Al Bergstein
Forum Replies Created
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Thanks for the great benchmarking on this John. I think my perspective, and yes, I use both currently, is that the difference seems small in the real world. And the USB 3.0 connectors are less prone to falling out, which I have to tell you, I think was the cause of my last RAID failure on eSata. So i’m willing to forego the small speed increase for an increase in reliability.
Also, when moving between my Mac and W7 machines, the USB 3.0 is now the one common standard I can rely on. Same with Windows machines as my Lenovo high end laptop had a very flakey eSata port, but the USB 3.0 was no problem. (I sold that machine a while back). All my new OWC RAIDS have 3.0 and eSata on them, and I can at least read from the Mac drives on my W7 machine, as well as plug them into my laptop, and both desktops. having just restored a 4 TB RAID array I can tell you that was useful! My W7 machine could not at times read the files off the RAID while my Mac Pro and MB Laptop had no problems. Something is better in file read ability on OS X over W7 64 that I don’t understand. It saved a few files that I might have otherwise lost/needed to find on one of my ancient backups. There you have it.
Al
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Great info! Thanx! The 7506’s are still selling new on Bh. I do love their folding ability and fit. I can wear them for long periods. But I have to solve this earpiece issue. Very unprofessional to have your beat up earpiece come off in front of a client at a shoot. I’ve actually shot with one earpiece off, looking like I was just dug up from a trash bin. Well, that’s another story….some would probably say that I didn’t need the earpiece off to look like that…
Al
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Thanks guys, I’ll try those first before buying a different set of cans.
Al
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As Michael mentions, using analogue meters can be really tricky, and I wonder about the quality of analogue meters. I’m having a heck of a time reading the analogue meters on my Azden FMX-42A for telling where things are at. While the sound is very clean, it’s virtually impossible to really ride the meters to control gain levels. Some of the BH Reviews rave about them, but coming off a mixpre-d with those fabulous glowing LEDs leaves me feeling blind. I end up relying on the 1k tone and lowering the output to the camera (or other recorder) by -15dB or so. Its been years since I spent a lot of time on analogue meters, but are they really that inaccurate? Or is it likely just the Azden quality?
Al
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If there is no way to do this, you should file a feature request with Adobe,ask for a global feature removal, all tracks. I’d be sort of surprised if there is no way to do this.for example, can’t we globally remove all effects on a sequence? All crossfades at once?
Al
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Nic, many of us started out in the dark. I highly recommend that you really study up on microphones before spending hard earned money on them. You not only need to understand the different types, just like cameras, but to understand placement.
We can’t tell you what’s right for you to buy, because we really don’t know what you are shooting. Only you and your sound person do! (even if they are one in the same). Each shoot will call for some focus on micing, just like choosing the right lens, lighting, etc. This is not still photography (G).
On this forum, Ty Ford has some excellent information and tutorials, and I recently listened to this video, which is probably the best couple of hours you (or I) could spend. Great basics and a good refresher.
Maximizing Audio Techniques for Production by David Missell. (it’s free, just costs your three hours).
https://vimeo.com/36308021Knowing what you are shooting and the kind of mic you need to properly capture it, along with the distance you get it from whatever you are shooting, will make the difference between good and bad audio. You have to remember, it’s only been the last few years that you really could shoot a film alone and easily sync the sound later. It’s always been a team effort, someone focused on sound, and someone focused on, well, focus, and it’s really hard to do both well.
A really good package is one that includes a set of lavs, and their transmitters/ receivers. Also you need a shotgun in your kit, and Sennheiser makes a nice one that can swap heads to deal with different soundscapes. I personally use an audio-technica. It’s ok for the price. Expect to spend $1000 on a sound kit, or more.
So this is your college. Go read a text book like Ty’s or Jay Rose’s “Producing Great Sound for Film or Video”, watch the 3 hour video I recommended, and then go practice. If you live near a big city, find out where you can rent microphones for video production. Give yourself a few months, save up for the ‘right’ gear rather than whatever is cheap, and then go shoot something. (G)… see you in the movies..
Al
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This bulletin board is a good start. There are a number of others as well. It just takes time. No real shortcuts. I think that you should make sure you clearly know your requirements for a machine before buying one, as video production is one of the highest end uses for these computers, and underpowered machines are really frustrating.
If you are on a budget, you might consider the new iMacs. The higher end ones (27″ monitor, 1 or 2 GBs of Video RAM on a dedicated card, 16 GBs of RAM or higher, fusion drive, are all good features) are totally capable of driving most video editing.
Also, getting back to *your* requirements, if you are going to be doing 4K or RAW editing, you definitely need the most fully configured machine possible.
Good luck.
Al
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The 13″ did not have a great video card, if I remember. I sold mine and upgraded to the 15″ with better video. Also you do run all projects off a fast external drive, right? Lastly, 8GBs is minimal for Pr, depending on your footage and complexity.. If you are keeping the Mac then upgrade the RAM. OWC has good upgrade kits.
If you need a laptop to do heavy editing, I recommend getting rid of this one. Throwing good money after bad.
Al
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I recently added a tascam dr-60 and it did a great job on the first time out. Highly recommend it. Probably won’t go back to my fine pmd-661 for field recording except board feeds in band situations. I will also be using the 60 with a mixpre-d for better volume control. I call the pre amps about a wash for my interview work. An audiofile might disagree, but narrative is not that difficult.
Al
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A couple of tips Jeff.
Don’t default to 24 all the time. Just like still photography, there will be times when 30 or higher is needed. i.e. I shot aerial the first time at 24fps, had to throw out most of it. Now shoot in 30 if not higher.
Shoot as little in 1280×720 as possible (the standard for slow mo in the 5D). Upscaling results in terrible looking video. Downscaling works fine. You may find that someday you need to reuse the video you shot, and if it’s in 1280 you will be very unhappy, believe me. The only time I shoot in 1280 is when I need slo mo *and* I assume it is a one off deal that I will complete in 1280 for all other scenes. Some of my original video I shot, stuff that is very valuable historically to our area, was shot in 1280, and I’ve recently tried to use it, but upscaling it was worthless. I ended up removing the footage but would have downscaled my entire video to match it if I had to use it.
I shoot all footage all the time in 1920×1080.
Al