Most control surfaces are designed for music production on computers. However, there are several popular control surfaces that are compatible with field mixer/recorders such as the Zaxcom Nova and the Sound Devices 8 series. Zaxcom and Sound Devices do make their own control surfaces, but the size and cost may not be ideal for some users. I've tried a few of the most popular 3rd party control surfaces on jobs and here are the pros and cons I've discovered of each control surf

If the audio going into the transmitter or recorder is already distorted, 32-bit float audio cannot fix that; it cannot clean up the spill on the floor and put that into it's pool sized jar.

Some projects I've mixed location sound on have premiered at film festivals, on television and won awards in 2024.

If your work is fast-paced and frenetic, preparation is a luxury, and you absolutely cannot afford dropouts.