henrimic

I have worked for many years with the Sony’s. Since Sennheiser launched the HD26 Pro, I use these and find that what I hear on location translates well in post. But as many of you said, it’s more the way that you interpreted what you hear that counts. Had no chance to try the new Neumann headphones yet. If it’s like their studio monitors, this must be great. Anyone of you gave them a try ?

Here are two pictures. The setup is an MS pair of Schoeps and a Wisycom MCR 42 on channels 1 and 2 in AES3, the 833 is recording. As one can see on the second picture, the consumption is around 14 Watts, so the battery should last more or less 6 hours which is fairly OK. Regarding the heat, I trust SD engineers, they know what they do and they certainly know that this recorder will be mainly used in a bag surrounded by a lot of stuff. I'll keep vigilant but not worried.

Around 800 mA

Here is what one can read in the FAQ regarding the heat: By design, the chassis of the 833 gets warm, wicking away the heat from the internal components. The cooling of internal components is important for long-term reliability; this is accomplished via our electro-mechanical design utilizing high-thermal-conductivity aluminum and direct heat-sinking of critical internal components. The 833 quiet mic preamps and powerful processing engines are state-of-the-art — all of this mixing/recording power in a compact chassis means a bit of heat being generated. Best practices for keeping the 833 as cool as possible include powering down unused channels when not in use, leaving at least ½” of air space around the 833 when used within bags, and by opening rear/side flaps of the bags to allow air to flow.

Hi, I spent the whole day testing the new SD833. Not in real life yet, but rather an introduction and discovery of the new functions. First thing, no more Quickboot, but fortunately, the initialization of the recorder only takes 8 seconds, rather acceptable for this type of equipment. Regarding the battery life, I tested the 833 with an MS couple of Schoeps microphones powered in 48 Volts, and a Wisycom MCR42 receiver connected in AES 3 on inputs 1 and 2. My Audioroot distribution shows a power consumption of more or less 12 W, or about 6 hours with a fully charged 98 Wh battery. In the end, in a real situation, it will take 2 batteries to last the full day, but it doesn't seem to me to be a fundamental problem, as I always carry spare batteries. On the other hand, what worries me a little is the heat released by the device. After a while, it becomes almost impossible to hold hands on the frame as it is so hot. The box acts as a thermal radiator, but I have some concerns for the days when the recorder is installed in a bag and the outside temperature is high. I hope that Sound devices has anticipated this aspect well, because the 833 will first be used in a bag. I called other colleagues and they observed the same heat release. Despite this concern, I love the features offered by this machine. Thanks to the 6 microphone inputs, I can now connect my MS pair to inputs 3 and 4 and link it to keep the potentiometers 1 and 2 free for wireless receivers. With the 633, I had to use 1 and 2 for the stereo pair and lost the possibility to use the second potentiometer. When the channels are linked, all their parameters are also linked (fader, gain, filter, limiter, etc.). The menus are very intuitive and easy to navigate if you know the 633, and there are some well thought-out shortcuts like the Pan. By pressing the */** switch and turning the encoder, the Pan can be varied continuously and not only switched betweeen the three fixed positions. I also like the integrated EQs to compensate for the effect of a fur on a windshield outdoors for example, the adjustable limiters and filters with lower cut-off frequencies but especially a slope of 18 dB/oct, more suitable for cleaning boom handling noises, in my opinion . The screen is very readable and has a better resolution than the 633. The colored LED rings around the gains could look a bit "disco style", but are indeed very useful as you can see on which channels there is a signal and if the levels are correctly adjusted. I found in this machine, the qualities of the 788 (Led rings, internal SSD) and the flexibility and ergonomics of the Sound Devices mixers. Concerning the sound, the preamps seem clearer to me than those of the 633, perhaps because of the absence of input transformers and a decrease in the distortion rate. This will have to be confirmed after the first shoots in real life situations. The version of the Firmware I installed today seems to solve a Timecode problem and provides CL12 and Mix-assist support (in addition to Dungan). After this first day with the 833, it sems that for run and gun, I'll need to prepare configurations as there are so many things that can be customized. This shows the potential of development and this is exciting as one feel that there is lot to come with this new architecture.

Great review. Thanks for sharing !

I received an answer from Antoine at Audioroot about the powering of the 833. A simple HRS4 to TA4F connected to the BG-DH MKII distro should work. The charging function of the L-mount batteries can be de-activated in the power menu, so no need to replace the distro, the Hirose will support the current.

A question to Paul Isaacs. on SD’s website, one can read this: Battery charging can draw over 3 A alone, and 4-pin Hirose connectors are only rated for 2 A. The TA4 connector provides up to 5 A per pin and allows for the use of smart batteries. Should We then replace our power distribution that is entirely on Hirose ? Or simply stay on Hirose and remove the Sony batteries ? Or is there a menu to switch off the battery charger ? Thanks in advance for your time to answer our questions on the forum. This is very valuable. Henri

Sound Devices has just launched the new 833.... https://www.sounddevices.com/product/833/ Can’t wait to try it ! Seems very promising.

I did this kind of shows several times, even live, so no post. I always used hypercardioids that I placed in a manner that the dead angle of the mikes where in the direction to reject the PA. Also so important to use a lot of mikes. I usually used 8 to 10 mikes so I could cover all the audience. To cover the first rows, I taped 2 DPA 4060 on the front of the stage like PZM’s. With this his kind of setup you can also adapt the width of the audience to the picture. Not it an easy task but interesting.

À Schoeps W5D or a W20 with Fur. The Cinela Leo gives good results too.

I agree with the need for 4 Mic inputs, even for TV or documentary jobs. I often add a double preamp to the 633 when shooting for a cultural TV show. Recording a small band live, or a theatre play for a short extract on TV doesn't justify a full kit, especially with the time constrains we face. But an MS boom and two more mikes makes the perfect kit for this kind of job.

If I am not wrong, the reason why the ground shield is lifted on one side of the cables between analog studio equipment is related to different power sources and ground references in these devices. If the ground reference is not common between equipments, especially with floating ground or different AC circuits, there will be some current travelling in the shield and thus audible hum in the audio. I just made some measurement on my SD633, the Wisycom MCR42 and Sony wireless transmitters. On all these, the minus of the DC source and the audio ground are linked. So, as all the grounds are common, no current can travel in the shielding of the cables. Also, in a bag, the cables are also really short, whereas in a studio they can be quite long. The only problem I experienced a few times did appear when I cable my mixer to a camera linked to a monitor powered by the mains. If I plug a return cable from the camera monitor, then some hum could appear. But this is a very exceptional case.

I flew to Dubai last month and, seeing my bag with whip antennas and batteries, the cabin attendant on board kindly asked to put my gear in a sealed box...just in case of a defect battery. I actually use Audio Root 89 Wh complying the régulations. But it seems it’s a new way of treating the batteries issue on Emirates flights. Their advice, to avoid this situation, was to put my gear in a small case so they couldn’t see this uncommon bag.

Generally working on documentaries, I use the CCM MS combo with the 41. It allow me to switch quickly from a mono interview to a stereo ambiance. I try to not record dialog in MS except when the action takes place in the middle of a very rich ambiance with sync sounds. I definitely prefer the spaced mikes for pure ambiance sound, but when versatility and efficiency are required, MS is the best system. It's also the most convenient.