MixPre II New Features Sound for Video Session 

Just a note: This is not a review, but an overview of the features new to the II Series MixPre recorders.

2 videos, same day!? What!? What have we done to deserve this.

Great Video ! You have answered everything I wanted to know about the settings

Thank Curtis for another great video, now make want to buy one.

Love the tyre!

Thanks man, very helpful 👍💯🌟🙏🏽

Bought a 3 for compact awesomeness and love it. I should have bought a 6! Reading the manual and watching your videos made my transition from my old Zoom H6 a snap. I feel really comfortable with this unit now, thanks Curtis!

Nice Thank you. Certainly interested in combining with pocket 4k. Awesome combo.

Well done, as always. Until your video the other day covering the Zoom F6, I never heard of 32 bit float. Now I'm obsessed with the idea. Now it's just a matter of Zoom F6 vs MixPre II (3 or 6).

I read the other day that during nuke tests in the 60's sounds levels of the explosions were recorded from 3 miles and 6 mile distances. At 3 miles levels of 132dB were measured and at 6 miles 118dB ... These were 20 megaton blasts. When it comes to dynamics and 32bit float recording you could literally capture (with an appropriate mic) the full dynamics of a nuke blast ... Hmmm, don't think I'll be doing that soon 😂 Just one of those silly thoughts that pass through your mind 😁

Hi Curtis, that was a great video, I was wondering if you had another video showing how you set up the Recorder for a Short Film, movie or series situation

Good to see you can change the limiter settings. It would be very useful to also have the attack setting.

Thanks for including the compatibility link in the description. I see they still don't support 32 bit float in Final Cut Pro X or Logic Pro, so I may need to wait a bit or use Reaper to normalize tracks before editing.

One example where I think wide dynamic range would have come in handy was recently when I was shooting some helicopter rescue training in the field. Of course the helicopter is super-loud when it arrives, but when it flies away and the ground crew's discussing what they've learned, what to correct, it would have been nice to capture that much quieter sound of what they're saying without having to adjust audio levels, especially since you never know *exactly* when the helicopter's going to come back for another round. As it was, I didn't even have a separate sound person in the field, just my camcorder, without 32-bit float/wide dynamic range, and I just set the camera's shotgun to auto with the limiter on. Thankfully, the helicopter sound didn't clip, but the ground crew's quiet talk came out a bit too quiet unless I went right up to them on occasion.

Great video! Can you talk about noise floor with 32 bit float/wide dynamic range? I’m curious if boosting signals that are super quiet also brings lots of noise with it.

How can I set the output of the Mixpre to be mono, e.g. if I have 1 mic and am using it as an interface. It's outputting normal L/R with an empty right channel. I can do this in OBS, but prefer to get it already in the mixpre. Thank you for your amazing videos!

10 sec preroll is held in a buffer which will consume battery energy. I have watched all your MixPre videos (thank you) and am ready to purchase the MixPre 6. I could "get by" with the 3, and prefer the smaller size but as of today, November 17, 2021, there are none available!

the tire already proved itself in that you were able to handle it with one finger! which if you were looking down on it from the front panel, or just had a small gap for your cable run in the bag, would make all the difference. It would be neat if the encoder was grooved, such that each notch felt like a haptic change on the screen, nonetheless I hear that the little lego tire does help with this one-finger changes

sometimes an AD who's not in their groove will forget check in with you and just claps the slate...that preroll helps there if you're not calling second sticks. interesting about the 32-bit not having limiters. For ENG, a sound devices limiter might be the most pristine line of defense for the segment you are shooting, and the audience as well as myself would rather my signal get mildly massaged by my analog limiters than the plugins back at the studio. So I entirely agree: you'd be handing the editor more work. and interesting too that the optional music/mixer module does not introduce further limiter settings. To me, tracking with a 2:1 or 2.5:1 would be a nice option. But 10:1 or inf. doesn't seem to justify upgrading from a 10T...

