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Meet The Home Studio

glennwalton@mac.com (Glenn Walton) — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 01:19:56 GMT

Before we were all working from home I was already there. The roots of my home edit suite, back story, an updates in 2020

"Man, I wish I could work from home!" a friend of mine said to me once (no, many times!). Sounds great right!? Well...it is, but it's not all roses and beautiful landscapes. I think the only one who really understands it most is my wife, Rachel. Now working at home as a school teacher for the South Lake Tahoe school district , she sees it's more difficult than you would think. She kind of already knew it. Most people say things like the first sentence of this post, but Rachel will often say "how do you do it? And, you stay so focused?!"

Of course, because of Covid, here in South Lake, teachers are remote right now and working their asses off! I see if first hand. Getting a handle on remote learning, new processes, and engaging students is almost like developing a program from scratch.

For someone like Rachel, sitting in front of a computer , often sitting still and not interacting with the kids, and making the kind of difference she often does in person, kind of sucks. We are still grateful to have work, be healthy, and are so fortunate to not be in much worse situations all around our country and world so we remind ourselves of that every day. It's all good. We'll get through this!

For me, it's been a LONG time in the work from home world and even from my early days as a sound engineer building out my own studio, it's been about creating an environment that encourages creativity, is simple and effective...and cool!

I LOVE THE DESIGN OF THE WORK ENVIRONMENT.

My whole home setup really shifted in 2014 with the upgrade of my Mac Pro to the "Trash Can" model. I had for years been on an older Mac Pro "Cheesegrater" and loved it. Me and that computer got through a lot. Through the first waves of Final Cut Pro to some fun music production via Cubase and ProTools . It was a burly, reliable piece of computer equipment and launched my freelance career really from staff editor and motion graphics guy in DC to a pretty damn nice setup at home and freelancing.

At the heart of this new setup was the stand up desk. I had been sitting long enough and really liked the idea of getting off my butt more, moving around, and just getting things circulating! Here's the best part, my wife Rachel was teaching in Chaffee County, CO at the time and the High School Shop was doing "spec" jobs for student projects. It was perfect. You work with them on design, they do the welding and parts job, you pay for said parts and when done you donate to the high school and they showcase and get graded on their work. What's not to like! The result was very cool and very heavy. My buddy had a large piece of desktop wood the high school shop students also belt sanded and I stained and boom... custom stand up desk!

When I built out the "BEAST", I had to approach a few things differently. As a RYZEN build, I was skeptical about Thunderbolt 3 since it's an Intel Protocol. I was also trying to move all disks internal anyway getting away from the many external drive arrays. At least, hoping to start that way ultimately moving to SATA storage and retrieval as needed but nice to have instant access to archive project and those elements.

I had to mention this M-Audio device because although just a small element of the build, love when things work out so well. I was using a Zoom TAC-2R thunderbolt 2 I/0 device and it had some nice, large knobs too but my build was really only USB options. This thing fit the mold perfectly. I sold the Zoom and picked the little guy up cheap and it works so well! Love the even large volume knob and great for quick scratch recording or quick adjust of headphone loudness all in easy reach.

IF IT WORKS...WHY FIX IT?! PERSISTENT PERIPHERALS

I really love that a lot of my external gear could stay with me too. I'm hoping that's because my 2014 build was well thought out, a bit future proof, and was able to keep up with the technology. The LG Ultra-Wide and KRK monitors definitely had to stay! The Ultra-Wide were being launched in 2014 and I jumped on it spec'ing out that system. I was using 2 Apple monitors at the time and had been a dual monitor user for as long as I can remember. There's some nice things about that but there was also that simple and aesthetic approach to going to a single monitor and the this super wide monitor from LG provided more visual real estate comparatively anyway. Still going strong although as things develop, high resolution super wide monitors are becoming better and more affordable and I'm thinking...sometime. Also, an even bigger display monitor would be nice but this thing is front and center and keeps things reeled in.

Ready to go! Yes, it's crazy to think I will spend most of my time in front of this. I gotta say though, it feels comfy, clean and inviting. All of us in this business got here in a variety of ways, but I bet we all love what we do and it doesn't feel like work...most of the time. I think there's a culture of design and aesthetic to our work stations, studios, even our camera rigs. It's also a part of the work I really enjoy sometime evolving my setup and system to meet my project needs while at the same time thinking creatively about how to improve the space and look. It's also a luxury I honor and appreciate. I have to be smart about it, but it's nice that my work affords me some room to play and as you can see there's some unique ways to do that.

The BEAST Does Live!!!

glennwalton@mac.com (Glenn Walton) — Sun, 12 Jul 2020 00:08:36 GMT

Threadripper (ripping) 3960x, 24cores, 128GB RAM, Raided NVME, Raid SATA archives, 2080TI ...all tucked into this big old box!

