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Reader SurveyShoot Review — Sound Devices 302
Mar 1, 2005 12:00 PM, By Barry Braverman
Three-channel field mixer enhances sound for video
The Sound Devices 302 is a no-nonsense three-channel field mixer ideal for the shooter assembling a pro-level audio package. The rugged mixers are made in the United States.
As a professional shooter with more than a few years of experience under my battery belt, it still seems paradoxical that good sound should dramatically improve the perceived quality of my images. Indeed, I know capturing high-quality audio will do more to improve the look of my images than just about anything else I can do.
Clean, crisp recordings can help transform even the most mundane scenes — an insight you might want to consider the next time you have to shoot the mind-numbing talking heads at a department meeting. Regardless of their skill or market niche, shooters simply cannot ignore the quality of audio.
No garbage gear
If you've read my columns over the years, you know I won't stand 1/24 of a second for flimsy, substandard gear masquerading and marketed as “professional” equipment. As a pro shooter with a large mortgage and two kids, I demand a lot from the tools I use and depend on everyday. These tools are like a part of my family, as I rely on them in much the same way, through thick and thin, ice and snow, for richer and for poorer. You get the idea.
I owe my living and my life to the tools of my trade, so they must be rugged as hell, absolutely reliable under any condition, and they must perform flawlessly at a truly professional level. The Sound Devices 302 field mixer is precisely this kind of tool that you can bet your life on. I like that. It gives me comfort.
The Sound Devices 302 interfaces effortlessly with just about any hard-wired or wireless mic you can think of, including my 20-year-old Sennheiser 416T, my faithful and devoted friend that has accompanied me literally to every continent on earth. From Arctic cold to Amazon heat and humidity, this mic has more than earned its place in my family of Most Trusted Stuff; its ruggedness, reliability, and performance simply cannot be beat. The Sound Devices 302 mixer is every bit in this league.
Central command
When it comes to audio, your mixer is central command, for this is where you set and meter recording levels, monitor audio quality, and apply limiting, padding, and filtration.
On all three fronts, the Sound Devices 302 really sings. First, its layout of controls is logical and easy to decipher. I'm a stickler for efficient workflow, and when so-called “professional” gear is frustratingly designed or too awkward to use, the gear is quickly relegated to a closet, back shelf, or eBay. The 302 unit's gain and fader knobs have a solid, positive feeling and can be easily grasped with gloved hands — a practical need for shooters and recordists operating outside the coziness of a studio.
And speaking of shooting in the real world, the output meter's super-bright LEDs are an invaluable asset, especially when working in bright sunlight at the beach, or, for example, when capturing snow scenes. The LED display can exhibit four distinct brightness levels, allowing the 302 to be used effectively by shooters who tend to shoot anywhere, anytime.
The high performance of the 302 is especially apparent in its ability to handle very low frequencies. According to Jon Tatooles of Sound Devices, the 302's balanced transformers are the major reason, providing the necessary isolation from the source. In the 302 and in the lower-cost MixPre unit (see the sidebar), input signals are transformed magnetically; there is no direct electrical connection as is typically the case in cheaper mixers. For the shooter working in uncontrolled locations, an adequate low-frequency response is the key to capturing realistic, high-quality audio.
Shh! Mixer at work
The 302 features three mic pre-amps that are exceptionally quiet. This is considerably valuable to shooters frustrated by the noisy audio sections found in most low-end and mid-range DV cameras. Each input has a wide gain range to accommodate various mic types and line levels. Sound Devices states a practical recording range of 75dB from mic input to line output. This is one serious piece of gear.
For DV shooters working primarily in real-life locations, a high-pass filter is almost indispensable — in general we want to suppress the most debilitating low-frequency artifacts, such as wind and traffic noise.
The effectiveness of a high-pass filter for most shooters cannot be overstated. In the 302 the high-pass circuit is placed ahead of the pre-amp, thus eliminating most other mixers' practice of amplifying the undesired low frequencies prior to filtration. The pre-filtering in the 302 also results in greatly expanded headroom, which in turn contributes to a more professional overall performance.