Hi Curtis and thanks once more. I come to your videos time after time since I don't use my mixpre that often. Now it serves as a soundcard cause I sold my old from my studio setup and am waiting for a new to come. One thing though broke my ears again and it was this timecode generator switch on "outputs"-> 3,5 mm aux output. Well quess did I remember what it was, and by intuition switched the output on timecode -> result: that crashing FXXX-noise comes out of my studio monitors a bit loud... Wonder if the guys in SDevices did something to the menu to put a warning step after you choose the timecode? That would save ears and trouble from many of us I assume!

If possible could you do a Zoom F6 vs Mix pre 2 comparison. How they handle the 32 bit upgrade. The fight between them continues.

Hey Curtis! Awesome channel and content. Thank you for your generosity. Question: since we have this awesome external audio recorder, why would we send the stereo mix to the camera? Just for reference? Sync? Thanks.

Just a question so the mix pre 6 and the mix pre 10 doesn't have internal timecode as the mix pre 3 does. because on the mix pre 3 i don't have to stay connected to receive timecode as long as i don't turn off the BMPCC4K for to long.

the one-level folder file management as well as the thumb drive recording a carbon copy of the active project leads me to wonder what the workflow would be on a multi-day shoot. Seems like you would want to 1) have a high capacity SD card that will fit the entire shoot 2) name the next Project each day "Day [n]" without necessarily reference to the production if it's slowing you down. Maybe just add "dialog". Or use the folder automatically named after the absolute date convention. 3) format freshly at wrap or next morning the thumb drive the DIT returned to you at call time. And have two cards to rotate out (don't wait to get one back for this step) These serve as your dailies. These can be smaller storage capacity. 4) for the audio file name itself, maintain a short prefix of the working title for the production if it fits on the screen, and update manually the shot as well as the shot letter into the file name for every change you make over the course of the day -or-use European shot numbering which is more synonymous with the file numbering... 5) hand in the thumb drive at the end of the day. repeat at step 2. kick back... Nice thing about this is that you never dig around for the SD card. You have backup just for that day, but it's getting backed up to the film media, the Folder is obvious for the DIT's purposes, and she can keep the thumb drive so you are already free...

Curtis, I just wanted to add that increased dyn range is only half the story; potentially the lesser half. I'll be short: floating point as opposed to linear bit distribution means that if the bits normally "stationed" towards the top-end of the "meter" (as in linear) well, float! This means that for low-level signal: winds, whispering and so on, instead of getting an 8-bit digital word (linear; the equivalent of the '70s video game "Pong") we get a full-length word *regardless* of level and hence much, much greater detail. More graphic? OK; in linear the last 6dB on the meter uses ~50% of the data stream; if you don't hit that mark, too bad. Not so with FP. I'm wording this as simply as possible for those who may not be as geeky as we are.

Hi, Curtis. Love the channel. This coverage of the MixPre II series is so appreciated. Very excited. Non sequitur, then: Do you have any experience or feelings re: Sanken CS-M1? Would appreciate your thoughts. Thanks, Leo

Thanks for this video, Curtis. Question: at 11:42, you have a title come up that says you need to keep the cable between the mixpre and camera connected the entire time, but last summer we shot on a Pocket Cinema Camera 4k and I jam synched it... didn't need a cable connected the entire time. We were sending time code from a Zaxxcom, but any reason why it would be diffferent to jam synch from the mixpre?

Great video as always ... which one would you choose: Sound Devices 663 bought second hand or Sound Devices MixPre II purchased new? Mainly oriented to the cinema. I have that big question right now. Thank you!

On the screen I can see the big Q letter. What is that? Something like quick menu?

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

my feeling about kicking a clipping problem down field to Post, is that if the stereo output bus in their daw overloads, they might not realize that they can just pull that section of a clip down. But herein lies the beauty of it: if they were to pull that down, they'd discover that the peaks on the clip are completely intact. So in effect, you are saving them some work, or the problem of having to pass up that otherwise desired take...still, the same could be said for the lower end of the range. They could pull the entire take up in a 24-bit file and retain all the original information (so long as you monitored in such a way that you knew what noise floor you were handing them.). I notice you record at a rather modest levels target, whereas I tend to push my luck so the waveforms look big and healthy when the editor sees them for the first time...

