ENG 44 four channel mixer
 

For what it's worth...I ran across this four channel mixer today with a list price of US$529.

http://www.equipmentemporium.com/ENG...le%20mixer.htm

I'd be interested in hearing from someone who has actually used this ENG 44 mixer.

A quality four channel mixer for that price seems a little hard for me to believe but...I thought I'd pass it along anyway for those on a budget.

I have gotten to the point now that I am really not too worried about what someone may think. I am a lot more (justifiably) worried about my finances, and I think that is a good priority. This thread: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...ight=Behringer has a lot of people enthusing about the 1002. It leads me to believe that audiophiles' considerations aside, the 1002 is a good value, even an amazing value.

Thanks, however, about the excellent pointers towards the next level of mixers--something that was missing from this discussion so far. While I am quite sure I can't afford them (how do I know? because I can't afford the Behringer, duh), I am glad to know about them.

The other factor in all of this was that the professor (who actually, by the way, made a lot bigger stink about me not getting paid than about me having low quality equipment) demo'd the noise reduction facilities in Adobe Audition. To me, right now, noise is the main feature of "bad sound", and the fact that so much of it can be removed with Adobe Audition makes me frame "good sound" in a different way: if you've got the right noise reduction software, etc., it can be just as much post question as a production question.

About the power reduction of the 1002 when on 9v, all the guys at guitar center (independently) seemed to agree: an oktava doesn't need more than 12v or so.

Sorry to state the obvious, but it is always better to eliminate noise at the source than to have to remove it in post.

Post production noise reduction tools can be a great tool, especially in emergencies, but to rely on it to compensate for noisy equipment is not a good idea.

I have used Sony's Noise Reduction 2.0 to work wonders, but some things, like road noise are nearly impossible to remove. Excessive noise reduction drasticaly reduces the quality of the sound.

I understand that the Sound Devices 302, which is a great field mixer is probably out of your budget.

If you are not in the field, a Mackie studio mixer, such as the VLZ-1202 is a low cost option which has excellent sound qualities. With the Sound Devices 302, you are paying for the portability and durability as well as the quality.

Noise reduction is like noise hiding. If there's too much noise, you can't get rid of it without severly affecting the quality of your audio. A little noise can be removed without much side effects.

I own a Samson Mixpad, which also runs on batteries, and is probably comparable to the Behringer. From experience, running it on batteries only gives about 12v of phantom power. This is enough to power the Oktava, but there is a VERY noticeable drop in gain from the mic. As a result, you have to crank the preamps more, which gives more noise.

That said, when plugged into the wall, the Samson gives full 48v, and everything is fine.

For location shoots I ended up purchasing a battery-powered phantom power box from ART (forget the model number) for about $15 on Ebay. It gives the full 48v. I ran the mic into the ART box, and then out of the ART box into the Samson (with phantom disengaged). This seemed like the only way to properly power this mic on batteries without having to spend more than $100.

Now I use a Beachtek DXA8, which has proven to be a great product. I wish now that I'd splurged and bought it to begin with, instead of dealing with the hassle of the Samson and the ART. But I was on a budget, and that setup worked, so.... Live and learn!

Ryan Graham