Sound Devices MixPre-3 first impressions

MixPre-3 sound bag

MixPre-3 at home in my sound bag

When the Sound Devices MixPre-3 announcement dropped at NAB 2017, I got excited. For years I’ve been dreaming about a device as small as my original MixPre, but with built-in recorders. Could this be it? I hit the pre-order button but didn’t expect to actually hold one in my hands until summer, despite Sound Devices promising delivery before the end of the month. So when this box from B&H arrived with a couple of days to spare, I was thrilled:

MixPre-3 in box

MixPre-3 in box

First impression: Sound Devices delivers on time.

Next impression: This recorder is tiny. About the size of a sandwich:

The MixPre-3 is tiny.

The MixPre-3 is tiny.

Included is a Y cable that allows you to use the MixPre-3 as an audio interface while also powering the unit when attached to two USB-A ports. You also get two stickers – one “Sound Devices” logo and one that says “Video Devices.”

battery warningPowering the MixPre-3

I had previously ordered a USB-C to USB-A cable for powering the device, so I plugged that into my Energizer XP1800A and turned on the MixPre-3. I was greeted with this screen (see right):

Huh? The battery was fully charged. My first thought was that there was some sort of incompatibility with the current supplied by the Energizer. But it had worked just fine with my first-gen MixPre, so I figured something else must be going on. I pressed the Yes button, thinking that meant it would try to use the external battery. Instead it switched to the internal batteries. So I restarted, and this time when the screen came up I hit “No.” The result was that the screen slightly dimmed, but everything seemed to work fine.

MixPre-3 powered by USB-C to USB-A

MixPre-3 powered by USB-C to USB-A

I later learned (by reading the MixPre-3 user guide) that a single USB-C to USB-A connection isn’t capable of supplying the full power requirements of the MixPre-3. When it’s powered in this way, it enters a power-conservation mode that allows it to function at the expense of a few features. It turns off the USB-A port, dims the LCD, and won’t supply phantom power to on track 3, to name a few. Otherwise, it works perfectly fine. You can tell it’s in this mode because the USB cable icon in the upper left of the screen turns orange. The icon is green when fully powered.

To fully power the unit via USB-C, you need a USB-C to USB-C cable, and a power supply that supplies 7.5 watts to the MixPre. There aren’t a ton of these on the market right now, but I’m sure there will be soon. I went with the Anker Power Core+ 20100mAh charger, which comes with the required usb-c to usb-c cable. It’s a good value at $65. However, it takes forever to charge unless you also purchase a Anker Quick Charger.

Sound Devices has posted an exhaustive list of all the MixPre powering options.

Battery life?

Don’t even think about running the MixPre-3 off the standard 4 AA batteries. If you’re using phantom power, you’ll get like 20 minutes of record time before it sucks the life out of them. You definitely will want a robust battery option like the one I’ve described above.

How does it sound?

I performed a little changing-of-the-guard ceremony in my sound bag, pulling out my venerable MixPre and my Tascam DR-70D to make room for the new sheriff in town. Then I grabbed a Rode Stereo Videomic X  and headed to the beach, where as luck had it, a thunderstorm was brewing. Here’s what it sounded like on the MixPre-3 (with no tweaks other than normalizing levels in post):

I look forward to trying this mic out with dialog in a very quiet recording environment to see if the Kashmir preamps live up to their billing. But I sure like what I hear so far.

Touchscreen size

touchscreen

MixPre-3 touchscreen is small, but you get used to it quickly

The touch screen at first seems way too small to be functional. But after a little getting used to it, I found it worked just fine. However, I wouldn’t want to spend any time entering metadata this way. So it’s nice that you can do that via the Wingman app, OR by attaching a USB keyboard to the USB-A port.

