Many times I also go straight into the camera when I'm in "ultra-portable" mode, however, sometimes I keep the mixer around my neck, a small inconvenience but in return I get better control ergonomics. Better limiter. Better metering. Three inputs. But yes, at a price: a little more weight and more wires. Always a trade off. I like the choice. As far as the price issue, I've not had a chance to try less expensive mixers in production. I chose the Sound Devices 302 based on the feature set, sound quality, ergonomics, and robustness. It's been dropped twice on a hard surface and other than the dents, there has been no impact on performance.

Bill... does this unit have easy-to-read LED meters? I looked at the picture on the web site and couldn't exactly see any.
Malcolm

No audio meters at all. Only a peak indicator light. For my purposes it's adequate as the EX1 provides metering capability, but for many situations this may not be the ideal option.

When in doubt, go with 12 oclock high.

Set your wireless mic, camera setting, etc. all straight up and down on 12 oclock, and 99% of the time you will be fine.

This is the simpliest rule to follow in the world of audio for those without audio recording experience.

Brian, do you mind explaining what you mean by this? I can understand setting my wireless to -35, for example; what do you mean by 12 o'clock, etc.
thanks, Malcolm

I leave my Electrosonic wireless mic transmitter, receiver, and EX-3 audio pointer to the very middle of the dial, which is the "12 Oclock" postion. My audio is alway great.

Would be nice if it were that simple, Brian, but not sure it applies here.

On my Lectrosonics receiver, there are no dials, so I need to go into the menu settings to set output level; the transmitter dial sits at about 2 o'clock; and the ex3's camera's audio pointer arrow is fixed at 3 o'clock, with the dial adjustable between 0 and 10. I've been leaving mine at about 6, but notice that basspig in the above-mentioned thread on dvx recommends 5 as optimal. My settings are for dialog in interviews or verite reasonably close-mic'd, using both Countryman condenser and/or Sennheiser shotgun.

Basspig's recommendation of setting it to "5" is based on the fact that your initial level/sensitivity settings are made in the menu for that particular mics' sensitivity or output level. The external dials are for fine tuning. Position "5" is the equivalent of "0", minus numbers cut the signal coming in and plus numbers give you a little more boost in case your talent/subject gets quieter than usual.

That's right, Dave. Except if I'm reading him correctly, he's recommending not going over 5, if you can avoid it, because of added noise.

Absolutely right....noise will go through the roof if you do that. It's best to think of it simply as a "trim" control.

Just noticed over on the other site that Mark (Basspig)) has adjusted his settings to 6, with atten at -35, which is also the setting I'd found was giving me best results.

Sony made this so confusing.

I recorded some fairly loud live music on the built-in mikes (formerly, I had supposed my external mikes were to blame... I am beginning to suspect my camera is defective in audio input function quite near the heart of the camera), getting peaks at 70% of the audio meter travel. Result: bad clipping. What are these meters intended to signify?

I have firmware 1.05

edit: I notice the worst clipping occurs during the quietest segments. I will post a video shortly showing this.

tone