Last NAB, Sound Devices made a splash offering a series of professional-grade mixers and recorders with a sub-$1,000 price tag – MixPre-3 and MixPre-6. Later that year increased the track count with the MixPre-10.
Sound Devices has now partnered with Sennheiser to offer direct recording and monitoring of 360° spatial audio for VR in its MixPre-6 and MixPre-10T portable recorders. The MixPre are the first portable recorders to offer onboard AMBEO to binarual decoding. According to Sound Devices, "this allows VR creators to assess and make creative decisions about spatial audio content at time of capture, without needing a post-production workstation."
A free firmware update will be released soon for the 6" and 10" versions that support recording in ambisonics A-format or B-format for any mic orientation. It will further support stereo or binaural headphone monitoring and both AmbiX and FuMa B-format standards.
AMBEO support won't be available for the MixPre-3, and in talking with Sound Devices, "it's unlikely" that it will in the future.
MixPre Tech Specs:
- 3, 6 or 10 track recording
- 32bit analog-to-digital conversion
- 24 bit depth
- 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 96 kHz
- Mutliple frame rate recording
- Kashmir pre-amps with -130dbv noise floor
- Simultaneous USB and SD recording
- SD, SDXC, SDHC memory card support
- Dual USB-A and USB-C ports
- Touch Screen
No Film School's complete coverage of NAB 2018 is brought to you by Adorama, My RØDE Reel, and Blackmagic Design.
