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  • Location recording Suggestions…

    Posted by Siddharth Dubey on February 14, 2015 at 1:48 am

    Hey,

    I have a university project that I am shooting and need help with some of the eqpt..

    I have:

    1x Sennheiser ME 65 Microphone
    2x Sennheiser G3
    1x SQN 4S Field Mixer
    1x Zoom H6 Field Recorder

    Is there a way to get 3 separate track from audio from the 4S into my H6? What is more advisable, ME 65 into the mixer and to the recorder and the G3’s directly hooked up the recorder or all the mics to the mixer and then to the recorder via the 2 channel out or ditch the mixer and hook everything up directly to the recorder?

    Any tips or suggestion? I have only this kit available so cant use anything else… Any tips for using the G3’s? I have never used lavaliere mics prior to this.. I have mostly been in post and this is one of the few times that I’ve been on location to record..

    Ty Ford replied 11 years, 7 months ago 3 Members · 5 Replies
  • 5 Replies
  • Richard Crowley

    February 14, 2015 at 2:28 am

    The SQN-4S_mini mk II has individual, pre-fader line outs from each of the four channels. Apparently the original version does not have this feature and you can get only the 2-channel mix out of it. We don’t know whether you have the original or the MK II version, so only you can answer that question.

    Unless you have the MK II version of the mixer, you are limited to a 2-channel mix. Plugging all your mics directly into the Zoom H6 would give you separate tracks for each mic. Unless you are mixing down everything live as you are shooting (good luck with that), then it is not clear what benefit your mixer will be (unless it is the MK II version).

  • Siddharth Dubey

    February 14, 2015 at 3:17 am

    Yea we have the original version of the 4S so i guess four discrete channels are not possible..

    Would using the mixer in the chain reduce the noise floor on the recordings when compared to directly recording to the h6? Because I obviously want the best recordings that i can get from this kit so wanna explore all options..

  • Richard Crowley

    February 14, 2015 at 4:11 am

    “Would using the mixer in the chain reduce the noise floor on the recordings when compared to directly recording to the h6?”

    It probably wouldn’t be of much benefit for the wireless receivers. You can crank them up to a good level to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio in the H6.

    Only YOU can actually do the experiment to see whether using the mixer would improve the performance from the ME65 or other source(s).

  • Siddharth Dubey

    February 15, 2015 at 1:13 am

    Thx a lot Richard for your input on my situation. As you rightly indicated, the G3’s worked flawlessly when hooked up to my recorder. I conducted a few tests with the boom connected to the mixer and then the recorder versus being connected directly to the recorder, apart from the ease of use with the latter, I did not find any major complications with the setup so I’m right now only running the mics with the recorder. Thanks for your suggestions but as I have used a SD302 in the past, I feel the need for a field mixer that I find the need to include in my arsenal.

    Thanks!

  • Ty Ford

    February 15, 2015 at 3:55 pm

    And for anyone reading this thread later, yes, a mixer might be advantageous.

    If you have varying performance volumes, it’s a lot easier to adjust gain on a mixer than trying to adjust audio gain on a camera or wireless receiver.

    Performance volumes can vary for many reasons. One is the emotional state of a scene can vary from quiet to loud and the other is that some people SPEAK THER FIRST FEW WORDS of every sentence a lot louder than the rest of the paragraph. If the background noise is quiet enough, a good sound tech can anticipate this and start with the gain pulled down a bit, then raise it as the voice quiets down to make a more uniform track.

    Regards,

    Ty Ford
    Cow Audio Forum Leader

    Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
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