Don't buy an audio recorder without THIS LIFE-SAVING FEATURE! - MixPre-3 II Review (Long-Term) 

Thanks :) Thanks for teaching me how to use the Mk1!

This vs the zoom one?

@Pierson Rochester I would recommend any USB Powerbank that is at least 20,000mAH. The only down side to using this power source is that you cannot use the USB port to attach a USB Thumbdrive for a simultaneous duplicate safety backup. I wish that there were 2 SD slots in the unit itself for this purpose, or even have the second slot be microSD (currently available up to 512GB).

Yes for the camera stream, no idea about iPad. Don't have one, sorry.

just a generic 15000 mAh one from amazon. I just use the one at a time, you would definitely get 12 hours out of that capacity

Thanks for watching!

I make a lot of content that involves all other footage being 60fps and finally export being 60fps - so for that I shoot my on camera aroll in 60fps as wel

Awesome!

Stuoid question perhaps. how do i erase a track i just recorded? I see something that says "trash" - but it still is there once i press it. Thanks Mixpre-3 ii

AFAIK the only limitation is not using USB A while powering off of USB C. They likely share the same USB bus

Yes. The original MixPre-3 accepted timecode jamming, and the Mk II still does from external sources. That would still work.

I'm VERY excited about the Tentacle Sync Track E! Is why I made a whole video just about it, however it is still early days so we don't know all the details about the Tentacle Sync Track E just yet. And Track E is a very very different beast to the MixPres, the Track E is much more like a superior version of the Tascam DR10L Remember you do still need Timecode Boxes even with the MixPre Gen2, as you need to put a Timecode Box on each and EVERY camera!

Correct

@@EposVox thank you!

Why would I put it into another interface first? You lose virtually all of the advantages of the hardware inside the recorder. Mic into recorder, aux line into camera for sync

@@EposVox Thank you. :)

Not possible in 24 bit. At 24 bit once you pass 0db, that's clipped and gone. At 32 bit all that info is preserved

need to learn the timecode sync

Hi, how do i erase a track i just recorded? I see something that says "trash" - but it still is there once i press it. Thanks Mixpre-3 ii

Yeah the MixPre3 Gen1 is still solid! I'll be looking to pick up one secondhand soon, as an ultra lightweight compact bag for an alternative to using my bigger fully featured Sound Devices 833 bag. Honestly for what they can do, then a MixPre is NOT expensive! They're costing next to nothing in comparison to pro gear.

If you are having problems syncing your audio maybe you should try Plural Eyes.

Been using it, both Audition and my NLEs all work in 32bit audio internally and support the files fine

@@EposVox Hmm.. Okay, thanks.

This is not at all a mixer.

The opinion of this random Internet person... a dynamic mic, possibly into a Cloudlifter, then into a DBX 286s, and finally a Focusrite Scarlett Solo to get it into the computer and you'd have the tools to have audio in the 99th percentile or better of streamers. (Check out the Booth Junkie's video on the DBX 286s if for a walk-through of that fantastic piece of hardware.) [EDIT: Shoot, your motherboard might even have a decent DAC and you could run an XLR to 3.5mm cable from the 286s to an audio input on your motherboard. It's worth a shot before buying the interface anyway. Could be noisy garbage, but it could be perfectly usable. E.g. Anne Munition just uses motherboard inputs for her mic after some analog gear. Her audio is top tier and she's pushing 600,000 followers, so it can work.] Outside that signal chain, working on the sound treatment of your streaming space will do more than any gear. Keeping the noise out of the chain is a lot easier than trying to clean up dirty audio after the fact. Booth Junkie also has some tongue-in-cheek comparison videos with $2000 mics vs something like an Amazon's Basics mic to highlight that sound treatment of the space trumps gear in pretty much all cases. I'd suggest all of that before stepping up to the Pre-3 IMO, unless the sticker price isn't a big deal for you and you just want to buy once. Regarding the two major features highlighted in this review... The major benefits of 32-bit floating audio will be mostly pointless for live content since, as you saw in the demo here, the clipping will still end up in the end product unless levels are corrected. There are some processors that work by buffering (delaying) your audio for a few ms or even seconds, and then do dynamic level adjustments, but that's not typical outside of broadcast radio where there are legal limits they have to meet or face fines. You'd have a fun time getting a face cam to sync with that as well. 32-bit floating is ideal for recording and post-processing non-live content. If you're not doing a face cam, the timecode is going to be an unused feature for you. If you are doing a face cam, the timecode _could_ be linked with a camera if the camera supports it, and then import the audio via the camera's HDMI. You _could_ do that, but it isn't typical. Camera's are notorious for having absolute crap handling of the audio and I'd be cautious about it maybe adding its own processing and ruining the pristine audio you paid a lot of money to capture. You could always try it and see. As for combining and syncing live feeds outside the camera, I don't know if OBS supports syncing sources based on timecode. I doubt it. Wirecast might, but I doubt that too. There is commercial broadcast equipment that'll do it of course, but you're stepping into a whole different game at that point. Hope that was useful. :)

Nah it isn't overkill! The MixPres are dirt cheap after all for what they are, compared to professional gear

Yep! Sm7b review using it linked in description

Most live streaming programs support either built in effects like compressors or VSTs to add it in yourself. Don’t need that high of a delay

@@EposVox I use izotope vst’s currently, but any compressor is basically static with its settings. The buffer would allow for computation to adjust gain/threshold/compression-ratios optimally and essentially create a running normalization for the delayed stream. The end result would be much better dynamic range preservation. I could even imagine a secondary background process that looks over the last minute and tweaks everything to attain a LUFS metric although that would be for the recording and not the live stream. The dynamic compressor idea I thought might exist already but that latter one is just me dreaming.

