Avid Community

Tips for Small Camera and Hybrid DSLR Production

DIGITALFILMS.wordpress.com — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:13:46 GMT

It started in earnest last year and has no sign of abating. Videographers are clearly in the midst of two revolutions: tapeless recording and the use of the hybrid still/video camera (HDSLR). The tapeless future started with P2 and XDCAM, but these storage devices have been joined by other options, including Compact Flash, SD and [...] Read More......(read more)

Creating a Backup Copy or Clone of Mac HD

GeniusDV.com — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:26:51 GMT

It's time to revisit the popular Carbon Copy Cloner program that allows you to create an exact copy of your source machine onto an external hard drive. I recently tested this by backing up my Mac Book Pro running Snow Leopard. It took about 1 1/2 hours to back up 80 Gigs to my portable pocket drive running at 5400 RPM. The latest version also allows you to create incremental backups that can be scheduled. You can even back everything up to a remote Mac on a Network. To create a backup of your entire...(read more)

No More Jumping Rollers

SpliceHere.wordpress.com — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:19:10 GMT

Media Composer makes it easy to trim asymmetrically (simultaneously trimming some elements to the right and some to the left), but the technique contains a subtle bug. If you make an asymmetrical trim that eliminates a clip by trimming it away, the roller attached to that clip doesn’t know where to go — and it [...] Read More......(read more)

AJA Ki Pro

DIGITALFILMS.wordpress.com — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:21:32 GMT

If you thought that there were more than enough tapeless recording devices already on the market by Focus Enhancements, Edirol and Convergent Designs, you would only be partially right. The AJA Ki Pro sparked a lot of enthusiasm at NAB 2009. While it clearly offers cameramen many benefits, it also provides some opportunities for the [...] Read More......(read more)

The Pros and Cons of Fast Scrub

SpliceHere.wordpress.com — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:40:58 GMT

If you’re using Avid’s new DX hardware (Nitris or Mojo), then you’ve probably been using “Fast Scrub,” perhaps without knowing it. This is a slick new feature that makes the timeline more responsive, by dramatically improving the number of frames displayed as you drag. Fast Scrub offers some of the smoothest timeline performance in the [...] Read More......(read more)

Designorati: “Sibelius 6 is close to perfect”

Daniel Spreadbury — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:11:08 GMT

Designorati is an online publication for creative professionals in the fields of visual design (web design, typography, graphic design, illustration, and so on), written by a team of creative professionals who themselves have many years of experience. It’s somewhat unusual for the site to carry a review of music software, but I am delighted that [...] Read More......(read more)

New Avid Tip Podcast

SpliceHere.wordpress.com — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:49:32 GMT

Christian Foerster has started a new Avid screencast of video tips that you can subscribe to via iTunes. There’s only one episode so far, but it’s very nicely done. Check it out. His website is avidscreencast.com. The itunes page is here. Read More......(read more)

Blackmagic Design UltraScope

DIGITALFILMS.wordpress.com — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:21:47 GMT

Blackmagic Design’s UltraScope gained a lot of buzz at NAB 2009. In a time when fewer facilities are spending precious budget dollars on high-end video and technical monitors, the UltraScope seems to fit the bill for a high-quality, but low-cost waveform monitor and vectorscope. It doesn’t answer all needs, but if you are interested in [...] Read More......(read more)

Howard Goodall wins Emmy for soundtrack to Into The Storm

Daniel Spreadbury — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:01:08 GMT

Composer and Sibelius and Pro Tools user Howard Goodall recently added an Emmy to his long list of accolades when his soundtrack for the joint BBC-HBO production Into The Storm picked up the award for Music Composition for a Mini series, Movie, or Special (Dramatic Score). The film, which first aired in the US at [...] Read More......(read more)

Media Composer Cutting Edge - Read Audio Timecode

Avid Community Team — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:35:00 GMT

Gain more flexibility during production with Read Audio Timecode, a feature in Avid Media Composer that allows you to capture audio and video separately and then automatically synchronize the sources together as you begin editing. During production, you use an external timecode generator to sync the internal clock of the sound recorder, while feeding the same timecode signal as an audio channel to the camera. When you’re ready to edit, Media Composer decodes that camera audio back into timecode that it can read. Used in conjunction with the AutoSync feature in Media Composer, your audio and video sources can be rejoined automatically, in perfect sync. See them both in action in this Cutting Edge video.

