Absolutely positively vital is your edit console. I’ve seen and used all manner of consoles, edit desks from build it myself to the classic Winsted units and I have to say, I’ve never found anything so well laid out and versatile as the Anthro Fit Console system. First off, they are completely rugged. Two of our Anthros are going on three years old and they still look like they just came out of the box. Now these consoles are not the cheapest desks in the world, but I find they are worth every penny. Look at the amount of room that’s across the main desk to hold monitors and gear. They are incredibly strong and can hold a lot of weight. They keyboard shelf alone can hold 40 pounds, so more than enough strength for, say a Davinci Resolve panel. And actually calling it a keyboard shelf is a misnomer, look at just how large that shelf really is. I have a standard keyboard on the left and a medium WACOM tablet on the right and there’s still plenty of room for notes and whatnot. The one thing I do change on the keyboard shelf is the position of the clutch that locks the shelf into position. Where the instructions tell you to put it, the arm of your chair will constantly run into it. So I move it much further to the right. This keyboard shelf has a huge range of motion both down and up for the ultimate in comfort of how you like the sit. My favorite feature of the desk is that allows for the editor to stand if they wish as seen in the next photo.
The classic Mackie 1202 audio mixer. It would not surprise me if this is the best selling audio mixer ever. Seems like every edit suite has one. But with todays digital I/O’s and digital formats, why the heck do we still use them? Well they do still give us flexibility in a shop like ours. We do have a machine room with 7 edit systems, 6 VTRs, DVD and BluRay players, and ProTools playback. So those four audio inputs you see across channels 1 through 4 are full patchable. In normal mode, Channels 1 and 2 are fed by our Kona boards so we can listen to our edits. Channels 3 and 4 are open for any other inputs such as from a VTR. Like when mastering to tape, very often we will watch and listen to the VTR instead of the playback of the edit system. This will tell us immediately if there’s an issue with the signal going to tape. And if we hear an anomaly, we can instantly bring up the edit system output to see if the anomaly is on the output or something internal to the VTR. In addition, if we hear something wrong in one of our edit suites, say crackling in the audio, we can patch that system’s output to another room and listen to see if we hear the same audio issue. Finally, these boards have dual AUX outputs which is incredibly useful with our new VO booth. We can connect a microphone to the audio board so we can talk back to the talent in the VO booth and we can also feed their own audio back into the headset. This means we can record a VO in any edit suite and not just a dedicated audio suite. So having the mixing board with at least four inputs is very useful in our situation, not to mention we use the board as a volume control for our audio monitors.
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And lastly, here are the links to everything I’ve mentioned in this article
WH Platts Company One of the best Value Added Resellers in the United States. 80 to 90% of everything in my shop has been purchased through Platts.
Auralex Monitor Isolation Pads
Gefen 5600HD Cat 5 DVI / USBApparently they have updated the 5500HD model
Middle Atlantic Slim 5 Racks The Racks we use in the Machine Room
Small Tree ST RAID II The 48TB Raid in the Machine Room.
Great rundown of your setup Walter. Thanks for taking the time to do this. Your new shop is amazing. Congrats!! When I set myself up with my home edit rig a few months back I actually used your setup as a guide for my own and so far following your lead has been a good move. Thanks for the guidance.
Walter, the one thing you didn’t include in your rundown of your shop is a list of plugins you have installed in your systems. I was curious as to what your team is using? Do you normally buy entire suites of plug ins or do you prefer purchasing individual plugs when the need arises?
Thanks again
Chris
Hi Chris, glad our setup was useful.
We really don’t use that many plugins. We bought the entire Red Giant library two years ago when they had a killer sale. Now we will have to figure out what to get as we move to either 64 bit FCP, Adobe Premiere or Avid. Will have to purchase all over again.
Excellent overview! It really looks nice. My setup is no where near as professional since I am currently using my personal computer for editing.
