Please help design FCP edit rig. ( audio guy )

C

Craig Zarkos

Member
Hey Guysngals--- I need to set up an edit rig that will be used ( for now ) to do multicam edits, of HD footage ( mostly 7D and hvx200) shot doc style, music performance in studio, some live, and some doc style interviews.
No heavy effects etc.

The final product will NOT be destined for broadcast. It will go to dvd, and to the web Vimeo) and possibly some to the upcoming VEMO.

I want to build a proper rig around a Mac tower, two screens-- but what I need help on is the ancillary stuff-- raids/ output to plasma's etc.

If some one could help/suggest what to get that would be bang for the buck performance, but still provide decent power to allow un interuppted workflow for what I need to do, i'd much appreciate the insight.

For instance: It would be nice to have dual 30"monitors.. do i need em? (doubtful) so, what is a good compromise, coming from you guys that do this everyday.. dual dell 20"s etc.?

do I need a RAID, a DROBO, ? do i need a special card from comp (esata?) or anything fancy to have the horsepower I need?

I'm starting from square one-- I will have the audio covered ( i mix records and have a blown out 5.1 protools hd rig) but am very much a newbie to FCP, other than working with great vid people... It is all new territory for me.

for the next month, I'll be working on learnng FCP,after efx ( lynda.com!) and learning how to shoot my new canon 7D when it gets here. I'll use FCP on my macbook pro, but will want to migrate pretty soon and set up a little vid edit bay in studio to work on this stuff.. and have it avaialble to other folks.

thanks for your time and suggestions if any!

craig z
 
Really depends on your budget- without knowing that it's hard to recommend. Definitely a big fat no on the DROBO though. Those are best at being servers for your home media system- i.e. a jukebox. Stick with a nice eSATA G-RAID and you'll be all set.

Definitely do not need two 30 inch monitors. One thirty or two 20 inch are more than most folks have already...

I'd start with the tower, one monitor and FCS and then build up. As long as you get a fast top of the line Mac Pro with say 6+ GB of RAM and lots of hard drive space you can only add more as your budget permits. Oh and get a nice desk. :)

Noah
 
Thanks Noah-- Let's say for now, if money was no object...

but keeping it within the scope of what I'll use it for, which is multi cam , up to 8 cameras, editing and output for dvd and web ( 720p)

I already own FCP 3, and the adobe stuff.

just wanna know what would make it "turnkey" for most of you guys that do this for a living.. again, with in the scope of what I need it to do.

thanks!
 
Well what I mentioned already will get you started. Beyond that it's just more storage, better speakers, more monitors, Kona/Blackmagic cards, etc.

-Noah
 
Thanks Noah-- I suppose what I'm looking for is actual make and models, that are known to be solid.

specifically-- raids/ storage. Plugins ( in the audio world, there are certain things visiting AE's always want to reach for... Autotune etc.)

specific cards, and other hardware ( and for what purpose would it be needed) are the kinda questions ie: Kona Blackmagic ??? etc...

thanks again
 
G-RAID 2- eSATA.
AJA Kona 3- not neccessary unless you want to hook up to an HD-SDI monitor. Personally I'd say hold off on this until you get up to speed with the computer and FCS. Otherwise it's just extra hardware you won't be quite ready to use yet.

Plugins- that's again completely subjective. Unlike audio editing there's a lot of things you can easily do with FCS alone and never have use for a plugin. However once you get into certain things- like heavy duty green screen, converting standards, etc then you might want a plugin. But as with the AJA you shouldn't bother with this until you actually need it.

I would suggest as above, get the top of the line Mac Pro you can afford, well configured with RAM and add internal drives and a nice G-RAID 2 eSATA with card. Get either Dell 20" Monitors- good deal but blow your Apple look with clients- some folks care about this others could not care less. Or get the Apple Cinema Displays- overpriced but great on the eyes and aesthetics.

Then just practice with FCP. Then come back with your questions. I could easily counsel you to spend $100K on all manner of xSANs, $25,000 HD monitors, color correction control surfaces, etc. But will those help you with the basics of learning FCP or will they be a waste at this point in your learning? Starting with a solid core system takes away nothing from future expansion but gives you a good place to begin. That's why I would say get the Mac Pro- powerful and highly expandable, software/hardware wise. Vs. say an iMac- which is cheaper but limiting in terms of expandability.

This stuff doesn't run itself and you can easily spend months just putting together the perfect system for your specific needs. What's the rush?

Noah
 
NoahK said:
This stuff doesn't run itself and you can easily spend months just putting together the perfect system for your specific needs. What's the rush?

Noah
Click to expand...


No rush really, well... April. We'll be possibly joining forces with an existing small Vid production comapny ( we do music and production) and I'd like to have a suite ready to go for interns and visiting editors that will be working on some of this live concert footage we're getting. I'm really gearing up personally, just because I want to do it! Love mixing/music, but I've gotten bit by the indy doc bug-- and would like to be able to communicate with film folks / directors/ editors and know what I'm talking about, or when I'm being BS'd. I'd like to get my personal projects ( small house concerts/instructional videos) as close as possible ( edited ) and then hand em off for someone that is really good to do some polish, sweetening, and all the titleing / authouring etc.

I'm definitly going to just run with my lap top rig and maybe add some back up space, and just start cranking away on this stuff that we've been shooting ( 4 cam instudio fly on the wall stuff)

I'm also going to make a little home movie with the new 7D and my little 4.5 and 7 month old stars. :happy:
 
DJDecay said:
Am I only going to EDIT in Final Cut on this computer, (or am I going to also run Motion, After Effects, Protools etc.. etc.. etc..)

If its a stand-alone FCP only station for editing, (any format) especially for MultiCam which requires multiple 100Mbps streams of data from disk, this about fast raid.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for the good points.

No pro tools. Just FCP, motion, after efx. DVD studio etc.

Is there a listing of mac pro configs and raids somewhere here in the forum, known to work solid?

i understand the Scaleabiltiy issue, having been on the Digidesign upgrade path for years, but if this rig could just do the task at hand ( multicam hd, live music shows, and some doc footage, for upload to the web and DVD) for a couple years, I'd be fine with it.
Yes-- the rig will need to wear multiple hats, but not audio.
 
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