Timecode Success

Just wanted to share success at a recent shoot. I was doing a video of a horn player soloing to a background track. There were a bunch of different pieces that he wanted to play, and each piece would requires quite a few takes. The sound had to be top quality, so recording sound on the UM46 wasn't really an option, I also needed at least four tracks. My solutions was to record sound to a Sound Device MixPre-6, video to my UM46 and sync them using timecode. I eventually settled on the Timecode Systems Ultra Sync One. What's cool about these units is that they can be set up to have two outputs, both outputting LTC. Of course, the camera and sound recorder need to be close to each other, but for this shoot, the camera never moved.

The whole setup worked great. The shoot took almost 7 hours. The Ultra Sync One ran the whole time and kept everybody in Sync even through a bunch of camera/recorder power cycles. The audio set up was kind of complicated, requiring playing the backing tracks, recording the backing tracks, and recording live sound from three mics. The sound of the MixPre-6 is stunning.

At the end of the day, dropped all the video clips and sound files in Resolve, clicked "Sync" and boom, all the video clips had 5 tracks of audio perfectly synced. I had some rough video clips out to show the artist that same night. I'm sure for many of you folks, this is what you do every day, but for me it's the first time I've done dual system sound with timecode. What an amazing system. Can't say enough about how easy to use the Ultra Sync One was.

Yes, the laptop and MixPre are sitting on a table saw, necessity is a mother

Note: I received to compensation from Timecode Systems or Sound Devices

Below is a picture of the setup, the green circle is the Ultra Sync One

Timecode Success

UltraSyncOneSmall.jpg (204.05 KiB) Viewed 1202 times

Excellent feedback. Which audio app were you using on the laptop?
Cheers

Thanks Denny. That's Adobe Audition. There's lots of other options, but that's just what I have on my laptop and I am comfortable using.

Reynold, was that a MixPre-6M?


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Rick, it's the regular version. My understanding is that the "M" versions do not accept timecode. Though it appears as though I can "upgrade" my MixPre and add the musician's tools, so I'm a bit confused on this point. I'm no musician so don't have much need of those features.


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Ah, i was forgetting the lack of timecode support. Yes, I believe you can add the M features in software which allows overdubbing to build up a performance layer by layer.

Still waiting for the MixPre-4T+M to put it all together for those who don’t need more than four inputs. If the Beatles did it with four tracks, I sure don’t need the 10T/M that loses the compactness of the MixPre-3/6. Willing to trade a couple of inputs for timecode generation and the tiny size.


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all the video clips had 5 tracks of audio perfectly synced

You mention 5 tracks of audio.
3 were mics.
Did you have stereo out of the laptop to make up the other 2?

Good post by the way, very informative.

Leon, yes, two tracks of backing music was being played on the laptop, out the USB, in to the MixPre. The MixPre was recording those two tracks along with three mics. I also fed these same two tracks out of the MixPre's line out and into to the PA so the musician could hear it. I think I used every port on the the thing but one. Frankly surprised I could set this all up and have it work, the MixPre is incredibly flexible.

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two tracks of backing music was being played on the laptop, out the USB, in to the MixPre

OK, now you have got me really .
You had stereo audio out via the USB?

I do not know the interfaces available on the MixPre.

Was it USB into the MixPre or did you have a USB audio adapter to something else inline?

Edit: I took a look at the MixPre I see that it has USB plugs, so those are audio inputs as well.
I would have thought that they were there for firmware updates or digital interface out to a computer.
I did not realize that they could work in both directions. Wow.
Good to know.

Leon, yes, you got it figured out. The MixPre is also a USB computer interface, 6 in/2 out I think. What's amazing is that can both, USB interface and live recording, at the same time and you can mix and match tracks in many cool ways.

Rick, regarding a " MixPre-4T+M", the MixPre-6 + M is really what you want. The two channels on the MixPre-6 that make it a "6" instead of a "4" are line level inputs. These 2 inputs are not available if you are feeding the unit time code. Put another way, if you want to use timecode, the MixPre-6 is actually a MixPre-4.

Reynold, thanks for the insight. I’ve looked at all the models and options, but it’s been awhile! If I don’t get the MixPre-10T that generates Timecode, then I’ll likely use the UltraSync to jam the camera and the MixPre-6.


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