henrimic

Its' a 4 week shooting in the wild, the periods of three days are between the acces to the base camp and a generator. Indeed, I plan to bring a lot of batteries, but we will have to carry a lot of stuff during long hiking days, so if I can be more power efficient, my back will be grateful. As this is a long and demanding shooting, the choice of equipment should not be limited to what I already own, and if necessary, I'll rent the recorder that is best suited for the job. And as you mentionned, I would never go with a brand new equipment that I don't know or not deeply tested before departure. Fortunately, I have six months to prepare this shooting. Thank you all for your valuable suggestions and advices.

Nova seem the way to go. I'll definitively borrow one and test it. Some time ago, I planned to replace my 633 by the SX-R4+, but the 8 series was presented and I finally decided to go for the 833 because of the features (Dungan, EQ, ...). The Sonosax is brilliant, especially the preamps, but I was a bit disapointed by the lack of limiters on inputs and the LC filters at 60 and 120 only. Unfortunately, it's a hardware setting that can't be changed by firmware. And if this is of interest for someone, I've found these solar chargers that seem perfect for the kind of situation we'll be in. https://www.goalzero.com/shop/kits/sherpa-100ac-nomad-office-kit/

Thank you all for your inputs. Nova seems a very good option, but there is no distributors here in Switzerland, I’ll have to go the France to borrow one and try after the lockdown. The Maxx s a good option as I already have Wisycom systems and there are plenty of second hand recorders available. Any MixPre 10 users here ? I’ll be interested to know your thoughts. Another question regarding the batteries, do you guys, know a way to charge Smart batteries via solar pannels ? I’ve seen plenty of solutions for small batteries, but again, first hand experience is precious.

I’ll have to record 6 radios and an MS pair, all ISO’s, so the 552 is not an option, but thank you for reminding me this one.

Dear colleagues, for a documentary project next summer in a very remote location, I have to chose a recorder that is not too power hungry. We will have to be autonomous for periods of 3 days without possibilities of charging batteries. I generally use two Smart batteries per day with my 833, this is then certainly not the right choice in this situation. I never used the Mix Pre 10 and wonder if it could be a alternative choice. As it is a simpler recorder, I assume it needs less current. The ads for the Nova announce very low consumption and the SxR4 is known to be very power efficient too. Any real world experience with one of these regarding the battery life would be very valuable and appreciated. Many thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts. Henri

I haven’t experienced any problem with the SSD of my 833 so far. This week I recorded a theatre play of almost 3 hours with 8 mics and it worked like a breeze. I am afraid your SSD has a default.

This is a great combo. This little controller from Sonosax is a perfect complement to the 833. The unit is recognized as soon as plugged, all buttons are operational and the build quality is excellent. The faders are smooth, slightly less than on larger Sx mixers, but I especially like the faders placement, very ergonomic, at least for my fingers. This little guy allow to use the channels 7 and 8 very easily and with it’s perfect form factor, it’s a tool that will find its place on many small gigs where 8 mikes are enough.

This seems really interesting: Support for a planned new feature of MK capsules: capsule memory chips that will contain individual calibration data unprecedented precision of microphone matching can occur automatically, e.g. in a stereo pair the overall frequency reponse of any given capsule type can be adapted for particular applications Really promising if you can adjust filters, pad and proximity effects compensation for example, directly at the capsule.

As there are four front end, and two AES outputs, could we imagine a four mono channels receivers in a future update ?

I have to confess I only used the JK audio interface to receive and record the phone conversation, the latency was not a problem as we just used the sound of the phone, not the camera.

If you have an 8 series Recorder, a Mix Pre or a Sonosax M2D2, you can feed the iPhone directly via the USB adapor kit. If the Lightning port is used, JK Audio has Bluetooth interfaces https://www.jkaudio.com/bluetooth-devices.htm

More info next week at the Sound Summit I guess... https://thesoundsummit.org/

I use both depending on the situation. For fixed interviews, I'll use the Sennheiser that has more reach and a sound less "flat". When in movement and when several persons speaks at the same time, the Schoeps is more natural and forgiving if you are not spotted perfectly. I'd say that if you have to choose only one, the Schoeps is more universal.

Quite unusual, Aaton is proposing a special deal if you sell them back your 688, 644, Nomad or Deva recorder and buy a Mini or an X3.... https://www.aaton.com/newsletter/trade-special-deals-aaton-digital

Definitely a 4S-TC with the special lid for large reels.

True, I have experienced these problems recently. But there is a very simple, elegant and cost effective solution. Instead of a Roger basestation, simply use a Comtek or a Senny IEM, and plug the receiver in the Phonak Multimedia Hub. https://www.raycom.co.uk/product/roger-multimedia-hub/ It's a simple small transmitter that you can put in the pocket of the talent and it's feeded by a simple 3.5 mini-jack. The only 2.4 GHz part goes from the pocket to the earpiece and the total range of the system is the one of your Comtek. This transmitter cost the third of the price of the base station, but you need one per talent. If your talent can't wear any receiver there is also a repeater that extend the range of the base station.