I have the mid 2011 27″ iMac, Snowball Mic, and 2 external hard drives. Once Thunderbolt enabled hard drives are unveiled, I will pick some up. Also, I am going to try and find some good, cheap speakers. Do you know of any? I am hoping for some in the $30-80 range. Thanks 🙂
These KRK’s are about as cheap as I go for speakers quite honestly if you are trying to mix to them. Anything cheaper than that, you really don’t get true representation of sound and what happens is you go somewhere else to listen to your project and it doesn’t sound the same. Doesn’t really matter which brand of cheap speaker, they all have the same problems. Some are too tinny so you add too much bass to the mix. Some are too boomy so your mix turns out tinny. If you’re mixing sound at the very least get the KRK’s which will require a stereo splitter coming off your iMac.
Thanks for taking the time to respond Walter. I always wondered what a shop like yours would keep in it’s Plug In tool box. Red Giant makes good stuff and if you caught a sale, even better. I feel your pain on updating to 64bit.
I have another question for you if you wouldn’t mind answering… I’m a daily Cow reader and I follow you on Twitter as well. So I know you are seriously considering going the Avid route if FCP X doesn’t end up fitting your shops workflow. My question is… Any reason why you aren’t seriously considering Adobe Premiere for your shop? I think you had even mentioned that you already owned several copies as a part of the Production Premium suite. Again, I was just curious b/c Premiere has an FCP feel/look (in my opinion) and I’m a huge fan of the Dynamic Link feature built into the suite. I can’t really speak for it’s media management capabilities though and I know that Avid does shine when it comes to that.
Again, I was just curious what your thinking on this was…
Thanks again for answering all my questions
Chris
I am considering Premiere as well, it’s just that Atlanta is an Avid / FCP town so to stay consistent with what’s in use here, the better option to move is Avid. That being said, Robbie Carmen just sent me a copy of his book for pro editors switching to Premiere so I’m looking forward to seeing that and just how it would affect our workflow if we were to switch to that, yet still be compatible with the other facilities here in town. The exciting thing about Adobe is that they already support our AJA Kona boards so we don’t have to wait for Avid to add that support. I already know FCP X 1.0 is not going to work for us so I am actively pursuing other options as who knows when (if?) FCP X will ever support the workflows that we already do in FCP 7 and need to maintain. FCP X is a tremendous step backwards for Apple in terms of a professional workflow. Yeah, it’s a neat interface and it’s “easier” to use for novices picking up the software, but if I can’t take an FCP 7 project and continue working with it in the new software, then it’s pretty useless to me.
I see your point about your town being more of a Avid/FCP town… I’m in NYC and it’s the same story here.
You make a good point about Adobe playing nice with AJA and Blackmagic cards, that is a huge pro in my book. I think Avid dropped the ball a bit on this one. I understand they are slowly working AJA compatibility into their product line but they really should have had Full Kona (and maybe even Blackmagic) compatibility as soon as Apple previewed FCP X. That along with the $995 cross promotion (which just ended) would have really helped them take back some market share. I must say though, you are one of the few FCP leaders on the cow that is more than skeptical about this new FCP release. While everyone is saying it’s gonna be the greatest thing since sliced bread I find your posts to be more realistic with how things will probably play out.
It’s funny you mention that PP book b/c I’ve had that title in my amazon cart for the last 4 days. I just haven’t pulled the trigger on it yet. Harington/Carman/Greenburg is pretty much the Adobe dream-team in my world. You can’t go wrong with those guys.
It should definitely be interesting to see how this new FCP will change the industry yet again.
The ironic thing about Avid is that AJA has been making their hardware for years. At least the video cards. So Avid already supports AJA. Now they just need to officially support the Kona
FCPX very well might be the next big thing. It just won’t be this week when it comes out. Two years of development and all we have to show for it is a gee whiz super cool new interface for which we are supposed to say “aw give them a break, they will get it right eventually.”. Not in my book when I make a living with this software.
Love your setup. Recommend this chair
http://ergohuman.com/ergohuman-me7erg.htm
Looks interesting, thanks for sharing!
