I found myself giving bad advice recently – which I hate to do – and it started with this panic email which I misinterpreted.
I’ve often wondered just how much better an SSD is for multicam editing than an HDD (spinning hard disk drive). Recently, as part of detailed review of the OWC Thunderbay 4 HDD RAID, I decided to find out.
“How fast is fast enough?” is a question I’ve been pondering this last week. I decided to compare the speeds of two popular SSD drives: the T9 and T5 from Samsung. Partly, to see how fast they were, and partly to see if they were “fast enough” for video editing.
Audio normalization makes one or more selected audio clips louder, without creating distortion, by raising the gain (audio level) of each clip such that the loudest portion of each clip does not exceed the level that you specify. This tutorial explains when to use it and when you should not.
A question I get all the time is: “How do I import just a section of a clip? The original is really long and I don’t want to waste disk space.”
Regardless of the video editing software (NLE) you use, the answer is not initially encouraging: “You can’t. Here’s why.
Regardless of which NLE you use for media editing, you’ve probably suffered through the hassle of relinking media. This tutorial explains what caused it, how to fix it, and how to prevent it in the future.
In today’s world of digital video, the Broadcast Safe effect (or Video Limiter in Premiere) is gathering dust in a corner. But, there is a BIG benefit to using it when you have a lighting problem to solve, as this tutorial illustrates. This trick works for all the major NLEs.
When it comes to removing backgrounds using a green-screen key, not all video codecs create the same image quality. Here’s what you need to know to shoot and edit the cleanest keys.
Recently, I’ve gotten a lot of email from people trying to capture video from video tape. This used to be easy… but with changes to Adobe Premiere Pro and Apple Final Cut Pro, it has become more challenging. Here’s what you need to know.
Creative Cow reports that Retroactive 2.0 now supports Apple Final Cut Pro 7 running on macOS Mojave and High Sierra. Here are the details.
You can’t use what you can’t find. Logging and tracking clips in a single project is supported by all NLEs. My question is what do you use to track media across projects? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Peter asked me recently to write an article on how to optimize files for posting to YouTube, download or streaming. As Internet speeds continue to improve, and YouTube adjusts its rules, now is a good time for an update on my recommendations.
While both ProRes 422 and ProRes 4444 are much larger than the original HEVC (or H.264, for that matter), the structural design of ProRes makes it more suitable for faster editing performance, especially for multicam editing. These details illustrate the difference.
Apple Final Cut Pro is a very stable program. But, sometimes, it gets confused. When it does, the first step to reset Final Cut is to delete its preference files. Here’s how.
How fast does our storage need to be to edit video successfully? In other words: How fast is “fast enough?” Surprising, the answer is: Not as fast as you think. Here’s what you need to know.
Here’s a collection of two dozen websites with free – or mostly free resources for video editors.
MediaInfo, published by MediaArea, is a convenient unified display of the most relevant technical data for video and audio files. It is free, available through the MacApp store. Here’s a detailed look at this useful utility.
Video bit depth makes a difference when you are creating effects, color grading or working with HDR material. Here’s an explanation of what bit depth is and when to care about it.
While human skin gray-scale and saturation values can vary by individual, skin color values are remarkably consistent. Here’s an illustrated tutorial on how to set skin color values to fix color problems and make on-camera talent look “normal.” This applies to all video editing software.
“Ask Larry Anything,” is a free-form conversation about subjects related to editing. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan explains what an LTO tape drive is, the differences between LTO generations, recommendations for LTO software and how media creators can use this technology to safely archive their media and projects for decades.
Your Mac system is acting flakey. Here are a variety of tests and trouble-shooting techniques you can use to get your system and running. (This includes a special section on trouble-shooting for media editors.)
Fonts are the easiest way to telegraph an emotion – and they don’t require any design skills from us. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan illustrates the importance of readability – and other factors – when choosing fonts for a video project.
