Adam Grunseth
October 18th, 2016, 10:56 AM
I wrote this originally as an Amazon review on this mixer, but thought I would share my thoughts here as well for anyone who might be interested.
Finding a quality field mixer when you don't have the funds for something from Sound Devices can be difficult, so I hope that this helps someone.
This is not a Sound Devices mixer. Hopefully that is obvious. Sound devices, in my opinion, is still the gold standard of field audio mixers. But, even the Sound Devices 302 is $1600. This guy is only $500.
Considering how much cheaper this is than a Sound Devices mixer, it holds up really well. I would say it outperforms almost every other mixer that even begins to approach this price point. It has the core features that are necessary for production, like tone generator, return audio monitoring, ability to output simultaneously to a camera and external recorder, and phantom power.
What I truly love about this mixer is the audio quality. It is absolutely superb. All the audio that passes through this mixer is clear and has a beautiful transparent quality that I have only seen matched by those mixers made by Sound Devices or in recording studios. The pre-amps are extremely quiet. You can really crank up the levels and have virtually no detectable noise.
I do video production for a living. Having spent ten years in broadcasting, I am now a full time freelancer. Even though I mainly work as a DP/camera op, there are still times I need my own sound kit. Not having the funds to build out a full kit around a sound devices mixer, I eventually settled on the ENG44a and I have no regrets. The mixer is the heart of my kit, I also have three Rodelink wireless lav systems and a Rode NTG-1 on a boom pole. A breakaway cable feeds audio to the camera, and carries camera return audio back to the mixer for monitoring, so I can actually monitor from the camera, not just what I am sending out to the camera. I also utilize one of the 1/8" outputs to feed a Tascam DR-05 recorder to record backup audio to the camera, or in cases when shooting dual system is a necessity.
Regularly I shoot on projects where a professional sound person will come in with their high end Sound Devices setup, with high end Sennheiser mics and all sorts of accessories. And, there audio is truly great, no doubt about that. But, their setup costs several times what I spent on mine. There have been times that a shoot has gone late, or we added in some additional days, and had to use my sound kit. In editing, it has been truly difficult to tell which audio came from the Sound Devices mixer when Sennheiser microphones and which came from my Sound Excellence mixer with Rode microphones, costing a fraction of the other system.
In the past I have had experience with some other budget field mixers. Most recently, with the Rolls MX422 and the Azden FMX42. The Rolls was horrible. I do not understand how it can have a positive review anywhere. I guess it has a nice feature set, but the audio quality just was not there. The preamps were horribly noisy. If you cranked up the audio, there was a definite, loud, hum. Even at its best, the audio from it, I can only describe as slightly muffled or distorted. It lacked the cleanness and transparency that I get with the ENG44. The VU meters were innacruate, not matching the output levels at all. Even when sending tone to the camera, one channel was at a higher level than the other, and there was no way to adjust this. When actually shooting, the VU meters bounced around so much that they were completely useless.
The Azden FMX42 is quite a bit better than the Rolls, but still falls short of the ENG44, at least in my opinion. It still doesn't have the same transparent quality to the audio that the Sound Excellence mixer has, though it can sound very good, the ENG 44 sounds better. The preamps are also way quieter than the Rolls mixer, but still not quite as quiet as the ENG44, though it is pretty close. The biggest issue for me with the Azden was the VU meters. They tended to bounce around a lot when I used it, making it very difficult to accurately monitor levels. By contrast, the ENG44 mixer has wonderful, very bright, LED VU meters that are fast, accurate, and responsive. With it, monitoring levels is simple, you just look at the VU meters. The VU meters on the Azden make this challenging.
I know I kind of rambled a bit here, so, to summarize, The ENG-44a is the best field audio mixer I have ever had the pleasure of working with outside of a Sound Devices setup that costs way more. The audio quality is amazing, it is extremely usable, well built, and has the features necessary for truly professional use. It really holds its own on professional shoots against the big names in the industry when other budget mixers, like the Rolls and the Azden, falter.