My last computer purchased was in 2014. The Mac Pro "trash can" . 8 cores, 32GB ram, a RAID5 OWC encslosure, and single ultra-widescreen monitor with playback on a FSI, 24" Broadcast Monitor. Before that, it was the old Mac cheesegrater , which I owned for nearly 6 years and loved! Especially when I was able to upgrade my video card and get some more life out of it. I knew the "trash can" would have limited upgrade potential, probably also have a defined lifespan with me as well, but it was an upgrade none the less, and it's size and portability helped on many projects. It served me really well. With the announcement of the Mac Pro over a year ago (and now being shipped), and it's price tag, I knew it was time to re-think the beating heart of my whole operation. Plus, in a nerdy kind of way...it's fun. 100% Customization for my workflow, media storage needs, and functionality.

The late 2013 Mac Pro while innovative, and honestly a marvel of design and function, had begun to put a strain on my work as resolutions, data rates, and just turning around projects super quick was getting more and more time sensitive. I felt I was "waiting" on it more and more. Creatively, sometimes things need to move fast and provide an opportunity to quickly and easily explore to implement into an "edit". This response and "flow" can be key to know if it's going to "work" and in some cases, developing more makes sense. I wanted to get back to that space but with the new media demands in place. It was also time to sort through YEARS of project archives, consolidate (or just plain discard) and start to think about how to integrate into a new setup. With technology, specs, and benchmarks revealing a lot of interesting and value added hardware in the custom built computer space in the last year...it was time. The BEAST needed to come to life!

CHECKING OUT THE SPECS

AMD has had a stellar couple years. Lots has changed and developed in the world of custom built PCs and their use in post production. Well, maybe not that much has changed, I'm just catching up a bit! It's been a long time since I've not only been inside a computer beyond some RAM or SSD installations. It's been even longer since I worked primarily on PC based systems and Windows OS. That's going back to post production houses and using Avid Systems which ultimately gave way to FCP and Mac. The bottom line is, once your in edit it really doesn't matter but what DOES matter is if the system is keeping up with you and how fast you can turn around product without compromising creativity, quality, or quantity. The "sweet spot" for me was the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960x. Great benchmarks over at PugetSystem s , great reviews, and surprising advantages like incredible export speeds, real-time RAW editing and enough PCI lanes to get creative with storage and cards. Keep reading to see my experience on some real-world projects.

The case includes a few, great fans from BeQuiet! but the case also includes a fan controller with lots of extra slots so why not give this beast some extra cooling while allowing control of the CPU AIO. The fans are smooth and quiet and can't help but love the conhesive look between the case, fans, and AIO. With the case design, the best airflow approach was an additional fan in front and exhaust fans on the top. May only give me a few degrees but I'll take it! In the end, I'm hoping AIO developers nail an awesome, reliable and robust cooler for these new, power hungry AMD processors and I can make a change. The beauty of this build is the ability to upgrade with the same socket in place. Could be a 64core AMD Beast#2 or additional video card...but the the foundation is there to make changes over the next several years without having to go a whole new route.

OVERKILL RAID? WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE!?

Ok, over the top maybe! But with an existing M.2 enclosure for optimal speeds on the old Mac Pro and 4x1TB NVMEs, I couldn't help myself. Not to mention the MOBO shipped with a 4xM.2 Interal 16x PCI card. Result? A local working media drive with 4TB of space and ridiculous speeds! Like, 12,000 MB/sec crazy. I'm sure there's a point where this kind of speed, access of media, and any bottlenecking may come into play and others may argue...why? Well, why not?. I have the NVMEs and the MOBO shipped with the card. And, If you think 4,6, or even 8K files don't benefit from a super fast access like this one...take this thing for a spin!

I recently completed 2 projects and I honestly think I slept because of this thing. Who needs sleep? Shit man, I gotta get some rest to jump back in, keep my flow going! Above, you'll see what looks like a simple timeline for the first of the 2. A 18 minute long sizzle reel for The American Chemical Societ y . They were producing a virtual sizzle reel with various components and needed a overview video of their Publications division and process. Working with long-time client Flying Colors and producer Lynn Knieriem. What the above timeline doesn't reveal is nearly every one of those edits is an After Effects comp. We used a lot of text in conjunction with screen grabs, recordings, and journal covers utilizing AEs camera and depth of field effects. With our schedule (6 days!) knew I needed to keep it fluid, easily revised and instantly back into the edit to dynamically linking these was the way to go. What I didn't expect, and frankly blew my mind, was the near real-time playback of these linked comps inside premiere. What's more, having to revise, adjust effects and turn around another client review with an edit this long, and with linked comps, would have taken hours on the old machine. Now, it's literally minutes and when you can pull off another review at 11pm instead of 3am...you get some sleep!

