Blog Archives

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.

An explanation of how the speed of light limits how fast a computer CPU can go. This is VERY cool, even if you don’t understand tech!

An in-depth, illustrated look at Axle.ai, media asset management software for the Mac.

A step-by-step tutorial on how to create a disk image to preserve and protect media files recorded to a camera card.

An in-depth Q&A answering questions about how to pick the right storage for video editing.

A quick, illustrated tutorial on how to either select colors using numeric values or sliders using the Mac Color Picker, which works in all applications.

An in-depth review and tutorial of ff-Works, from OSBytes, for audio and video compression.

A first look at the new 1.4 release of Kyno, from Lesspain Software. Media management, transcoding and workflow software.

A helpful infographic, explanation and links about archiving media data on LTO tape drives.

Our goal is to tell stories – and the best stories touch our emotions. However, all too often, we overlook a powerful tool that can influence our emotions: fonts. In this short video excerpt, Larry Jordan showcases different fonts and illustrates how to choose the best one for your next project.

If you are looking for ways to convert speech to text quickly, with reasonable accuracy, easy-to-use editing tools and multiple export options, SpeedScriber is an excellent choice. Here’s an illustrated review that explains how it works.

This is a short-term caution for media creators about upgrading too soon to the High Sierra version of macOS, including how to turn OFF automatic upgrading.

Apple is about to release support for HEVC (H.265). This codec will change how we compress video files. This article describes what you need to know now.

MPEG Streamclip no longer works in Mac OS X 10.12 or later. In this short, video excerpt from a recent webinar, Larry shows how to “rip,” or convert, media from a non-copy protected DVD into a video format suitable for editing, while preserving as much quality as possible.

For multicam editing nothing beats an SSD RAID. Here is an in-depth, illustrated look at the OWC ThunderBay 4 mini SSD RAID – a top choice for editors who value maximum performance and/or portability.

A list of key questions that need to be answered before any video project starts. You can start without answering these, but it is better to plan ahead than to be blind-sided by something you never considered.

In this video excerpt from his webinar “Media Management for Video Editing,” Larry Jordan presents an in-depth demo of Kyno, from Lesspain Software.

Editing 4K media is no different than editing HD – except when it is really, REALLY different. In this tutorial, Larry Jordan looks at the differences when editing 4K media in Adobe Premiere Pro CC and Apple Final Cut Pro X.

An overview of audio and video codecs, with an explanation of what they are, how they are used and how to pick one that works the best for you.