Sound Devices 552 Portable 5-Channel Production Mixer and Stereo Recorder

Comments about Sound Devices 552 Portable 5-Channel Production Mixer and Stereo Recorder:

i loved the mixer but now that a couple of pearstone rechargeable batteries got stuck in it, i hate it because i'm in afghanistan and it will take forever to send the mixer back for repair and then back here. so stupid. the battery tube is just too tight and how would i know? it's only now i'm reading online that some batteries are fatter than standard. not a single word about that in the manual. and what should i do? so upset by sound devices

Comments about Sound Devices 552 Portable 5-Channel Production Mixer and Stereo Recorder:

I can't say enough good things about the 552. As a long time user of the 442, I'm familiar with Sound Devices reputation and well thought-out and designed products. The 552 is no exception. Build quality is amazing, and I'm constantly finding new features hidden in its treasure trove of a menu system. Just integrating the 2 track digital recorder would've been enough to justify upgrading my system - having new features like adding an additional channel, split monitoring, talkback & foldback monitoring, and a timecode input just insure that I won't outgrow this mixer for a long time.
My only complaint is the lack of 12T mic powering, but a 48v-12T adapter took care of that handily.

Comments about Sound Devices 552 Portable 5-Channel Production Mixer and Stereo Recorder:

Robust, great features, good battery economy. Yes sven is a little hard to understand but that's not a deal breaker. However what is a deal breaker is that you can only record internally to a stereo track. This to me is a huge flaw. I had to record a scene in which 4 people had radio mics and a boom. Panned the boom to the left and radios to the right. Radio mic channel had too higher noise floor because all people were live on one channel. At least have a gate option or something to eliminated unwanted noise. To be fair you can actually run direct outs to a different recorder but that kinda just turns it in to a really expensive pre mixer.

Comments about Sound Devices 552 Portable 5-Channel Production Mixer and Stereo Recorder:

Once you figure out the shortcuts to access the menus it is an amazing mixer. Great preamp, limiter, etc. Very versatile for various uses. The only downside is "SVEN", the voice that tells you system info. It is nearly impossible to understand.
Sound Devices is the standard for production sound, and for good reason.

Comments about Sound Devices 552 Portable 5-Channel Production Mixer and Stereo Recorder:

The 552 is one fantastic field mixer, tons of features and built like a tank, expect to see years of service from this machine.Another beautiful Sound Devices product...If your in the market for a 5 channel mixer, don't hesitate to purchase one, [$] is a steal considering the feature set.

Comments about Sound Devices 552 Portable 5-Channel Production Mixer and Stereo Recorder:

This product is an all in one mixer and recorder, and suitable for my needs in the field. The sweepable high pass/low cut filter is great! Accompanying instructions are clear and easy to follow.

Comments about Sound Devices 552 Portable 5-Channel Production Mixer and Stereo Recorder:

This mixer is the Swiss Army Knife of mixers. It should be the last field mixer that you will ever need unless they start making one with a USB or firewire out. That would be the only improvement for the user other than getting another SVEN voice. It is hard to understand in a noisy environment but you get use to it,"cause you have to. I use this product in high end productions and the multitude of outs and ins makes this the best field mixer I have ever used.

Comments about Sound Devices 552 Portable 5-Channel Production Mixer and Stereo Recorder:

I use this on documentaries and film shoots. I love the sound quality and the things it does. I love the five channels and the controls to work everything. It records to an sd card on board if you want it but it mixes everything down to 2 channels and I need all channels separate. I wish it recorded all channels separate.

Comments about Sound Devices 552 Portable 5-Channel Production Mixer and Stereo Recorder:

I used this product for Film, TV and Corporate videos and it smoked my sound devices 302 mixer. The 302 is a great mixer but the 552 is a monster.
It has 5 inputs, direct outputs for all 5 channels, time code options, built in recorder, tons of headroom, quite mic pre's, return to listen to the camera audio, tape out to send to my other field recorder, you can link another mixer for more channels, link it to the 744T. The built in record is great, really clean sound.
The thing I like least about the mixer is the automated voice SVEN. He's a little hard to understand at first but you get used to him.