Hey Curtis, we just picked up a couple MixPre3 iis. We attached them to the back of our Ikonoskop Dii rigs and then wired them to Senneheiser MK 416s mounted to the top of the rigs. This is our two-camera setup that we are going to be running and gunning with for an upcoming Olympic film. The idea of course is to be working without a sound guy. Essentially we have two cinema camera rigs that we are trying to make into fancy "video cameras", haha. The basic question is, with this setup, whether it would be wiser to go 24/96 with a limiter or 32-bit float-in order to capture everything and have the ability to turn lower level (of the shotgun axis) audio up if need be without added distortion or much extra noise? NOTE: At times we will definitely be using lav mics as well. Another possibility I figured is to add some sort of onboard omni mic to our rig to capture off axis things... Would be really curious to have your opinion on this. Thanks so much! -Alec

Nice!! Really, the “cons” of these units are so minimal compared to their value in my opinion.

Hi, what do you think about the lack of balanced outputs on the mixpre-3 II and Zoom F6 recorders? 3,5mm stereo out only :(

Hi Curtis, Just one simple question: I mainly record interviews and live concert with a Tascam DR44WL. I bought it for its wifi remote control possibility and its big screen and I'm pretty happy with it. In the future I'd like to have a recorder with more inputs (4 being a minimum) Now my question is: is that possible on a MixPre 6 or 10 to individually set each XLR inputs on Line OR mic/mic+phantom On the Tascam you can't do this. The selector is for both inputs. Thank you for those excellent videos! Alain

What a great way to record things like Drag Races, Air shows, concerts that are too loud. Looks like Zoom started an item with 32 bit. Cameras are laughable on their preamps with a few exceptions. This one has me interested in very demanding venues. Glad I waited.

I'm just trying to wrap my head around producing good audio, and am trying to place the importance of this wide dynamic range 32 bit option. At first I was thinking, well why wouldn't you just keep it in that mode all the time? Is the answer to this a bit like with shooting RAW on your camera and fixing in post? Sure, with a good raw file, technical profeciency, and Photoshop you can make that image look any way you want. But, there is a whole school of thought about "getting it right in camera" rather than in post. Is that a fair analogy between setting the recording up appropriately in 24bit recording vs. any setting at 32bit?

So Curtis, I did not follow precisely how to utilize the TimeCode feature for the MixPre-6(and 3) since you cannot record both audio and TC to camera. I did not understand what you were saying at that point, the explanation moved a little fast for me. Also, I am new to all of this. I have been shooting a feature film for about a year and a half on a sony a7sii and just now invested in the MixPre-6 ii and two sennheiser wireless avx me-2's. I am excited to start working with this system in the field but I still don't really understand why TimeCode is even that important if I am just connecting my audio straight to my video. Aren't they going to be bundled as one unit? I think I need to join your school. :) I have really been getting a lot out of your videos on here. Thank you for your service!

Hi Curtis, thanks for another great video! Is it possible to jam the time code from tentacle sync to mix pre 3 ii through Aux/mic in?

That headphone knob.... I still cant believe they cant get that right.

PreMix 6 ii capture sound better than plugging mic directly into Panasonic AU EVA1? How do the preamps compare.

Hey, Curtis. Regarding timecode with the MixPre II 3 and 6, how might one go about jamming a Tentacle Sync (with the 3.5 mm jack)? Do you think that a straight-through TRS 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable would work?

How can we increment scene & shot number in mixpre 10ii without having to rename before and after each take? Can you please help me out regarding this query.

Can you feed timecode IN to the recorder, with Ultrasync One?

Question for you Chris. Can you articulate the best you can the difference in tone ( if any ) between the 8 series and MixPre II mic preamps. Thanks

Hey Curtis, what's a good level to set the channel gain at when recording 32bit float?

This should be on the main channel.

They should really just make a new knob already instead of the NEW Tire feature on the original knob, I think its a bit crazy. But all the other changes seem quite good. I heard that with the 1st version of the MixPre 6 most said the limiters were not very good when recording gunshot SFX, what setting do you feel would mimic the limiters on say a 702 which is good at recording such SFX ...

