Brave new world. Again.

[Andrew Kimery]

In 2007 myself and another editor were the post end of a remote production for SpikeTV covering the VGA’s and a UFC fight in Las Vegas. As the events were concluding we started a 24hr editing marathon in our hotel rooms to get a variety of red carpet, event recap and behind the scenes type packages up onto Spike’s website as soon as possible. Even though I thought it was cool that with a minium of gear carried in a backpack (17″ MBP, FW800 drive, mouse, HDV deck & headphones) we could setup shop anywhere I never viewed it as a replacement for my cutting room back at the office anymore than I would view the hotel room as a replacement for a house or apartment.

Some gigs, like that one, prioritize mobility and timeliness over absolute quality so two guys with laptops on location trumps losing hours sending footage back to LA for editing. If that event was in LA then it would’ve detrimental to edit with laptops in a hotel room because the offices (which have better, faster gear) are located in LA.

To me the question is not “can I do it this way” but “should I do it this way”. For example, could I run a track meet in high tops or flip flops? Sure, but why would I choose to if I had running shoes (or better yet track spikes)? Would Usain Bolt in high tops beat Joe Average in track spikes in a foot race ? Sure. But when Usain Bolt goes to work it’s not against Joe Average. Are track shoes inherently better than high tops? No, but I wouldn’t recommend playing hoops in spikes or running hurdles in high tops. Horses for courses as they say.

[Andy Field]

Herb, you are such a Debbie Downer! 🙂 How about someone invent natural sounding headphone so we can edit in a phone booth! (wait there are no more phone booths)

Andy Field
FieldVision Productions
N. Bethesda, Maryland 20852

[Herb Sevush]

[Andy Field] “Herb, you are such a Debbie Downer! :-)”

I think of myself as cynical rather than downbeat. I do that because then I can quote the Devil’s Dictionary definition:

CYNIC, n. A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be. Hence the custom among the Scythians of plucking out a cynic’s eyes to improve his vision.

Ambrose Bierce

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
—————————
nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf

[Tony West]

This sounds great Joe, but how do they make money?

Do they sell your email and your clients e-mail?

[Bill Davis]

[Charlie Austin] “Sure, you can mix on headphones, but what you end up with will sound like crap on a TV, or in a theater”

i MIGHT buy the theatre analogy since mixing for 5.1 surround is obviously best done ON a 5.1 surround system.

But TV? Seriously? You’re telling me I can’t mix audio on a laptop with headphones for a broadcast TV signal that’s ultimately likely to hit a transmitters “brick wall” limiting? Really?

I do a fair bit of work that ends up on major market radio and network affiliate TV. And so far not a SINGLE person anywhere along my distribution chain has EVER said that my mixes don’t do just fine.

So am I just insanely lucky? I don’t think so.

Again, I’m not saying that a tuned suite isn’t a great thing. And I certainly spent quite a bit of my own money soundproofing the control room in my own studio so that my HR 824s are properly isolated and reasonably accurate. But I’ve also mixed directly to my laptop via headphones and NOBODY has ever had a problem with that work. Not once. If you can HEAR your mix properly, you’ll know most of what you’ll need to know. You learn to be wary that closefield headphone monitoring might be making the voice/bed ratio too close, and you build the experience to err on the side of the part of the mix that’s carrying the info. And that’s typically voice over music/background sounds. Problem solved.

I’m not arguing that anyone shouldn’t use a studio. Heck, that’s why I built the one I’m sitting in and writing this from right now…

BTW, that photo is about 4 years old now and a good chunk of my the gear like the CRT monitor and hardware WFM/VS have been retired in favor of more modern digital tools.

I’m essentially arguing against the idea that qualified people MUST be tied to a formal studio in order to do competent or even excellent work.

I just don’t think it’s required any more. Nice, sure. Useful? definitely. But not REQUIRED.

My view anyway.

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.

[Joseph W. bourke]

Hi Tony –

At this point, the service is in Beta, so the developers are basically getting the model together, and getting people on board to try it. From what I understand, the plan is to get it paying at some point. I for one would gladly pay for this service – it’s cutting my Dropbox time in half, if not two thirds, and I’m paying 100 bucks a year for my slow Dropbox account! I honestly don’t know anything about their inside workings, and am going on what was in the No Film School article in their email update, which was where I heard about it. The speed is nothing short of amazing!

Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com

[Bill Davis]

[Herb Sevush] “CYNIC, n. A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be. Hence the custom among the Scythians of plucking out a cynic’s eyes to improve his vision.

Ambrose Bierce”

One point for quoting Bierce.

One additional point for using the term blackguard, even if via a quotation!

move along now.

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.

[Bill Davis]

[Michael Aranyshev] “Quiet, neutral colors, no light reflections on the monitors, “

I just HAD to comment on this.

When I was doing my haybarn to studio conversion more than 10 years ago, I planned to hang Owens Corning 503 “white nubby” panels in my monitor suite to suppress any audio reflections. I chose that approach because my friends at the local pro audio facility where I did my VO work assured me that it was the proper and professional way to make sure the room sounded properly dead. Since this was the plan, I decided to add a bit of color by painting the MDF soundproof walls that they would mount to a deep, lovely teal blue.

We got the build done (all non-parallel walls etc) and the day before we hung the 503 – the guy with the frequency analyzer came in to see if I had any standing wave or reflection problems. NONE. It was acoustically spot on. So I sent back the soundproofing panels and to this day I work in a TEAL room.

I worried for a while whether it would mess up my monitor colors, but my Cinema Display has NEVER had an issue. The dark teal that far away has no more effect than black.

Another good example of trying to mentally solve problems based on theory – rather than reacting to problems that ACTUALLY show up in the practical world.

FWIW.

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.

[Charlie Austin]

[Bill Davis] “[Charlie Austin] “Sure, you can mix on headphones, but what you end up with will sound like crap on a TV, or in a theater”

i MIGHT buy the theatre analogy since mixing for 5.1 surround is obviously best done ON a 5.1 surround system.

But TV? Seriously? You’re telling me I can’t mix audio on a laptop with headphones for a broadcast TV signal that’s ultimately likely to hit a transmitters “brick wall” limiting? Really?

I do a fair bit of work that ends up on major market radio and network affiliate TV. And so far not a SINGLE person anywhere along my distribution chain has EVER said that my mixes don’t do just fine. “

I’m not saying it can’t be done, of course it can. I’m simply saying that a mix done on headphones will sound totally different on a TV (or whatever). It might be fine, or it might suck… you just can’t tell. Hell, in my mixing days, sitting in a small theater with a dolby certified 5.1 theatrical sound system and a top of the line set of tuned near field monitors, I did most of my TV mixing through a mid range sony stereo TV. People loved my mixes. But I wouldn’t mix a trailer on the TV. Mix for what the final product is going to be. I’d mix a radio spot on headphones… maybe. 😉

[Bill Davis] I’m essentially arguing against the idea that qualified people MUST be tied to a formal studio in order to do competent or even excellent work.

I agree.

————————————————————-

~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~

[Tony West]

Thanks Joe, the speed IS amazing.

I wouldn’t mind paying either depending on the cost.

I find myself driving a 64g thumb drive over to the clients (in town) and dropping it off and coming back to get it sometimes.

Not ideal.