Blog Archives

In March, Adobe released the new 2021 versions of Premiere Pro, After Effects, Audition, Media Encoder, and the rest of their audio and video applications. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to verify the quality of your audio media – and how to repair problems with DC Offset – using Adobe Audition.

Audio is a huge part of any project. But, all too often, we ignore the audio to concentrate on the image – only to discover that the emotional heart is missing. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows a variety of ways to set audio levels in Final Cut.

Audio is a huge part of any project. But, all too often, we ignore the audio to concentrate on the image – only to discover that the emotional heart is missing. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to work with double-system sound – where the audio is recorded separately from the video – in Apple Final Cut Pro.

Audio is a huge part of any project. But, all too often, we ignore the audio to concentrate on the image – only to discover that the emotional heart is missing. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to work with auditions in Final Cut Pro to compare audio clips.

Most of us have heard of Apple’s transition from Intel CPUs to its own Apple silicon. But these new systems upend the established rules for how to configure a computer system for media editing. Here’s what you need to know about the new M1 SoC from Apple.

EditMentor is an online education tool that teaches the craft of editing. It is deep, extensive and well-thought-out. It is obviously a labor of love on the part of the EditMentor team, with a clear focus on education. Here’s a review.

Trimming clips in Final Cut Pro takes time. Here are some techniques, tips and keyboard shortcuts to help you work faster. (These apply to FCP 10.4 and 10.5.)

Adobe added minor features to both Premiere Pro and After Effects in its January, 2021, update. As well, it announced it is adding new, more inclusive language to its software. Here are the details.

You don’t need to be an incredible artist – or a programmer – to create interesting and useful effects using Apple Motion. In this short video training, Larry Jordan shows how to create a custom transition in Motion for use in Apple Final Cut Pro.

In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to create, import, modify and export closed captions in Apple Final Cut Pro.

Two “Top Ten” lists of tips and techniques from “The Inside Tips” for 2020. The first is by number of views, the second is by reader ratings. These cover Adobe and Apple software, along with codecs, media, visual effects and production.

Most of the time, you want audio to stay perfectly in sync with the video clip it is attached to. But, sometimes, to get the sync perfect, you need to shift the position of the audio. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows you how to move a synced audio clip less than a frame to improve sync using Apple Final Cut Pro.

Emojis are little icons that have taken over the world. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to add and modify emojis in a video project using Apple Final Cut Pro.

In Final Cut Pro, there are two audio commands that seem similar, but actually do two version different things: Detach Audio and Break Apart Clip Items. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows you the difference between the two.

Trimming and cropping are basic techniques in any video edit. In this video tutorial, Larry Jordan illustrates the difference between trimming and cropping a video clip using Apple Final Cut Pro.

Custom overlays in Final Cut Pro X can help with figuring out the best way to frame a scene for multiple aspect ratios, or other compositional tasks. Here’s how to create and apply them.

Video compression is essential to all media today, from social media to broadcast to streaming. In this short video, Larry Jordan shows how to stitch multiple clips into a single movie during compression in Adobe Media Encoder.

Final Cut Libraries store stuff. But how that stuff is organized is up to you. Here are a variety of thoughts on working with libraries in Apple Final Cut Pro X.

In this video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to create a multicam sequence using video clips with different frame sizes in Adobe Premiere Pro.

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.

Multicam recording captures an event using multiple cameras. Multicam editing displays all those angles during the edit. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows why and how to use with proxies for multicam editing in Apple Final Cut Pro X.

Multicam recording captures an event using multiple cameras. Multicam editing displays all those angles during the edit. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to create a montage of video or stills using multicam techniques in Apple Final Cut Pro X.

Multicam recording captures an event using multiple cameras. Multicam editing displays all those angles during the edit. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to work with multi-channel audio in a multicam clip using Apple Final Cut Pro X.

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.