Dear Curtis! Brand new MixPre 10 II (2000 € all in) or a two year old Sound Devces 633 thats rarely used (2400 € all in) both with NPF batteries included. I will use it for shooting corporate video / TV commercials / TV shows. I think i am going to choose the 633 but i would really like to hear your opinion about that. Thanks a lot in advance.

Hey Curtis we spoke a while back now seeing this Series 2 of mix pre devices. I doubt you will remember our last conversation. Where i was debating the Zoom F6 device, Would you say that the new mix pre 3 Series II at $650 would be a better quality choice sound wise noise floor operation etc both 32 bit float. The Sound Devices mix pre does seem to have an extra 10 db headroom dynamic range aswell maxing out at 142 dB dynamic range and im guessing cleaner sounding? vs six channel Zoom F6 @ $650 Have received an email from zoom rep that shipping has begun. Although i am now finding out about the new sound devices release. Would be glad to hear your update on the topic

BTW, am I right in assuming the TC generator is also from Ambient like the 6 series?

So why do you need to keep the bmpcc4k connected for the entire shoot if it jams the time code? I am thinking about switching from the zoom f4 to this but that seems like a downgrade on that aspect. Not a lot of others.

Hi Curtis! As usual fantastic, very informative review. And I have two technical questions: 1. Is it likely that SD include post roll feature in MixPre II series if they recieve such a feedback? Would it be just a software upgrade? 2. Output via balanced mini-XLR or unbalanced 3,5mm jack seems to be analogue. Is recording with 32-bit float any obstacle in using output? Cause I did not get something. I guess, with 32-bit float recording you can still mix individual tracks and feed that mix as analogue signal to the camera that make its own encoding, regardless of what is the bit depth of digital recording of the mix in the SD MixPre. Or am I wrong? Can this mix be as well prepared as it would be with 24-bit?

thanks so much for the info! I have a question. when i shoot weddings and connect my dr-05 and my zoom h1 to the dj/sound board my audio gets distortioned/clipped/peaked. Would the same thing happen with the mixpre 3 ii if i set it up to a sound board/DJ using its 32 bit mode?

Does 32bit Recording reduce the preamp noise?

@1:55, 32bit float = ~1.6kdb+ not 142db

Note you are paying $99 to disable the timecode features with the musicians plugin. so the musicians plugin is basically cripple ware.

hi , this is khhalid from kuwait , Im facing a problem with my mixpre 6 II , it seems that you can't jam sync it with tentacle sync time code while your mixpre is in 32bit mode , 24bit is working fine

I guess it still makes sense to use a gentle limiting compressor even when using the 32-bit mode? Thanks,

at least the outputstage will not clip digitally if your mix is too loud-----with 32 bit

how does the wide dynamic range compare to the zoom f6? did you do a similar test with the mix pre ii series that you did here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-y4oNd1RgGL0.html

Wondering about an HDMI TC hack for the Mixpre 3 & 6 V1 or V2. The only thing that we really need is a 3.5 mini to Micro-HDMI type-D cable. my one worry is that the TC would be getting stripped out at the convertor. So it would be connected as follows Tentacle Sync E > Black Magic SDI to HDMI > HDMI Cable > Sound Devices Mixpre 3 or 6 V1 or V2 Parts Black Magic HDMI to SDI converter www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1607021-REG/blackmagic_design_convcmic_sh03g_wpsu_micro_converter_sdi_to.html SDI to 3.5 mini cable www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1327596-REG/tentacle_sync_c08_cable_tentacle_to.html Tentacle Sync E www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1372226-REG/tentacle_sync_te2_sync_e_standard_set.html HDMI to Micro-HDMI type-D www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1223786-REG/freefly_910_00187_lightweight_right_angle_micro.html Total price for a 2 camera shoot $645.00 the biggest expense is the Tentacle Sync E's

My biggest downside criticism with this series is the stonking NP-F battery sticking out at right angles at the back. To me this is a design fault and I so much prefer the form factor of the 633 (which I own) where the battery is on-axis to the body of the recorder. Shame you have to pay $1000s more NOT to have this clunky and inconvenient battery implementation. Just my opinion.