Finding a quality field mixer when you don't have the funds for something from Sound Devices can be difficult, so I hope that this helps someone.
This is not a Sound Devices mixer. Hopefully that is obvious. Sound devices, in my opinion, is still the gold standard of field audio mixers. But, even the Sound Devices 302 is $1600. This guy is only $500.
Considering how much cheaper this is than a Sound Devices mixer, it holds up really well. I would say it outperforms almost every other mixer that even begins to approach this price point. It has the core features that are necessary for production, like tone generator, return audio monitoring, ability to output simultaneously to a camera and external recorder, and phantom power.
What I truly love about this mixer is the audio quality. It is absolutely superb. All the audio that passes through this mixer is clear and has a beautiful transparent quality that I have only seen matched by those mixers made by Sound Devices or in recording studios. The pre-amps are extremely quiet. You can really crank up the levels and have virtually no detectable noise.
I do video production for a living. Having spent ten years in broadcasting, I am now a full time freelancer. Even though I mainly work as a DP/camera op, there are still times I need my own sound kit. Not having the funds to build out a full kit around a sound devices mixer, I eventually settled on the ENG44a and I have no regrets. The mixer is the heart of my kit, I also have three Rodelink wireless lav systems and a Rode NTG-1 on a boom pole. A breakaway cable feeds audio to the camera, and carries camera return audio back to the mixer for monitoring, so I can actually monitor from the camera, not just what I am sending out to the camera. I also utilize one of the 1/8" outputs to feed a Tascam DR-05 recorder to record backup audio to the camera, or in cases when shooting dual system is a necessity.
Regularly I shoot on projects where a professional sound person will come in with their high end Sound Devices setup, with high end Sennheiser mics and all sorts of accessories. And, there audio is truly great, no doubt about that. But, their setup costs several times what I spent on mine. There have been times that a shoot has gone late, or we added in some additional days, and had to use my sound kit. In editing, it has been truly difficult to tell which audio came from the Sound Devices mixer when Sennheiser microphones and which came from my Sound Excellence mixer with Rode microphones, costing a fraction of the other system.
In the past I have had experience with some other budget field mixers. Most recently, with the Rolls MX422 and the Azden FMX42. The Rolls was horrible. I do not understand how it can have a positive review anywhere. I guess it has a nice feature set, but the audio quality just was not there. The preamps were horribly noisy. If you cranked up the audio, there was a definite, loud, hum. Even at its best, the audio from it, I can only describe as slightly muffled or distorted. It lacked the cleanness and transparency that I get with the ENG44. The VU meters were innacruate, not matching the output levels at all. Even when sending tone to the camera, one channel was at a higher level than the other, and there was no way to adjust this. When actually shooting, the VU meters bounced around so much that they were completely useless.
The Azden FMX42 is quite a bit better than the Rolls, but still falls short of the ENG44, at least in my opinion. It still doesn't have the same transparent quality to the audio that the Sound Excellence mixer has, though it can sound very good, the ENG 44 sounds better. The preamps are also way quieter than the Rolls mixer, but still not quite as quiet as the ENG44, though it is pretty close. The biggest issue for me with the Azden was the VU meters. They tended to bounce around a lot when I used it, making it very difficult to accurately monitor levels. By contrast, the ENG44 mixer has wonderful, very bright, LED VU meters that are fast, accurate, and responsive. With it, monitoring levels is simple, you just look at the VU meters. The VU meters on the Azden make this challenging.
I know I kind of rambled a bit here, so, to summarize, The ENG-44a is the best field audio mixer I have ever had the pleasure of working with outside of a Sound Devices setup that costs way more. The audio quality is amazing, it is extremely usable, well built, and has the features necessary for truly professional use. It really holds its own on professional shoots against the big names in the industry when other budget mixers, like the Rolls and the Azden, falter.