[David Jones]

Get the mic as close as you can.

Good Luck!

[David Jones]

Starting out with DV25 can’t help.

[David Jones]

Why do some people like Ford and hate Chevy?
In my opinion, a camera is just a tool.
Purchase the tool that best suits your needs and budget.

Good Luck!

[David Jones]

[dsmastern] “A lot of my clients will walk out of an edit suite that is running FCP since it is still considered a prosumer product. Image is everything in this business. That’s why we just added an older Avid system. Now we have “bragging rights” with the Avid name. If I was going to add a FCP system (for color corrections, etc.) I would hide it and not let the clients even know that I had it.

I do like FCP, it just has the stigma of being a cheap (under $1000) system, so it obviously cannot be “professional” in the clients thinking.”

I don’t know what planet you are from, but in my neck of the woods the whole “We have an Avid” thing is pretty tired. Everyone around here is installing a FCP setup.
I owned a Media Composer 4000, then a MC 8000 with film option, then a Media 100 xr.
I currently own a few Final Cut Pro systems, and I have to tell you that they are far from prosumer.

Maybe a little more education is due, if both you and your clients think the platform is not professional,
and needs to be hidden.

I purchased FCP back at version 2, but didn’t really start using it till version 3.
I kept the Media 100 until I got up to speed on FCP, and at version 4 of FCP we unhooked the Media 100,
and had long since removed the old AVR Avid stuff.

I can tell you that FCP has really become a fantastic tool in it’s current version, and will only get better.
I can edit multi-camera footage, 10-bit uncompressed, HD, and the footage looks fantastic using the AJA hardware that we use. Like you said, Image is Everything in this business!

As far as an opinion about switching from the Media 100 to a FCP setup…
The Media 100 is a great little tool, and the video quality is excellent.
But IMHO, FCP with something along the lines of a Kona 2 card and a fast raid, is that much better.
And FCP Studio bundle makes it that much more attractive. Motion 2 is much improved over version 1.
Soundtrack Pro is handy, and I use DVD studio pro all the time, as well as surround sound encoding.

I would still use the Media 100 until you got up to speed on the FCP system.
You could always just get the software and use base DV, then add capture hardware to suit your needs and budget.

Trust one thing though, that it will be much more expensive that the $1000 mentioned earlier.

Good Luck!

[David Jones]

Depends on what your deffinition of amazing for the price is.
I use assorted plugins including the Waves Diamond bundle, Altiverb from Audio Ease, TC Powercore,
as well as others, which are AU or VST aside from the RTAS stuff that works with ProTools LE,
as I only use PT LE on a limited basis, and do most of my high end stuff in Digital Performer.

I would download a demo or two, and buy what works for your needs.

Good Luck!

[David Jones]

Do a quick search on ebay.
They don’t bring that much.
You might be better off donating the whole edit system to a church and getting the tax break.

Good Luck!

[David Jones]

I assume that you are creating an aux track in ProTools,
and are just mixing in the proper amount of reverb needed with the reflection of your choosing?

Waves makes nice stuff, I use a bunch of their plugins.

Want the same quality reverb used on the Disney stuff,
then look into a TC Electronic System 6000.

Good Luck!

[David Jones]

[treyfour] “I have been told AIFF uncompressed but that may be too large to build a large collection of music. I’m basically looking to digitize a bunch of my father’s cd’s before I leave town. Question though. If AIFF. Am i always going to sample at 44.1mhz? what situations would I want to sample at 48?”

So size is an issue.
And from your statement, it looks as if you are just ripping a bunch of your father’s CDs for playback on your iPod… Naughty Naughty!
Are you always going to use 44.1mhz?
No!
You might use 44.1Khz though, which is the sampling rate used for standard Red Book CDs.

What situations would you want to use 48k?
If for example the music was to be used in a digital editing system such as an Avid, which uses 48k as a standard.

[David Jones]

There are many reverb plugins on the market that will work with FCP or ProTools.
As well as rackmount hardware reverbs. It all depends on your budget.

I’m a bit courious as to, in what way you feel that the standard RTAS reverb plugin that ships with ProTools LE is “horrible”???

[David Jones]

Surround Sound is not supported in the LE version of ProTools.