Thanks, Brian, I'll check it out. The budget is under $1K. That's why I'm seeking input from others now.

Personally I think the money is better spent on microphones. I have two Behringer mixers and they are more than quiet enough for my purposes. One works on either batteries or AC and the other on AC only. Usually, for event videography you can find an outlet. If I am on foot carrying a camera, there is little opportunity to fiddle with a mixer so battery operation capability for me is a virtually worthless option. Also in battery mode, most mixers don't have full functionality. The business about paying a lot of money and getting quieter pre-amps is bull.

John

http://www.beachtek.com/

Edit:
How do other people post clickable links in here? Any time I post a link it just remains text.

Kevgl, you have to enter the html code for a hyperlink. Type in something like this:

<a href=http://www.chienworks.com/elecpark/8ball/>Virtual Stress Relief</a>

which results in this: Virtual Stress Relief

Replace with your own link and descriptive text, of course.

If you've got a grand to spend, you might want to check out something a bit fancier. The Rolls model I mentioned earlier is a bargain-basement, no frills solution (under $100)!

But it does sound good.... and I'm sure you could find other things to spend the other $900 on....
;-)

Have a look at the PSC DV Promix3. It is due in stores mid December. US$500 ot thereabouts.
http://www.dvaudio.net/
www.soundtq.co.nz

Don't buy a Rolls!!

Another option is Wendt X2 2 channel mixer. Whiloe not as flash as the Sound Devices it does have mic/line level out.

Well, John, the more mics one has, the more need there is for a mixer. The mixer allows you to record multiple mics onto the sound track simultaneously while recording the video image.

I use and enjoy the Studio 1 mixer. 2 inputs - XLR or 1/8" - mic or line level.
Solid performer - very quiet - great reviews vs. other similar products.

<a www.studio1productions.com >a

I just bought a Tapco (mini-Mackie) 6306 mixer on a whim. Works pretty well, with one exception, and is quiet. The only problem I found is that when the mic / instrument trim controls go all the way up there is a 10db roll off at 20hz. Wierd.

Larry

eh?

Sorry, Jim. That wasn't too clear was it? I think John misunderstood what I was asking.

Imagine you have a situation where you have two or more people wearing lav mics and one mic recording ambient sound. All three (or more) mics are connected to an audio mixer. This allows the recordist to balance (mix) the sound among the mics to attain/maintain proper levels throughout the shoot. This "mixed" sound is then sent to either the camera or a sound recorder where the sound is captured.

My point was you may have several of the best mics money can buy. Fact is if you have more mics than be connected to the camera at the time of shooting, you need an audio mixer to successfully record the sound from all those microphones.

J--

For the price of a mixer why not just buy more channel of recording i.e. a minidisc or whatever your budget will allow?

Once you mixdown you're kind of screwed if something goes wrong on any of the inputs or one of the mics picks up something you don't want. Your hands are already full driving the camera, do you want to be worrying about the mix as well? with 4 separate channels you can worry about the mix at your leisure.

On shoots that would require this, I would have a recordist.

Cuz they are noisy as hell.
David used to build the best devices in the business, he started DOD and Digitech. But the Rolls stuff is horribly noisy.
My review of it wasn't pleasant. Jay Rose called it "Absolutely unusable for any but home video.
Mackie
Samson
M-Audio all have very nice portable mixers in 3, 4, 6 channels. We use the Mackie and Samson regularly due to battery capability.

Behringer mixers are certainly as quiet as Mackies. If you cruise audio forums there are little silly spats between die hard Mackie fans (following lawsuits involving the accusation that Behringer copied Mackies' designs) and Behringer fans, but they are nonsense. I think that you would be happy with a Behringer model at a much lower cost, particularly the UB series.

Parts Express has them for really good prices and they have a no questions asked 45 day return policy if you don't like what you bought. You can't beat that anywhere as far as I know. A UB802 has 6 inputs and is $50 and a UB1002 which has 10 inputs and 2 buses is $60. The EQs are kind of useless, but you don't really need them. The preamps are quiet.

John


http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?&DID=7&WebPage_ID=3

Does Behringer make anything in an ENG over-the-shoulder style mixer, rather than a console? The console style is hard to use for run 'n' gun documentary shooting.

No, they don't. They do have 2 battery powered models, but they're pretty cheap sounding and built. Thin and noisy pre's. If you want good enough sound to consider using a field mixer, make damn sure it's got good pre's.
Regarding Behringer making copies, craftech is right, the spats are dumb, but Behringer did indeed copy both Samson and Mackie designs. They lost the Samson/Behringer lawsuit. But their products are pretty good, regardless of whether they copied someone else or not.
Last year at NAMM, I was right across the aisle from them for 3 days, it made me laugh hearing their salespeople try to talk about them not copying Mackie. Worse for them, their booth shared a wall with Mackie. And they were 10 feet away from Samson.
The small Samson and Mackie/Tapco consoles are over the shoulder, strapped and battery powered. Neither has good knob protection though, so you want to be a little careful.
Mystere' has a great mix, bomb-pruf if you want top end. Top$$ too.
Shure's FP33 isn't too bad at under a grand.
Beachtek isn't really a mixer, but is a very durable and inexpensive tool

Jay Rose reviewed the MX54 in the November DV magazine, and it sounded pretty good for $150. Maybe the noisy Rolls mixer was a different model?

http://www.dv.com/reviews/reviews_item.jhtml?category=Archive&LookupId=/xml/review/rose1103_rev&_requestid=62965

Beachtek isn't really a mixer, but is a very durable and inexpensive tool
==================
I use that type of device myself sometimes. Nice and small and portable. I have the XLR-Pro:

http://www.signvideo.com/xlr-pro_xlr_adapter-audio-mi

If you want to spend some money for an excellent truly portable mixer, but not an arm and a leg, the Marenius Mixers are hard to beat. The MM-3100 which is a mono mixer is $399 from Markertek and the MM-4210 Stereo Mixer is $725. Search Marenius here:

http://www.markertek.com/MTStore/Store.cfm?main=mfg.cfm

I've been lurking the audio forums at dv.com, and found more than one post with Jay rec'ing the Rolls 54 to people asking about protable mixers.

The review states it like this:

"In the July 2003 DV, we published a review of the Azden FMX-2 field mixer, so comparisons are inevitable. The Azden is prettier, more compact, has a better headphone amp, and costs twice as much. The Rolls gives you an additional mic input, phantom and low-cut, higher-level output, and markedly better audio performance. Its features aren't what an audio pro would expect in a field mixer, but the Rolls MX54s should please the bargain-hunting shooter who wants quality audio at a low price."