Setting recording levels

It takes a little getting used to setting levels on the MixPre-3. Out of the box, they seemed much lower than on the original MixPre, on which most of my mics run hot. To get the levels up to where I expected them, I had to crank up the gain on the inputs to 41db (out of a possible 76db). On the screen this shows as middle-gain (see green Gain icon below):

Gain controls

Gain controls

Then I realized that the MixPre-3 is actually using an entirely different approach to the interface than the old MixPre. The old one was entirely analog – the new one is a mix of analog and digital. On the old mixer, you turned up the gain knobs until you found your levels. Done. On the new one, you set the base recording gain level digitally, then use the fader knobs to make minor adjustments during recording.

After working with the MixPre-3 for awhile, and looking at the files it creates, it became clear how to set the levels correctly. The steps are:

  1. Set fader knob to 0 (with silver dot at top).
  2. Plug in mic.
  3. Use gain screen to set levels a little lower than you would typically set them.
  4. Use fader knob to make minor adjustments.
  5. Record.

It’s very important to note that the adjustments you make with the fader will ONLY be applied to the mix tracks, and not the iso tracks. The iso tracks are recorded PRE fader. It’s a little confusing, because on your screen, your ISOs are labeled tracks 1, 2 and 3. When you open your files in post, the first two tracks, 1 and 2, are your mix tracks. Tracks 3, 4 and 5 are the ISOs.

For me, this whole idea of a mix track takes some getting used to. I prefer to cut with iso tracks. With my Tascam DR70D, I’m used to recording each stereo pair (or dual mono pair) to it’s own two-track file, and there’s no such thing as pre- or post fader. And, I WANT to control the levels on the iso tracks. So I suspect they way I’m going to actually use the MixPre-3 for most dialog recording is to set up the lav on the left, the shotgun on the right, and then pan them so they are isolated from each other on their own track anyway.

Nice touches

tools included

Tools included

It’s abundantly clear that the engineers at Sound Devices put a lot of love into this project. As an example, check out the flexible options for attaching the recorder to a video camera. They’ve included a centering pin and a hex key required to turn the 1/4 20 screw.

But wait, there’s more! See that little round metal dot? It’s a very powerful magnet, which holds both the pin and the hex key in place, making it less likely you’ll lose them. I love that sort of attention to detail.

Wingman app

The Wingman app connects automatically to any MixPre-3 in the vicinity right out of the box. You can add a password to the MixPre if you want to secure it. The app gives you everything you need to enter basic file names and add notes, even while a clip is still recording.

It also reveals which tracks are armed (that is, which are actually being recorded) and gives you the ability to arm and disarm tracks by tapping on the left side of them (turning them red when armed and black when disarmed).

However, the UI is a little lacking. For example, the timecode displays on the screen in HUGE numbers, while the elapsed time is shown in tiny little numbers that are hard to see. I wish I could toggle between these, because I want my producer to take notes based on elapsed time of each clip. If you turn the timecode off on the MixPre-3, the big numbers just turn in to dashes, and the elapsed time remains so small that it’s hard to see by anyone over 50.

Nevertheless, the ability to see the elapsed time at all is a big step up for us. Our previous system involved my producer starting a stop watch at the same time as the sound recordist started rolling.

Working with the files in post

The MixPre creates polyphonic files. Thats a fancy way of saying that your files contain multiple tracks, and your NLE may have some issues with this. When I tried to drop the files into iZotope RX 6, for example, I get this error (see right):

FCPX interpretation of polyphonic files

FCPX interpretation of polyphonic files

Also, when I drop stereo files that I recorded with MixPre-3 into FinalCut Pro X, it interprets them as 4 mono files. It’s easy to fix this – you simply change the file type to stereo, and disable the redundant tracks.

But what if you want it clean from the start?

There are several ways to resolve this. First, you can simply disable any tracks you don’t want before recording, using Wingman, or directly by pressing the fader for that track and disarming it. If you want to control the mix levels, you want to disable tracks 1 & 2, which is a little counter intuitive, since that appears to be disabling the track you are trying to record. But that’s not the case – you will find your MIX recorded on tracks 1 and 2 when you open the file in post.

There are advantages to letting MixPre-3 do it’s default thing, however, which is to record your mix AND lay down numbered iso tracks (which are recorded PRE fader, as we discussed earlier). That way, it’s like you have a backup recorded at a slightly lower level in case things get loud. But you still need to split those tracks up before importing them. How?

