If you’ve ever watched any of my Premiere Pro CS5.5 workflow videos, chances are you’ve heard me mention RED, R3D and working with 4K media. This week, my colleague Wes Howell, along with Ted ‘RED Ted’ Schilowitz will be conducting an online seminar featuring tips & tricks and Q&A on this very subject. If you work with RED media, if you’re thinking about getting into 2K and beyond, and if you’ve ever wondered what a truly native, file-based workflow is like (in Premiere Pro and After Effects) you won’t want to miss this. Additionally, they’ll cover the benefits of going ‘straight from the camera to the timeline’, covering the RED RAW source panel in Premiere Pro (along with working alongside RED CINE-X), RMD files, fractional playback resolutions (for real-time playback on virtually *any* system, even a laptop) and much more…
The event is being held this Thursday, February 23rd between 10-11am PST. You can REGISTER HERE.
I’ve been fairly quiet on the blog front as of late, so I’m very excited to tell you about first set of releases from my upcoming children’s music show, Just Play Music…
Put simply, this show is about playing music; showcasing the magic and incredible feelings derived from playing music spontaneously, while learning about basic fundamentals along the way. Kids can tap along, sing along, even play along…but what you are seeing is what you’re hearing: mistakes, good notes, bum notes, false starts and all.
Ultimately, the goal here is to showcase to kids (4-14) that playing music (and understanding a little bit about techniques & fundamentals) simply makes you better: it makes you feel better, live better, perform better in school, smile more…and it’s just fun to play too.
The Cover of the first EP
The official release of the show itself won’t be for some time, but several pieces of the puzzle came together earlier than expected, so it’s a real pleasure to be able to share them with you here. I managed to sneak out a Christmas single too (this past December)…a cover of one of my all-time favorite Christmas songs from Dr. Seuss…
Back when I was a songwriter (in my early Nashville days, mid-90s) I was often told that my songs (and in turn, a good portion of my musical songwriting style) were geared towards kids; bouncy, uplifting, melodic, and in the words of one publisher, “…a little too positive.” Yeah. Someone actually told me that.
In any case, though I shunned it at the time (in my early 20s) I started the process of investigating just what was out there in the genre of music/music TV programming for kids and tweens. I have extremely vivid and fond memories of Sesame Street, the Electric Company, Schoolhouse Rock, and another unnamed show (simply because, I can’t remember the name) that aired wickedly-early on Saturday mornings (probably on PBS): it featured all kinds of cool, live jazz, rock and fusion performances, taught me about modes (Dorian, Aeolian, Mixolydian, etc) scales (jazz harmonic minor among others) and the sheer cool of analog synthesis, all of which I’ve retained with RainMain like clarity, to this day…and I wasn’t even 8 years old.
So cut to 2012, some 30 years later, and I’m just at the beginning of realising this vision I had over fifteen years ago. In fact, the coming together of the final idea came about during my sabbatical last year (see my posts on ‘Post-Sabbatical, Prime Lenses’). The name, the ‘theme’, the mission, the mantra…all came to me, literally in a dream…including the words to the Theme song…(which you can find on iTunes and Amazon). Funny how that happens…but that’s the thing about music; it doesn’t play by any conventional rules, and inspiration can occur anytime, anywhere.
Here’s a snippet from an episode featuring classic blues picker, Fuzzy Island playing an old standard from Henry Clay Work, circa 1876.
As mentioned, everything that you see and hear in the show is performed live…and that of course means that not all the notes are perfect…but that’s the idea. Making music isn’t about perfection (ahem, autotune, cough)…it’s about the groove; it’s about the feelings you create when you’re ‘locked in time’; the feelings you have when a melody overwhelms you; the feeling that makes you want to dance, or laugh, or cry; the ability to create happiness and sadness with a single change in harmony…it’s magical, and educational. Parents can watch it, kids can watch it. And while there are the occasional ‘fast cut’ here and there, you won’t find any unnecessary visual filler: simple sets (sometimes, impromptu setups), white backdrops, and microphones dangling in the distance. The visuals are kept simple, as the music speaks for itself…and I believe it does. I hope you do too.
You know, having built more PC machines than I care to remember, I think my ‘fear’ in doing RAM upgrades stems from those fateful salad days, when a RAM upgrade meant a number of things:
1) Is this really the proper RAM for this particular (OEM,custom) motherboard;
2) Will I have to go into the BIOS and make changes?
3) Will the machine recognize this memory at all;
4) Will I have perpetual BSOD and wind up re-installing the old RAM again?