Another recent job was a 45 minute edit to use with a live auction element to produce a virtual fund raising video for the National Repertory Orchestr a out of Breckenridge, Colorado. Again, the machine delivered. Not only was the timeline experience incredibly responsive, the export process once again saved us. We worked up til a few hours before the show and I knew I could pull off edits to a 20 minute segment and turn it around in less than an hour. Edit, Export, Upload, Link....Done. Simply incredible and actually changes your perception of how to work and liberates in many ways.

It's been an incredible experience building and using this PC. Not only because it's been fun, creative, and fulfilling to see it go from concept to completion (and that it actually works!) but that it has offered so much of what I was hoping and more. I'm still dialing in some aspect like my archive process and drive setup, cooling and BIOS settings, and internal configurations, but it's my new BEAST and I love it!

My NEW Little Studio Buddy!

glennwalton@mac.com (Glenn Walton) — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 00:53:52 GMT

Before Covid-19 changed our lives...this little guy changed ours! You don't know how much you need a buddy like this 'til you have one.

(no dogs were hurt in the photo above!)

I know, not really a "work" related blog post but come on...this guy is freakin' cute! And, he's often great company for long work days, a moment of love after client revisions (ha) and a playful guy when the time is right! A little belly rub can go a long way during a rough day of crazy deadlines!

My wife and I saw the picture of "Dex" (soon to be "Rex") on a rescue group out of San Francisco. They saved street dogs in and around Mexico, giving them temporary homes, then sending them to long-term families in both Mexico and the US. We visited lots of shelters and other organizations wanting a rescue dog. We are a rescue type family and they are incredible dogs and nice to give them a home, see their progress, and just unconditional love you get. We had amazing girls we had lost not too long ago who were both rescues from New Mexico and incredible members of our family! God, I miss them but Rex brings new life into our house!

15LBS OF SCRAGGLY GOODNESS AND A BADASS TO BOOT!

Our last dogs were Husky mixes. Beautiful and full of personality. I really didn't think I could do another dog. We waited a while mostly because of me. Suka and Sombra (our great gals) were with my wife from day one, while I was lucky enough to spend most of their lives together. They weren't huge but they weren't small. Not like this! I liked the idea. Small dog, less hair...ha! Easy and maybe would be able to steer clear of some of the larger dogs issues. It's funny how Rex seems bigger now than he did when we picked him up from the the Sacramento area. The woman literally placed him in my arms and I was like, "this guy is tiny! Can he walk?" Rex was fostered in Mexico for a while and probably spent most of his time indoors. He was a city dog. Pee mats, laying around, maybe a little bored. We both scored! Soon, he was out on long hikes, playing like crazy, and quickly learning where to go...not on the floor! He was a quick study and now he laughs at 7 or 8 miles hikes (which is a lot for us cycling folks!) He's kind of a little badass all around!

He also likes other dogs. Yeah, I know! I have to preface everything I say about our husky dogs with "they were great but..." but they really were. Just making that clear. In fact, I sometimes secretly liked that they didn't like other dogs. Not aggressive, they just really could care less. Maybe a bark or showing some teeth but nothing more.

Suka our oldest girl was the shit. She was standoffish, but in a sweet way. She loved you, but you had to work for it. She wasn't afraid to confront a Coyote or two, and definitely did her own thing. Rex breaks the mold here and it's different...but refreshing. He LOVES other dogs and I mean LOVES them. It's pretty sweet and fun. I even think big, mean looking dogs are like "hey, this guy is kinda cute and pretty mellow, I guess I won't eat him!" He doesn't jump all over them or get in their face. He isn't nippy or pester them endlessly. He lets them make the call. He starts low, on the ground and works his way up to full on chase fest. It's a nice change that way because you feel like he's having some fun not just old and grumpy.

FRIENDLY? A LITTLE TOO FRIENDLY AND WE NEED THAT RIGHT NOW!

Our last dogs were Husky mixes. Beautiful and full of personality. I really didn't think I could do another dog. We waited a while mostly because of me. Suka and Sombra (our great gals) were with my wife from day one, while I was lucky enough to spend most of their lives together. They weren't huge but they weren't small. Not like this! I liked the idea. Small dog, less hair...ha! Easy and maybe would be able to steer clear of some of the larger dogs issues. It's funny how Rex seems bigger now than he did when we picked him up from the the Sacramento area. The woman literally placed him in my arms and I was like, "this guy is tiny! Can he walk?" Rex was fostered in Mexico for a while and probably spent most of his time indoors. He was a city dog. Pee mats, laying around, maybe a little bored. We both scored! Soon, he was out on long hikes, playing like crazy , and quickly learning where to go...not on the floor! He was a quick study and now he laughs at 7 or 8 miles hikes (which is a lot for us cycling folks!) He's kind of a little badass all around!

