Need guidance on post production studio

[nowinner]

The company which I work for are expanding and therefore building a new studio. This studio will be my main work place so I should say what I want to work with.

Well to make this short. I have already sorted out most stuff for the studio.

I will have a HD 3 Pro Tools system as the core of the studio. What I need help with is Pre amps, Microphones, Monitors and sync system.

I mostly do Commercials for TV and Radio but now and then some long documentaries and such..

For now I have my eyes on:

Microphone
2x Audio Technica 4050

Pre amp
1x Avalon VT-737SP
1x UA 6176

Monitors
Adam P22
Adam 10" Subwoofer

Sync System
Rosendahl Bonsai drive or a VVTR system, since the Bonsai drive cant play QT movies without a lot of trouble (so I have heard. I only have experience with the VVTR)

and a sub question would be. DO I need the SYNC I/O with my PT system when I want to playback my video on a big Plasma/LCD TV ???


OK, That was it. I really appreciate your help and comments on this one, since I am not too sure what is most common out there in the post world when it comes to Voice Over recording and such.

Cheers
ALEX

[matucha]

don't know about those mics...

perhaps they are very nice (I don't know them), but I'd go with 1xsennheiser MKH416 and with something like U87. Both are (kind of) standards for voiceovers. Then there are dynamics like RE20, 441... You can substitute the U87 with Gefell (UMT70, M930) or other...

[Henchman]

Personnaly I think the Avalon and UA pre-amps are complete overkill. You don't want or need any of the compressor stuff etc.
I would get a Lafont LP-21 mic-pre. They're absolutely fantastic IMO. Very Quiet. I've done a ton of ADR and VO's with them.
And instead of the Sennheiser I'd get the Neumann shotgun KMR81. It sounds much better for ADR. And of course a U87 for VO's.

I would go for something more Post related for monitors instead of the ADAMS.
Depending on the size of the room, maybe the Bluesky stuff. And I would certainly go surround, as all TV stations want surround for their Doc's now.

If you're going to be using plasma screens, don't forget to take into account the time delay of the screen.
You should be able to get away with an HD1 and a screaming fast computer.
Check around for that info. I've heard peopel are going that way.

You'll want some kind of calibrated monitor master fader box as well, to make sure you're monitoring at proper levels.

Remember get what you need for post, not want your fantasy desires.

[nowinner]

OK, Thanks... I´ll look into the pre amps...

We are going for 5.1 as you were saying. I just feel that alot of our clients always want to be fooled in the studio. Therefore I thought that the ADAMS would be great... Sure when they are gone I will mix it to fit TV or what not. But when they sit next to me they want to be blown away...

About the HD1 I think you are right... maybe "only" a HD 2 and a new fast computer... Well my boss have given my a nice budget also to fullfill some fantasies :-D

just keep posting your thoughts !

thanks

[Henchman]

Originally Posted by nowinner

I just feel that alot of our clients always want to be fooled in the studio. Therefore I thought that the ADAMS would be great... Sure when they are gone I will mix it to fit TV or what not. But when they sit next to me they want to be blown away...

That might be true with commercials. but when it comes to mixing doc's etc., you need to be able to "blow them away" within the specs that need to eb mixed to.

[audiogeek1]

Why not look at a MOJO to play back your video. That way you do not have to worry about multiple places the video can be. Also you can scrub with video following.

Also you should get a sync io. In post it is a necessary piece in my opinion. Make sure you budget for Machine Control plug in. That is if you are going to lay the audio back to video tape.

How are your commercials going to playback in 5.1?
Budgets for Dolby E or Pro Logic II?

As for mics look into the schoeps shotgun. It is blue. Amazing sound and really light for the field if you need to use it. Also a GML mic pre is an amazing thing for foley and ADR. A much more high fi version of the cooper or sound devices pre with location recorders. Mixes easily.

Just a few of my thoughts.

Mike

[The Chinese]

Originally Posted by audiogeek1

Why not look at a MOJO to play back your video. That way you do not have to worry about multiple places the video can be. Also you can scrub with video following.

Also you should get a sync io. In post it is a necessary piece in my opinion. Make sure you budget for Machine Control plug in. That is if you are going to lay the audio back to video tape.

How are your commercials going to playback in 5.1?
Budgets for Dolby E or Pro Logic II?

As for mics look into the schoeps shotgun. It is blue. Amazing sound and really light for the field if you need to use it. Also a GML mic pre is an amazing thing for foley and ADR. A much more high fi version of the cooper or sound devices pre with location recorders. Mixes easily.

Just a few of my thoughts.

Mike

I dunno...Mojo Means Avid, no? Much of the stuff I see is gravitating toward FC more and more....

As for Monitors, keep in m ind that you need +20dB over 85dB ref level. Make sure whatever system you get that the monitor is capable of that playback level in your space. That's surprisingly overlooked in many small studios.

Also, don't forget that you must tune to the X-Curve, so you will need EQ's in your monitor Chain- I recommend BSS, but if you're on a budget, then the Ashly Proteas are also excellent.