Walter,
this is great stuff. thanks for sharing here and on the COW.
just a couple questions: on your SAN, i am considering a SAN for my facility, and i wondered if you had looked at CalDigit’s solution? why did you choose SmallTree? are they a local Atlanta sale/service vendor? i see that it’s ethernet, and it appears to be fast enough to handle all your HD needs. Is it appreciably cheaper than fibre?
also, i don’t see any scopes. I know for myself, when i’m digitizing from a tape format, i like to set the levels GOING IN, not after it’s been digitized. Do you have a BMD Ultrascope, or do you just use the scopes included in the software?
BTW, i love my Samsung Galaxy Tab. It will play Flash all day.
and i really like the idea of standing up occasionally while editing. I do that a lot. People think it’s odd.
thanks.
Hi there,
For the SAN I’ve been using Small Tree gear since we started with ethernet SAN about three or four years ago. It was sold as Maxx Digital Final Share SAN at the time, but it used Small Tree gear and know-how to make it all work. Now that it’s time to upgrade, we switched over fully to Small Tree branded storage and hardware with them also providing the install. Small Tree is out of Minnesota but they maintain our systems remotely which is awesome. Anytime we need tech support they just log into the computer in question and tweak. I had very bad experience in the past with CalDigit and have never tried one of their products since. I hear they are better now, but I won’t test them.
No hardware scopes because all our tape captures are performed digitally via SDI so no need to set levels going in. We have color correction software on every machine so setting levels would be a waste of time for us since we’re going to color grade each shot anyway. Software scopes have proven to be incredibly accurate.
Yes, standing while editing is definitely something I would recommend at least a few hours per day.
A couple questions for you Walter. First, thanks for sharing all this information. I wish I came upon it a couple months ago when I was granted the opportunity to build an edit suite of my own. This is where my questions stem from…
1. For monitors I bought a couple M-Audio BX5a’s after reading several good reviews about them. I’ve read that they stack up comparably to the KRK’s. Would you say that’s true? Seeing all the edit suites with KRKs is giving me buyer’s remorse.
2. The company I work for is a big ad agency so there are lots of designers on hand and people sitting all the time. Building an edit suite is a new venture for them but one they are pursuing intensely. Every time I approach them about purchasing a functional edit-centric desk, I get a little push back and the question of “Why do we need a special edit desk? Why can’t we use what we have here already?” How do you think I should approach this situation?
Thanks for all the help in advance. All your FCP transition posts have been really helpful!
I have never tried the M-Audio speakers so I don’t know how they compare. I’ve heard both KRK and Genelec. Obviously Genelec is amazing and we have them in our sound sweetening room, but for the rooms, I love the KRKs.
Not sure about convincing folk to buy a production centric workstation. I’m an editor first so I know how much more efficient it makes us and how comfortable it makes the editors. I guess just show them the photos of our facility and other Anthro photos. Good luck!
Walter,
Thanks for sharing this. We are building a Editing/Color grading suite, and your post here and in Creative Cow has been a big help.
I would like to ask you some questions about this if i may…
We want to build this suite for television and film color grading finish, so looking at the setup of your da Vinci workstation,(a) i see you are using the BlackMagic Decklink Extreme 3D video card, but i think i read some post where you didnt recommended the Blackmagic cards, instead the AJA Kona 3, (b) i noticed there’s no Red Rocket card, so i was wondering if you can playback 4k footage on realtime…there’s a DeckLink 4K from Blackmagic, wish is supposed to playback 4k footage on realtime, but on the configuration manual from resolve, it states that there’s no mac pro currently that can playback 4K on Davinci, (c) I would like to know your opinion about davinci, compared to other Color Grading Software, like Scratch…
Sorry, there’s a lot o questions here, but i’m from Chile and there’s no many people around that know about this.
Thanks again for all the Info!!
At this time the Resolve does not support AJA Kona cards so we have the BlackMagic card in our Resolve system.
