Blog Archives

An illustrated tutorial on how to import, modify, adjust and export captions in Adobe Premiere Pro CC.

An illustrated tutorial on how to import, adjust and export captions in Apple Final Cut Pro X.

Simon Says On-Prem is a secure, fast, and easy-to-use transcription system that supports all major NLEs. It’s designed for editors needing a high volume of accurate transcripts with absolute security. Here are the details.

Victor asked me to outline an organizational structure for narrative storytelling in Final Cut Pro X. While there is no “best” way, here is a system you can use and modify for your next project, with some very cool keyword tricks.

This “cookbook” is designed to provide a checklist to quickly create, view and edit multicam sequences in Adobe Premiere Pro CC.

This “cookbook” is designed to provide a checklist on how to quickly create, view and edit multicam clips in Final Cut Pro X, along with links to learn more.

An illustrated tutorial on how to create a video including a lecturer with PowerPoint or Keynote slides, using Apple Final Cut Pro X.

Live web streaming ranges from the very simple to the highly complex. The key factor is audio. Here’s a summary of options, plus a ton of links to help you do your own research.

Everyone around us is scared, isolated and feeding on rumors. In spite of it all, there’s hope. And we have the technology and the skills to provide it. Ask your clients what you can do to help. Here are some ideas.

How to retain the highest image quality when exporting media from Apple Final Cut Pro X.

A quick, step-by-step process to transfer videos from a Mac to an iPad.

This is a detailed look at Apple’s Afterburner card for the 2019 Mac Pro. This explains what it is, what it does and when to considering buying it.

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.

Double-system sound is where you record the video on one device (a video camera, for example), while the audio is recorded on a separate device (such as a digital audio recorder). Many DSLR and video cameras don’t have high-quality audio …

Double-system sound is where you record the video on one device (a video camera, for example), while the audio is recorded on a separate device. This illustrated tutorial shows how to sync these different files and get them ready for editing in Apple Final Cut Pro X.

Keywords allow us to label a clip, or portion of a clip, so that we can find it when we need it again later; quickly, easily and with a great deal of specificity. Here’s a tutorial on how they work.

A revised explanation of how and when to automatically scale clips inside Adobe Premiere Pro CC.

An explanation of what dual-channel mono is, why we use it, and how to work with it in Apple Final Cut Pro X.

Adobe announces Productions for Adobe Premiere Pro CC at Sundance 2020. Here are the details of this new, team-oriented addition to Premiere.

An explanation of what the audio settings mean when creating a multicam clip for Adobe Premiere Pro CC, along with recommendations on which settings to choose.

A revised article on how to create and edit multicam clips in Adobe Premiere Pro CC, where the source clips are different frame sizes.

Here’s a fast, but not intuitive, way to create the right multicam clip for editing in Adobe Premiere Pro CC.

An introduction to Drylab, which makes tools to help scripted production teams make better film and TV, while reducing costs and overhead. Plus an interview with founder, John Christian Rosenlund.

A detailed look at video compression speeds in both Mojave and Catalina for both Apple Compressor and Adobe Media Encoder. Cool charts are included.

A video compression speed and file size comparison using Apple Compressor between macOS Mojave and Catalina. This will be of interest to video editors and media creators.

Retrospect 16 – powerful, flexible and, handicapped by out-of-date tutorials and an unhelpful User Guide, very, very difficult for the new user to learn.

A look at what QuickTime is, what’s changed over time and references to learn more.

In spite of their documentation, LaCie hard drives, when formatted as RAIDs, are not hot-swappable. Here’s a write-up from Loren Miller that explains the problem.

Smart Rendering is a media optimization strategy that speeds renders and exports in Adobe Premiere Pro CC. This explains what you need to know.

An illustrated tutorial on how to set audio clips in Premiere to dual-channel mono for more control in mixing. Plus, a very cool technique for processing audio clips in a batch!

A look at how much RAM you need for video editing, how to measure usage of the RAM you have, along with thoughts on how best to optimize your system.

Survey of applications and web services providing automated speech-to-text transcription focused on media creators.

A general analysis of when to use H.264 vs. HEVC for media compression, along with a recommendation for media creators.

The Project Manager, in Adobe Premiere Pro CC, allows you to gather all the files for a project and store them safely in one place. Here’s how it works.

Due to an extreme shortage of LTO-8 tape, the growth of LTO stalled during 2019. The tape situation is now resolved, which means we can look forward to being able to archive our assets, as this article explains.

A detailed look at the speed differences between a Mac i5 vs i7 system for video compression into H.264 or HEVC codecs. The results are surprising!

Apple updated its Pro Video codecs. These are of value to all editors, but you can’t upgrade to them using the Mac App Store. Here’s how.

Lesspain Software update Kyno to version 1.7.1, which now supports Windows, as well as finding and converting older media that is not compatible with macOS Catalina. Here are more details.

A look at the impact changing video frame rates has on storage requirements.

Apple released the latest version of Compressor (4.4.5) last Monday. One of the key features in the update was improved performance. Since all of us rely on compression to deliver our final projects, I wanted to see how much improvement …

A new GPU selection feature in Final Cut Pro X positions it to take full advantage of the horsepower in the new, 2019 Mac Pro. Plus, if you are running a MacBook Pro with an eGPU, you need to read this.

The brave new world of 8K media requires a beefy computer, like the new 2019 Mac Pro. But, the hidden cost – and major surprise – is what 8K media requires in your storage. Here’s an overview of what to expect.

An explanation of why iPhones don’t shoot 25 or 50 frames per second video.

Three different ways to quickly export a section of a movie from Adobe Premiere Pro CC.

Here’s a REALLY fast way to export multiple segments from the same clip – or movie.

An illustrated guide to safely exporting a complete Final Cut Pro edit for archiving or transferring to different software using XML files.

An explanation of things to consider when purchasing your next computer for media editing. Written for the non-technical person who is deeply confused about what all these tech talk means.

A quick look at DVD Creator from Wondershare, and a conversation with Wondershare about the specific features in the software for filmmakers.

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).

An illustrated tutorial on how, and why, to import or export markers from Adobe Audition CC.