[spicyitaliano]

It may seem obvious - any professional in the film industry would say HD or something equivalent. I understand completely. But let me explain my situation.

I've been a recording and mixing engineer for a while now, working with musicians in the studio and live acts on stage. I was recently offered a job to do some sound design work for a fantastic short film, completely done by professionals seeking to build their porfolios, and work for free. Cinematographers, set designers, make-up people, and then the post guys - visual effects, CGI, a composer with an original score played by a full orchestra, and then myself - the sound designer. The final product looks and sounds incredible, and everyone is so thrilled about it. The film is going to the Sarasota and Sundance film festivals!

Anyway, the director was so happy with my work that he invited me to work with him on the next film - a full-length feature backed by a rather large film company, a very generous producer, and a hefty budget. This has been a thrill for me, taking what knowledge I knew about building stems of dialog, foley, and sound design - and creating the final mix. Now I've always used ProTools in the studio and used my own LE rig for this past project.

But as this project comes closer, I need to decide on my rig...LE or HD? It really comes down to features. WIth the DV Toolkit 2.0, I get all the meat and potatoes I would need for utility work with sound design. I could get this for my own system and have everything I would need to get started. Everything - except for surround sound. I currently don't own a surround setup (because I use LE) but could budget for one. I have a good concept of surround mixing for film (because I'm a sound-design/move nerd) and feel that I could handle that end of things. The real decision comes with the amount of money I would need to spend (yes, I would have to purchase it) in order to get surorund mixing capabilities.

So what do you all think I should do? Heaven forbid...should I consider Logic?