Hi no need for a special attenuated cable, a simple XLR3F to Lemo will work. If you put your transmitter in « 2 wires » mode, you can set the level to minus 30 and it works perfectly. I use quite often this combo and it works really well. The form factor of the MPR 52 is just perfect for small cameras, especially for a 2 channels receiver. The only little thing you should be aware of, is the battery life. You’ll definitely need the lithium-ion battery pack.

Sometimes I also feel that the results are weird with an MS setup. idealy, one should use a cardioid as Mid.This would theoretically result in a perfect XY after matrix. But as soon as you use a shotgun, the phase relation between the Mid and the figure of eight will be very dependent often frequency and give these weird results. On the other hand, MS is so practical in a run and gun situation that it is often a no brainer.

Sound Devices has just released the SL-2 for the 8 Series. https://www.sounddevices.com/product/sl-2/

And for practical ORTF configuration on a boom, you should definitely check the Cinela Albert. Compatible with MKH8040 or CCM4. A must have.

Looks great ! Nice interface. Thanks Jeff

After a few months of work with the SD833, here are my impressions and some suggestions. This topic is meant to be completed by other users to share their experience and thoughts about this machine, knowing that folks at Sound Devices are reading. First of all, I have to say that the SD833 is a great tool. I loved the 633 and was kind of skeptical at the beginning, not seeing well what were the advantages of the upgrade. But after a while, I have to say that I am completed conviced by the advantages of the 8 series, especially now with the new plugin and developments we can see coming. At the beginning, I was worried by the power consumption, and if indeed the 833 is more power hungry, this is definitly not an issue at all. With a full Audioroot Smart Battery of 98 Wh, I can work more or less five to six hours continuous, depending on channels activated, and with my MCR42’s feeded by the same battery. It’s 30 to 40 minutes less than the 633 in average, so not a big deal. Speaking of power, I miss the Quickboot option of the 6 series. Working mainly in documentary where one have to react very quickly, sometimes I prefer to keep the recorder powered on to not miss any shot. I am shure that with Quickboot, I could lay the 833 in sleep mode and spare my batteries. I love the flexibility of the routing and the 6 mic preamps. With the 633, when using an MS pair, the second channel potentiometer was not used and I had to mix the lavs on the small pots. Now, I put my Mid on channel 3, the Side on channel 4 and I keep channel 1 and 2 for radio microphones. If I need more lavs, I use Dungan that works better than on the 633, or at least, the display is clearer. Speaking of the MS pair, I find very cool to have he gains linked too, but I would love to be able to trim the level of the second channel. Now the gains are perfectly matched, but sometimes, it’s usefull to be able to lower the second channel by a few dB’s. The display, although small is clear and easily readable. But sometimes, when on a cart, I use the iPad app. I don’t know how could this be poossible , but I’d love to have the ability to browse the menus, or to adjust the eq’s on the iPad screen. Regarding the eq’s, that’s a great addition compared to the 633, and one of the main reason to change for me. But I miss the ability to store setups. I mainly use the eq to compensate the lost of High’s when lavs are concealed, or with a wind fur, and also to emulate the LFA filter of the Nagra to compensate proximity effect. If I could store these default setups, that would be a great addition. Same for the input routing. If I could easily change the inputs assignation and names without having to load a complete setup, that would be great and so helpful. Regarding the meters, I miss the balistics settings that were in the 633. We can’t adapt the type of meters like before. I love the PPM, and I can’t change the default setup of VU + Peak hold. The ouput settings are awsome and very flexible, but I can’t send an X1 or X2 Bus to the XLR out. Recently, I had to make a different mix on the recorder and the scratch track on the camera and was surprised that I could not change the XLR out. We were shooting while skiing and I had not my TA3 adaptors… Finally, this message is already far too long, and I am sorry for this, but I would say that I will not go back annd I am looking forward the developments of this great machine. I'll be interested to read what other SD833 users are experiencing or suggesting. Thanks for reading !

If you want a new hardware add-on like the SL2 or the CL16, everyone will find normal to pay for it. But in the case of software, one would want to get it for free ? In both cases, engineers have to work, and be paid for it to design these plug ins or devices. If you look at Aaton, they just released a new version of the Cantar firmware with optional features : AatonMix, 600€ excl. VAT, Dante+, 300€ excl. VAT, Auxiliary mix buses, 300€ ecl. VAT DAW manufacturers use this model for decades and that’s not unfair. The good thing is that SD opens his 8 series platform to other manufacturers. With the release of the V5.0, the Sonosax LC8+ is now compatible with my 833 and this is great ! Imagine in the future having 3rd party Plugins like Ambisonics or Schoeps double MS, or the ability to control Tentacle boxes or Audio ltd or Wisycom transmitters from the recorder via the Bluetooth Interface of the 8 series. I think we are just at the beginning....

As I am not on Facebook. Glenn, could you share the link here too ?