[Bill Davis]

Well done, Walter.

I’m in.

I’ll try to arrive at 2:45 and secure table space.

Hope to see lots of you there.

Hope the facility doesn’t boom “O Fortuna” loudly all day long – that would make our get-together WAY too dramatic. ; )

“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor

[Bill Davis]

John,

The “noise sample” construct in X is basic and not particularly user definable – but it’s often very functional if the kind of noise you’re combatting lends itself to X’s type of “smart filter” presets. You access them by selecting the track you want to clean up in the Event Browser. (Please do it here – rather than at the clip level in your timeline because you want to fix it “globally” for all subsequent uses of that audio clip – not just for a single use.) When the clip is selected as a whole, open it’s Audio Tab – then under Audio Enhancements, open the Audio Analysis sub-menu – and that will take you to a dedicated Background Noise Removal tab. IF your noise profile is one that FCP-X is built to address, simply sliding the Amount tab is all you’re likely to need. Common mode hum (60cycle noise in the US), High frequency hiss, and other easily “isolatable” issues are usually handled really well with this approach.

AC Handling noise “might” fall in that category – but it’s hard to say.

It’s often got quite a few discrete components. The hiss like “rush” of the air itself might be combined with low frequency duct rumble – and even significant mechanical noise depending on how close the room is to the physical AC unit.

Also, the content you want to keep is an issue. If the problem is low frequency rumble – and the signal you want to keep is a higher pitched female interviewee – then you could get EXCELLENT results from a simple low pass filter approach – and again, the “auto correct” described above that’s built into X might be great.

OTOH, if you’re recording a male voice in the “James Earl Jones” range – then knocking down the AC rumble with a high-pass filter can make the voice sound unacceptably “tinny” since you’re messing with frequencies that might be shared by the voice and the noise.

That’s when you have to look at the dedicated audio filters in X under the Effects Browser.

These are filters lifted directly from the Apple’s excellent Logic program – but require you to know how to set them to try and “hone in” on your specific problem. The filters are “stackable” so that you can use as many as you need to address the issue, but are not trivial to understand and manipulate. Sound is complicated, after all, with many “dimensions.” to a complex audio waveform or mix.

And like the James Earle Jones example above, sounds shaping via frequency only works when you’re trying to separate out something that’s separate-able.

At one level, sound is like paint. When you mix the yellow and the blue to get green, there’s no good way to “unmix” them afterwards to get back to the original primary colors.

Sound can be like that.

Hope this helps.

“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor

[Bill Davis]

[Herb Sevush] “Like the Hekawis of “F-Troop” fame, we are lovers, not fighters.”

And even more important than that – we’re grown ups. (presumptively)

Grown ups argue – even get passionate – but are also presumed to already understand the lessons of sports – compete hard – but when you’re not competing – shake hands and get over it.

That’s precisely what I expect in Vegas.

“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor

[Bill Davis]

[Greg Andonian] “If anyone from Apple tries to hijack this meet-up of yours, don’t let them… 😉

Let us not forget that before this, while, Mike and Dan were arguably in the process of “re-branding” the event as the more platform agnostic Supermeet. (and thus de-emphasizing it’s Apple/FCP orientation) – for the nine years prior, it was exactly that – the FCPUG Super Meet.

So I think the expectation that a brand new Final Cut Pro being debuted for the first time ever in a public forum being the thing that best served the needs of the attending audience was pretty universal and rational.

Did Apple “big foot” things a bit. Sure. But so what? They were ready to release the “next big thing” that was the whole reason this meeting grew to be important to FCP users.

So for me, it to say that the meeting was “hijacked” – while technically accurate, I guess – is a little like coming home late to tell you wife that your tardiness was the result of being distracted by a broken down motorist who needed assistance – and to have her learn later that the culprit was a well known super-model. It kinda changes the narrative a bit.

“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor

[Bill Davis]

[Oliver Peters] “I get that and I don’t disagree, but the discussion was about asset management. For all the claims about that being built into X, there is zero evidence that it’s true beyond what’s being exposed inside the interface. So is it really a case of being transformative or of throwing the baby out with the bath water?

– Oliver
“

Oliver,

I still think that’s too perjorative and too harsh an assessment.

Do you really think the FCP-X teams focus was so caviler the they didn’t realize that by choosing to strip the code back to zero – that they were going to piss people off? Do you think that if they could have seen a way to keep all that Legacy was and still build what they wanted X to be that they would have?

To me that simply makes NO sense.

I just don’t imagine the X team as a building full of masochists gleefully grinning at all the turmoil they’ve caused. It makes a lot more sense to me that if they couldn’t re-invent inside the old structure, they had permission to tear it down and build a new one.

And that’s what they did.

It’s inarguable that the major difference between Legacy and X is that while Legacy accommodated metadata – X is literally driven by it. It’s not a bolt-on – it’s the core of the whole program.

It’s also clear that the construction team has had to prioritize that meta-data’s use, features and essential plumbing in the early days here. But it’s equally clear that the capability of the program to use metadata more wisely and pervasively was the very foundation of the whole re-build.

That said, those functions are only important if the rest of the strucure – the editorial functions are also crafted carefully.