Download the Podcast: Media Composer Cutting Edge - Read Audio Timecode (MP4) Running time: 4:09

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Jeff Wayne’s War Of The Worlds live tour scored in Sibelius

Daniel Spreadbury — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:24:08 GMT

The November issue of Music Tech magazine contains an article about the live tour of Jeff Wayne’s War Of The Worlds, the seminal 1977 album that is as popular as ever some 30 years on. Sibelius played an important part in taking Jeff’s original handwritten scores and bringint them bang up to date. Speaking in [...] Read More......(read more)

Restore Default Patch

SpliceHere.wordpress.com — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:37:09 GMT

It’s the end of a long day and you’re working on a complex timeline: eight or ten audio tracks, many video tracks. You’ve been patching your source material all day long and the patch panel is scrambled. Now you want to cut something straight across. Maybe you’re assembling two sequences together, maybe you’re integrating part [...] Read More......(read more)

Composing prodigy Alex Prior’s concerto scored in Sibelius

Daniel Spreadbury — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:00:24 GMT

Alexander Prior is a 16-year old British composer and conductor who has been studying at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in Russia for the past four years. A quite remarkable prodigy, he was featured in a Channel 4 documentary series earlier this year called The World’s Greatest Musical Prodigies. Alex uses Sibelius, and has prepared many of [...] Read More......(read more)

Schools Prom tribute to Michael Jackson scored in Sibelius

Daniel Spreadbury — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 21:14:29 GMT

The Music For Youth Schools Prom is one of the musical events I most look forward to each year. More than 3,000 young people from schools all over the UK converge on the Royal Albert Hall in London for a three-night series of concerts that showcase some of the remarkable music that is made in [...] Read More......(read more)

Final Cut vs. Avid Redux

DIGITALFILMS.wordpress.com — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:27:06 GMT

People like competition for its own sake, so the NLE argument – just like other platform wars – never dies. In the past year, Apple and Avid have broken new ground with very solid updates to their flagship editor applications. Apple with its introduction of the “new” Final Cut Studio, featuring Final Cut Pro 7 [...] Read More......(read more)

Words of the Wise

Brad88 — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:05:00 GMT

Two weeks ago I was fortunate enough to attend an editing workshop with double Emmy award winning editor Kris Trexler where we looked at how he cuts the genre he’s most known for namely television comedy. Suffice to say I got a great deal from the two days he spent with us some of which I want to share with you today. But beyond that it got me to thinking... we may not all have Emmys, Oscars etc, which Kris himself says was a lot about being in the right place at the right time, but we do have hard earned experience on particular genres that surely is more valuable than any piece of silverware… so what about if we shared that?

There are many generic courses and workshops out there but in today’s fast paced high demand world we don’t have the time to plough through those copious materials to get to the 5% we actually need for our own projects. So with your permission here is what I would like to do... Let’s start creating our own volumes of wisdom genre by genre. The Avid community encompasses creative talents from around the world working on all sorts of programming be it for film, TV or other forms of media delivery. We each have faced and met different challenges either from a creative or workflow perspective the solution of which, while unique to us, could be of immense value to others in similar circumstances. So what words of wisdom would you share?

I can start the ball rolling with two, one of Kris’s and one of mine.

From Kris Trexler on television comedy: - To really sell the joke don’t cut away from the actors eyes until he has completely finished his delivery. I explored that idea while working with some footage Kris had for us to use and I found it to be so true. If I rushed for the reactions and laughter, even by a few frames, it really had a psychological impact on the line

And from me on editing in general: - Be very aware of when an actor looks at something because it effects what you can show next especially if he/she looks quickly.

I think this comes from thousands of years of not wanting our throats ripped out by wild animals in the jungle but when we see someone look somewhere, especially quickly, we want to know what they are looking at just in case its said wild animal. If your audience sees the eyes move they want to see what’s being looked at and if that desire is not satisfied they suffer which in terms of your edit breaks the dramatic flow. So watch the eyes.

Now I know I said specific genres but if you do think you have an overarching gem of wisdom we would love to collect those too. So please get writing. Send us your name, the genre, the insight(s) you wish to share down and any relevant details and let’s see if we can’t help each other to all collectively raise our games... And maybe one day be the right editor in the right place too.

Editor David Maurer Weighs In... "Top Ten Reasons Avid Beats Final Cut Pro"

TUnruh — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Check it out! Editor David Maurer (Splinter, Four Sheets to the Wind, 'The Apprentice,' 'American Idol') created a top 10 list earlier this week of what rocks about Media Composer (vs. FCP) after checking out the latest 4.0 version.

