What to upgrade for better audio

C

CraigL

Realizing early on how important it was to get decent sound, when I bought my camera last year, I also invested in a Tascam DR-40 and a second hand Sennheiser ME-80, which seemed to have been very highly recommended (one poster in an audio forum suggested it was the best bet unless you were willing to spend $800!).

Overall, I'm pleased with everything, but I'm finding that the combination of the lower-output ME-80 and the DR-40 is not as happy a pairing as I'd like.

So, I'm faced with getting a new mic, recorder or some sort of mic preamp.

I'm tending to favour the preamp, as I like the sound of the ME-80. Even there though, one could easily drop $300+ on a Fostex FM-1, or more on others, or look at one of the ART Studio V3 or ART Pro Audio preamps. The one downside with those, is that they all seem to want 9V batteries. I had gotten all excited about the Cloudlifter CL-1, until I discovered that it used the phantom power to drive itself and didn't pass it along, obviously not intended for this sort of microphone.

Any comments about this direction?

Any particular favourite mid-low priced preamps?

CraigL
 
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What you should really get is a field mixer. The PSC ProMix 3 ($470) is a very nice low/mid budget choice if you can't afford the Sound Devices MixPre-D ($900). Another possibility is the Sound Devices MM-1 ($500); it's only a single channel, but very useful at any stage of your production sound career (many boom-ops use them). The Sound Devices MP-1 ($400) is okay, but lacking in features that would be useful in the future.

Gear like this is aimed at moving forward with building a solid production sound kit, not patching holes with gear not really meant for the job.

The ART V3 is intended for music purposes and will really color the sound. Besides, do you really want to use something that uses a vacuum tube out in the field?

BTW, the Fostex FM-1 has been discontinued.
 
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Alcove Audio said:
What you should really get is a field mixer. The PSC ProMix 3 ($470) is a very nice low/mid budget choice if you can't afford the Sound Devices MixPre-D ($900). Another possibility is the Sound Devices MM-1 ($500); it's only a single channel, but very useful at any stage of your production sound career (many boom-ops use them). The Sound Devices MP-1 ($400) is okay, but lacking in features that would be useful in the future.

Gear like this is aimed at moving forward with building a solid production sound kit, not patching holes with gear not really meant for the job.
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Well, what I'm hoping to do is up the game for the stuff we're working on in the meantime. I've no real interest in pursuing audio as a career (sacrilege, I know!!) but I am a bit stymied with this low mic - DR-40 combo. As we move into more serious projects, I expect to be dealing with someone who is serious about an audio career.
Although I have no use for multi-mic in the near future, I think the mixer is probably the most flexible option. I had been focused on just improving the one mic, where as this will do that, and add some expansion should that be needed.

The ART V3 is intended for music purposes and will really color the sound. Besides, do you really want to use something that uses a vacuum tube out in the field?
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Ah, yeah. I hadn't realized until I read someone talk about replacing the tube with a GE for better performance =)
Definitely not on the table any more.

BTW, the Fostex FM-1 has been discontinued.
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Hmm... I see that on a couple websites, their own website provides no such indication I can find. Oh well, I don't think it was much less expensive that than the Sound Devices one you mention.

I'll look hard at that PSC, it looks pretty nice. But I've also got a couple more f/1.4 lenses calling my name... ~sigh~

Thanks,

CraigL
 
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