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Starting a studio
Hi everybody,
I didn’t know where to post this, so I just went with FCP section. Basically this January I am opening a small studio in my home country of Croatia. My background is post-production,compositing + digital cinematography and digital production.
I am having an issue figuring out what I have to get to have my editing system completely fuctional. I decided to go with Final Cut pro as my base editing program, After Effects and Maya as main use programs. Mostly the deliverables will be BETA and DVDs. I am planning to get BETA decks and DV decks, but since I never worked with this type of tehnical aspect I need some major help. Basically my question is – what do I need to buy and how to connect a BETA deck, DV deck and other crap of that sorts. Also what should I look out for etc…
And I am gonna be in PAL so if u have anything else for me to look out for let me know 🙂Thank you
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8 Replies
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Hi Jelena and welcome to wonderful world of production ownership! 🙂
Ok, for Beta In/Out that will require some sort of I/O device to get the video into and out of your computer. If ALL you foresee the need for standard definition Beta, then you can get some thing as simple at the AJA IoLA. This In/Out box gives you component input/output with audio.
If you want to be ready for HD, then you can look at two products. AJA IoHD and the AJA Kona LHe. Both will offer full component video In/Out plus you’re ready to start working in HD. The IoHD will only work in compressed HD while the LHe will allow you to work in full uncompressed 4:2:2 HD. Both of these products give you full uncompressed SD I/O for working in Beta today.
If you want the ability to up-convert SD to HD or Cross-Convert 720-1080 in the future, then you want to look at both the Io HD and the Kona 3. Again, the Io HD only works in compressed HD, the Kona 3 works for everything up to 2K. With the Kona 3 however, you will have to convert the Component output / analog audio from the Beta deck to SDI in order to capture from it. Myself, I own a Sony J3 multi-format Beta Player which does this for me.
Ok, so that’s your video I/O. Now for storage, you really want no less than SATA so you have plenty of speed for uncompressed SD material. I just purchased two SAS/SATA units from MaxxDigital which are insanely fast with RAID 5 protection. RAID 5 means that any one of the 8 drives in my unit can fail, but the array keeps working.
Sonnet, Dulce, MaxxDigital, Ciprico are some of the companies I would recommend you look at. There is a free VideoStorage Calculator from Digital Heaven that can help you figure out how much storage you’ll need. Think about what’s the maximum amount of material you might have on your system at any one time (1 hour, 5 hours, 20 hours, etc…) and then double it. Now enter than into the widget using Uncompressed PAL SD as the type of media and it will tell you how much storage you need.
For instance, 10 hours of Uncompressed 8bit PAL SD is 701GB. Uncompressed 10bit is 933GB. So if I thought I would have 10 hours maximum material on my system at any one time, I would get no less than 2TB for my storage.
For the Mac itself, upgrade to the ATI 1900 graphics card as this improves the performance of Motion and Color.
Be sure to get a good quality broadcast monitor for your output. You never edit, grade or finish a project using FCP’s own Canvas display. This is intentionally degraded as you are expected to us an external monitor for your playback.
Good quality audio monitors are a must as well. I run the KRK Rokit 5 audio monitors in our suites as they are excellent monitors in their price range. If you really want to go all out, look at the high end Mackie and Genelec audio monitors. Very expensive, but they are the standard in most recording studios.
One thing I can’t stress enough, a good quality workstation desk. I started out my business with some homebuilt desks and thought they were fine, but have since switched to production desks from Anthro and they have made a HUGE difference in the efficiency of the layout and my ease of working.
Oh and one more thing. “Getting Organized In Final Cut Pro” by our very own Shane Ross. Click on “DVD’s” at the top of the screen and order one. Excellent tutorial on organizing yourself in Final Cut Pro and even I learned some good tips in there even though I’ve been on FCP for 5 years now.
Good luck and I’m sure you’ll get some more good responses to this thread.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.All Things Apple Podcast! https://cowcast.creativecow.net/all_things_apple/index.html
Read my blog! https://blogs.creativecow.net/WalterBiscardi
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Hi Jelena,
the most important thing to decide will be about the foreseeable future:
Will you stay with Betacam and DV long enough that your current hardware becomes obsolete anyway or will you need an upgrade path to HD soon?
For Beta/DV only you can get away with a Blackmagic Decklink standard definition (around 295 U$)
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Hey guys,
thanks for fast responses. I just didn’t know where to start from. 🙂
Well basically, I wanted to be equipt for HD since that’s the future. I know in Croatia HD is still not making a lot of headway but I guess doesn’t hurt to be advanced in whatever you can get. basically I am currently in New York still working with couple of companies trying to get money to finance all this. I will be in Croatia in December and get this ball rolling then – it’s in the works. It will be based in Zagreb.
Unfortunately I can’t speak German, I had several attempts of trying to learn it – didn’t happen hahaha.I just want to tap into a market that is majorly unrepresented and unexplored. There is a lot of talent from that area and lot of them outsource work to countries like UK, Italy and Germany because tehnically, skillwise they can’t find support.
Im just figuring out how to do this with possibility of upgrade, decent savings and to still be up to date with everything..
and p.s. yes I like blackmagic :))
Jelena
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and Walter…anybody who worked on “Good Eats” I have to take their opinion hahaha :)))))
That show was crazy!
I actually learned how to cook…somehow haJelena
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[Jelena] “I actually learned how to cook…somehow ha”
funny how that happens! I have learned way too much from that show, my family thinks I’m a freak because I always say “Well Alton would do it this way” whenever I’m somewhere else cooking! 🙂
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.All Things Apple Podcast! https://cowcast.creativecow.net/all_things_apple/index.html
Read my blog! https://blogs.creativecow.net/WalterBiscardi
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I think it’s his clinical approach to it, he explains everything from scientific aspect and makes u visualize the molecules of food etc…
same way u guys are helping me visualize molecules of beta-decks, interfaces etc.. hahaha
Jelena
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Wally has an excellent list of items you should consider for your studio needs… he knows his stuff, and not just cooking, LOL! The only thing I’d possibly add is a good little audio mixer. It doesn’t have to be fancy for what you’re doing, but something to control incoming audio levels into your computer and back to your deck for layback. It also makes things easy when controlling your studio monitors and such.
As you grow, you can get a larger audio mixer with greater bussing controls to allow you even more flexibility in terms of where your audio is going within the mixer itself and ultimately to your computer and/or deck(s).
Audio is a fairly large staple in my post facility and can’t stress its importance enough!
Best of luck in your endeavors! Exciting times for you I’m sure! =)
Marco Solorio
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OK, fine, I have friends in Zagreb, a mixed couple (artists as well).
And you can always ask me in English, French or Spanish 😉
Best regards,
Uli
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