I think they are. The first level build is leaner, requires fewer keystrokes to do more functions, and presents new rapid and agile editing functions than I believe Legacy did. I know that many editors were exceptionally fluid and fast in Legacy – and that over it’s decade, it had a lot of great stuff for the “power user”

But as someone who editing with Legacy in year 1 and with X in year 1, I have to stand firmly that this software is lightyears easier to edit with – once you know how to overcome it’s quirks – which is precisely what I had to do back in 1999 with V1.

Granted I was stuck in DV with a Quadra 840 AV with Legacy V1,(IIRC), and computers have come a long way – but here I am with a laptop and firewire drive editing HDSLR footage faster and delivering work faster with X then I ever managed with my MacPro and Studio 3 after 10 years of solid practice.

That says something in my book.

FWIW.

“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor

[Bill Davis]

Just saw Walter’s post suggesting that I “guide” this.

HA!

Still, as a veteran of probably the past 20+ NABs I guess I’m as qualified as the next guy.

So here’s where I think we are.

I like Walter’s idea of something early. That way we don’t conflict with the NAB evening social whirl.

I think it would be nice if we can find a locale thats less then four football fields distant from the nearest Monorail station. Which, now that I think about it, surprisingly leaves out about 80% of the hotels and explains why so many at the show are in business suits and tennis shoes – but I digress.

I’ll even volunteer to show up a bit early to block out some seats somewhere.
(I’m not 6’5 like Denis, but he’s only got 3 inches on me, so I can probably hold a few chairs against the coffee starved multitudes ’til the stragglers show up.)

Anyone here know Vegas well enough to know if there’s a good place where could score space for a small group before the show that doesn’t require a dedicated cab ride?

“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor

[Bill Davis]

[Jim Giberti] “I’m foaling, I’m editing, I’m preparing fields, I’m designing, I’m working with horses asses…I’m working with horses asses.
“

Hah.

There’s working with animals – and there’s working with animals after all.

I haven’t spent much time in the equine world, but I my company was essentially the in-house video production entity for PetSmart for many years, so I’ve spent as much time around four-legged critters as two (and often like them more!) so I appreciate that when you’re responsible for their care and well-being – there’s little choice involved. When you need to be there – you need to be there.

The good thing is that unlike decades ago, anything we’re likely to see at NAB will be on the web nearly instantly, so other than meeting up with and talking with old friends (and perhaps making a few new ones) it’s not the “have to be there” thing it once was for keeping up with the industry.

Sorry we’ll miss you.

“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor

[Bill Davis]

Since the very first Supermeet, (and actually, some of the initial meetings of the LAFCPUG before that) I’ve historically helped with the “behind the scenes” aspects of the meetings as well as the endless zillion dollar raffles that are a big part of them.

So while I’ll be certainly be there – I’m not going to have too much time at the event itself for quality “talk time.”

So I’d personally prefer Walter’s idea of a dedicated meet-up.

How about Monday late afternoon – or Wed lunchtime?

“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor

[Bill Davis]

[Jim Giberti] “When it does what it does well, it’s a lot of fun to create with.
It’s the adventure I could do without.”

I hear that loud and clear.

Someone said that there are folks from here who have left and are now populating the boards of the other software programs. That’s excellent, to my thinking.

If they needed something that X does not provide, it’s reasonable and sensible for them to go where they can get what they need to do the work that they need to do.

I’m happy here – since a lot of smart folks are still exploring what X means – even after all this time.

I think this is one of the most interesting places I visit on the web for precisely that reason.

Many here are argumentative, and that’s great in my book. Because the ones that remain are also now sorted into those who don’t represent as much of a “risk averse” orientation. Which makes them more interesting to hang out with, IMO.

Yourself definitely included!

Hey, are you joining the NAB trek? Love to extend the “first round’s on me” offering to you as well if you’re going to be there.

Take care.

“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor

[Bill Davis]

[Mark Welch] “Here is the setup:
Heil PR 40 mic going thru either a Symetrix 528e voice processor or a Golden Gate Pre 73 pre amp.

Signal then goes out to an Allen & Heath 24 channel mixer then via USB to my computer. I’m running Soundtrack Pro recording software on a 24″ iMac.”

SNIP

Mark,

With due respect, this is a very “old style”audio chain in modern terms.

While the equipment is all fully professional and proven, audio has come a long, long way since the days that this much gear was necessary to get a high quality audio signal recorded of something as simple as a human voice.

I do dozens of professional Voiceovers a year and have done thousands over the past 30 years. – and for many of those years I used signal chains like you describe above.

It’s all gone.

Now my entire studio chain is a Neumann TLM-103 into a Zoom H4N. That’s it. Period. The card gets read into my laptop – and if I feel it needs some signal enhancement like compression, it’s applied in post with a click. I get BETTER results with this than I did with thousands of dollars in hardware in the past.

That replaced a simple USB pre from Centronics (MicPortPro), that did the Mic to USB conversion in real time with monitoring for under $200 bucks. And the only reason I switched is that I use the Zoom for other field recording and it was easier to just use the same system for everything.

The point is that there’s no longer a need for complexity or expense to get quality audio signals digitized and manipulated.

Digital is simple, vastly less expensive, and a whole lot easier than Analog for the kinds of things you need to do.

There are scads of A/D mic to USB/Firewire zero latency solutions with EQ and compression out there today for a few hundred bucks. That’s ALL you need. Not boards and boxes, and dozens of cables and ground loop eliminators and all that complexity.

You’re making it much, much harder than it needs to be, in my opinion.

FWIW.

“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor