December 2001 — Features
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Evolution of a Digital Production Studio
Servers. The studio's LAN is managed and secured by a logon-authentication/file server consisting of a Dell PowerEdge 4400 system customized with 1 GB of RAM and five 36 GB SCSI hard drives running the Windows 2000 Server with a firewall. The studio also features a Web server consisting of a Dell PowerEdge 4400 customized with three additional SCSI hard drives running Windows 2000 Internet Information Server.
Multimedia Authoring, Web Design and Desktop Publishing. The studio features two Dell 620 Mini Towers and a Canon Powershot S20 digital camera for still photography. Each of the workstations has the following software installed: Macromedia Director 8; Sonic Foundry; Sound Forge 4.6; Adobe PageMaker 6.0; Macromedia Web Design Studio, which includes Dreamweaver 4, Freehand 9, Fireworks 4 and Flash 5; and Adobe Web Collection, which includes GoLive 5.0, Photoshop 6.0, Illustrator 9.0 and LiveMotion 1.0.
Digital Video/Audio Production and Editing. Generally, the studio component includes audio, lighting and video production/editing equipment. The video production/editing hardware in the studio consists of: a PIII Xeon Dell Precision 620 MultiTower, further customized with the addition of a second microprocessor, with 1 GB of RAM and an Intense 3-D Wildcat 4110 Pro video card; a Sony DCRVX2000 Mini-DV camcorder with accompanying Audio Technica AT835B microphone; portable lighting kits; a UV camera filter; an Alesis studio 12R mixer/microphone preamplifier; Plextor Ultra Plex DVD drives; a Kramer video/audio distributor; a Fostex personal monitor 6301B; an Altec Lansing computer speaker system; a JVC mono/hi-fi/super VHS video cassette recorder; five JVC Pro-Cision 19-micron head VHS videotape recorders; and a JVC S-VHS ET pro series Mini-DV and S-VHS videocassette recorder.
Video production/editing software installed includes: Adobe Premiere 6.0, Vegas Audio (digital audio production) and Matrox DigiSuite (utilities and compression). Audio production equipment includes: Peavey PVM22 microphones; Audio Technica AT831B lapel microphones; a Shure powered field mixer; boom microphone stands, headphones and 25' microphone cables.
3-D Graphics Workstation. The 3-D graphics rendering station in the studio features two Dell Dimension 8100s with a 48-speed CD-ROM drive and a 32-speed CD-RW drive. Software loaded on this workstation includes 3-D Studio Max (Release 4).
Other Components. Printing and scanning needs for the studio are handled by a high-quality, networked 1200 dpi Xerox Phaser 790 DP color printer and an Art Expression 1600 dpi scanner. To accomplish quick turnaround in CD duplication, the studio also features a Disc Makers four-CD duplicator.
Studio Supplies. Buying in bulk is generally the most cost-effective way to manage a production facility. The studio is well stocked with blank CD-Rs with jewel cases, BBT-90 VHS videotapes, Sony Mini-DV tapes and TDK S-VHS videotapes.
Staffing Considerations
Advanced hardware and software is worthless without a knowledgeable, skilled staff.