I guess I will sign off with a few of my favorite photos past and present. Some to remember all the great ones before and the ones currently with us. Like the new and the old Rex with our neighbors dog Winston (RIP good buddy!) and our hairy, but wonderful husky dogs. Their like our families and although a work blog, I mean it's all part of the job right? The ones we love, play with, grow older with . You can push buttons all day, try to be and stay creative and do the best you can totally involved and dedicated for your clients...but your dog...now THAT transcends our working lives and supports it all at the same time.

Black Magic Pocket Cinema 4K

glennwalton@mac.com (Glenn Walton) — Fri, 03 May 2019 23:58:12 GMT

Small camera but a BIG punch! Black Magic's offering provided exactly what I needed to get great quality on the go.

Amazing is about all I can say about this camera. Great color, amazing quality, and a package that allows me to "run and gun" which is usually the work I do. To be honest, I don't do much filming, but when I do I love it, think I get pretty good stuff, and also have been acquiring stock over the years. Although I started and focused on post, I did a lot of videography work over the years for a variety of clients. This camera slots in perfectly. A micro four thirds format for a huge range of lenses while staying small and mobile. It shoots in a variety of formats perfect for editing including Black Magic Raw. It also allows for not only internally recording but also externally via USB-C for longer interview and events.

The ability to use this camera in a variety of settings is a huge plus, but requires some thought on setup. This means going into a job with a clear approach and using the camera and accessories in a way that compliments the needs, vision, terrain...and getting the shot! Since when I'm filming it's usually for events that require a huge amount of coverage and movement (often via foot, bike, and even moto!) I have been scaling back over the years from larger EF lenses and adapters to now native MFT lenses . This seems to be the "sweet" spot for me at least as I can rig it out an adapt for close to full-frame field of view and lenses or run with my native, incredible quality Panasonic 12-35 and 35-100 (giving me roughly 24-200mm range) and I'm good to go! I can focus more on composition and rolling rather than trying to setup, mount accessories, and be stressed as events unfold. In general, this allows me to focus on the project, framing, and keeping it moving and not getting too deep in an overkill setup for the work I do.

NOT ALWAYS THE CAMERA...IT'S THE RIGHT CAMERA FOR THE JOB

I loved using this setup on the Breck Epic working with the team at dragonfruitvideo . That race requires us to get around the daily course quickly and efficiently. We are often tasked with gathering soundbites at the end of the event from many of the racers and even leaders. After covering sections of the course, I can book it back to the finish, get the setup rigged a bit more and ready for primary and secondary audio, dual recording as needed via an external recorder and move around to get more of the participants talking about their experience. For easy and ease of editing we recorded in ProRes 4K to deliver in HD allowing for some re-framing and also stabilization as needed in post. The image had great color and depth with nice internal audio.

Maybe one of the biggest selling points for my type of work was the ability to get creative with gear to acquire specific kinds of shots. I love slider shots. Simple but effective in the right situation. This setup really makes it so easy to use one of my sliders (manual, motorized) to get creative with subtle movement and perspective really handy in post. It's compact size, even it's large LCD can allow me to move to a slider or my gimbal quickly to follow action or think about moving in different ways while things are developing at the event or even on set. Love this aspect and it's been incredibly useful at the events I've shot with this camera so far.

CHALLENGES AND THE SOLUTIONS...AREN'T THERE ALWAYS?

There are some challenges with this camera, but there's solutions. Power consumption is huge! Easily remedied with a A LOT of third party Canon batteries. Or, often using my V-Mount battery adapter, and a single v-mount batter I can run all day! The screen is also not articulating which can be an issue at times. A simple shoe mount with my Atomos Ninja remedies that and is super bright. I also have a magnetic viewfinder that aids in really bright conditions for focus and composition. I feel like I've only scratched the surface of this setup. It's tough with all the post work, deadlines, and focusing on that part of my work, but I love getting out and seeing what I can get.

I'm looking forward to doing more and hopefully focusing over the next year on some stock acquisition I'm working on selling with BlackBox which includes a large inventory of older HD shot stuff on a variety of cameras and some purposeful footage with this new little guy. Of course, there's always new technology. Z-CAMs E2 is becoming very interesting for a similar setup and even using existing components like the CFast card, USB-C external drive, v-mount and even MFT lenses with the Z-CAM E2 removable lens mount system. That's the lure of this business as it's so much about the gear. Always something new and better possibly simplifying your job, getting better results...and hey, like being a kid with a toy (hopefully more professional...not always) but many have and will always say it's about the story, composition, and technique so I'll keep focusing on that. It's incredible how much is developing right now and how accessible it's all becoming. Isn't this biz freakin' awesome!