronmiller So I think I've got it working as a USB audio interface on Windows. First you need to download and install the ASIO driver from their site. Then you need to ensure you are NOT in 32-bit float mode for Windows to detect it within Sound Settings and to use it with most apps. If you wish to use 32-bit float you can do it with special DAWs that are supported like Reaper (I tested and it seemed to work as well). Hope this helps others. I called Sound Devices to confirm some of these steps as well (and their tech support is US-based and very knowledgeable which is a plus).
Oh that’s great!! Thanks for all of the info on that. I’m going to pin that comment to the top for others that might try to use it for an audio interface
So you can use it without batteries
I got a MixPre 6 - same procedures apply. However, the biggest benefit of the MixPre over the Zoom is that it is designed and built in the USA. Now today, I called tech support and got a real tech engineer within a minute who helped me, answered all my questions, and gave me a few tips. Now try that with other options. Also, this is built like a tank. Solid and not plastic. The preamps speak for themselves or in this case quiet, low noise, and the best you can get. Happy recording.
Yep, love this thing. Awesome to hear you had a good experience with their tech support. I’ve heard that from many people! Thanks for watching!
Superb guide to using the MixPre 3 ii. Also, thanks for the help with the battery Aaron!
Hey man, I've had this for about 2 years now, and still have questions about it. I love using it at my weddings and my corporate events, but it just confuses me that the company would release this awesome machine really without a how to manual with it. I've seen that people sell how to manuals online for a crap ton of money, and I've seen other UA-camrs try to break down the how to to use this, but I've never heard anyone as eloquent and really as down to earth as you are in this video. It really hit home how straightforward your tutorial was. As someone who's own this for 2 years, you taught me so much in a matter of minutes. Thank you so much homie
Man, thanks so much for the kind words! I sometimes feel like I ramble without making sense, so the encouragement means a ton! Happy to help - I know this thing is super confusing and their manual was no help for me haha. I have heard their support team is good, so at least they have that going for them haha. Hope to see you around the channel!
I just got my Mixpre-3 yesterday and after extensive searching this is the first vid I've found that says do this and this and this. Most grateful. I do video interviews so usually I'm going to set it at mic level with phantom power on and I hope most people in my situation would already know that. I've got a big project just getting started with a very promising new client and I don't want to be flailing around and dealing with fun surprises on shoots so again, this is a great start and thanks. Feel free to do more videos like this!
That’s awesome to here! Would love to do more videos on this or other gear. Any thing in specific you have questions on for the Mixpre that I didn’t cover?
@@itsaaronmiller Nah, it's enough to get most of us up and running. I've read the manual is rubbish so Sound Devices is good about taking calls from people saying "I'm trying to do such and such" and they'll tell you what you need to do for your use case. As a communications guy I'm puzzled why they can't do that _in the manual_ but go figure.
Thanks Mr. Miller for your clear and concise setup guide. You saved the day!
Happy I was able to help!
Thanks for this video. I got my Mixpre 3 ii in today and am looking forward to getting to know how it works. This was a big help.
Great that you did this video. The saving grace with these devices is the fact, that their customer support is far, far better than their user manual. They will get back to you with a working list of buttons to push in order to achieve what you were trying to do.
And what DOES make your audio sound better are the Kashmir Preamps with +76 dB...
I know what he means by not better, as in not like a high-end mic better, but low noise floor is better, certainly, and disaster-free is also better IMHO.
Thanks for making this video. Very helpful!
thanks for super helpful video. Just unpacked my MixPre3 and this came extremely handy!
I’m glad this was helpful!
Great information. Thank you!
Thank you for the video! Like you, the video tutorials online are very complex and not user friendly when it comes to operations! Great video!
Thanks for tuning it! Yeah I was hoping this would be helpful as a quick overview of how to navigate it 🤙🏼
Thank you, Thank You!!!!! I missed the arm thing and the backing up is just what we need.😀
Thank you so much,, really needed this.
Such a helpful video, thanks so much!
