You have to be real careful with active mixing. Yes, if it is done too much and especially at the wrong time you create a real headache for post. The idea with mixing is that you want the hottest signal possible without clipping. Set and forget is never really an option. Limiters help, but if you hit them too hard it sounds squashed and distorted, especially with bass heavy male voices. At least that's been my experience.

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/t134862.html

Regards,

Ty Ford

Very clarifying Ty, thanks for the link.

I've been following this thread with interest but this list has got me confused.
I had convinced myself that a Sound Devices 302 would be my next purchase but I work alone and what Ty says here makes it sound like the 302 is only going to be be a lot of good if I am using someone else to handle the sound - which is not an option.
I tend to record the sound separately into a Fostex FR2-LE and synch the sound up on my NLE using the sound from my Canon XH A1 as a guidetrack. I don't understand what the problem is about timecode. This method seems to work fine.
My question is: as the Fostex seems to have pretty good pre-amps does it make sense for me to buy a 302 mixer as well?
For instance one drawback with the Fostex is that if I have two mics I cannot hear them individually. Which I would be able to do using the 302. That seems like big plus.
I've own a Sanken CS3-e and have been renting a Schoeps CMC6 MK40 mic for indoor use. It's a brilliant mic and is on my shopping list. I can't afford to buy both the mic and the mixer right now. Should I go for the mixer first as planned or forget it and buy the Schoeps instead?
Equally I could rent the 302 for the time being and buy the mic but it seems to make sense to buy the 302 so that I can experiment and learn to use it properly before using it for real.
Thoughts and suggestions would be much appreciated.