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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Two new pro sound recorders announced: Zaxcom Nova ($5K)& Sound Devices Scorpio ($9K)

Using the Icon Platform M+ with the Scorpio: Modes



By Sound Devices



Today we're exploring the Mix, Bus and Outputs modes on the Icon Platform M+
 
Using the Icon Platform M+ with the Scorpio: Channel Strip




By Sound Devices



Let's check out the Channel Strip on the Icon Platform M+ optimized for Scorpio.
 
Sound Devices Scorpio field recorder



By Watson Wu




My personal opinion about Scorpio, the new flag ship field recorder/field mixer by Sound Devices. Again, I’m a sound effects recording artist so I work differently from Film & TV people.
 
Sound Devices SCORPIO: Why do Pros Use Gear Like This?


By Curtis Judd




In April 2019, Sound Devices announcement their new flagship audio mixer/recorder called Scorpio. Sound Devices caters to TV and film production sound mixers - the professionals working on large budget productions. The Scorpio has a lot of new features which are really exciting and help production sound mixers do things that they haven’t been able to do before or it simplifies things that were previously more complicated. But all this comes at what would seem like a hefty price from the perspective of a self-funded, passion project filmmaker: $8995 USD. In this episode, we run through the features of the Scorpio, and why for some pros working on the larger budget projects, the expense is easily justified.

#SoundDevices #Scorpio #Sound

If you’d like to learn how to make great dialogue audio for your film and video projects, please have a look at my courses at https://school.learnlightandsound.com including processing dialogue audio in Adobe Audition and DaVinci Resolve/Fairlight, recording sound, how to use the Zoom F8 and F8n, and how to get the most from the Sound Devices MixPre series of recorders.

Gear used and mentioned in this episode:

Sound Devices Scorpio - B&H https://bhpho.to/2Uy4qDv
Sound Devices 688 - B&H: https://bhpho.to/2rABgTo
Sound Devices 633 - B&H: https://bhpho.to/2UCbZJ6
Sound Devices MixPre - the more affordable line of high quality recorders for indie filmmakers - B&H: https://bhpho.to/2FvugNY
Allen & Heath DT168 Dante Stage Box - One example of a Dante device with 16 inputs and 8 outputs, all controllable by Scorpio - B&H https://bhpho.to/2MAW2Ok
DPA 4017b Shotgun Microphone - B&H https://bhpho.to/2m0N3HA
Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera 4K - B&H https://bhpho.to/2JB7W5V
Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 OIS Lens - Amazon https://geni.us/uMsKam

Get a free trial of the best music for your videos at Musicbed: http://share.mscbd.fm/curtisjudd

Copyright 2019 by Curtis Judd

Ethics statement: Some of the links above are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, or other affiliate links.
 
Sound Devices Scorpio & 688 Mic Pre Shootout!


By Michael Wynne





With the launch of the Scorpio, Sound Devices has stated that the The Scorpio is the latest and best in analog microphone preamplifier design. These preamps have the smoothest sound and lowest noise of any preamp in the company’s 20-year history and include built-in analog limiters, high pass filters, delay, 3-band EQ and phantom power.

In this video we compare the Sound Devices 688 and Scorpio preamps via a series of listening tests in both interiors and exteriors using the Sennheiser MKH50 and Schoeps CMIT-5U microphone. Also included is a wireless test where I used the Sound Devices MM1 into a Lectrosonics SMV transmitting to a Lectrosonics 411a split into both line inputs of the Scropio and 688.

Download the 48k/24 Bit Files Here
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/z06417u9ed...

Microphones Used
Interior Portion - Sennheiser MKH50
Exterior Portion - SCHOEPS cmit 5u

Mic Pre Comparison Set Up:
XLR input directly into a Whirlwind SP1X2 - 1x2 Mic Splitter feeding both mic inputs of the Scorpio and 688 recorders.

Line Input Wireless Set Up:
Sound Devices MM1 into a Lectrosonics SMV TX to a Lectrosonics 411a RX into t
 
Scorpio v2.00 Featuring Dugan Automix Now Available





By
Sound Devices








Scorpio firmware v2.00 and above features the industry renowned Dugan Automix system. This overview shows how this powerful feature has been implemented and improved in Scorpio.
 
Everyday I wake up, think about my several audio recorders, and try to talk myself out of buying that bloody Scorpio. I'm losing the battle. I think i'll end up grabbing one eventually.
 
32bit and internal TC on all models. SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY. I already have a MixPre6 and I will happily upgrade.

They also improved the little side knob on the 3 and 6 which is nice if you have it in a small bag.
 
142dB of dynamic range. Wonder how much of thoses dB are noise...
Now it all depends on the quality of the preamps. It's like having an 8k sensor and some Nikon AI Glass in front of it. (is it even comparable?).

Pat
 
I am super excited about being able to record 32bit for recording extremely loud sounds which is something I do often. Sure the mic and preamp will now be the limit, but that is much more ideal than trying to ride the gain when trying to record things in a dynamic environment. Trying to record an extremely loud 1200hp drift car on a closed road in the mountains while being strapped into the bed of a truck is a recent example. I have been in situations where the mic has been the limitation, but many more where the recorder has been simply because my gain wasn't quite dialed in. You could argue that the problem was me I guess. Very loud cars can be really hard to record because they have a very wide range of loudness.
 
24bit is 144.5dB
The best mics handle 132db.
The best preamp handle 135db.

Still a head room to shoot 24bit.
Now 32bit float will kill the mixer job...
 
Patrick Tresch said:
24bit is 144.5dB
The best mics handle 132db.
The best preamp handle 135db.

Still a head room to shoot 24bit.
Now 32bit float will kill the mixer job...
Click to expand...

It's not that simple.

The best sound recordist can't always properly ride the gain in a perfect way and take advantage of that headroom. A small increase to file size (33% on already very small files) is well worth not losing audio due to poorly set gain. Nothing about a 32bit float audio file will "kill" anything.

What doesn't sound good about this:

I have no DAW handy, and I recorded my tracks in 32-bit float mode too hot. Can I adjust the file’s gain after recording?

Yes. The MixPre II has a very powerful feature called ReMix/ReRecord which allows you to simultaneously play back a file and record a new L/R mix while adjusting the gains with the fader knobs.
 
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Ordered one of the new units, landing here after the holiday weekend, likely Wednesday. Will be testing all the timecode related jazz. Might pick up a new wireless sync kit too.
 
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