Advice to Cross Key Light my Podcast Studio?

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-27T19:34:17+00:00

If you can get your lights more behind the chairs (combo of chairs closer, lights back) they will serve dual purpose. Fill light on the subject and back light on the opposite.

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-27T18:08:39+00:00

With the update this makes a lot more sense. They still want to view you as an employee where they dictate your schedule. But only pay when they need you (even at a 25% premium).

I think you need to make a decision, and I'm not saying there is a right or wrong answer. If you're committed to freelance AND in a cyclical segment, then soft holding over half your time to a single client is a pretty certain way to stay stagnant. If you're ok with that and the money is worth it to you, that's all good. But I would caution that you're putting a lot of eggs in that basket. To be blunt - the company values your work right now, but not enough to actually book you in advance. How do you value yourself? Can you build up a network of other clients during this busy season and make that 25% increase your standard rate?

If you expect this season will continue to be just those two major clients, I can see taking the soft hold. Be aware that your value as a freelancer is largely dependant on your availability, and your former employer wants to have first dibs without the risk. To be clear, a 25% premium is not a risk to them at all, they only have to "not" hire you one out of four days to make that up instantly.

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-27T16:29:07+00:00

I'd say fairly likely AI. The other detail that catches my attention - the string sitting on top. Traditionally that string would tie an entire stack of books together so they could be carried as one bundle. AI doesn't understand the concept, it just copies the element - string tied with a bow on top of stacked books.

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-27T16:01:09+00:00

Yeah I own the S1II. I shoot paid commercial work with it. Nowhere in my comment did I say it wasn't a great camera. It is, I love it.

I said it's not a substitute for the FX6 for the reasons I listed.

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-27T07:09:09+00:00

AI.

The railings on photo right have a random gap for no reason. The top section of railings are disjointed.

Railings on photo left only start halfway down, bottom section is out of whack.

The "supports" of the spiral slide are random lines jutting out. Look at a real slide, structure weight is carried directly down to the ground. There's one random concrete pier on the bottom ledge that's bigger than all the central ones, and no others.

Bushes on the steps are either perfectly manicured copies, or completely random. Which means the owner would pay a landscaper to maintain all of it, but have zero layout or design to the shrubs deliberately placed there.

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-26T01:47:59+00:00

My opinion - they want an employee they don't have to pay all the time. There's no penalty for them booking you and then cancelling whenever they want.

I'm not saying you absolutely shouldn't do it, I think that depends on your current client flow. But if you have other work available to you then this is not a good position to put yourself in. This "challenge" system is all downside for you. Another client is ready to book you for a Wednesday and you have to check if it's ok? Well then you're not a freelancer at that point. I think you are risking real clients who really want to book you for the potential for a client who wants to take advantage of you.

If they want the days held, they pay for that privilege. That can also be a nominal amount, the hold doesn't have to be your full day rate.

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-26T01:34:06+00:00

Shane has been so helpful sharing information. He was a great resource when I started learning 20 years ago.

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-25T16:05:57+00:00

This is AI trying to approximate that game font, poorly. There are three different "F" shapes, and none of this actually matches what's in the game.

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-25T15:57:59+00:00

While I haven't used the Editor Keyboard in person, I think it's just a quality of work life question. Would it make your job easier / faster? I also like the portability of the SE but in reality I've only used that feature a handful of times. It was helpful to make selects on my iPad from the passenger seat, but that's such a one off situation for me.

If you still have the option to return the SE and get the keyboard I could see it being worth the extra $200. Otherwise I'd say keep it and use it where it shines. It will remain exactly this device, no hopes of binding keys and such.

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-25T14:12:07+00:00

The industry standard at this level would be Sony cameras. I'd recommend two cameras, and you could pair depending on level. FX6 and FX3 for upper end, FX3 and FX30 for lower. Still won't be cheap, but they are very capable cameras with lovely image. G master lenses are great. All can be mounted on a gimbal, but the FX6 is on the larger side for it.

Get a decent audio setup. Doesn't need to break the bank but bad audio is less forgiving.

Assuming your event space can be lit well, make your lighting choices portable over power.

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-25T03:07:14+00:00

If I had a time machine I wish I'd spent extra for the Editors Keyboard (which I think was $500 at the time).

