what should be here?

[Jerry Hofmann]

What formats do you intend to edit. DV only or better than that?

Jerry

Apple Certified Trainer

Author: “Jerry Hofmann on Final Cut Pro 4” Click here

Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D

[Michael]

Start with sound editing skills. The bits of equipment are just tools, a means to an end, don’t forget that. Some of the best editing gear out there is worthless in the hands of inferior skills. Read everything you can about editing first, watch movies and television from a technical eye, figure out what the editor is doing, and, more importantly, why he’s doing it. Sound television signal knowledge is essential if you’re serious about getting work. You can have great cutting skills, but your video isn’t legal, it can’t air anywhere. Be thankful it’s not 15 years ago before the NLE’s dumbed-down the need for total signal knowledge. Learn how to read a waveform and vectorscope, and learn what the parts of a video signal are. You don’t need to know what the different parts do at first, just learn what to look for and how to keep things legal.

That said, if I had an unlimited budget (this is going to be fun), could put any system together I wanted, I’d want the following: FIRST: a GREAT engineer to help purchase and professionally install all of my gear. He should be your first purchase, because he can steer you clear of stupid purchases and get you deals that will save you money. eBay is LITTERED with cast off gear purchased by naive people who didn’t know what they were buying. In a FCP system, if that’s the platform you’re limiting yourself to, you would start with software, a G5 DP with 4 Gigs of memory (you can add more but FCP will only use 4 Gigs), and cinema displays. If you’re going to do HD, you’ll need an HD broadcast monitor to view your output. You’ll need an SD broadcast monitor to view SD. I’m talking about a pro monitor with SMPTE specs, I like Sony, but JVC makes some good monitors, too. You’ll need a black burst generator to keep everything locked together. You’ll need a vectorscope and waveform monitor, Tektronic here. You’ll need a capture card or box, I like AJA products, I own an AJA Io, but Black Magic makes great stuff, too. The Kona2 from AJA is probably the hottest card going, because it does both SD and HD. You’ll need drives, and fast ones at that. I’m using Medea’s RTXR, but Apple’s Xserve RAID and HUGE systems are near the top of the list, you’ll need fibre-channel for reliable HD, don’t forget, you’ll need a fibre-channel card to contol the drives. You’ll want a great speaker set. I have Genelec, but Dynaudio’s Air series is the best right now. You’ll need a mixer, a Mackie 1604 will do the job, I have an older Yamaha 03D that keeps everything digital, it’s complex and confusing, but after a while you figure out how all of those busses really keep things flexible without patching or cable swapping. If I had my sky’s-the-limit choice, I’d want Yamaha’s O2R or a DM3200 from Tascam, with the ADAT card, of course. Throw in a DA-98, because sometimes you need to play with 8 tracks (another reason for a digital mixer – – 8 tracks of digital audio on capture), and a decent microphone to record a scratch track, I’m a sucker for a good mic (a terrible personal weakness), they smell me a mile away and pull out their top shelf stuff when I walk in the door. And as long as were shooting for the sun, I’d love one of those Mackie MMC surfaces for mixing inside of FCP, those are cool. Gonna need a big desktop for this bay. Decks: I’d want a DigiBeta and an HDCam from Sony. Probably a BVW-75 for practicality. Going to need a DSR-1500 or a Panny AJ-93 for DV with the SDI board in our scenario. I’d want to keep the video SDI in SD, and the audio digital. I’d want everything going through a patch bay, I like to route stuff my own way. I hate hard wiring.

All of this stuff is just tools, though. You’re entering a larger world, and most of the stuff I just listed is totally unnecessary, but it sure is a fun exercise. You can get by and get a decent workable system together with crafty eBay purchases and smart decision making for about $20,000, not including decks. The engineer, though, is gonna cost ya. Do not attempt this without him.

-mjd