Hey guys. I am new to the forum here, so I hope I am posting this in the right place.
I am currently working on building a small studio for both audio and video productions. I started off with tinker toy type programs on my PC like Pinnacle, and have made my way up. I have no pro training, just what I have been asking on forums and reading in books.
I guess it would be a home studio I am building, but I would like to go above that some what, and I hope I am in the right direction at this time. I kind of want to fill in some of the experience people on here with what I have purchased already to see if I am doing alright. I am always learning something new, and I hope some of you can continue that learning process for me. I have never taken any classes on this stuff, pretty much self taught and picked up a few things when I was in my metal band the last 6 years recording in studios.
I have a PC setup for my studio. I am waiting for MY new pc to be built witch is directed to video production, but audio also comes with that, but until then I am currently working on another recently built PC a relative put together. Dual Core AMD processor, 2 gigs of ram, windows XP pro with Service Pack 2, etc.
I have been recording an audio project recently, learning as I go along. I also am into video production, but again I am all pretty new at all of this.
I am a Sony Creative Software user. I have had very little to no crashing issues with any of their programs, and they are great powerful tools. I learn something new with every one each time I use it, and I am buying the Seminar Series training DVDs Sony made for them software. I have purchased pretty much every major pro piece of software Sony has. Acid Pro 6, Vegas Pro 8, Cinescore, Sound Forge, the works (with experience with past versions of these programs).
Here is some of the gear I am using:
-Line 6 USB guitar interface with Gearbox plugins to record guitar tracks (no amps required and what not).
-PreSonus 1394 Fire wire audio interface (going to be updating this to a (larger interface with more inputs).
-Samson 40 watt monitors for mixing (easy purchase to get me up and running).
-Waves plugins from their Diamond Bundle to their Musicians Bundle for FX and mastering (although I know nothing about mixing and mastering properly right now).
-And to start off, I bought a cheap MXL V63M Studio Condenser studio mic.
I am currently looking at Buying a Canon GL2 Video camera to start off with video production. I am currently setting up 2 indy film type projects and I am totally new to it. I have experience with editing and DVD authoring for family/wedding videos, but would like to cross over into film making.
I was wondering what would be some good tips from anyone here or even websites, books, DVDs, anything that could help me out. Especially with the best way to recording actors dialog when shooting for a film. I know this is a lot for a first post, but I am trying to learn everything I can before I start taking on more projects.
Please help, and thanks in advanced.
Comments
Well , this reply is a month late, but no one else responded, so
Well , this reply is a month late, but no one else responded, so here goes.
I have been doing Audio and video productions in a rural area for 10 years, so while I may not be a big "hollywood"guy, I do know what I am doing to a certain extent.
First, Make sure you have a dependable primary source of income for the next several years. I have done exactly what you are trying to do, but it takes time. I had built in clients from day 1, due to many friends in the music scene and my wife was a "wedding business" pro. Even at that it took 3 or 4 years of putting every cent back into the business.
Unfortunately, you have picked a bad time to get into recording. 10 years ago, my modest setup was still much better than most peoples 4 track cassette home studios, and I had at least some engineering skills that most people did not have. The point is this... what you have on your equipment list is stuff that anyone could go out and put on a credit card and figure out how to use (to a certain extent). In order to get clients you will need to provide gear that they cannot either afford to buy themselves, or know how to do something that they can't. The proliferation of really cheap recording gear has put me in the position of building a new studio from the ground up with nice 14 ft. ceilings and much better acoustics than your average garage or bedroom. The way I figured it is that while people may be able to buy 4 or 5K worth of recording gear, they will not likely spend 50K on a room to put it in. So what I am now selling is my experience and my room, NOT the gear.
The GL2 is a pretty safe bet for video production. I use an XL1s, GL1 and VX1000 and I am considering buying a GL2 this year. I don't think HD is going to be an issue for another couple of years. When it does become standard, the GL2 will actually look better that some of the cheap entry level HD cams if you upconvert it and throw it on a blu-ray disc.
Good luck.
MarkG