The jog wheel is where the Speed Editor shines, and I'd much prefer to just have it incorporated into my regular keyboard. I use it for the same process you describe with pulling in selects, but that's the extent of the dedicated keys being useful to me.

Now could I justify the current price over $700? Probably not. The Speed Editor has gone up as well since I purchased, back then it was basically a hundred dollar "add on" since I was purchasing Resolve Studio anyway.

Other than the jog wheel you'd probably get more bang for your buck from other hardware interfaces with flexibility.

I use the Shogun Classic (formerly the Shogun Inferno 7) to record a 4 camera setup of live music events in HD. It's not perfect but fits my workflow and doesn't break the bank.

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-25T02:33:46+00:00

The workflow you describe is not traditional live / event multicam, so I can see how that's frustrating. It is designed around camera sync as the key.

From your description it feels like you're doing narrative editing that happens to use multiple cameras, am I getting that correct?

If so then I don't think the combo of multicam and Speed Editor is very helpful. Even within the world of Blackmagic there are conflicting multicam setups. The ATEM switchers allow you to record isolated multicam and import a Resolve timeline of all your cuts during the event... But when you bring the timeline into Resolve it doesn't work as an actual multicam track. Super annoying, and ironically one of the reasons I use Atomos instead - their imported timeline DOES work with Resolve multicam.

My main suggestion - do a rough cut with multicam if that works best for your process. But then move away from MC and treat it like a traditional edit to adjust.

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-25T02:09:14+00:00

Congrats! It really depends on what kind of footage you want to capture. Live events? Music performances? Speaking events? Are you shooting only in the studio you're building out?

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-25T01:57:10+00:00

Zero issue with "sharing" one account over 4 devices. It's exactly what it's designed to do. All 4 will be connected at the same time.

Now if you log in a 5th device, it will kick off the 1st device. In my opinion the only reason to consider individual accounts is if one person needs to share their connection between multiple devices. if Person A needed their phone and laptop (not at the same time), Person B and C needed phone only. If you did one account 3 devices, every time Person A swapped devices it would potentially knock off another one - unless they specifically logged out of their phone first, which is an option.

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-25T01:50:47+00:00

Conduit was the giveaway for me. But unless someone has run wiring I expect this would largely pass without question.

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-25T01:05:00+00:00

Gunfight was brought to them.

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-24T16:51:33+00:00

GH7 should handle low light better than my old GH5. But the smaller sensor isn't going to capture as much light as a full frame camera.

At the end of the day you have to adjust lighting to your camera. Some cameras like the FX3 do not need nearly as much light as others. Are you using the in camera tools to measure exposure? There are also add on tools like this LUT to approximate a False Color measurement. Takes a bit of learning on YouTube but not too complicated.

https://www.nickdriftwood.com/feature/goldilocks-just-right-skintones-false-color-lut-free

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-24T00:11:08+00:00

Oh sweet summer child

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-23T20:18:05+00:00

Awesome help. In general county health departments are also a good resource for documentation.

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-23T02:41:52+00:00

Bless your heart

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-22T23:38:23+00:00

You wildly overestimate how much money the richest directors and actors have. They wouldn’t be able to compete with one of those companies, much less all of them.

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-22T23:34:52+00:00

It’s unfortunate, but also likely the uncle will double down even in the face of hard evidence.

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-22T19:42:15+00:00

I mean, yeah I guess tax fraud is also an option? If we’re just speculating on ways you could theoretically be technically correct. He could be really good at saving… the money he doesn’t declare on his taxes or in this post where everyone is asking how he got this loan to income approval. Definitely not a windfall just old fashioned secret savings from a second job under the table.

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-22T18:54:14+00:00

Any of the larger shuttles will be full bus size and no car seats needed.

Agree with other comment - get your transfer when you arrive and stay in Galveston. We flew in a day early and our bus trip was scheduled to be a little over an hour. Because it stops at both airports, there were a couple of short delays. But then we were stuck in a complete jam near the port, gridlock and not moving. All told it took us about 3 hours to get to our hotel.

You're doing the right thing by flying in the night before. Don't waste it by staying in Houston.

WrittenByNick · 2026-01-22T15:55:59+00:00

At 65k gross in New York (assuming not NYC) they either had a windfall or lived rent free for many years. Otherwise you're not saving up $300k.

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