Originally Posted by Tim Polster (Post 1807466)

I would follow Bill's advice and also add that you do not need to spend $30,000 in the process.

To me, two of the most important factors are video & audio preview monitors. Get a $2,000+ broadcast video monitor that is fed from a proper video editing card. Then get a nice set of near field audio monitors like Genelec, Focal, Adams etc... with a proper sound card like a Motu 4 Pre.

These two things will last your career and will be the tools your make the most decisions from.

As far as video editing goes, the room is not that important. Paint the walls grey and lower the lighting and you are pretty much there! Audio is a bit more demanding.

I have some questions when I read 7D and "feature film" in the same thought. Does your work support a $30,000 edit bay?

Originally Posted by Nathan Moody (Post 1807453)

My advice is to spend as much as you can on the room, especially power and sound treatment, as discussed in a previous reply. That will probably be most of your budget, frankly, and that's probably as it should be. Your gear can always be upgraded and the interior design and detailing can always be changed...but you really don't want to knock down walls or re-sheetrock if the power system is dirty or there are resonant frequencies or bass problems during the edit/mix, as that will basically shut your operation down. The only interior and gear stuff you probably shouldn't cheap out on are the core computer running the suite, and a great (not good) chair. Everything else can get put in for cheap, and improved over time.

FWIW, when it comes to control surfaces, I'm a longtime user of Avid (nee Euphonix) MC Artist series control surfaces; they're cost-effective, feel good, and are great for all the major platforms, DAWs, and NLE's. I have every unit except their color grading surface, but for editing the MC Transport is probably a good core unit to start with; MC Control plus MC Transport is a very powerful combo, and will give you hands-on control of 4+ audio tracks without much hassle plus a decent jog/shuttle (the one on the MC Control is garbage).

Originally Posted by Daisy Johnsson (Post 1807587)

Thank you for your advise.
Regarding the feature film question, I just want to say that for example The Black Swan, The avengers and Red Tails were partly filmed using the 7D. But I did write that I also needed to be able to work with the RED Camera.