I have the MixPre 3 V1. I have used it for a number of years. I have never had an issue with levels. The super pre amps and analogue limiters give you a lot of latitude. If your levels are too low you can bring them up in post without a problem. I’ve never had clipping. I’ve had a couple of problems over the years. The connection to the NPF is a bit iffy and I’ve had the unit turn off inexplicably. My card reader on the unit seemed to fail recently. You could format cards but the it wouldn’t record. The error message was there was no card in the unit. I tried a variety of cards that had worked in the past but no luck. I then updated the firmware and miraculously it works fine now. I will be adding a redundant recorder for a while until I’m convinced this thing is again reliable.
great video!
Thanks for watching!
Thank you for this, very helpful!
Correction: Do not assume, that 48KHz is in any way matching, related or specifically beneficial when recording 24 FPS video! 48 KHz is definitely good enough for all speech recordings and most audio recordings, unless you want to create a broadcast-standard master, that won't degrade with multiple times of editing and re-editing, when using older non-oversampling digital audio FX processing. Either way thumbs up, well done and useful video!
And watch out with the settings - with some bit rate choices, you may inadvertently disable 32 Bit Float recording...
you're amazing! thanks for the video!!
Thanks for watching!
Great video! Using this for a short film this weekend for 2 12 hour days 😫
Long days man. Hope you made it through them!
Very helpful, thank you.
thx for the info!
Oh my gosh, this would have been so helpful if I had a video like this when I first got my MixPre3 v1. On my first job, I recorded a lav and a shotgun but didn't arm them separately and they both merged into one track, that was horrible. And the left and right tracks were also hella confusing.
Thanks
Thanks for the tutorial. I think you can take the use of this device to the next level, by using it together with timecode, either through a wired HDMI-connection with a camera or monitor or with a timecode generator (like the Tentacle or Diety devices). Saves having to synch the audio in post with video, and you can control the recording with the camera by letting timecode trigger the recording (so you'll never forget to press record).
32-Bit float is only convenient when you have large volume differences, as you may encounter with weddings and other parties. For less noisy and more controlled environments, the 24-bit option still goes a long way as it gives 144 dB of range which is plenty for most applications and a format most editing software can easily deal with. So the older version 1 is still a viable option and is cheaper.
I am not sure whether you use the gain option right. Normally gain staging is done on the basis of microphone sensitivity, and can therefore be a fixed value on the basis of the microphone specs [see excellent video on this by Sound Speeds on UA-cam]. You can then use the fader control knobs for the final adjustment, and have minimal noise.
I also like to use the stereo out from the device back to the camera, such that a high quality scratch track is already recorded with the video. If it's good enough or fast turn-around times are required, the separate recording can serve as back-up only if editing is needed while still having full audio control and use of the great pre-amps in camera.
While I agree that time code would be super nice to have, I’ve had very little trouble with syncing in post. It’s a nice to have, but not totally necessary for me currently. There is almost no downside to 32bit float other than file size, so I have a hard time recommending the first version to be honest.
I feel there is a ton of ways to use this device in your workflow, and this seems to work really well for me with run and gun situations. Going on over 2 years and it’s been perfect for me
I do appreciate your insight and I think what you mention would be great for a lot of applications!
Love the video man! I'm qbout to order a mixpre 3 so I'm watching this video before hand. I'm a wedding filmmaker as well. Cheers
Hey man, that’s great! Hope that it helps and reach out if you ever have any questions!
@@itsaaronmiller what size sd card would you recommend? I need to record the entire ceremony, as well as the reception.
@@BoyBlessing I have a 64GB and haven't had to format it yet. Well over a year of weekly use with commercial and wedding projects. If you'd rather, 32GB would get you by for a long time as well but might as well go big!
@@itsaaronmiller the wedding I’m filming is today & I have a question. when I’m recording the best man & bridesmaid speech, do I switch it from line to mic? or can I keep it at line if I’m plugged into the DJ’s speaker/system?
@@BoyBlessing hey there. Sorry for the the delayed response. Either should work. Typically line from the DJs system though unless it’s straight from the receiver. Hope you got it all worked out.
I like this setup. One question, how do I record the same audio, one with noiseassist enable and the other one a clean iso?
What is the best gain setting for a SM7B?
