The editing process consumes an awful lot of your time. Important decisions are made here and ultimately the Edit will make, or break, your production. So to help it all go smoothly make sure your edit suite is set out as well as it can be. Here’s a few of our suggestions for a small set up. The Room For most of us this will be the spare bedroom, or home office, but whatever your space, make sure it has all the right features. Lighting should be controllable. So turn off the main lights, pull down the blinds and use lamps in the appropriate places to help control the lighting. The Editing Kit While the Edit Workstation itself can be expensive it’s worth while trying to spend some more on the likes of Monitors and Speakers. For our edit monitors we like to use two LG 23” Monitors running at a resolution of 1920x1080. For our audio monitoring we like the M-Audio AV32 speakers, which sound great and didn’t break the bank. If you have a little more money the Mackie CR-3’s are amazing and come with acoustic pads too! Both speakers have bigger 4” (AV42 and CR-4) brothers which make for even better sound in larger rooms. The reason we like these speakers in particular is because they are self powered and have a great selection of inputs but more importantly, they are great sounding speakers with the spoken word, which when editing is most of your work. If you need to control your environment further still then invest in some decent headphones. We love the Sennheiser Headphone range and suggest the Sennheiser 202’s as a getting started set. We also looked at some cheap Panasonic headphones, but in the end you get what you pay for! The Desk Make sure you have enough desk space! I like to keep my desk top as clear of things as possible, so my workstation goes down on the floor. Make sure it’s not around too close for you to kick it, and if you have producers or directors sitting alongside you they too can’t kick it by accident either. Snapped USB keys can be a disaster! If you are going to have couple of you sat at the desk, make sure there's enough for you both to squeeze on and not get in each others way too much. Your desk will become full of stickie notes and scripts, so try and keep it organised. Most edit suites also have the video monitor next to the editing monitor’s to allow the editor to view the edit without much trouble. We have an AJA Express IO which gives out HDMI into a third PC monitor running and 1920x1080. This helps keep costs down but does mean its not a professional monitoring solution. Raise the monitors so that they are at eye level, even if it means they're stood on A4 reams of paper (yes I’ve done that!) If you have enough space try and do the same with the speakers. Check out AV desk makers such as AKA Design for ideas and inspiration. We can’t stress enough to you to make sure you have a good chair that can let you sit for hours while editing. Also, make sure you have regular breaks, standing up and walk about for a few minutes, go put the kettle on for some creative inspiration. When editing also try and change your focal point from the monitor every now and then as this can fatigue the eyes too! Make sure you have a good wrist rest while editing to help with RSI and for the posh ones out there look for the likes of the RAZOR mouse with programmable buttons to really speed the whole process up! A wireless mouse is always recommended, if nothing else it keeps wires of the desk. If you can also get a dedicated coloured keyboard for your editing application it helps to find those short cuts so much easier, check out the likes of Editors Keys for back lit units too. Extras A voice over (VO) Mic is a great bit of kit to have and essential when ever doing a documentary. We particularly like the Samson USB Microphone range and have a soft spot for the Sampson Go Mic as it can be stored neatly into its own stand and be used on the go with your laptop. We use an AliExpress 3.5mm Analogue mic for our old Mac Mini running iMovie, which has worked great for us and didn't break the bank at only $10! To get the most from the Microphone ensure that you have a quite environment and if needs be use the likes of pop shields to help Check out the likes of Amazon for the Samsons and Editors Keys for some great mics too. Check List Here's a little list to make sure you have all the basics. Kit
Environment
So that's it. Our quick simple guide for a better edit suite. Now go make a film! Links
Here's some great resources should you want to dive deeper into the make up of professional edit suites.. Headphone guides http://jonnyelwyn.co.uk/film-and-video-editing/what-are-the-best-headphones-for-film-editors/ Audio Speakers (Monitoring) http://jonnyelwyn.co.uk/film-and-video-editing/the-best-studio-monitors-for-an-edit-suite/ Computer MIcs http://www.micreviews.com/guides/top-10-best-microphones-for-computer Make up of an Edit Suite https://library.creativecow.net/biscardi_walter/Edit-Suite/1 http://jonnyelwyn.co.uk/film-and-video-editing/inside-a-professional-edit-suite/
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