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Sound Devices mix-pre 6 II

Few

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I’ve had my eye on a Sound Devices mix-pre 6 II but I haven’t been able to find a set of quantitative measurements to complement all the “sounds great” reviews. I’m looking for a field recorder that can double as audio interface, 48 volt phantom power, and preferably 4 mic inputs. Can anyone point me toward a useful review?

Thanks in advance.
Few
 

tgray

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I can't provide any measurements but I did have a 702 many years ago for location sound. Great recorder and I can only imagine that the newer units are even better. I was using with Sennheiser MKH mics and you could really crank the gain without hearing much in the way of noise.

The unit was an absolute delight to use as well. Very well engineered, sturdy, etc. If only everything was built like that.

If I recall Bernie Krause (sound scape guy) uses Sound Devices and MKH mics. If he's using them, it's probably pretty high quality.
 
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Few

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Thanks tgray. I don’t think I’ve seen a sour review anywhere, which is why I’ve been interested. Amir’s review of the Zoom F6 is quite at odds with the many positive comments I’ve read about that device, so I was left feeling a bit uneasy relying only on qualitative impressions. Well, I guess I’m always uneasy relying on qualitative impressions, but the F6 disconnect was quite striking.
 

tgray

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The Sound Devices 702 was probably the single nicest piece of hardware that I've owned that just felt and looked bomb proof and designed with really high quality engineering. WAY BETTER than a Zoom anything. That's not to say that I haven't owned nice things before, but Sound Devices really makes high quality, rugged stuff that is high quality and rugged because it needs to be, not because it makes weekend warriors feel good.

I am actually looking at getting a recording interface again and was just looking at the MixPre-3 yesterday haha.

What I don't know about the MixPres is how well they work as recording interfaces. The series was originally designed to be for on location sound mixing, but now with all the advancements in technology, are recorders and computer interfaces as well. Presumably they are decent in those roles (I see the 7 series recorders are no longer made), but they might not have the nice Windows/Mac companion app to help you set it up for computer recording. You might be messing around with the little menu on the device itself.

Last thing about them - a lot of cheaper interfaces don't list the amount of gain on the mic preamps. Sound Devices does, and it's a pretty large range, up to 76 dB. Most companies wouldn't provide that much available gain if it wasn't quiet. I've not used this new generation of mic preamps by them, but have used the previous two (old Mix Pre series and the 7 series recorders) and the mic pres in both of them were very serviceable. A lot of gain and quiet.
 

MusicDude

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Is there anything specific I can help by supplying files of an MixPre 3-II?
 
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