What is the best type of speakers and ect?
 

Hello,

I have am just begging to unravel the world of digital photography and editing and have a couple of questions regarding speakers. I have a Gl1 and XL1s.

What is the best type of Flat speakers?
What is the best type of High End speakers?
What is the best type of Sound Card avaliable?
What is are the best sound editing programs?

I am using a Gl1 and a XL1s. My computer is an intel based machine.


Cheers

David Applegate

For what use, and what budget? Will you be editing on the computer and if so what NLE (program) will you use.

What equipment do you have including camera.

There are a lot of variables.

Have you done any searches on this and other forums?

A common sentiment among top notch audio editors/mixers is that you shouldn't cut corners on your monitors. Probably the truest powered nearfield monitors on the market are the Mackie 824s; a pair runs about $1600. There are plenty of more expensive numbers. Less expensive and still great quality; the JBL 4410s about $800 for a pair, but you'll need an amp. Really tight budget: the Behringer 2031s are $300 for a pair.

Best type of Sound card. I guess pro tools HD. For less than $10k the the Tascam FW-1884 is really nice. I use and like the M-audio USB Duo.

Nuendo is supposed to be the top tier software only sound program. Adobe Audition is very nice. Some people really like Soundforge.

Basically you need to study a fair bit. This is the only way to fill in all of the blanks.

http://www.dplay.com/book/index.html

Buy "Producing Great Sound for Digital Video" by Jay Rose and read it cover to cover.

Other sites include

http://www.equipmentemporium.com/articles.htm


http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/location_sound.html

http://www.lafcpug.org/review_shotgun_mic.html

Reading these sites and buying the book will get you in tune very quickly.

David,

Are you using a PC or a Mac?

It's very difficult to say what is 'best'. There are so many different criteria and so many good choices. However, no harm in mentioning a few of my favourites:

Small monitors: KRK V4 These are good if you don't have much space.

Sound cards: avoid Creative if you want 'high end'. Otherwise there are lots. I use an RME internal card (also available as part of a Nuendo bundle) and an external Motu 828 for multi track. Any Pro Tools stuff (eg M-Box and upwards) is good. You need to decide whether the sound card will just be used for monitoring, or whether it will be used for i/o (eg S/PDIF transfers) as well. If you are likely to do DAT transfers via S/PDIF, an RME card with Wavelab software will transfer track markers.

Software: I'm one of the fans of Sound Forge. That is basically two-track. It works very well with Vegas. I like Sonar for multi-track, but Vegas can do that.

In addition to Bryan's useful list, Sound On Sound is always worth reading. Lots of reviews, and available on-line.

Best,
Helen