The list includes features like AMA, mix and match, pricing (yes, it's there), ScriptSync, 3D, among others... Read the full list over at FlickGym.com! And you can follow Maurer on Twitter as well.

Autodesk Flares Up

DIGITALFILMS.wordpress.com — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:48:29 GMT

All manufacturers are looking for the best way to deal with these challenging economic times. The Autodesk Media & Entertainment division has managed to hold up well at the high end, with signature products like Smoke, Flame, Inferno and Lustre; but its customers, like everyone else, are certainly clamoring for cost-effective solutions. Autodesk has offered [...] Read More......(read more)

Photoshop for Video

GeniusDV.com — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 22:01:01 GMT

The newest versions of Photoshop now support image editing on video files. The only catch is you must have the ‘Extended Version’, meaning Photoshop CS3 Extended, or CS4 Extended . All of the creative suite bundles ship with the extended version. Photoshop is a must have application for any video editor. Don't get me wrong, you'll still need your favorite non linear editing system such as Final Cut Pro or Avid to the majority of your video editing. You can use Photoshop's extensive array of tools...(read more)

Deko & Clip AutoUpdate Utility: Importing Clips Automatically

Shirley Oxendine — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 23:46:00 GMT

ClipAutoUpdate is a free Avid Deko utility that monitors a specified clip folder on the E drive for new clips that are added to the folder and automatically transcodes any new clips added to the folder to use in Deko and imports the clips automatically to the designated clips database. ClipAutoUpdate.exe is an executable program and is located in the C:\Dekoxxxx\Utilities folder.

For ClipAutoUpdate to operate it must be launched and configured to actively watch a folder for any changes to the folder. If it is launched after files have already been added to the folder, it will not import those already existing files.

To start ClipAutoUpdate.exe launch it from the Utilities folder and configure it to monitor a clip folder and update a specified clip database with changes to the folder. (Navigate to C:\Dekoxxxx\Utilities and double-click ClipAutoUpdate.exe to launch the program.)

Deko supports two types of clip databases: Standard clips and Power Clips. Standard clips are full screen, or full resolution, clips. Power Clips (Deko3000 only) are smaller-sized clips, such as ‘moving headshots.’ Power Clips are contained in a database separate from the Standard clip database (Select View > Clip Editor > Context > Type. Both types of databases can be monitored with ClipAutoUpdate. AutoClipWatch can be configured to watch separate folders for Standard Clips and Power Clips (both must be housed on the E drive) and will update separate databases with changes to each of the folders. It can also be configured to monitor for additions of specific file formats (i.e. *.dv, *.mov, etc.) and import to the appropriate database only if these file formats are encountered.

Power Clips Note: PowerClips retain the *.mov file format and are not transcoded into *.mxf files.

ClipAutoUpdate automatically adds a clip to the Deko clip database using the filename’s base as the database item name. Since Deko uses separate files for video fill and video key, a suffix is added to the basename as ‘_v’ for video fill and as ‘_k’ for key (i.e. matte, fill). For example, a blue.mov file that has an embedded key will import into Deko as blue_v.mxf and blue_k.mxf.

Note: Since ClipAutoUpdate uses the base filename for the database entry, two clips with the same name cannot be inserted into the database (i.e. Filename.dv and Filename.mov do not import as two distinct files).

Sketchup Training

GeniusDV.com — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:01:59 GMT

One of our newest 2 day training classes, Google Sketchup, will be offered at our Orlando training facility November 5th & 6th, 2009. We are offering a special price for the November class ! Google's Sketchup is an amazing 3D modeling program that has users from all walks of life from professionals to first timers. Whether you're an architect, civil engineer, or filmmaker, you will be astounded at what Sketchup can do for you. And the best part? It's one of the easiest programs out there to learn...(read more)

ClipDeko: Managing Multiple Clip Databases (Deko v5.0 and higher)

Shirley Oxendine — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:26:00 GMT

The ClipDeko option enables a Deko user to record, import, and play digital video clips, with or without key, and provides tools for the user to edit, loop, trim, and browse these clips. With the advent of Avid Deko ClipDeko option v 5.0 easy transition between multiple clip databases utilizing different video standards is provided. This document explains how to create new or multiple databases and how the databases are managed within the Deko system.

