[Bill Davis]

Things to think about…

How do you record?

How do you monitor?

How do you do your post?

Where do you live?

These will effect both if you can actually ever HEAR the distinctions between these and more moderately priced lavs, such as those from Sony, AT, and others.

The “where do you live?” also might be important, since if you’re asking about these kinds of issues, you don’t have a lot of experience working with various models in practical situations. There’s nothing wrong with that – but since you’re in the early stages of your career, you’ve got to consider what happens if your life goals change and you have to sell off gear someday.

Specialist audio equipment at a high level has some residual value, but the higher priced and more exotic, the LESS chance you’ll get your money out of it when you go to sell it someday.

Then again, if you’re ABSOLUTELY sure you’ll spend your career recording your own sound – these might be a great investment.

These are intangibles. But real issues. Just as a personal aside, I have a lot of nice audio gear that nowadays spends a lot of time on the shelf, because I’m at a place where a line item expense for an audio specialist who brings their own A-list gear is simpler than training others to use my stuff.

So whether I’d originally spent $200 or $400 for the mic sitting in the audio cabinet is irrelevant today. And actually, I might have been better off buying the less expensive option and investing the extra $200 in something else. That’s easier to see nowadays than when I was young and just wanted the “top rated everything” – even if my skills and recording chain meant I fed that top quality mic head signal into a mediocre backend that took out some of the fidelity that the mic was capable of producing.

See the point? “Best” is always going to be a relative decision with a LOT more complexity than just how someone else rates something based on THEIR criteria on a board like this.

Good luck with your choice, whichever way you jump.

[Bill Davis]

Well, before we get too wrapped up in how much MORE we all “get it” than our stupid clients – I’ll just note that yeah, while it’s easy to manipulate them to get them to do what we want them to do – that too is all about us feeding our own egos in the end.

In order to really serve the clients needs – whether they understand them or not – how about stopping the practice to treating them like children?

For me, a successful client interaction is when that client, no matter how skilled or lame – experienced or not – leaves the studio knowing MORE about how to be good at THEIR job then they did when they came in. And yep, not all of them will “get it” – for many it will go right over their heads – but that’s not my issue. My issue is doing my best to make them better at what they’re trying to do.

I figure if I can learn how to do that. I’ll NEVER starve.

[Bill Davis]

Also I’ve got to be worried about anyone whose wish list includes “views” as a positive bonus in a green screen studio environment.

Real estate overhead costs are a HUGE, HUGE, HUGE factor in running a profitable studio operation.

If you’re thinking that views are worth spending money on each month, sorry, but you’re NOT going to make it in the studio business.

(sorry to be so harsh, but that’s just the cold hard truth.)

[Bill Davis]

Shane,

I’m a bit confused. This monitor class has been out since June of 2008, but I’ve heard NO buzz on the street about HP monitor solutions and know of nobody in professional practice that is using any of these for professional work.

Is this a trend I’ve missed for more than a year – even tho I’m constantly looking for improved monitoring?

Why so little street talk about this?

Are you using some version? If so, what are your experiences with it?

Thanks.

[Bill Davis]

I was going to keep quiet about the whole thing since I’ve said all I wanted to.

But I had to laugh today when my mailbox held a nice 4 color glossy brochure calling for entries for the…

2009 AVA awards!

Presented by the most prestigious professional group I’ve never heard of in a 30-year career in and around marketing. (Which in itself, says nothing about legitimacy, just perhaps about my sheltered career?)

And I’ve got to say that these babies look more ‘professional” than some of their competitors.
(sleek female figure on a round “tiered” base holding skyward a shiny disc – just like the “famous” awards!)

The price sheet shows $60 per entry plus $25 for a “membership” – the only troubling thing is that it notes that yep, you’ve got to pony up separate for the 13″ statuette complete with “piano finished hardwood base.” And no price is given in the brochure for that. (Perhaps hoping that the rosy glow of “winner-hood” counteracts some of the sticker shock? Dunno.

But still, an awards an award. Right? And these folks in Arlington TX sound like they’ve got some nice shiny hardware available.

Probably a lot actually, since they also run something called the MarCom awards (Marketing communications?) and another one called the Hermes Creative Awards for… well… creative people, I guess.

So gentlemen, start your checkbooks!

[Bill Davis]

Andrai,

I think the problem here is one of terminology.

Projecting video is not difficult. A simple video projector will do that.

It’s when you say ” with a static graphic overlayed” that we get confused.

The term “overlay” brings to my mind the old drafting world where one sheet of onionskin paper was literally laid over a base drawing. It was “sort of” a superimposition of one image over the other, but since ink on paper is SUBTRACTIVE with regards to light reflecting off of it you can’t really do that with a video signal.

When you take one video signal and superimpose it on another, the light values are ADDITIVE.