This article details what I learned trying to access often corrupted digital images that are 15 – 25 years old. It illustrates the software I use to recover images, video codecs that are obsolete and techniques I used to preserve media for the future. This covers AppleWorks, PICT, PhotoCD, JPEG, TIFF, audio, and video media.

Whether you use Adobe Premiere Pro or Apple Final Cut Pro X for your edit, you can clean, edit and mix your audio faster and better in Adobe Audition. In this excerpt, Larry Jordan shows how to fix a popped “P,” called a plosive, and other weird pops and clicks using Audition.

In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan illustrates how automatic scene detection works in Adobe Premiere Pro v.14.4, along with a potential problem.

New in the Sept. 2020 update to Adobe Premiere is an improved HDR workflow for Rec. 2100 HLG HDR media. Adobe continues to upgrade Premiere to support HDR. However, the process is not painless. Here’s an illustrated tutorial showcasing what you need to know.

New with the Sept. 2020 update to Premiere Pro is automatic scene detection. Here’s an illustrated tutorial explaining how this works. In short, it is fast, fun and pretty darn accurate.

Earlier this week (Sept. 15, 2020), Adobe announced new versions of Premiere Pro and After Effects. Available immediately, as part of a Creative Cloud subscription, here are the new features.

In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to use several new – but hidden – Viewer features in the latest 10.4.9 version of Apple Final Cut Pro X.

In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to use several new – but hidden – Browser features in the latest 10.4.9 version of Apple Final Cut Pro X.

I first wrote these “Media Planning Guidelines” as a series of bullet points to help us think about media and the storage necessary for video editing. In this article, I expand these to explain my thinking to help you make better media decisions for your next project.

In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan discusses the impact of video frame size, frame rate and codec on storage capacity and video editing, whether you use Adobe Premiere Pro or Apple Final Cut Pro X.

In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan explains why converting video frame rates often causes video playback to stutter, whether you use Adobe Premiere Pro or Apple Final Cut Pro X.

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.

Premiere holds many hidden tips. Here are three that make working with timeline markers faster and easier.

One of the headline features in the 10.4.9 update to Final Cut Pro X is a number of improvements to proxy editing. Here’s an illustrated tutorial on what they are and how they work.

Smart Conform, the new re-framing feature in Apple Final Cut Pro X 10.4.9, is a good start. It does what Apple says, but there are limitations. Here’s an illustrated tutorial showing how this works.

Apple released a flood of small changes with the 10.4.9 update to Final Cut Pro X that didn’t get a whole lot of press. Let me take you behind-the-scenes in this illustrated tutorial to explore these smaller gems.

This morning, Apple released significant – and free – updates to Final Cut Pro X – to version 10.4.9 – along with Motion and Compressor. Emphasizing workflow enhancements, here are the details.

Configuring a 2020 27″ iMac for video editing, with recommendations for system components, along with a discussion of this system vs. new Apple silicon gear.

Captions are not titles. Understanding the difference is key to problem-free playback of your media. Also, you don’t get to choose the caption format – your distributor does. Learn more here.

Here is an interested workaround to fool Apple Final Cut Pro X into importing just portions of a clip, rather than the entire clip. This is especially useful when you have extremely long media files, but only need to use a very short section.

In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to create and use Roles for timeline display and audio mixing in Final Cut Pro X.

In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan illustrates how to move clips, and other elements, using timecode in Final Cut Pro X.

Unlike “normal” still images, working with a layered Photoshop (PSD) file in Adobe Premiere Pro provides a variety of options that can be useful in a video edit. This illustrated tutorial explains what they are.

Unlike “normal” still images, working with a layered Photoshop (PSD) file in Apple Final Cut Pro X provides a variety of options that can be useful in a video edit. Here’s what you need to know.

In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to create, modify and search on keywords in Apple Final Cut Pro X. He also illustrates how to create Smart Collections.

In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan illustrates how to edit more precisely using three advanced editing tools in Apple Final Cut Pro X: 3-point, back-time, and replace edits.