- Yo, guys, Jonathan here,
and if you guys make videos,
and more specifically YouTube videos,
you should probably watch this.
One of the questions I get on a super frequent basis
is what is your audio setup?
What microphone do you use, what recorder do you use,
and honestly, for the past year, year-and-a-half,
I have been super reluctant to answer that question.
And that is because the recorder I use
is 3,328 bucks.
This is the Sound Devices 633 Recorder,
which is an incredible piece of hardware.
And if you've never heard of Sound Devices,
they're pretty much the industry standard
as far as audio, and film and tv.
They've used Sound Devices in La La Land,
Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Austin Evans,
and this is what I've used to record pretty much
every one of my videos for the past year-and-a-half.
Now a couple of disclaimers.
The MixPre-3 and MixPre-6 are in no way, shape, or form
intended to replace something like a 633,
and by all means, if you can pick something like a 633 up,
it is an amazing piece of hardware,
world class pre-amps
and there is a reason why they use it
on high-end productions.
For me, it's been worth every single penny,
but at the end of the day,
not everyone can afford to drop three grand on a recorder.
And that is where the MixPre-3 and MixPre-6 come into play.
Also because the internet Sound Devices
did not pay me for this video,
in fact, I actually bought this with my own money,
they were, however, kind enough to give me
an exclusive first look at pre-production models
of MixPre-3 and MixPre-6.
But I just wanted to clarify they're not paying me.
I just really, really like their stuff.
So the audio you're hearing right now
is being recorded into the MixPre-3
that's going to an SD card,
then I'm syncing the audio to the video externally
within Final Cut Pro 10.
Now if you're brand new to external audio,
I totally understand.
Syncing audio might sound super scary,
but I promise you,
it is actually much easier than you might expect.
For me, because I use Final Cut Pro 10,
it is literally as simple as selecting the audio file,
selecting the video file, selecting synchronize,
and bam, it automatically stitches them together.
Now for reference, this is what terrible scratch audio
on the camera sounds like
and I am sorry for what I am doing to your ears,
but if we jump back to the external audio,
you can see exactly how important great quality audio is.
Now as far as the microphone I'm using right now,
this is the Sennheiser 416,
which is a little pricey at around 1,000 bucks,
but again, like the 633, it is industry standard.
If you can afford it, it is worth every penny.
On the other hand, if you need something more affordable,
Sennheiser has their MKE 600 microphone,
which is only around 330 bucks.
And if you pair that with the MixPre-3,
that is arguably the best possible audio setup
you can get on YouTube for under 1,000 bucks.
Now as far as the difference between the MixPre-3
and MixPre-6, in a nut shell,
one is gonna get you more inputs
and more tracks to record to.
The MixPre-3 is a three input, five track recorder,
whereas the MixPre-6 is a six input, eight track recorder.
And for the complete differences and all those juicy specs,
I will post a link down below.
Now for me, I tend to gravitate towards the MixPre-3,
simply because of how small and compact it is.
When you're traveling, especially with gear,
space and weight adds up very quickly.
So anything I can save is welcome.
And I am super stoked to be able to take this on the road
and capture high-quality audio.
Now a few things that I really like about these,
is one, they include one-quarter, 20-threading,
so you can mount these directly to your camera
or to your tripod.
Two, you have a ton of flexibility
in terms of powering these guys.
You can power them through AA batteries,
Sony L-series batteries,
or the thing I wanna give Sound Devices
a giant high-five for,
is the inclusion of USB-C.
Not only can you power these through USB-C,
you can transfer files directly off the device
all without ever pulling the SD card slot,
which is super handy, especially if you use the new MacBook Pro,
cuz you don't need a dongle or an adapter.
And on top of all that,
this also doubles as a super high-quality USB interface,
which makes this great not only for YouTubers,
but podcasters and musicians.
Now another really cool feature with these
is the flexibility you have to run these
either in basic mode or advanced mode.
So if you're familiar with audio,
you wanna tweak and customize to your heart's content,
you can do that.
But at the same time,
maybe you just want something simple
where you don't have to think about it,
you just want to plug in your microphone
and get great audio.
You can also do that, too.
Keeping the list of awesome things rolling,
there is also Bluetooth connectivity
with the MixPre-3 and the MixPre-6.
And what that means is not only can you monitor your audio
through your phone or your tablet,
you can adjust gain, hit record, start, stop.
It is awesome.
Now if you don't wanna use your phone or your tablet,
the devices themselves are controlled
through a super clean, intuitive, touch interface,
which adds pretty much everything I could possibly want
in a recorder.
Honestly, I think the only thing
I could possible complain about is the fact that you have to
remove the batteries to access the SD card slot,
but again, like I said,
you can theoretically transfer those files through USB-C,
which would make this a non-factor.
At the end of the day though,
the video, or rather, the audio, should speak for itself.
And if you guys think it sounds good,
make sure you drop a like down below.
And if you're a YouTuber out there,
who is constantly striving for the best possible quality,
you can quote me,
this is the best recorder for the money period.