Mobilemike

You're correct if you simply put two cardioids back to back. As the original post stated though, flipping the phase on one of the cards (the "rear" mic) is what gives the figure-8 pattern as opposed to an Omni-like pattern. The coincidence of the diaphragms also determines how accurate the pattern is. That's why single diaphragm figure-8 mics like the MKH30 are so highly regarded. Ribbon mics also use a single element for both sides of the pattern, hence the deep null. Simply putting two cardioid mics back to back will never get the diaphragms close enough to give an accurate figure-8 pattern. -Mike

The above re:bags was from page 4 of this thread too. -Mike

Contact Chris Johnson of Busman Audio. He does mods on the DR-680 and also fixed mine when I did the same thing as you - fried the power circuit with an improper voltage setting. He's great and knows the unit well. I believe the fix was about $100 for mine. http://www.busmanaudio.com/ -Mike

I've used my MKH50/30 rig indoors with just the foam covers that come with the mics. The foam gets a little squished between the mics but it works fine. Won't stand up to super quick boom swings but you will want to avoid those anyway when using a stereo rig (as I'm sure you know) so you don't get wild sudden changes in the stereo image. -Mike

416 sounds better than the Diety to me on decent headphones. The 416 seems like it is picking up a bit more background noise just because its a hotter mic - if the mics were level matched i bet the noise would be similar, if not worse on the Diety. The Diety just sounds small and compressed to me whereas the 416 sounds more full and natural. -Mike

Somebody should tell K-tek they missed April Fools' Day by a couple of weeks

My favorite is the Beyerdynamic DT–102. Its comfortable, sounds good, and makes a good seal on most people's heads. I use it all the time as talent headphones for ADR sessions and it's great. -Mike

Yeah a 4-hour run time seems like a deal breaker for most productions. How long is the recharge time after the battery is depleted?

I would add my +1 to this request as well. I can definitely see myself using this mostly attached to a computer, where the gain trims are more important to quickly adjust than the mix track. And Nic, thanks for clearing up the USB issue. I was worried when I saw the initial copy saying a USB-Y cable was included that it wouldn't run well off of one normal USB port. Glad to hear that is not the case. In most situations when I'm doing portable recording I do not have 2 free USB ports on my laptop to dedicate to this - as I also need a Pro Tools dongle, etc. I use a USBPre2 now and I'm thinking the MixPre-6 will be an awesome replacement for that -Mike

Thanks for being here Nic! Here's another question that wasn't clear to me from the manual: Can you connect the MixPre 6 (or 3) to a computer with either the USB C or USB A port? Or is the USB A port just for keyboard support? I'm asking mainly because I would love to be able to use the AC power adapter (which if I'm not mistaken has a USB-C connection) at the same time as the MixPre is connected to a computer as an audio interface. Thanks! -Mike

My impression from reading the manual was that, yes the pots default to volume to the mix bus and not gain, and there is no gain control in "Basic" mode. In "Advanced" mode however, there seems to be gain adjustment as normal, along with limiter control. I would also be curious if there was a quick way to set the pots to "gain" mode, or a way to change that to be the default if I want to ride the gain going to my ISO's. -Mike

The manual is now online on the SD website. -Mike

Yeah that is the way it seems Thanks guys! Love the size of this! -Mike

True! Specs look good! Do any of our esteemed dealers know the actual size of the two units? It doesn't look like the -6 is that much physically larger than the -3 (which would be great). -Mike

Ok this rocks my world. Not a replacement for my 633 or 788t or 702... but a huge help in lots of other situations. Hopefully the mic preamps will be on par with other SD products - I always get a little nervous when marketing departments start giving mic preamps cute names... -Mike

Yup only you can decide what you need. If you think you will need more than the 6 ISO tracks that the 633 can do, then go for the 664. If you never or rarely need more than 6 tracks then go for the 633. The 633 is more flexible, more upgradable (as the recent addition of auto mixing shows), and records at higher sample rates (the 664 maxes out at 48K). But the 664 can handle more tracks. -Mike

My first setup for this type of work was a package deal I scored on eBay. (I had setups geared toward remote music recording before that). It was a Wendt X4 mixer and Portabrace case, BDS system, a Sennheiser 416, 2 Lectrosonics UCR195D receivers and transmitters and Sonotrim lavs, a big case to put it all in, a KTek boom pole, and cables. I was all set! -Mike

Most of the used MKH70's I've seen are listed in the $1300-1500 range. It sounds like there is not a ton of used mics around you so if it's in good condition I would say it's definitely worth getting. If you don't like it or want something else later it should be easy to sell it back for what you paid. -Mike

Nice. Yeah I picked one of these up used locally and it was listed as the non-internally wired version but when I got it it turned out to be wired already. So score! -Mike

Thanks guys. Yes I definitely take good care of the mic, but like you said Glen, getting it into a Rycote INV-HG mount without accidentally moving the switches is rather difficult. I did recently pick up one of the new INV-lite mounts for it and that pretty much completely solves the shockmount problem for me, so I was happy about that. Just curious if anyone else had this issue and wanted to make sure I didn't get a faulty preamp :-) -Mike

Hey guys, I've had a DPA 4017C for awhile and recently picked up the B preamp for the extra filter options. I like it a lot so far except... does it weird anybody else out that the filter switches do not latch into position? They just kind of slide freely from off to on and it is really easy to bump them off or on especially with putting them into a shock mount or taking them out. Is that weird for anyone else? Or just me? Thanks! -Mike

A couple of caveats about the choices: I believe the Sanken CSS-5 can only be switched between mono, stereo, or wide stereo output. You cannot output discreet M and S channels with this mic. I'm not sure about the CMS-10, but it may be the same deal. The Neumann RSM191, besides being heavy, is too large to fit in most shockmounts. It is 30mm in diameter. The Rycote INV-8 with the firmer lyres fits it well, but I haven't found many other options that do. Does Cinela have a 30mm shock mount option? I haven't seen one from them but I may have missed it. -Mike

You could use something like the Sound Devices Mix-Pre D instead of the iRig. I've used this to record into my phone several times and it works very well. A little more bulky obviously but sounds great. -Mike

Good point. The standard 72-shore lyres that come with most Rycote systems are too light to hold the weight of the RSM191 (it's a fairly heavy mic). If you contact Rycote though they can send you some firmer 82-shore lyres that support the mic better. -Mike

I have a Neumann RSM190 (same as the RSM191). I like it a lot. I've been impressed many times while using it at how natural everything sounds through it - it doesn't sound like I'm listening through a microphone and headphones but rather just in the environment. They are discontinued but still available on the used market. No personal experience with any of the others, however the NPR Tiny Desk concert series uses a Sennheiser 418 as their main pickup, and I've always thought their stuff sounded pretty nice. -Mike