I’m sure many of you have been there, and despite the fact that we’re now in 2012, I still get those same vibes every time I prepare for the inevitable ‘upgrade’.
Well, I’m happy to say that the current offering from OWC gives your 2011 series MacBookPro an unbelievable boost in speed and power, one that you’re likely to notice almost instantly…especially if you’ve got an internal SSD drive and, even moreso, if you work across multiple 64-bit Creative Suite applications (like Lightroom, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects and Adobe Media Encoder).
Sealed for Freshness
Two 8GB sticks arrived at my door in small, simple packaging in less than 24 hours. I placed the order around 4pm Central Time on Thursday, and literally had it in my hand before 1pm on Friday. Gotta love that. Crack open the seal, and there, atop some pink foam, were the keys to my new editing bliss…
Clean, simple packaging. I love that.
Curiously, or perhaps not-so-curiously absent were any kind of installation instructions. Again, I’ve done this for every MBP I’ve ever purchased, so I wasn’t too concerned. A simple Google search yielded exactly what I needed, and just as I remembered: 9 simple screws (for my Early 2011 17″ MBP) was all it took to reveal the RAM slots; pop ‘em out, pop ‘em in and you’re done. Even as I began to remove the back cover, I thought to myself, “Do I have to ease it out? Any special tricks?” But again, it literally pops off, easily, and you just apply a little pressure (so that the edges are flush) when you’re replacing the screws.
Swapped out old RAM with OWC RAM. Easy.
The key to doing this quickly is lining up those screws! I always place them, visually on the table, in their exact layout. Apple uses different size screws, so it’s key that you return them where they belong. Not doing this, however, will lead to enormous frustration. I don’t even want to go there!
Within seconds of closing the back cover, I powered on the machine and literally, in about 5.5 seconds, I was greeted with the LogIn screen; a happy place to be! I logged in, quickly went to “About This Mac” and lo and behold, there it was…
16GB Success! The Happiest Screen Ever.
I ran the machine for about 9 hours following the install, and everything seemed great. Fast, responsive, and ultimately, stable. Today I’ll be diving into some deep editing/rendering, so that’ll be the more definitive comparison test (having spent the better part of the year working with 8GB).
Now, I wanted to share this little tidbit. I had ordered this RAM when it was first made available (or rather, ‘announced’) sometime last March. In fact, it was my dear friend and fellow road-warrior Terry White that sent me the OWC link in the first place. At the time, the 16GB RAM upgrade was selling for $1600 . Steep indeed…but for mobile video editing, it would be a game-changer and a no-brainer on my part. I quickly made my purchase and awaited the goods.
Well, tragedy struck Japan, and the industry was immediately impacted by this unprecedented natural disaster. As such, I was immediately made aware by OWC that the part was ‘on backorder’ and would be shipping in approximately ’6 days’. A second email, about two weeks later indicated “20 days”; I received two more emails and one final communication at the end of April indicating, “Backordered Indefinitely”. Understandable, clearly…and I just assumed it wasn’t meant to be.
Now, my only complaint in this whole process was that OWC never contacted me again to let me know it was back in stock! And moreover, it was nearly 1/6 the cost! (with shipping, the total was approximately $266 USD). I found out, via several Twitter friends (specifically, my fellow tech masters Gert Kracht (@iGert) and Tommi Luhtanen (@tbeast) that they were already using the 16GB upgrade and I had no idea it was even readily available. Since it was OWC who ultimately cancelled my order, I would have thought they would have contacted me to let me know it was once again available. They didn’t. So really, this is just a little ‘wrist slap’ to say, “Hey…I wanted to give you my money…and you could have had it sooner!”
All in all, this was the best (and most smile-inducing) RAM upgrade I’ve ever done (this being my sixth or seventh MBP). Time will indeed tell, but from where I’m sitting, it’s all looking up…and with 16GB of fast RAM…in my laptop.
…and that’s all this blog post is about. Recognizing this day; this very cool, (in an extreme-nerd kinda way) unique day of the century.
Sadly, it wasn’t posted precisely at 11:11, as my ISP (COX, what’s in a name?) decided to barf during that very historic moment in time. And yet, life carried on. ;P So here it is instead, presented on 11/11/11 at 2:22:22.
Happy 11/11/11, my fellow members of the geek chic…
I’ve just returned from Adobe MAX 2011 and unlike previous years, this year proved that no matter what your main ‘discipline’ is (ie, web dev, flash dev, HTML coder, etc) video and specifically video encoding is something you need to be somewhat familiar with, and it was definitely a hot topic amongst attendees. I presented a session at MAX on this very subject and, as is often the case, ran out of time during the final section of the presentation dealing with using the Adobe Media Encoder’s Watch Folder system (and the different methods of leveraging watch folders).
