Mixer Question

Alright, aside from my post in the welcome forum this is my first post here. In other words, I'm a complete newbie, so go easy on me... or not, really doesn't matter, I can take it. :)

Anyway, I'm (like many) on a limited budget. I'm planning on doing a few shorts this spring/summer, and one of the things I've read on here is "Sound is half the experience."

So with that being said, instead of pursuing video equipment with my budget, I'm going to go after audio equipment instead.

I already have a Tascam dr-07 mkiii field recorder (a purchase made for other purposes a little while ago).

Then as I started gearing up (before I found this forum) to start working my upcoming projects I bought a lav mic and a shotgun mic (both Audio Technica, but the model numbers escape me at the moment). Anyway, they both have 3.5mm connections. Looking back, I probably should have done more research and saved a little longer for some other mics, but that ship has already set sail.

I've come across some mixers like this one and I want to know if these will support my existing mics before I upgrade to better mics that use XLR inputs.

I'd like to be able to use something like this to connect my feeble mics and mix them and send (don't know the technical terms here, hopefully this makes sense) them to the Tascam.

I want to know if this is A) possible, and B) worth it.

Thoughts?
 
The Behringer is not a field recorder for film purposes; it's aimed at musicians.

You're right, you should have done A LOT more research before purchasing your audio gear. High impedance gear (Hi-Z) has many potential problems. I hate to be the one to break the news, but a hobbyist/consumer grade Hi-Z audio kit that will get decent audio is around $500. To get into Low-Z (Low Impedance) prosumer gear will set you back around $1k.

Get us the models of your mic and lav, and we'll see what we can do for you.

You may be better off, for now, just plugging directly into the Tascam; cheapo mixers will not improve you sound.
 
My logic with the mixer was to improve the sound using the eq feature, and hope it would be sufficient to use when I upgrade mics. My initial thoughts were "so what if this is geared towards musicians, sound is sound."

I'll just throw all of that flawed logic out of the window right now. I'm guessing the source of the sound makes a difference when considering equipment.

My shotgun mic is an ATR-6550
My lav mic is an ATR-3350

I'm thinking my best bet for now, is to do just what you said and run these mics right to the Tascam, and then when I'm ready to buy I'll come here for research.
 
You don't EQ or do any other sound manipulation until you get into audio post. Sound editors and mixers like myself want the raw sound files because you can't undo whatever was done on the set.

The biggest key to great sound is technique; you should have someone with some audio knowledge running sound on the set for you. Step one - getting the mic off of the camera and someone "swinging" the boom for you.
 
My initial thoughts were "so what if this is geared towards musicians, sound is sound."

Now that I have a few more minutes....

Equipment geared towards musicians have a distinctly different purpose than equipment designed for visual media (film/video, TV & advertising, ENG, etc.).

Just for the record I was a professional musician for over 20 years - meaning that was how I made my living, as a touring musician, session player and, later, a recording engineer - before I started doing audio post. Aside from the songs themselves it's all about "THE SOUND." Recording equipment made for musical purposes is all about creating that "sound." The mics, pre-amps, mixers, etc. for music applications are all designed to color the sound in some way.

Production sound for visual media, however, is all about capturing human voices, sound effects and Foley as true to life as possible. As I mentioned earlier, the sound is manipulated during the post production process.

A mixer for music will have EQ and sometimes effects for sound manipulation as it is recorded. All of these things are built into it - and, BTW, are built into the cost. That little four channel Behringer mixer has volume pots (knobs), pots for gain, pots for high EQ, mid EQ and low EQ. A mixer for visual media production sound will have gain pots and volume pots - that's it. So more goes into the mic pres, etc.
 
Now that I have a few more minutes....

Equipment geared towards musicians have a distinctly different purpose than equipment designed for visual media (film/video, TV & advertising, ENG, etc.).

Just for the record I was a professional musician for over 20 years - meaning that was how I made my living, as a touring musician, session player and, later, a recording engineer - before I started doing audio post. Aside from the songs themselves it's all about "THE SOUND." Recording equipment made for musical purposes is all about creating that "sound." The mics, pre-amps, mixers, etc. for music applications are all designed to color the sound in some way.

Production sound for visual media, however, is all about capturing human voices, sound effects and Foley as true to life as possible. As I mentioned earlier, the sound is manipulated during the post production process.

A mixer for music will have EQ and sometimes effects for sound manipulation as it is recorded. All of these things are built into it - and, BTW, are built into the cost. That little four channel Behringer mixer has volume pots (knobs), pots for gain, pots for high EQ, mid EQ and low EQ. A mixer for visual media production sound will have gain pots and volume pots - that's it. So more goes into the mic pres, etc.

Excellent explanation. One thing I did forget to mention is that part of my plan all along is to get the mic out on a boom pole, so I at least got one thing right. Anyway, this explanation is a huge help. I'll wait til I have the dough to get the right kind of equipment going forward. And I'll definitely do my research here.

Thanks!
 
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