What's everyone's remote work setup?
What's everyone's remote work setup?
Not sure how many of you are still working remotely, but I've transitioned to permanently remote with contract work between gigs. I was just wondering what everyone else's setup is when it comes to remote work and if you're still trying to reach for a better setup.
I bought an M1 mac mini back in 2020 as a "temporary" setup when our company switched to remote work. Since all the processing was done on in-office trashcan macs and we used screen sharing software to remote in, it didn't matter how fast my home machine was; only that my internet was fast. Since then, I've gotten a few clients and have had to upgrade my computer since the mac mini was really struggling with RAM.
Anyway, here's the list of things I use for my daily editing:
**Remote work software: **
Jump Desktop
**Home office setup: **
M2 Max Macbook Pro
Mac mini is sitting headless, attached to a 2.5g switch with external storage attached to its thunderbolt and USB ports. I basically just use it as a rudimentary NAS so I can work off network storage. There is probably a way better way to do this, but I figure I should use the stuff I have rather than build a dedicated NAS with TrueNAS Core.
Thunderbolt dongles that supports 2.5g ethernet
Scarlett 2i2 audio interface
JBL 3 MkII powered monitor pair
SoundID Reference so I can calibrate my headphones and speakers
AKG K240 & Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro headphones
Magic Trackpad
You're viewing a single thread.
Actually a headless mac mini is absolutely fine as a NAS. It really is better to use what you have, than get dedicated hardware IMO. At least for your own home server, which will probably not see usage any higher than being your personal cloud for direct file sharing or a media server.
My build is a Ryzen 5900x and RTX 4090, 64 gigs of ram, 6 TB of ssd storage (of which 1 is a system drive, 1 is for cache and the 4 Tb is a main project drive), and a 2 TB hard drive for general storage purposes. The GPU is overkill for editing I think, but ML is now somewhat integrated in some of my processes, and I learn 3D as a hobby with hopes to maybe become a CG generalist, so a beefy GPU doesn't hurt.
Then my old setup (R 1700X and RTX 2080) is acting like a home server. 18 Tb at the moment, though because I usually store projects for corporate clients for 1-2 years since they are done, and the server also acts as a home media server, the space is running out, so it's probably time to add some drives. The OS I use is Unraid, at this point it's too much of a hassle to setup everything again in order to migrate to TrueNAS, and I don't really use SSDs in my server, so the benefits of going TrueNAS are minimal.
My network is just 1 gigabit, because I mainly load current projects on pc, then transfer them for storage to NAS when finished and don't do much editing directly off of the NAS.
Monitors are consumer-grade LG panels with OK colours after calibration.
Speakers — JBL LSR305 mkII.
Headphones — Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro. But I've grown accustomed to use my Sennheiser Momentum 4 for doing work where I need sound only for general monitoring, not mixing. They are lighter and don't press on the head and ears as much, so more comfortable for long sessions (and I say that fully understanding that the 770 are probably more comfortable than 90% of headphones I tried).
Audient Evo 8 as an audio interface.
As for additional accessories — I've got a stream deck with some useful shortcuts and Contour Shuttle Xpress for timeline. Kensington expert trackball, because mice give me wrist pain during long editing sessions.
Also like to use iPad Pro M1 for clean feed output (rec709 mode is probably not ideal for grading, but it is probably the best display in my house, and I'm not a pro colourist) and putting up scripts or any additional info on the project. Also use Microsoft remote desktop on it to quickly do minor touch-ups from the couch. Works amazing for that.
Oh man I completely forgot to mention my contour shuttle. That little thing is great! I hope they release a version one day with either USB C/thunderbolt or bluetooth since I can see myself using this thing until it completely falls apart.
I mainly use resolve on the personal rig (no way I'm paying Adobe subscription out of my own money), so for me it was a choice between it and speed editor. And while I still want the speed editor for a more fluid jog wheel, the granular control of Shuttle is so nice. And the ability to map it to any software is a huge boon. Won't get rid of it even after getting the speed editor.