Microphone for field recordings?

[zimv20]

Sound Devices 702: 1,800.00
Sound devices 302: 1,200.00

the 702 does look like a nice piece. what's your reasoning for also having the mixer if 1) the 702 has pre's, and 2) only a mono or stereo signal is being recorded?

 

[Kalns]

the 702 does look like a nice piece. what's your reasoning for also having the mixer if 1) the 702 has pre's, and 2) only a mono or stereo signal is being recorded?

For one thing, the 302 has significantly better monitering than just the 702 alone. Also it gives you more acurate control over the sound and you can adjust more quickly on the fly if conditions change. On top of that, the quality of the preamps in the 302 is better than those built into the SD 702. There are two other otions, the MM1 (which is one channel) and the MixPre which is two channels, but the MM1 doesn't have any onboard monitering and the mixpre is limited in what it can do. The 302 is great piece of kit and if you have the money the 442 is even better.

Also as a note, on those lower cost digital recorders (anything below the Marantz 670) it would be a very good idea to buy an external preamp because the built in ones are terrible. I consider it an essential piece of equipment to have in front of any recorder, and if you're trying to do proffessional work it is.

 

[WinterMute]

I've been looking at these for multi-channel audio, a bit pricey, but as an all in one solution I thinks it looks excellent. No idea what the pre's sound like, but HHB's stuff is usually pretty good. You could always stack a rack of the new Prisms on the front end I guess...

http://www.hhb.co.uk/hhb/uk/hhbproducts/portadrive/index.asp

 

[zimv20]

better monitering [...] quality of the preamps

cool, thanks.

 

[OldCorpse]

Wow, thanks for further suggestions... it's much appreciated, I'm close to pulling the trigger... now I have to negotiate with my wife...

My credit card is weeping, but I just tell it that life's hard