Shure FP32

A stereo field mixer small enough to ride on a shoulder harness and tough enough to survive a news truck's tailgate.

Overview

The FP32 is Shure's stereo version of the mono FP31. Field producers had already bet their audio on the FP31 and wanted the same package in stereo. Shure's own catalog copy makes the lineage explicit - the FP32 "shares many design characteristics" with the FP31, and the company billed it as the stereo version of that "legendary" mono mixer. The pitch was simple: stereo adds dimension and realism to sports and news coverage, and the FP32 makes ENG and EFP work "easy and economical." That's marketing talking, but the feature set backs it up.

There are three inputs, each switchable for low-impedance microphone or line level operation. Each has its own level control and a center-detented stereo pan pot. Two transformer-coupled outputs, one per stereo channel. The stereo master gain is a concentric clutched control, which is the kind of detail you only get when someone mixed on the thing before signing off on the layout. The catalog says the FP32 is "smaller than a cigar box," and the period advertising puts numbers on that: roughly 2 5/16" x 7 1/4" x 6", at just 2 1/2 pounds. DB Magazine (January 1986, p.76) ran the introduction with the same figures. It described the deck as comparable in size to the FP31 and priced "hundreds less than you would expect." That's an advertising claim, not a measured verdict, so treat it as positioning rather than fact.

The specs are modest and sensible. Frequency response is +1, -3 dB from 50 to 15,000 Hz. That's a working range, not a hi-fi spec sheet, and it suits dialogue and effects capture. Equivalent input noise is under -125 dBV, and total harmonic distortion stays under 0.25% from 50 to 15,000 Hz at +4 dBm output. Voltage gain runs 90 dB on the microphone input, 40 dB on line, 68 dB to tape, and 95 dB to the phone output. Input clipping levels span -45 dBV to -15 dBV on mic, +5 to +35 on line, and +35 dBV on monitor. Output clipping sits at -32 dBV mic, +18 dBm line, -6 dBV tape, and +5 dBV phone. The VU meters are calibrated for +4 dBm into 600 ohms.

The FP32 carries a built-in slate microphone and slate tone for identifying take locations, a built-in tone oscillator for level checks and line tests, and built-in phantom (simplex) and A-B(T) power for condenser microphones. There's a "phantom" jack for an external mic supply up to 48 Vdc, so full 48-volt phantom is available. A built-in limiter has an adjustable threshold (factory +14 dBm, 500 msec typical recovery). A peak indicator lights 6 dB below clipping or at the onset of limiter action. The rest of the list: mini and 1/4-inch stereo headphone jacks with level control, a monitor input for VTR monitoring, stereo aux level tape outputs, a 12 Vdc external power jack, and a carrying case that Shure's copy says has "earned plaudits" for its design. Again, those are the manufacturer's own words. The period press echoed the positioning rather than testing it. DB Magazine (March 1986, p.74) placed the FP32 alongside the FP42 in Shure's growing FP line, and framed the whole family as purpose-built for ENG, EFP, film, and video rather than general audio gear that "might" work on remotes.

The brochure skips a few details. The +1, -3 dB window topping out at 15 kHz is honest but limited. This is not a music-recording mixer, and nobody at Shure pretended otherwise. The limiter threshold is adjustable, but the recovery time is fixed at 500 msec typical. That's fine for speech and less fine if you're chasing something with transients. And the concentric clutched master gain is clever until a clutch needs service, at which point a field mixer becomes a bench project.

No production run or list price is documented here, so treat any figure you see quoted online with suspicion. What is documented is the intent: Shure built the FP32 as the stereo companion to a mixer thousands of field crews already trusted, and the company said so in print.