As promised, here’s a little video that simply covers the two types of Watch Folder-based encodes: using a single video source and encoding to multiple formats (with duplicated Watch Folders); or using a single Watch Folder to encode multiple video files to a single format.
Additionally, as the real ‘devices of choice’ for encoding were the Apple iPad2 and Samsung Galaxy 10.1, I thought I would also include the specs of these devices in this post (Blackberry’s Playbook spec is listed as well). This is stuff straight from their respective manufacturer’s websites, but having it one place is kinda handy…
— iPad2 Audio/Video Specs Audio formats supported: HE-AAC (V1 and V2), AAC (8 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (8 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4, Audible Enhanced Audio, AAX, and AAX+), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV
Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 720p, 30 frames per second, Main Profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps**, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format
Actual Tablet Screen Resolution: 1024 x 768
**I’m not sure what this is referring to exactly, as you can certainly encode at higher bitrates
Video Formats Supported: Full HD video playback at 1080p/30fps. Codecs: WMV7, WMV8, WMV9, H.264, MPEG4, Xvid, DivX, H.263, VP8**
Actual Tablet Screen Resolution: 1280 x 800
**Having exported a few WebM/VP8 files (actual *.webm files) I’m thinking the spec refers to playing VP8-encoded media from within a site, but not an actual WEBM video file. I tried this (both as straight WEBM and QT-wrapped VP8 files without success.
Blackberry Playbook Audio/Video Specs Audio Formats Supported: AAC (96Kbps or higher), HE-AAC V1 & V2 (128Kbps or higher) in stereo or 5.1, MPEG-4 AAC @ 128Kbps/Stereo/48kHz, MP3 (MPEG 1,2 layer 3, stereo, 128Kbps), Linear PCM (LPCM, A-LAW, U-LAW, ADPCM), WMA9, WMA10, WMA Lossless
Video Formats/Codecs Supported: 3GP, 3GP2, M4A, M4V, MOV, MP4 & MPEG-4 as H.264 (Profile: Baseline, Main *and* High Profile, up to Level 4.2, CBR @ 20Mbps) and MPEG4 (simple and advanced simple profile, level 0-6). Windows AVI (as MPEG-4 and H.264; same detail as above), Xvid, ASF, WMV9, WMV10, F4V (VP6/Sorenson Spark)
Actual Tablet Screen Resolution: 1024 x 600
—
And lastly, I had promised to include links for acquiring the Ogg Theora and WedM Quicktime components (which are accessible via AME and even in Photoshop’s Render Video options, once installed). Again, in AME these codecs will appear in Quicktime’s available codecs meaning these are quicktime-wrapped versions of Theora/WebM. Oddly enough, they *will* appear as their own, self-contained codecs in PSCS5.
Photoshop CS5.1 Render Video Window w/Extra Components Installed
I haven’t yet tested playback of these files, but they are most definitely true to format at least. Give it a try.
CAVEAT: these are 3rd party codecs and I’m offering links to these purely to give you the option of encoding to these formats within CS5.5. I cannot guarantee their functionality/stability and I would highly recommend backing up all system data/media content before performing any kind of codec installation/modification. You have been warned.
If you’re still looking for a quick and easy solution, you can use the freeware Miro Video Converter. Quite simply, this little app does a fine job for simple, drag-drop operation, especially for the aforementioned formats. Again, they’re all just tools to get the job done, so use what you feel best suits the task at hand.
Greetings from Amsterdam. Having just completed IBC 2011, I’m now headed back home (for a mere 96 hours) before Greg, Paul, Rufus and I begin our German Master’s Tour on the 21st in Stuttgart.
In any case, as previously mentioned, I shot a new season of Short&Suite back in August at the AdobeTV Studios in San Francisco. They’ve been rolling out new episodes every few weeks, but it would appear that most of them have already posted to the site (though they’re currently ‘hidden’, unless you search for them).