The above recommendation about Dolby E is important unles syou plan to outsource that ALB.

-Todd A.

[Henchman]

But, you only need the X-Curve if your doing films for theatre.
For TV, you don't need it.

[audiogeek1]

Originally Posted by The Chinese

I dunno...Mojo Means Avid, no? Much of the stuff I see is gravitating toward FC more and more....

As for Monitors, keep in m ind that you need +20dB over 85dB ref level. Make sure whatever system you get that the monitor is capable of that playback level in your space. That's surprisingly overlooked in many small studios.

Also, don't forget that you must tune to the X-Curve, so you will need EQ's in your monitor Chain- I recommend BSS, but if you're on a budget, then the Ashly Proteas are also excellent.

The above recommendation about Dolby E is important unles syou plan to outsource that ALB.

-Todd A.

The Mojo means accurate video playback out of a Pro Tools system. No need for midi time code. It will play avid video and quick time. So FCP or avid does not matter. Just having video in your session is big for me. It does mean fewer playback tracks that is the trade off.

Hope that helps.

Mike

[The Chinese]

Originally Posted by Henchman

But, you only need the X-Curve if your doing films for theatre.
For TV, you don't need it.

Many TV Rooms in town have an Xcurve, simply because they generally don't want to change tunings. Although it wouldn't be hard these days as most of these processors have presets. I've always liked the idea of an XCurve even for TV because often times your mix is playing through really bad speakers, and the extra bit of top end push can help dialog intelligibility. What are yoru thoughts?

-Todd A.

[The Chinese]

Originally Posted by audiogeek1

The Mojo means accurate video playback out of a Pro Tools system. No need for midi time code. It will play avid video and quick time. So FCP or avid does not matter. Just having video in your session is big for me. It does mean fewer playback tracks that is the trade off.

Hope that helps.

Mike

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there at some point some sort of incompatibility between the Mojo and FCPro Generated Quicktime files? Or am I off base?

-Todd

[Henchman]

Originally Posted by The Chinese

Many TV Rooms in town have an Xcurve, simply because they generally don't want to change tunings. Although it wouldn't be hard these days as most of these processors have presets. I've always liked the idea of an XCurve even for TV because often times your mix is playing through really bad speakers, and the extra bit of top end push can help dialog intelligibility. What are yoru thoughts?

-Todd A.

We have TV's in the room that we run the mix through, and that is my number one refernce for intelligibility. On Painkiller Jane we actually use the TV speakers at least 80% of the time, becasue we simply don't have time top reference back and forth, and the most important version is the LT-RT as that is what SciFi is broadcasting.

On the L-word, because we have the extra half day, we'll mix a section on the mains, then switch to TV for a playback while we record that section onto the stems. That's my preffered way of mixing for TV, as you can catch things that sound great in the 5.1, but are gettign lost in the LT-RT.

I find that instead of adding alot of top, it's usually lowmids I'll dial out. Unless something is really muffled, I'll add a bit of top. But you have to watch out to prevnet it sounding too spitty on TV. Also, don't forget to crank a de-esser on the Reverb inserts to keep it out of the reverbs as well.

[minister]

Originally Posted by The Chinese

...I've always liked the idea of an XCurve even for TV because often times your mix is playing through really bad speakers, and the extra bit of top end push can help dialog intelligibility. What are yoru thoughts?

-Todd A.

not how *I* mix TV. do you REALLY do that?

like Hench, i'd rather tug on the lo-mids first.

[soundboy]

You can mix on anything if you get used to it, but why would you want to be constantly correcting for an x-curve in your room? Just get eq's with a bypass button. I hope I'm not stating the obvious here.

[nowinner]

Well, I´ll be doing around 80-90% TV Commercials and Radio, so I want to try to keep it simple for now.

My problem right now is the Sync video playback on a monitor thing...

I want it to NOT make my system slow, but still very accurate and fast (scrubing and stuff)...

The cutters (video) at our place are all useing Avid so would I have any benifits useing the Mojo ?? How do you use/connect that thing anyway with PT ? Sync I/O ?

Thanks

[minister]

you need a sync i/o with HD.

for SYNC you also need:

SYNCHECK.COM

[nuendoness]

what about sync-ing with nuendo..how can i go about doing that?

[doug_hti]

Originally Posted by The Chinese

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there at some point some sort of incompatibility between the Mojo and FCPro Generated Quicktime files? Or am I off base?

-Todd

I honestly haven't had time to really figure these things out, but I do know that there is a large latency when dealing with FCP quicktimes generated and it's a bit annoying and frankly the editors hate exporting a file because it takes so long.

The room i work a majority of the time switched to a mojo when i was stuck on a christmas special for a month and lost a week+ of work with HORRIBLE workflow because Digi didn't know a card was incompatible with magma and 7.x (a fuse igniterX i think).

Any way, in a facility with avid editors, the mojo is really the way to go. I get a lot of projects that were cut on FCP, so I'm still ingesting shows from digibeta in the avid mxf file format. I can definitely ingest video that looks REALLY good in comparison...and the mojo is quite fantastic. But it definitely does not make file types easier.