Sound Devices has foreseen this dilemma, and they created a free tool called WaveAgent. It lets you split out and export just the tracks you want, all nice and tidy. It also gives you a great interface for appending metadata to your audio files, should you wish to.

You can tell at a glance how many channels your file contains, the bit depth it was recorded at, etc.

To export tracks 1 and 2 into a single (stereo) file, for example, you click under File1 in Trk1 and Trk2. Then you select the file format you wish to export, select a location to save it, and export.

Presets are awesome

It used to be that when you got your mixer all set up correctly, you didn’t want anyone to touch anything. They could easily mess it up.

With the MixPre-3, those days are over. You just set up your mixer however you like – arm some channels, disable others, set levels, pan, etc.- then store that setting as a preset.

When you’re ready to use that configuration, you simply navigate to the present menu, dial down to your setup, and load it. Done!

I’ve set mine up with two presets – one for recording sound effects and ambiences with my Rode Stereo Videomic X, and another configured with the lav for interviews. On the left channel I’ve got a lav without phantom power, on the right a shotgun mic with it.  If you label the preset by it’s function, it makes it very fast to set up your recorder to match the situation you’re working in.

A new benchmark for documentary sound?

I will be using the MixPre-3 heavily in production in the coming weeks, and I’ll post a more thorough review when I’ve had more time with it. But if initial impressions bear out, the MixPre-3 could easily become the new benchmark in documentary film audio. If you’re a stickler for sound, but you want to spend more time thinking about your story than you do about your tools, the MixPre-3 was made for you.

30 thoughts on “Sound Devices MixPre-3 first impressions

  1. David Patterson

    Great review, Dan. I’ve been rocking a SD 552, love the pres and killer headphone amp, but often wish for a more portable package and I rarely need more than 3 inputs. I think the mixpre-3 is on my shortlist!

    Reply
    1. Dan McComb Post author

      Can’t go wrong with Sound Devices gear, that’s for sure. They’ve put a lot of good stuff (analogue limiters, near-silent preamps, solid-aluminum body) into this tiny package, and I think you’ll find it’s a winning combo for documentary work.

      Reply
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  3. Paul

    Using the Anker PowerCore charger at full charge, have you tested how long it will power the MP using Phantom for 2 mics?
    THANKS.

    Reply
    1. Dan McComb Post author

      Hi Paul,
      I haven’t tried that yet, but I’ve used it for a couple hours at a time and it barely hits the battery. But it would be a good test to just start the recorder with 2 mics on phantom power, and see how long it records. I’ll do that in the next couple of days and see what the number is, and will post an update here with that info.

      Reply
    2. ATKS

      Just tried that :
      MixPre 3 + 20100mAh RAVPower (Same as the Anker)
      Recording : LR + ISO 1, 2 & 3
      Rode NTG2 (48V) + Rode NT5 (48V)

      The batterie died after 15 hours of recording. The MixPre3 and the batterie were pretty hot.

      Reply
  4. ben

    Great post, I just got my MixPre-3 and used it on an interview a few days ago, so impressed with the audio quality. Interested in your setup for location audio with the Stero mic, how are you mounting that etc?

    Reply
    1. Dan McComb Post author

      Hi Ben,
      I’m really loving the MixPre-3 too. I’ve set up three presets: one each for interviews, stereo mic recording, and line-in situations. It’s so simple to switch between setups now, really effortless. Re: Stereo mic setup, I use a Rode Stereo Videomic X, with a pair of TA3 tables that Sound Devices makes, https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/293002-REG/Sound_Devices_XL_2_XL2_TA3_F_to_XLR.html. These cables allow you to get a balanced signal out of the mic and also supply phantom power. I carry a pair of short 5′ xlr cables in my sound bag, which I attach the Videomic to, and these run into the MixPre-3. For sound effects and ambience recording in the field, I put the Videomic on a stand with a 3/8 mic stand adapter. I use a GoStand https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RCELW9A/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 because it’s fairly light while also allowing the legs to adjust for uneven terrain, which most small mic stands do not.

