I'm going to be filming a documentary in Mongolia about the cultural music and the legitimacy of nomadism, which is still widespread in Mongolia. I don't have a lot of experience combining film and audio (I am currently in school and plan on becoming a recording engineer at a recording studio) and could use some help.
I'm looking for a field mixer that makes sense for my project. I found the Azden FMX-42 4 channel mixer:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/493791-REG/Azden_FMX_42_FMX_42_4_Channel_Microphone_Field.html
And the 552 by Sound Devices was recommended to me:
http://www.sounddevices.com/products/552/
The Azden mixer costs about $500 and the Sound Devices mixer costs almost $3000. I'm definitely on a budget, but I will be recording musical performances, so the audio is honestly just as important as the video to me. I could spend more than $500 on a field mixer, but $3000 is definitely out of my price range. I'm open to any suggestions, but again I am on a budget.
I will be filming with a Canon DSLR (not sure which model yet), which I understand have horrible audio inputs. If I used something like the Azden I would have to record to an external recorder. I was thinking the H4n Zoom. The 552 has a built in SD card so I wouldn't have to do that, but it's too expensive for me. Does that seem like the best way for me to go about what I'm trying to do? I'm new at this so any suggestions would be appreciated.
If anyone has used the Azden, I'd love to hear how they liked it. Did the pre amps have any noise issues? How did you record the audio?
Thanks,
Dimitri