As such, here are the videos directly from ATV. You can either watch them here, or visit AdobeTV for more. I covered several topics that users have been asking for since our last tour, so hopefully there’s a little something for everyone. Enjoy, and let me know your thoughts…
Basic Secondary Color Correction/Grading in Premiere Pro CS5.5
Repairing AGC Clipping Artifacts from DSLR in Adobe Audition CS5.5
Dual-System Sound Synchronization without Timecode in Premiere Pro CS5.5
Work Natively with PSD Files in Premiere Pro CS5.5
Multitrack Mixing Automation in Adobe Audition CS5.5
Quick-Start DSLR Editing Workflow for Final Cut Users/Switchers
Drew Carey was right: Cleveland Rocks, and this week’s CS5.5 Adobe Camp seminar was true evidence of that! Once again, the three of us hit the road and presented 3 hours of Creative Suite workflow for the attendees. Held at the Botanical Gardens on a truly glorious summer day (warm, breezy, no humidity), the crowd were loud, enthused, and provided great inspiration for our demonstrations. As evidenced in Austin two weeks ago, we were truly amazed at the incredible diversity of users in attendance; a very fair split between Design/Web/Mobile & Video…even a few hardcore Flex/Flash Builder types too. This makes our jobs even easier, as we aim to show workflow across all disciplines, but also showcase some of the ‘hidden’ gems found in each of the Suites.
Adobe Cleveland Rocks!
We’ve got two more cities on the Adobe Camp Tour, before I head out to IBC in Amsterdam, followed by the German Masters Tour. If you’ll be in Munich, Stuttgart, Hamburg or Berlin, there’s still plenty of time to register; we’d love to see you.
From left: Paul, Mari Hulick, Greg, Jason, April Clark
Additional thanks to our amazing Camp leaders (pictured above) for organizing the event. It’s truly a privilege to be part of the local communities’ activities. We hope to see you again soon!
Earlier this week, we presented the first US date on the CS5.5 Evolution/Adobe Camp tour in Austin, TX. With a great turn-out, lots of good Q&A following the 3-hour session and a little extra time to meet, greet and share a pint with some of the attendees, I can only say that I can’t wait for Cleveland on the 23rd!
The Awesome Adobe Community in Austin
Also, we’ve just confirmed dates for our (now traditional) September German Masters Tour. Sadly, we won’t be visiting Austria and Switzerland on this particular leg, but hopefully we’ll revisit there towards the end of the year. You can register for any of the events HERE at the Cancom Site. The actual dates/cities where you’ll be able to find us are listed below…
21.09.2011 Stuttgart
22.09.2011 München
26.09.2011 Hamburg
27.09.2011 Berlin
It’ll be great to return to Berlin after a nearly 2-year hiatus. This 6-hour show will also showcase new content from each of us (yours truly, Greg, Paul, Rufus) and will once again highlight the complete workflow from application to application and outputting your content anywhere, on any screen or device.
Also, I’ll be in Amsterdam for IBC as well (beginning around the 8th September). Hope to see you there!
As the title suggests, I’m proud to announce that the Creative Suite Evangelists (myself, Greg Rewis, Paul Trani & Rufus Deuchler) will be hitting the road for a series of CS5.5 Evolution Tour-themed seminars in U.S.!! It’s been nearly 6 years since we last toured the United States (as a team, that is) and we couldn’t be more excited to bring Creative Suite 5.5 to the Adobe User Group/Adobe Camp communities.
Here are the cities and registration links. Several of the cities will also feature additional speakers and activities at the venues, so please check the links for details…
Hello all. Well, today’s a rather exciting day at Adobe, as we’ve announced a very enticing, very aggressive discount on Production Premium and Premiere Pro for Final Cut and Avid users…50% off until 30 September!
If you’ve been thinking about switching, or if you’ve merely been trying to find a better workflow solution between your existing NLE (FCP, AVID) and Creative Suite products, the time has never been better to check out what we’re offering.
A couple of highlights in Premiere Pro & Production Premium:
–Truly native, file-based format support (incl. RED R3D, Canon XF, DSLR, AVC-Intra, DPX, etc);
–Dynamic Link integration between Premiere Pro, After Effects, Encore & Adobe Media Encoder for render-free application integration;
–Mercury Playback Engine in Premiere Pro for accelerated playback, effects processing (w/adding Mercury GPU acceleration) and rendering;
–Warp Stabilizer and RotoBrush in After Effects for effortless image stabilization and quick rotoscoping tasks;
–Native Photoshop (PSD) workflows in After Effects, Encore and Premiere Pro;
–32-bit Floating Point Color Workflow in PPRO, with switchable 8/16/32-bit options in AE;
–FCP XML/AAF/EDL support in Premiere Pro and OMF & FCP XML support in Adobe Audition;
–Easily background export to virtually any format for screenss and tablet device with Adobe Media Encoder.
These are, of course, only a few of the highlights. Check out all the online videos and help docs to learn more.
The views expressed in this blog are those of Jason Levine and do not necessarily reflect the views of Adobe Systems Incorporated, it's partners or representatives.