      Reply
  5. Ren

    Hey so I’m drooling over this and for once I can afford to get it but I can’t find it available anywhere. is it actually released for sale? every place says “pre-order” or “coming soon” still. Do you and the other commenter here have preview/review copies or something? or is it maybe just out of stock everywhere because it’s awesome and cheap. Can’t find any info about if it’s actually shipping anywhere.

    Reply
    1. Dan McComb Post author

      Hi Ren, I pre-ordered mine shortly after it was announced at NAB, so I probably was among the very first to receive the device. Since then I’m guessing they are having a hard time keeping them in stock. Every documentary filmmaker is going to want one of these! B&H Photo is where I got mine, and they are likely to have them back in stock again as soon as anybody. You might also try places like Trew Audio, which serves the film community.

      Reply
  6. Ang R

    Thanks for the great review Dan, I’m interested in the MixPre-3 too, I hope the limiters are still as rock solid and “unclippable” as the MixPre-D, looks like it’ll be a great investment and I noticed the 702 has been discontinued from SD website, kind of weird is that the MixPre-D now costs more than the MixPre-6 which is bizarre, would you say that the “3” is as good as the “D” interns of hiss free preamps and limiters etc with the bonus being I guess that it records, anyway I guess it’s been given a spot on the McComb wall of fame or..wall of sound so I think I’ll take th e plunge.
    I checked out your vimeo wow you’re a really talented filmmaker and thanks for sharing the cool nugget of helpful information about the radio audio how we don’t really need to always be rolling video” obviously a lot more you mentioned but the takeaway was great and I’ll remember and put it in practice.

    Reply
    1. Dan McComb Post author

      Hi Ang,
      I’d say they sound essentially the same, but on specs the Mixpre-3 preamps are actually slightly better. So you can be confident that you will get great results from the Mixpre-3 with regard to both limiter and preamps.
      And yes, definitely try out the audio-only trick – it changed my life 🙂

      Reply
  7. quisquose

    Great review, which I read when deciding to buy the MixPre-3. My only concern was the battery life, since I don’t really want additional battery boxes, so assumed I would be ordering the 8-AAA or L-battery sled. As it turns out my experience of battery life has been totally different to that here. Using 4 x Eneloop Pro 2500mAh batteries to run two 48v phantom power Sennheiser MKH-8040 mics I’ve been getting over 3 hours recording time. More than adequate for my requirements.

    Reply
    1. Dan McComb Post author

      That’s pretty sweet. Three hours should be plenty for most interview situations. Are those a special type of battery with longer life than typical AAs?

      Reply
  8. andrew

    Fantastic review – as a total mixer noobie, I had not even understood what all these tracks it was producing were. Battery life is really wierd – I’ve done a lot of tests, and I seem to get 90min using a two phantom mics on the 4 AAs, which is cutting it a bit close in many cases, so I bought the L sled and got the small and medium sony batteries which give a lot more time (usb-c gives tons more.) Here’s a chart your readers might find useful:

    Sound Devices MixPre-3 record time with 2x48v phantom powered mics (lavaliers)

    AA Nimh x 4 = 1.5 hrs regular – 2.75 hrs with eneloop pro (varies pretty significantly upon health of battery and charge)
    AA Nimh x 8 = 3 hrs estimated based on aa x 4 (5.5 hrs with eneloop pro)

    Sony 550s = 5.75 hr
    750s = 10 hrs estimated based on 550 performance (550+750=7hrs)
    970s = 24 hrs estimated based on 550 performance

    20,000mAh external battery via usb-c = 18 hrs
    26,000mAh external battery via usb-c = estimated 23 hrs based on 20,000 performance

    Reply
  9. Francesco

    Thanks for the review! I was looking for a sale ore like the beachtek ones, due to the need to have something simple to use even in situations in which I’m alone, recording the audio directly in camera and adding just an external pre. Now I would like to go for this product mainly to have one channel more in the mixer and the chance to use it as a recorder in more complex situations. I would like to know if the mix pre 3 send the output to the camera only when recording or even during “standby”. In past I had troubles using the zoom recorder in this way becouse it only output sound when in rec mode and this mean that you have to start the rec in camera and in recorder, difficult in some situations…
    Thank you!