I've never heard of such a thing myself

Cameras are worse than HOPELESS at keeping accurate timecode. Thus you ALWAYS need to keep a timecode box on a camera. But don't worry, timecode boxes are super super cheap and very very lightweight! (not like the bad old days a decade ago when they were super expensive and heavy)

@@SoundSpeeding I have the bmpcc 4k and I heard they were good at keeping up. Do you think I still need the Denecke?

@@LorenzoYearby no chance, you should NOT rely upon the camera's timecode by itself! You must attach a Tentacle Sync E or Ultrasync ONE or similar to it

Ah yes, the classic people who click on videos but don't want to watch videos. And think they're offering something by timecoding part of a video that could've been gleamed from the product page if you really wanted to just read

Mathcartney They don’t have anything comparable. This is a field recorder/mixer first. It also happens to be an excellent interface for computer audio. Universal Audio don’t make field recorders.

@Zack Darce SD makes pro audio gear for the film industry, this is a field recorder first and has ultra clean top flight mic pre-amps. and is used by those that record SFX as well as dialog on set as a backup or just ultra small location kit.

And then keep watching from 24:00 where he gives a short explanation of what he had to do.

Oh? I still need to sell mine T_T

@@EposVox Me too lol.

How did your mixpre die 😢

@@maxhammer4067 There were two factors. One, I was using a battery sled for the Sony NPF batteries and this developed an iffy connection. Two, I had a firmware issue. I have replaced the battery sled with the original AA battery sled and augmented the power with a USB battery. The MixPre 3 is back. I did not have to replace it.

@@gcprost So it survived thats good I was gutted when I bought my mixpre 3 because about 2 months later the moxpre 3 ii came out, I really wanted to 32 bit float but iv learned to live without it 😢

I have finally found the real problem: TIMECODE (yes). From the beginning I set the timecode to off. This combined with the previous configuration (32 bit, mono track, off mix st) produces the sound glitches when I playback. I don't know why this happens or if it occurs in all manufactured units. My firmware version is 4.01

Sounds like an email for SD

@@EposVox Yeah! Copy and paste from an email for SD. Still waiting a response. I don't Know who have mixpre-3 II to compare. Can you help me?

RME Babyface Pro FS, if it's too expensive MOTU M4.

Yes!

@@EposVox Thanks

Yeah the MixPre3 Gen1 is still solid! I'll be looking to pick up one secondhand soon, as an ultra lightweight compact bag for an alternative to using my bigger fully featured Sound Devices 833 bag.

there's just a difference in I/O, otherwise they're the same product

@@EposVox ok cool thank you!

Yep

They are the same

@@EposVox the zoom is that good ?

Yes?

That is my understanding. Yes

Just following up on this - it appears you can still use the timecode (apparently timecode for 60fps doesn't exist) as long as you match exact halves, so 30 with 60, 29.97 with 59.94, etc. Will be testing soon.

@@EposVox did you make it to LTX2019? You gotta have a seminar about all the data you have and solutions to problems and setup recommendations.

@@Malumen I was there! Had a panel and a meet and greet, etc.

@@EposVox I was working and had no idea of any of the panels or meet and greets. Wish I had known and would have popped over to say hi. I point all of my coworkers and friends and clients to your videos, and I've had the pleasure to overhear other people talking and recommending your vids for tutorials and the like. Thank you for your work.

Yes

@@EposVox Thanks for the quick response. Is that possible out the box, or do I have to purchase a part?

You want to buy a second one?! :D

Yes, I focused and then shifted my position. It was already caught but I recorded two videos back to back like this and couldn't re-shoot a first time unboxing. It's fine my face isn't the... Focus. Ba dum tsh

Sure I am, I've done it before. Sometimes I excitedly talk too loud, frequently I'm shooting videos where I'm opening products or working on PC parts and there's loud sounds that clip, etc. Frequently I'm bouncing back and forth between shoots and between lav and shotgun mic, with different distances from speaker, and need the flexibility, etc.

@@EposVox I hear you. It's not that you need the extra 700db of range to capture soft vs loud at the same, it just makes life easier when you don't have time for settings. Fix it in post! That's not a bad thing, we all want tools to make our job easier.

Yeah timecode was the big thing with 32bit being "well why would I live without it?" haha

Lmao no

@@EposVox I still watched all of it! ♥ Thankyou for all your videos btw, I'm able to work and stream local football events thanks to them.

What happened to the focus in this vid? What are you using EPOS???

@@JeffBourke A t1.5 lens and a teleprompter that I have to leave forward to activate, thus moving out of the original plane of focus

They can't. In the interview I linked from Curtis Judd +SD employee, hardware changes were required

132 according to the Curtis Judd interview with a Sound Devices employee so that's what I went with lol

Yep my face was out of focus; I set focus and then moved forward with a very shallow lens. Shot same time as my Discord video, will likely not happen again.

You need a 32bit face!