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Editing software and audio help?

G

gpeavler

Hi everyone, I am new to the forum but figured you good people could help a newbie out. This summer I plan to work on a short experimental film of sorts, and while I have most of the aesthetics worked out I am a bit stuck in a few places.

I plan to use avid media composer for the editing. The problem is I am limited to my Dell laptop to work with. My hard drive run at 5400rpm opposed to the required 7200rpm and my graphics cards will also need to be replaced. My main question here is if I buy an external 7200rpm hard drive, will that work to run avid smoothly? I know that external connections slow the hard drive down, but has anyone else found this to work? Replacing the graphics card shouldn't be much of a problem but I am worried about the hard drive issue. I also was wondering if an editing program of that caliber will even function on a laptop, considering that in the business people are often times working on more powerful desktop computers. I will be using avid for the first time this summer, purchasing the student edition.

My other question deals with audio recording. My film will not consist of a lot of spoken dialogue, so I don't really need a mic, however I hope to go out into the field and record some natural sounds which I will use as effects. Not foley sounds per se but just natural sounding audio to enhance certain points of the film. For example I wish to record a natural train whistle. What audio recorder would you suggest that falls around $100 or lower. I have a pretty tight budget so I am trying to save wherever I can.

Thanks in advance!
Gage
 
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My main question here is if I buy an external 7200rpm hard drive, will that work to run avid smoothly?
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When you say connection, are you talking USB1, USB2, USB3, Firewire, Coax, Wifi (and the appropriate protocol questions added in here) and so on.

To be totally accurate, Avid will run smoothly if it just sits there doing nothing, but I'm going to assume that's not what you're asking. It's run media through it, you might find it slowing down depending on what you're doing, and the other bottlenecks ;) The hard drive is only one potential bottleneck you should be concerned with. The Video card, ram and CPU are also other bottlenecks you need to take into consideration. Other considerations is what you're going to do with it all. The more you try to do (Chroma Key, multiple sources etc), the more strain you'll put on your computer.

Another part of the equation is the media you're trying to edit. Not all media is created equally when it comes to performance of editing systems. Using a high res h.264 will make your computer struggle more than a low res Pro Res 4:2:2 codec. Even using a very high res picture as a background can cause some systems to come to a crawl.

I'll leave the audio question for the audio guys.
 
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Nothing beats a well recorded sound. Unfortunately, $100 is not going to get you quality sounds. Low budget hand-held audio recorders are almost passable for some things like ambiences, but they do not do well with "details;" the pre-amps are usually weak and noisy.

All that being said, the Tascam DR-40 is a good place to start. At $150 it's a bit above your price range, but it has Lo-Z (Low Impedance) XLR inputs so you can connect a decent mic once you have the budget for one, and the on-board mics aren't too terrible. The Tascam DR-07mkII at $120 is okay, but not very upgradable. I've heard good things about the Olympus LS-12 ($150) and the LS-10S ($180), although I've never used either. Again, they're not very upgradable.

You can get sounds from quite a few different sources. Some vendors of sample libraries have a small selection of free sounds on their websites. (You usually have to sign up, so you will get emails from them, but some have decent info along with the sales pitch.) Google free sound effects, there's quite a bit out there. Oh, don't turn up your nose at the "trashy" freebees; sometimes that "trashy" sound (low bit/sample rate) is exactly what you need.

A great resource is FreeSound.org; sounds from there have even been used in mega-budget films. The quality ranges from terrible to very nice, so it takes a while to sort through it all to find the good stuff; it's Creative Commons, so you will need to credit the creator of the sound in your project.



Edit - fixed the site address
 
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Thanks for the audio help you guys. I will check into all of that. As for my computer. I have 8gb of ram. I will be replacing my graphics card with one that avid recommends. My computer runs on windows 7 64 bit. The core is an intel i7-3612QM. It runs at 2.10ghz. Has turbo boost but that doesn't seem to do much, haha. Those are my specs at the moment.
 
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A dedicated DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) will be a big help; most NLEs do not have in-depth audio editing capabilities. Audacity is free, and though not as powerful or versatile as professional systems, better then most NLEs.

Once you dive into sound editing you really need some better audio equipment - a decent sound card and some good speakers are a start, as well as a little sound treatment.

The old joke goes "A boat is a hole in the water into which one pours money." The same is true about audio gear; it's a hole in your bedroom/basement/whatever that definitely eats into your budget, but is very necessary when doing film sound.

Your project will only look as good as it sounds, because
"Sound is half of the experience."​
 
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Alcove Audio said:
The only issue with Vegas is that, even after the latest upgrade, it does not output an OMF or AAF that works with Pro Tools.
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Hmm, that does suck. I'm not sure that it'll be an issue for a first-time filmmaker, who will probably be doing audio all within their video editing software, but it's definitely a consideration, so I'm glad you pointed it out.

Do you know -- does Premiere Elements export OMF or AAF for Pro Tools? Cuz Elements is currently available for only 60 bucks.
 
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I found a pretty good deal on Avid Media Composer. The student version is only $300 and I can ride that out for the four years I am in college. I wanted to start learning how to use the program because I know it is used in the industry, which I hope to break into some day. I am not to familiar with Vegas of Premiere. I really wasn't to sure what a good editing software to start out with would be for a project like this. I want to end up with a polished and nice looking film, and I will probably need to use chroma key for some green screening.
 
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They all have chroma key. Vegas is pretty entry-level. Premiere is legit (arguably the best there is).

Also, though it's true that a large segment of the industry is loyal to Avid, it's also true that you might not ever have an opportunity to deal with these people. Avid is what the high-dollar studios use, if I'm to make a generalization.

Final Cut, however, has had a pretty strong stranglehold on the middle-dollar professionals. I'm not sure if that's changed much, with the crossover from FCP to FCX, but the impression I get is that people have been adapting to FCX, and it's still very popular.

In truth, if you want to be a professional editor, you really should learn how to use all three of them. Also in truth, if you learn one, it's very easy to transition to another, and all three (Avid, Final Cut, and Premiere) are used professionally.

Elements is the inexpensive entry-level version of Premiere. Professional editors use Premiere Pro, but if you learn Elements, you'll have a smooth transition into Pro (or either Avid or Final Cut). The reason I recommend the less-expensive version is because right now, you don't have the slightest idea if you're actually an editor. For all you know, you might hate editing (many people do). And if you hate editing, you're gonna suck at it. Or, maybe you'll love it, and be awesome at it. If the latter is true, a less-expensive entry-level editing software will still service you well, for a long time, and when you're ready to upgrade you'll know which of the three studios will suit you best. :)
 
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Makes sense, Adobe acquired Automatic Duck, and incorporated it into CS6.. so it stands to reason they were able to make that function both directions pretty easily for import and export
 
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