Edit Suite Rules


The editing suites, classrooms and equipment are a shared resource. It is your responsibility to respect the rules and guidelines outlined below in an effort to maintain an efficient and professional working environment. This is your department too, so a sense of ownership is encouraged.

  • All the shared computers in the department have a default Startup login password of: socdoc [all lower-case]

  • Please be mindful of your volume levels. The edit suites are not sound proofed. Please be respectful to your neighboring editors. Your volume levels should not be louder than conversational level. The speakers are an editing tool important for audio mixing, but headphones are also available for use when working on your edit.

  • When working late nights (after 9pm), check in with your classmates before leaving the department.

  • We always recommend restarting the computer with your drives connected before starting an editing session.
    This helps to flush the memory and reset any hardware the system has been using during previous sessions. It will also logout of any open programs or personal accounts.

  • Do not move, disconnect or re-configure any hardware without requesting permission. If you need to move a computer, monitor, mixer, keyboard, etc., please return it to it's original position before leaving the station. Chronic violators will have edit access limited and/or revoked.

  • Back up your Avid Project and Avid User Settings to a separate drive. We recommend using your Terrablock workspace and/or Google drive.

  • Check your desktop, downloads folder and trash for large files. Either move them to your Terrablock Workspace or delete them, making sure to empty the trash when you do so. We reserve the right to delete any files from common computers/hard drives at any time. If it's important, copy it to your personal drives.

  • Log out of any or personal email or social media accounts.

  • Turn off computers, Flat screen televisions and external hardware before you exit suites

  • Clean up after yourself. Edit suites are not your personal office space. Remove or throw away any trash, and bring all of your belongings with you when you leave. DO NOT LEAVE PERSONAL ITEMS in common workspaces. Remove/return all headphones, card readers, hard drives and personal effects.

  • UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES are there to be any high heat electrical appliances (heaters, hot plates, toaster ovens, hair dryers, etc.) connected in any edit suites or classrooms at any time EVER!

  • Please report any technical issues or malfunctioning equipment to Christa ASAP, please email: cmajoras@sva.edu

  • All students should refrain from eating and drinking while in the edit suites. If it comes to the attention of the staff that you have been eating or drinking in the edit suite, actions (such as suspension from the suites for a period of time) will be taken.


sign up guidelines


You must comply with all SVA Safety and Security protocols to enter the building.

Students may reserve time in the 5 private suites and the Sound Booth on each rooms Google Calendar.


  • No student may sign up for more than 32 hours (24 hours for non-thesis students) of initial reservations per week.
    Reservation extensions will not count towards the limit. The week starts on Monday and ends on Sunday for hours tracking purposes.

  • Reservations extensions do not count against any weekly time allotments.

  • No student is technically permitted to book or occupy edit suites, during scheduled class times.
    You cannot ditch class to edit your projects. Exceptions can be made with instructor approval.

  • The minimum time for edit suite booking is 2 hours.

  • If you are more than 60 minutes late to arrive for your slot, your reservation may be cancelled.

  • Please only book reservations that you plan on using...obviously things happen and you may have to reschedule, but do your best. It is the considerate thing. If you must reschedule, update the reservation on the the Google calendar, preferably at least 24 hours before the reservation so others will be able to see that time as available. If you must reschedule less than 24 hours prior to the original reservation, you should send a short email notifying your classmates of the change.
    If short notice rescheduling becomes a habit, we reserve the right to count the original reservation against your weekly allotment.

  • Editing reservations can be made up to 2 weeks in advance. Reservations more than 2 weeks into the future will be deleted from the calendar by staff.

  • Students are expected to arbitrate their own disputes about use of edit suites. The final authority on the matter must be the mfasocdoc.com Google calendar. If someone is in the suite during a time for which you signed up, it is your responsibility to decide whether to roust them or to hand over the suite without hard feelings. If any disputes cannot be resolved by the students, the staff member on duty will resolve them swiftly and in a way that may bring satisfaction to neither party.

  • Staff reserves the right to deny or reschedule reservations, if students repeatedly fail to comply with the reservation and usage guidelines.


We request that you sign up for time at the smaller editing stations when you need to back up your footage, log, or screen dailies, or transcode a large amount of footage. Reserve time in the larger suites when you are actively cutting and need the privacy to be able to concentrate.


At the time you sign up, you must indicate the project/class you are working on in the subject of the event you create on your calendar. During busy times, we reserve the right to reschedule reservations for projects without an immediate class-related deadline.


Exceptions to these rules may be granted on a case-by-case basis. If you need to have an exception made, please email: cmajoras@sva.edu.


Additionally, if it comes to our attention that any student is monopolizing the edit suites we will speak with that student and adjust the schedule in a more balanced way.