[Mark Pinder]

I’ve taken the plunge on my MacBook ‘test system’ (not a mission critical edit system!). So far, so good. I also put in the mysterious ‘Pro Apps’ update that came out a few days ago. Neither update seems to have horribly broken anything.. though I’ve not done any exhaustive testing. Granted this is only on a black MacBook, with no capture hardware or anything, so I can’t vouch for compatibility with third party hardware, but FCP still launches and has successfully completed the few small tasks I’ve asked of it since I installed the update yesterday.

Cheers

M.

[Mark Pinder]

As the other poster mentioned, EQ will make it sound mostly like a phone. Roll off the highs at around 4-6 KHz and the lows at around 200 Hz. push 1KHz a little too.

It also helps if you compress the heck out of the dynamic range of the audio, very low threshold and a high compression ratio. Phone systems have next to no dynamic range.

Lastly, to simulate the ‘plastic’ sound of the phone handset itself, try adding a little bit of delay in the 10-15 millisecond range. Not enough to create an actual delay effect, but just a hint of it, to simulate the sound-waves bouncing around off the plastic of the phone itself.

If all that’s too complex, just stick with the EQ…

Cheers

Mark M. Pinder
Chief Technical Engineer
Paperny Films

[Mark Pinder]

Hi:

Snell and Wilcox makes the good ones, but they are SUPER pricey! Another option is Video International. Not exactly cheap, but about 1/4 the price of a Snell and Wilcox, with quality that rivals the most expensive S&W Alchemist. A few years back we ALMOST bought a S&W Alchemist, but opted for the Video International MV Bridge instead. With all the option installed, the MV Bridge was still much cheaper, and worked perfectly for us. It was MUCH easier to recoup our investment with the MV Bridge, and not a single broadcaster rejected its conversions (even the broadcasters who insisted they’d only accept conversions done with an S&W Alchemist!).

Hope that helps

Mark M. Pinder
Chief Technical Engineer
Paperny Films Inc.

[Mark Pinder]

Hi There:

Yes, FCS2 runs just fine on a MacBook. I have a 2.16GHz MacBook w/ a pathetic 1GB of RAM. All FCS applications launch and run fine, but yes, Motion and Color run with all the grace and aplomb of a drunken hippo in platform shoes. I don’t use the MacBook as a primary editing station, but it’s fine for lots of applications. Logging, Capturing (to FW400 drives, no 800 bus), simple assemblies, etc. all work just fine on the MacBook! That said, I’ve only worked with Offline quality footage on the MacBook… I leave the HD Online work to the Mac Pros! 🙂

Hope that helps!

Mark M. Pinder
Chief Technical Engineer
Paperny Films Inc.
http://www.papernyfilms.com