Hey I have a question for you, How do I get all the channels to show up separate in my DAW?
How to rekord left ear to right ear ? Simply two mics with 1 and 2 track or left and right channel ?
What does the actual knob on the unit does ? The knobs in the front ?? I saw you only adjusting the gain on the side on the unit
hi, when using noiseassist, if using just one input, how do I record the channel with the noiseassist and clean iso without the noiseassist??
Can i use this for my speakers?
Aaron, I just bought a Mixpre3 iii and this video has been fantastic. You're also a very likeable guy! I bet if you uploaded consistently your channel would grow fast :)
Hey Patrick! Thanks so much for the feedback. Really interesting in growing my channel but just having a hard time finding time haha. The goal is to post more frequently though soon!
Hello Aaron, the usb-c battery bank you have listed in the description, how long will it keep the mix pre 3 running until recharge?
I’d say close to 5 hours or more!! It’s probably worth me doing a test some day
Thanks... I made the purchase.
Wish you'd talk about setting up Sound Devices Wingman up over Bluetooth...
Using the included touch screen mixer over a phone or tablet is like a major feature for this...
Honestly haven’t tried that because I don’t usually love using phone apps to control devices. But I’ll give it a try and maybe make a follow up!
@@itsaaronmiller I get that... I avoid even carrying my phone when possible.
Just in this case, the screen is tiny and requires a lot of drilling down.. That's why I tried to get it connected to my tablet, both over USB C cable and Bluetooth... both methods failed persistently!
So I fully understand your reservations, I might ask SoundDevices support again. Their manual is really weak, but thankfully, their email tech support is fast and good!
@@Pharesm yeah there is very little info online for this thing. Haha do report back if you figure anything out! It would be a nice tool to use!
Is there a way to label each track (with Metadata) like the 8 series ?
Not too sure. I’ll try to check on that!
Hi there. What was the thumb drive for? Was that for memory or something else? thx.
Records a backup of the files.
How do you gain stage in advanced mode? Because in advanced you have gain plus a knob fader. How do you adjust those? Isn’t it better to just have the device in simple mode and only use e knob as the gain?
You don't have 32-bit float in basic mode. The limiters seem to work great, but still.
Thanks. I am used to use the big knobs at the front as a gain knob. Can I only adjust the gain on the right side wheel? What are the knobs at the front for? Mixing to the left and right?
If it isn’t in 32bit float, I believe that’s when the gain is adjusted with the front knobs
Always use the menu gain to set your preamp levels - the knob can be used to tweak a tad and for mixing the tracks. I keep the knob at 12 o'clock and use the menu gain.
If you disable the Left and Right Mix just to make a Mono WAV file, will that affect the headphone output?
I'm able to still monitor it from the headphone out!
I have the original MixPre 3. Because of the low noise preamps and the great analogue limiters, I’ve never had clipping or compromised audio on this unit. I have had other problems, the unit inexplicably stops recording. I’ve used the unit with the AA sled, the NPF sled and USB power. It was super reliable for the first couple of years, now I can’t trust it. When it does record the product is great.
Wow, interesting to hear. I’ve had no issues with reliability with this version. Hoping that they resolved that with this mkII
🙏
There is not much about it? Did you buy it without the manual? You can download 1 at the website
What do you recommend to mount these on a tripod?
You should be able to mount to anything with 1/4 20 threads! So most tripod mounts
How do you mount Gh5 on top
There should be a quarter inch you can screw into your camera. I’d suggest using a cage if you wanted to go this route
is it possible to save the recordings directly on an external hard drive (without sd card)?
To my knowledge, no. Unfortunately it only serves as a backup
Can you do professional voiceover work with the built in preamp?
For sure!!
@@itsaaronmiller Ty
how long recording for 32 gb sd card
A long time! For 1 track I probably get close to 40 hours of recording for 32gb at 32bit float
I'm having all sorts of problems with configuration. How do I have it so that I record 2 different mics at the same time, one going into input 1 and the other going into input 2, such that it makes 2 files one for input 1 and one for input 2? Its so confusing its combining and not combining and i don't know, i just feel like its very unstraightforward.