    Reply
    1. Dan McComb Post author

      Ciao Francisco,
      Audio is sent to camera at all times, both in standby and when rolling. But the MixPre3 is not ideal for this use, because you can only send via a 3.5mm, not proper balanced XLRs. If you want to do this as a matter of routine, pick up one of the older MixPres, which are very affordable used now days on Ebay. They have balanced XLR outputs and perfect for sending two channels to camera.

      Reply
      1. Francesco

        Thank you!
        I will think about that… but I like the idea of a tool useful for different works, a good recording in some situations and a simple way to mix three signals and record directly in camera for low budget situations. Looking to the specifics it seem to me that even if 3.5 jack of course in not the best solution, coukd do his job… do you agree?
        I ask last thing. No notice around about record triggering from canon cameras through hdmi cable. We work with a canon 5d mark iii

        Reply
        1. Dan McComb Post author

          Hi Frencesco,
          The 3.5mm jack will work, but it will be susceptible to interference more than a proper balanced cable. Everything is great until it isn’t, you know? Audio interference can really ruin a recording, so I wouldn’t use it personally.

          I know that with Shogun recorders, you can HDMI trigger, but I haven’t tried it with 5dmkiii. Should work fine I believe.

          Reply
  10. Christopher Matthew Dooks

    Well thanks for this advice Dan – there is NOTHING like this advice on any other of the official sound devices sites yet. I’m new to their gear and like many folks are using it as a cheap way of doing sound-only location field recording for interviews and wildlife, for radio and podcasts.

    However, the user interface for me coming from Sony Tascam and Olympus semi-pro recorders is a NIGHTMARE! and your guide is helping. Seems I need to get into advanced and get my presets sorted, right?

    Chris

    Reply
    1. Dan McComb Post author

      Hi Chris, glad it’s helpful for you. I do find that getting the presets sorted in advance makes working on location a breeze. So I spend some time before every shoot thinking through what mics I’ll be using, and configuring a preset.

      Reply
  11. Ian Henderson

    Just picked up a MixPre-3 and loving it so far. The battery issue can be a bit misleading – one phantom power mic and two lavs got me 1h55m recording on 4 AA Powerex Pro rechargeables. I think most people getting terrible results are using Alkaline, which are not recommended. So the standard AA solution will work in a pinch…

    Reply
    1. Dan McComb Post author

      I haven’t tried those Ian, but sounds like a killer lightweight solution for short gigs, like recording an interview (mine rarely go over 1.5 hours).

      Reply
  12. Martin

    Dan, thank you for a thorough and easy to follow review. Just started to use my new Mix Pre 3.Somewhat daunting, coming from years soundscape recording with a Roland R05.
    I want to concentrate on quieter environments without the intrusion of floor noise.

    Reply
  13. Erik

    Hi Dan –

    Re your three presets: one each for interviews, stereo mic recording, and line-in situations, are you able to give more details.

    On Track 1 – 41db gain, Pan Left 16 and Low Cut 80hz — Arm on
    On Track 2 – 5 db gain, Pain Right 16 and Low Cut 80hz — Arm on ( Line in from Skype/Zoom)

    For both Track 1 and 2 the Gain dial is at 12 o’clock.

    Does that sound right? Then I can mix it it Adobe Audition – into a stereo mix.

    Have you tried Mixassist?

    Thanks

    Reply
    1. Dan McComb Post author

      Hi Erik, I think that should work fine. Basically you just want to set up your channels they way you want for a given situation, and then save it as a preset, so that you don’t have to go to all the trouble again. This is particularly true if you have timecode going in through the Aux port – you have to configure that in a couple menus to get it working right.

      I recently upgraded to a MixPre-6ii, and it is capable of using Mixassist. I haven’t tried it yet though.

      Reply

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