So you can’t take one projector running a video, and add another projector running black on white, or white on black text and have it work like you might expect. The signals will essentially WASH OUT each other.

So I suspect what you’re trying to do is COMBINE the original video signal with another one, so that both are mixed together in a single stream? As you describe it, this is called “title keying” and requires a computer or video switcher with the ability to calculate new pixels from the mathematical combination of the values of the pixels in the two video streams. (the base video and the title super)

In order to help you best, perhaps you could describe the effect you’re trying to get?

Do you want large white type over and obscuring the video? Small black type in a white window on a part of the video picture? Partially transparent type that doesn’t obscure the video beheath it? A box at the top or bottom with scrolling type?

As you can see, there are a lot of variables. Let us know more precisely what you wish to do and perhaps we can guide you to the right tools for doing it.

How much type? Does it need to move?

[Bill Davis]

Here’s the central conundrum for hourly billing…

If you’re good – you’re also likely fast and efficient since your experience keeps you from messing around trying a whole bunch of things that you already know don’t work well.

So in an hourly pay scheme – the better you are, the LESS you make???

How does that make any sense?

It’s EXPERIENCE that generates results.

Experienced craftsmen and artists may generate outstanding results in a fraction of the time that it takes a newbie.

So linking the time it takes someone to do something to their compensation is as silly as trying to argue that the monetary value of a Picasso or a Renoir should be based on the number of hours spent by the artist standing before the easel painting.

[Bill Davis]

Reality #1. The human voice is very limited as to pitch and complexity. As such, it’s not very difficult to record accurately. In fact, it’s done every day with microphones that cost less than $100 with excellent results.

Which leaves you with to possibilities – one unlikely – one vastly more likely.

The unlikely possibility is that you have such a terrible recording chain in operation that it’s screwing up your recording.

The FAR more likely possibility is that you have an amateur voice talent and you’re trying to make them sound like a professional talent – when in fact that’s not what they are.

VO is a talent. Just like tennis playing. If you want someone to look like an excellent tennis player on camera – you need to hire a player that can play. Same thing with VO. If you want to record a voice that sounds great – you have to hire someone who’s trained to sound great.

Excellent voice talent plus inexpensive but decent gear EQUALS excellent results.

Crappy voice talent plus $4000 microphone at best yields a pristine recording of a crappy performance.

End of story.

[Bill Davis]

I’m the guy who said $50 and yes, that’s my reality. For reasons.

My E&O policy is good coverage. It’s also based on the fact that my business insurance package has been in force for more than 20 years. In that time, I’ve had very close to ZERO claims.

So yes, I’m probably paying a lot less than current competitive rates in some areas of my policy.

In point of fact, I never asked for E&O coverage. My agent offered it during a review back in the 1990s as my practice was growing.

If I ever find myself ASKING for additional coverage in that area or any other, I fully expect the insurance company to see this as a red flag and do their best to sell me coverage at SUBSTANTIALLY higher rates. THIS IS HOW INSURANCE WORKS.

40 years ago, I had brain surgery. The $40,000 in medical bills were paid for (after a HUGE hassle) by a $125 a YEAR policy I was added onto by my wife when she was a College student. Why so low? Because most college students are at VERY low risk for major surgery.

Similar with business insurance. If you don’t really need it, you can get it cheap. Once ANYTHING establishes that you’re at risk for a claim, your costs will SKYROCKET for the same protection that someone else can secure for pennies. It’s just how the industry works.

And something we all have to deal with.

[Bill Davis]

The site itself indicates that “7-10 percent of over 13,000 entries receive Silver awards. And 18-25% receive Bronze awards.

SO …. more than one out of 4 entries “wins” an award. Or perhaps ONE IN THREE!

What a contest!

Plus, with 14,000 plus entries – you’ve got to wonder how the judges manage to sit down and rate EACH ONE on their 9 point sheet.

Look, I’m sorry, but I can’t image a system that rationally churns through that much raw footage and comes out with anything approaching a list of 1400 “winners” with any meaningful analysis of whether tape 872 is better or worse than tape 1,109. I’m very skeptical that this can be done.

So it’s a raw numbers game at best. And that means the 1400 “Silver” winners are, at BEST – the result of a game effort on the part of an overworked small group of people who must be wading through all the dreck (the 2/3rds of NOT winners!) for what? For supporting the industry? Bull. They do it because they make MONEY at it. And if it’s a contest where the people at the top make more money when they give out MORE awards, then the judging has to be above reproach. And how can that be with 14,000 entrants per year and god knows HOW many hours of viewing and winnowing required to make a sensible assessment of relative merit?

Look, there’s nothing wrong with seeking an award for your good work.

And selling award trophys is an defensible business.

I just can’t figure out how MERIT can be fairly figured in a BUSINESS model that has at it’s core, financial success based on mass participation – and who gives out way more than a thousand “outstanding” prizes every year.

YMMV.