We don’t have room for a Red Rocket card in the machine. We’ve tested the system with 4k and it worked fine. The RAID attached to that system runs in excess of 550MB/s
The only thing I can compare it to is Apple Color which I’ve used for about 5 years. Resolve is another tool that does many of the same things and does many things better. We’re switching over to an Adobe shop now so we’re interested to see what Adobe is going to do with SpeedGrade now that they purchased Iridas. Really many of the high end color grading tools are about equal in what they can do, they just operate differently and that’s what makes the difference for the operator. You need to use what works for you and what makes sense for your workflow.
Thanks for your quick answer!! I really like Color, but for client’s we need something running on realtime…I havent had any experience with scratch, but i know it can playback and export almost any codec natively, that’s why im interested on it…
Any recommendation on how to become a decent colorist ASAP apart of practice?
THKS!!
Practice is the only way to become a colorist period. There’s no quick way to become a good colorist.
Hi Walter, this is insightful. I have just acquire a Hexa Core workstation from ADK and this article has helped me put things in order. I live in Accra, Ghana and there no where to get inspiration and resources like this apart from people like you. Well done. With my workstation, I have 2x 23″ Samsung LED monitors, 24gb Ram, Blackmagic Intensity Pro, GTX 470 and 2x 2TB Raid0 drives and a 500gb OS drive. I use Premiere Pro CS5. Now I’m looking to getting a good HDTV as monitor for my color grading work. BTW, I use Magic Bullet Looks and occasionally Colorista II. I would welcome any recommendations on a good HDTV (LCD/PLASMA/LED) that can help me monitor my color work. My budget is $1,200 max.
For that low of a budget a plasma screen is the only way to go, but you’ll need a way to calibrate and you have to understand the floating white point issue in the screens will cause them to slightly change colors during the day.
We run the Panasonic Pro Plasma series here as they are simply the best large screens for the money.
http://www.panasonic.com/business/plasma/index.asp
I realize this is an old post, but I still use it as a reference. I’d love to see how things have changed since this post!
In all honesty Daniel, just substitute Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 for Apple Final Cut Pro 7. The rest of the suite is still the same, no changes. I will be replacing the Mac Pros in all the suite soon either with PCs or iMacs. We’re testing an iMac in Edit 2 at the moment and it’s working well with a few issues still to be ironed out with the AJA IoXT.
Great breakdown of a great setup! Thanks for going over it in such detail. I’ve been review my workstations and have realized that ergonomics indicate that “your wrists should never rest on anything” while working. Egads! I’ve been doing this for decades! I can’t imagine installing a tray as has been suggested by the reading I’ve been doing. I’m guessing that raising the chair up is the next best thing.
Any thoughts on this? I keep my keyboard and Wacom tablet on a large table, similar to the one you have, only the table is not adjustable. I’m wondering if it might be beneficial to go ahead and try mounting the trays, but in the past they annoyed everyone that tried to use them. Any thoughts?
Not sure on these trays you’re talking about. All I can tell you is that while these Anthro desks are expensive, we’ve been using them since 2005 or so and I can’t imagine my editors working without them. The key is being able to adjust the desk and your posture throughout the day. The longer you work, the more you will want to adjust. For instance, after lunch I usually stand up at the edit console for at least a few hours because it’s more comfortable.
In fact I generally spend more time standing up at my console than sitting down anymore. I feel more alert standing for some reason.
I agree, the Anthro is worth it. I’m trying to find out how to get one shipped to Asia 😐 I’m sure there is away, and would hapilly pay the price, but the import tax would be murder, so trying to think of a work around for now.
Anywho, thanks again for being so free with sharing the information. Even if I have to have something similar built here, it gives me a starting place.
Thanks again.
Not sure if Anthro has any Asian distributors quite honestly. Wouldn’t hurt to at least drop them an email to find out.
At the very least, there’s probably someone in Asia who makes a similar type of thing. Anthro also makes one that’s electric where the entire desk rises up and down. I’ve seen something similar in multiple catalogs, I’ll bet you’re find something like that.
And if worst comes to worst, like you said, maybe design something. Who knows, maybe you’ll be able to sell the design too! Good Luck!