There are two types of clip databases in Deko: Standard clips and Power Clips. Standard clips are full screen, or full resolution, clips. Power Clips (Deko3000 only) are smaller-sized clips, such as ‘moving headshots.’ Power Clips have their own database separate from the Standard clip database. Both types of databases can be managed as discussed in this document.

To import clips, Quicktime Player, a free download application, must be installed on the Deko unit. As a review, there are two steps to importing and using a file-based clip, such as a *.mov file, in Deko:

1. Copy the media to the E drive, organized in your preferred directory structure.

2. Import the clip media into the ClipDeko database (This import process transcodes the *.mov file and the database manages the clip properties for each video standard.)

By default, a single clip database is created when the Clip Editor is launched and is named based on the video standard selection within your Deko settings. The new clip database is named automatically and placed in the C:\Dekoxxx\Database directory. If the video standard is set to NTSC, the database is named DekoClips.mdb. If the video standard is set to any other standard except NTSC then Deko automatically assigns the name DekoClips appended by the video standard setting followed by the suffix ‘.mdb’. For example, if the Deko launches in the 1080iHD standard, a new database is automatically created as ‘DekoClips_HD1080i.mdb’ to distinguish it as a separate database from those created using other video standards.

Each video standard must have a unique clip database for that standard. Consequently, a clip database does not clips with multiple video standards. (i.e. a single database does not contain both NTSC clips and HD clips.)

Regardless of the type of clip database there may be reasons a user may want to create and manage a new database or multiple databases from those that are automatically created on the ‘C drive’.

1. For organizational purposes to allow the user to easily locate a clip for a particular function or show. i.e. sports vs elections

2. For network share purposes to share the clip database without allowing share privileges on the C drive (IT personnel are reluctant to share items on the C drive.).

To create a new database, open the Clip Editor (View>Clip Edit or Ctrl+E).

The illustration below shows the clips editor with a loaded clip using a DekoClips_HD1080i.mdb database (the full database path is shown in the Clip Editor window) . Access a new database by selecting the Clips button in the Clip Editor toolbar.

This opens the dialogue box showing the current clip database structure.

Select New database, and navigate to the drive and/or directory in which you wish to create the new clip database. The name is assigned automatically with a *.mdb extension. Rename the database by right-clicking the name, retaining the *.mdb extension. After renaming the database name, select Open to launch the Clip Editor window. Conversely, you can accept the assigned name, select the Open button, close the Clip Editor and navigate to Windows Explorer to rename the database name.

Import clips as needed once you have completed these steps.

Set this clip database as the default database by selecting Options > Save Settings Now from the main menu.

Manage One Clip Database with Multiple Deko Units:

If you are managing multiple Deko units, save time by setting up all clip attribute functions, such as trim points, looping, etc., in one database, then copy the transcoded media (*.mxf formats) and the database to the E drive on the other Deko units. Remember to navigate to the clip database from each Deko Clip Editor and set the working database as the default by Options>Save Settings Now.

In copying databases from one unit to another, two file types must be copied for each clip database: *.blil and *.mdb.

Avid recommends closing the Deko application while copying databases. If a Deko is on-air during the database copy, the clip editor may not refresh properly.

The Bays and The Heritage Orchestra at Kings Place this Saturday

Daniel Spreadbury — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:00:05 GMT

One of the most remarkable uses of Sibelius I have ever heard of is the collaboration between The Bays, The Heritage Orchestra, and composer/improvisers Simon Hale and John Metcalfe. The Bays are a fascinating band: they haven’t released any records, because the only way to experience their music is to attend one of their concerts live. [...] Read More......(read more)

The new Final Cut Studio

DIGITALFILMS.wordpress.com — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 23:43:53 GMT

With little fanfare, Apple simply announced the new Final Cut Studio on their website, ending months of speculation in the online communities. Apple had prepped for this moment, however, with ready-made, free Ripple Training and Lynda.com tutorials, online documentation (no more paper manuals) and a number of extra downloads. The new Final Cut Studio (not version [...] Read More......(read more)

Rewiring Genesis track scored in Sibelius, nominated for a Grammy

Daniel Spreadbury — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 18:51:51 GMT

Rewiring Genesis is a re-imagining of Genesis’s 1974 concept double album, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, which: …tells the surreal story of a half-Puerto Rican juvenile delinquent named Rael living in New York City, who is swept underground to face bizarre creatures and nightmarish dangers in order to rescue his brother John. Of course! Anyway, [...] Read More......(read more)