Comments about Sound Devices 552 Portable 5-Channel Production Mixer and Stereo Recorder:

I am an ignorant amateur that is slowly, carefully moving to becoming a more experienced amateur. I read many blogs of professional soundmen that were using the Sound Devices 442 Mixer, and that were happy with it. It came time for me to upgrade my equipment to include a portable mixer, and I chose the Sound Devices 552. I do not have any regrets in my purchase of this product.

I agree with the earlier more-experienced reviewers here. I won't repeat their points.

Comments about Sound Devices 552 Portable 5-Channel Production Mixer and Stereo Recorder:

Long term investment, a bit complicated at first, built in recorder excellent backup recorder and usable sound for general recording. Will be coupling it with a 7 series recorder or Nagra LB in the near future.

Comments about Sound Devices 552 Portable 5-Channel Production Mixer and Stereo Recorder:

How could I not love my purchase!!! This mixer/recorder opens my capabilities immensely. It works flawlessly. I love it. B&H had the best price [...]How could I be happier? impossible. Thanks B&H and thanks PSC!!!!!

Comments about Sound Devices 552 Portable 5-Channel Production Mixer and Stereo Recorder:

Extremely robust, high-quality pre-amps, built in recorder is invaluable. Overall this is a great product, as one would expect from Sound Devices.

However, as was mentioned before, the gain knob on channel 1 can be a bit difficult to manage if you have fat fingers. Also, a quick read of the manual is a must. The first time I ever used a 442 I was able to figure out every function I needed in just a few minutes of fiddling with it while the rest of the crew was setting up the scene, but the 552 is a little less intuitive in some of its features, thanks to the new menu system.

My biggest complaint, though, is SVEN. Good lord is he obnoxious, and hard to understand. Especially when you're trying to navigate the menu while an AD is yelling in your ear or some other distracting noises are preventing you from focusing your full concentration on deciphering his ridiculous accent. There are PLENTY of speech synthesizers in the world which are clear, intelligible, and capable of pronouncing English words without sounding like a Swede who's playing [rotund] Bunny (profanity filter won't let me use the right word here... it's the game where you stick marshmallows in your mouth til you can't say the phrase any longer). For that matter, how hard would it have been to hire a VO artist to record all of SVEN's lines and just stick them in some on-board memory for playback? SD is, after all, a company devoted specifically to creating products intended to record the sounds of human beings speaking.

Comments about Sound Devices 552 Portable 5-Channel Production Mixer and Stereo Recorder:

I use the 552 for location sound mixing and recording. I plan to buy the 744t and it will be perfect because the 552 offers 4 channels of digital output. The 552 offers a ton of features and I believe it is durable enough to last me a decade. 3G's is a chunk of change, but it is an investment non the less. The 442 maintained its value until SD killed it, enough said. As other reviewers have mentioned, the channel 1 gain control is a tight squeeze to get to. Fat fingers beware. I have used the 552 in the rain and heat and it works fine.
SVEN, the voice personality of the mixer is a bit hard to understand unless you read the included menu spec cards. You would think with all the navigation voice technology SVEN would sound more clear.. but you get used to him once you get to know him. I think he is from the United Kingdom.

All in all a solid product from a solid company. If you have the credit limit and the work connections why not?. I'm waiting to see how Sony responds.

Comments about Sound Devices 552 Portable 5-Channel Production Mixer and Stereo Recorder:

With five inputs and a built in recorder, this compact field mixer has a bunch of bells and whistles! Problem is they tried stuffing five inputs into a chassis that used to house only four. The biggest problem I have is with the #1 input controls. They are so close to the edge of the frame that it's hard to reach the gain knobs, activate it and turn it.

To access all the menu items takes some practice and understanding SVEN, the synthesized voice of the 552 is difficult at best. If you can get pass these and other small issues like the cost, you may enjoy the sound it produces.