Sound Devices MixPre6 MKII

The Sound Devices MixPre-6 II is a compact field recorder and mixer with four mic/line inputs that records up to eight tracks in 32-bit float to an SD card. Float means that a signal that is too hot or too quiet is no longer a disaster; the level can be corrected in post. It is rented for film and documentary shoots, interviews, podcasts and multitrack recording of concerts.

Compared with the two-channel TASCAM FR-AV2, the MixPre-6 II gives you four preamp inputs, a mixer and timecode, so choose it when there are more than two microphones or when you need a mix and separate tracks at the same time. A typical shoot kit: a Sennheiser MKH 416 shotgun on a K-Tek boompole, DPA 4061 lavaliers on a wireless system and the MixPre in the middle. For a one-person interview the FR-AV2 is enough.