Fonts are the easiest way to telegraph an emotion – and they don’t require any design skills from us. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan illustrates several font design tips to help you choose which fonts to use in your next video project.
Fonts are the easiest way to telegraph an emotion – and they don’t require any design skills from us. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan demonstrates three font adjustment techniques that can make on-screen video text look better. While this uses Photoshop, we can actually do this in most applications on Windows or Mac.
We love the look of film, but the world has gone digital. In this guest blog, Drew Gula, from SoundStripe.com, explores the balance between digital media and creating a film look.
DPI (Dots per Inch) is a measure of image resolution. It also confuses a lot of people. Here’s an illustrated guide to where DPI matters, where it does not, and why images look bad when you scale them larger.
It’s easy to digitize SD video. But the quality isn’t great, the audio is often noisy and the results, for pros, are disappointing. Here’s a system to digitize older media and maximize audio and video quality.
The microphone you use for recording audio is more important to audio quality than any cable, plugin, software or hardware you use to record it. Here’s my thoughts on how to make yourself sound better.
Every editor has their own list of features that they’d like Apple to implement. I’m no different. Over the years, I’ve been struck by five imponderable missing features in Final Cut that, try as I might, I can’t get Apple to explain why they don’t exist. Here’s my list.
With the release of macOS Mojave and continuing into Catalina and Big Sur, older media codecs are no longer supported, nor displayed. Here’s a simple technique to find and transcode outdated files using Kyno.
Regardless of which video editing software you use, storage is more important than your computer for multicam editing. Here, Larry Jordan presents the three storage criteria that multicam editing demands – and why they are important.
The answer is “Maybe.” This detailed article explains the fundamentals of high-speed networking, illustrates how to connect a Mac to a 10G Ethernet network, then measures performance between 1G and 10G connections, with a focus on video editing.
Josh asked me to explain the pros and cons of using internal, direct-attached, and network-attached storage for media editing. Here’s an overview, along with recommendations on what you should consider for your own system.
You exported your video file only to find that it is WAAAY too big! Here’s an explanation of file sizes, codecs and media workflow for beginners.
In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan explains why H.264 and HEVC media are considered inefficient for video editing, whether you use Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro X.
Voice-over work combines acting with technology to create magic. It’s your voice telling stories directly into the imagination of the listener. Here are some tips to make it better.
A backup strategy for video production and editing to make sure you can find the assets you need when you need them.
An illustrated tutorial on how to create a scrolling credit list using Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop and Apple Final Cut Pro X (or Adobe Premiere).
An in-depth look at the latest release of ArGest Backup 4.0 from TOLIS Group. This is specifically designed for archiving assets to LTO tape. This review uses the LTO-8 tape format.
This is a table of updated file sizes for all iPhone video formats, based on frame size and frame rate. Use these to plan your storage needs.
Whether you work with Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro X, Adobe Photoshop or other image editing programs, you can create unusual, captivating effects using gradients and blend modes. Best of all, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to use them.
Blurs and mosaics are no longer effective in masking the identity of an on-screen speaker. Here’s what you need to know.
Post Haste can help you get organized right at the start of a project by creating folders and files automatically, and in a format you control. This free app is worth a look – here are the details.
Image Chest is a Mac app that catalogs and finds images. This is a helpful app for managing all the stills associated with a video project. It isn’t perfect, but it is worth a look. Here are the details.
An explanation of why rolling credits are hard to display smoothly, along with suggestions on how to improve smoothness.
Survey of applications and web services providing automated speech-to-text transcription focused on media creators.
A look at the impact changing video frame rates has on storage requirements.
Thoughts on planning a video project, along with illustrations of how to use a storyboard and a downloadable storyboard that you can use for your own projects.
Marker, from XMiL Workflow Tools, is a free, easy-to-use utility that displays, tags and exports lists of used or unused files in a video editing project created by Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer or Apple Final Cut Pro X (and 7).
A corrected look at how video file size changes as color bit depth increases.
