User Manual

35
Timecode
Timecode Modes
The MixPre-3 is not only a fantastic tool for audio enthusiasts. It was also
conceived for all you video acionados out there, whether you are a lm or
documentary maker or a YouTuber who wants no-compromise audio quality to
go along with their video content.
With that in mind, we have designed-in timecode capability to make it easy
to lip-sync DSLR and other camera video with the MixPre-3’s audio. This is
particularly useful in what is known as ‘double system sound’ applications
where audio is recorded separately from the video camera. In simple video/
audio productions, it is often sucient to simply use the MixPre-3 as a high
quality mic-preamp/mixer and record the audio on the DSLR into the same
le as the video content. This is known as single system and in this case, the
video and audio are already lip-synced. However, there are often times where
it is very benecial to record each audio source as a separate isolated (ISO)
track. Access to these ISO tracks allows the ability to clean up and remix audio
sources after the event in post production. To record ISO tracks and sync
them with video from a DSLR, you need a multichannel recorder with built in
timecode support like the MixPre-3.
In the audio for video category, no one does timecode better than Sound
Devices. It’s no surprise that many Oscar winning movies have had their sound
recorded using Sound Devices gear.
For some reason, timecode gets a bad rep as being dicult to understand,
but really it is quite simple. It is basically a time label that runs from 0 to 24
hours and is counted in hours (HH), minutes (MM), seconds (SS), and frames
(FF). A timecode value will look like this - HH:MM:SS:FF. Timecode ranges from
00:00:00:00 to 23:59:59:29, then starts over.
All you have to do to synchronize separate video and audio content is to ensure
that the camera and MixPre-3 are both labeling each moment in time with the
same timecode value. Then in your video editing software, whether it be Final
Cut, Adobe Premiere, or Avid Media Composer, you simply import your separate
audio and video content and match up the timecode numbers (computers are
good at matching up numbers) and “Hey Presto,” you have lip-synced video and
audio.
The MixPre-3 has three timecode modes, HDMI TC In, Aux In 1 or 2, and Time
of Day.