pillepalle

Paul already gave some great tips. Especially to get used equipment. Knowledge is much more important than equipment and the best equipment is always the one that works and is at your disposal I think 32 bits isn't that important. If you can afford a used Sound Devices Recorder, go for it. But I don't think that buying something else, like a used Zoom F4 or F8 is a bad decision. At least soundwise. I've started with a Zoom F4 a couple of years ago and I still use and enjoy it. I'm not a professional soundmixer and I do sound mainly for small jobs with tight budget and my own projects. And if something wasn't good it wasn't because of the gear I've used, but because of my own mistakes. I give you an example from a couple of days ago. Two supercardioids (Gefell M310) into a Zoom F4. The singer is boomed from above (right out of frame), the mic of the guitarist is in frame. The DPA 4099 on the guitar was also running, but I didn't use it for the mix. I've used only a slight compression, and the Schoeps Upmix Plugin on the guitar. No EQ or other editing in Post. The Shaker is a little to loud to my ears, but the musicians liked it like that. Would better equipment have made the recording sound better? Maybe a little. But I'm quite shure that working on my skills is much more important than upgrading my gear. So don't waste too much money on super expensive stuff. Greetings

The same discussion is on the Zoom Field Recorder Facebook group with the release of the Zoom F8n Pro. The only new 'feature' added is a dual stage conversion with 32bit floating point, and now the branding ist 'Pro' GReetings

As time goes by I'm building up my microphone selection and I was thinking about getting a second shotgun mic. Mainly for two reasons. On the one hand to have an alternative to my current one (an MKH8060) with which I'm very happy. And on the other hand to be able to swing a second boom mic, if necessary. But if you swing 2 mics it would be nicer if they match (no EQing necessary). So getting a second identical mic could probably be the better choice. But then I won't have an alternative, in cases my current one doesn't work so well So baisically, I think I will go with a different one. Simply because swinging two boom mics will happen rarely. But just for curiosity, how you approach the topic? Do you prefer to get different ones and don't care about matching, or you stay with one brand/mic type to have a consistent sound? Greetings

I have the same thing with a splitter-cable from Tentacle Sync, when you use Audio-TC on one channel and the camera audio as scratch sound on the other stereo channel. But as it is scratch sound it really doesn't matter if there's a little bleeding from the audio tc. I think it will probably happen with most unbalanced y-type splitter cables. Greetings

@ Michael Scrip You don't need the studio software for the Track Es, because they write the timecode as metadata in the audio file. Any NLE can sync them immediately. The studio software is only used for TC recorded as some kind of morse code onto an audio channel. Which is usefull for devices without TC cababilities. The Track E is a recorder that adds TC to your files. It can't be used as a TC-Generator or jam other devices, like a master unit. Greetings

Also the Track E has a lockable mic-input. No the Tentacles don't resync constantly, only once you jam them. But the app tells you, if the different units are all in sync or not. So there could be drift during long takes. I don't know if I was particularly lucky, but even on documentary shoots, where I didn't touch the units a whole day I've never experienced any drift issues. With the Ultrasync System the slave-units make constantly a softsync via rf or bluetooth to the master unit, similar to a hardwired setup. But on TC mode it obviously couldn't prevent drift on long takes, for the reasons constantin mentioned. But as soon as you start and stop the recording it resyncs automaticly. So once you've setup the units you don't have to worry to resync them for the time they are in use. Greetings

Mainly I use them for my lavalier mics, as I have no high-end wireless system. It makes my workflow so much easier to have TC on all my audio files. But also for plant mics the mini recorders are quite usefull. Next I want to get a DPA 4097 which will give me a quite tiny setup that's easy to hide everywhere. I didn't make a runtime test, but I think they will last about 10 hours which is usually enough for me. And they charge quite quickly. I think it takes something like 90 or 120 minutes to be fully charged. I also though about the F2-BT from Zoom, but I didn't like that they can be jammed only with the Ultrasync blue, because as far as I know the F2-BT has no Sync-Port. The Track E can be jammed with any TC Generator and I can integrate them in any setup. And you can control them remotely from your phone and check the settings. Greetings

I use two of the Track Es (for my lavalier mics) and had no issues till now. Even on longer takes no issues with drift. I always try to use both (boom and lavalier) to have more flexibility post. Beside the Track E I use an Ultrasync one (for my field recorder) which is synced wirelessly with the camera unit. The Track Es work like a charm and I love the easy setup and to have TC also on my lavaliers. If you prefer you can also jam them via cable, but the phone app works great. You only have a visual representaiton of the sound levels (on your phone) but no audio monitoring with the Track E. If you want to monitor during the take, you have to add a wireless transmitter to the headphone-out of the unit (works only with the non us version). Greetings

@ sound Ah, ok. But in the worst case (if the jack of the headphone pulls out) you just loose your monitoring, and you will notice it immediately. By the way I also use, beside the Track E the first generation tentacles, an Ultrasync One in combination with an AtomX Sync module on the camera. They work together like a charm Although the UltraSync Unit is the better one (because of it's capabilities and the RF sync) it's a lot more fiddly than the tentacles. What I really love about the tentacle units is the ease of use. And they keep the settings for month. The Ultrasync forgests the current time as soon as you switch it off. I also thought about the Deity ones. But they are still not available and i find the 19ms of delay to the receiver quite annoying. Maybe that's no problem if you use it only for monitoring and record on the unit itself. Greetings

Yes, the software is related to the TC-Boxes. But why would you need the software? The Track E writes the TC metadata directly into the files. There is no need for the Tentacle software (only usefull when the TC is written on an audio track of the camera, for example). You can use the files directly in your NLE or DAW. Greetings

Ambient ha a mini power supply for boompoles that looks nice to me. With the right cable you can attach any mini recorder to it and have a really small recording setup. https://ambient.de/en/product/ump-iii-universal-microphone-power-supply/ Greetings

The MKH8060 was the first shotgun I got, about a year ago. I was also tempted to get cheaper options for a shotgun, but I'm quite happy I've decided not to go with the cheaper options around. Hard to say if it's worth the extra money, because that's a personal decision. I went for an established and proven mic. After having seen an example of two documentary filmmakers on an aircraft carrier who gets clean recordings without interference from the huge radar on board, I was quite impressed. There are many properties you won't find on any spec-sheet. I'm also shure that in the future I will get other shotguns, just to have options, as different mics have different properties. I've also used it for Documentary work on camera. At that time I've only had an Rycote Super Shield Small blimp as wind protection wich was a quite bukly setup, as I had to get in and out a car. After that experience I've bought a Rycote Super Softie for that kind of situations. For documentary work an M/S mic on camera seems very tempting to me, but that's nothing I will get soon. At the end of the day a camera mic is always a compromise. Greetings

There are also a lot of Youtube Channels from manifacturers that has usefull informations. A good example is URSA Straps with a nice 'behind the scenes' series on location sound mixers and their work: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSisEDfDKQc2s6sGZsQyMTQ Greetings

I've found an intresting comparison of super and hyper cardioid mics from Schoeps, Gefell, Neumann and AKG. Not super scientific but nevertheless you can hear some differences. Owning the M310 from Gefell I always wondered how much different a Schoeps CK41 would sound. Now at least I have an impression 🙂 The Schoeps seems to have a tighter pattern and less ambience than the gefell and the Neumann has hyped or sharper highs, at least to my ears. Although the noise floor of the AKG generally is a little higher I quite like the sound of it. The outside test is made just to test how prone the mics are to wind noise. Greetings

Did you add the Cut 60? To me it's cheap but maybe I'm wrong...