Know your limits
The 302's internal “safety” limiters are also very well conceived. Since each limiter's threshold in normal operation is not likely to be reached, the use of the limiter usually has no effect on the recording. In noisy or unpredictable environments, however, like loud wedding parties or barroom brawls, the limiter gently kicks in to prevent clipping. I see no downside for shooters to routinely engage the 302's “safety” limiters. There is no adjustment to alter the attack or threshold of the input limiters in the 302. This is offset, however, by the output limiters, which are adjustable in 1dB increments.
The 302 model's LED display meter is a tour de force in its own right, as one can monitor peak level (PPM), average level (VU), or a combination of the two. I liked how the 302 maintained a consistent meter response under intense winter conditions. This contrasts with the noticeably more sluggish response typical in LCD or mechanical-type displays at low temperatures.
Hey, we're not wimps. We want gear that can handle the tough stuff — including those times when we must shoot with a little nip in the air. I should point out that the 302 adjusts nicely for output to analog cameras like the many Betacam SP units still in use. The 302 can be calibrated with its 0dB VU reference set to 0dB or +4dB, the latter setting typically required for cameras recording digital audio. This refinement, among other things, helps preserve the considerable headroom reflected in the fine-resolution green portion of the meter display.
Slated for a change
A professional workflow is of course a crucial concern, and the 302's well-implemented slating mic and oscillator tone help that workflow immensely. This can identify the head of every camera load. All takes, even on documentary projects, should be clearly identified as well, with verbal slates and start and end tones. Such info as production title, director, shooter, date, and location of the shoot are extremely useful for archiving and retrieval of good takes. Basic info including mic and channel configuration should also be slated at the head of every cassette. Attention to proper slating is the hallmark of the professional shooter, contributing to both the organization of the project and your overall perceived professionalism. The Sound Devices 302 allows your professionalism to shine through!
For the typical shooter, any substantial investment in audio gear would at first appear to be illogical. Still, it's important to realize that good sound and good images go hand in hand. As pro shoters, we understand that crisp, clean audio is essential to the way our pictures will ultimately be regarded. The Sound Devices 302 and MixPre mixers are high-performance, robust tools that serve our storytelling craft well. Long after our DV camera du jour is relegated to a doorstop, these rugged and reliable tools will continue to stick by us. For a shooter it's hard to imagine a better investment in support of our images.
Shooters using any of the Sound Devices mixers should be sure to use only as much power as is technically required to power the mics. Utilizing 48V phantom power, for example, when 15V is sufficient will contribute to unnecessary battery changes and production disruptions. Practicing good power utilization is therefore imperative.
BOTTOM LINE
Company: Sound Devices
Reedsburg, Wis.; (608) 524-0625
www.sounddevices.com
Product: 302 three-channel field mixer
Assets: Rugged unit with powerful LED displays, handles very low frequencies, good internal “safety” limiters and high-pass filter.
Caveats: There is no adjustment to alter the attack or threshold of the input limiters.
Demographic: Shooters assembling a pro-level audio package.
Price: $1,495
MixPre, the Baby Brother
If you find the 302's $1,495 MSRP price tag a bit daunting, the even more compact two-channel MixPre unit offers nearly comparable features at a lower price point. Just as rugged and beautifully designed as its bigger brother, the MixPre at $855 MSRP features a simpler interface, and thus may appeal more directly to the Bande à Part, shoot-from-the-hip DV shooter.
I appreciate the MixPre's reduced size (1.7"×5.5"×3.7") with no compromise in ruggedness, workflow, and the features that matter most. You get a comparably bright Meter Output display, the same XLR-balanced transformer inputs, the same compelling high-pass filter options. In addition, the unit can assign each input channel to its own output bus, which means the MixPre can be used as a two-channel mic pre-amp as well as a simple mixer. The former function will certainly be of interest to shooters distressed by the feeble performance of most DV cameras' built-in pre-amps.
My only caveat about the smaller unit is power utilization. Unlike the larger 302, the MixPre uses only two AA batteries. In a recent shoot, these drained in short order when subject to 48V phantom power and a less-than-frugal Sennheiser 12T adapter module. This meant two or even sometimes three changes of batteries during the course of a day.
