In this video interview from NAB last week, Gil Gowing (a regular on the DUC) demonstrates a small film mix stage (or large TV mix stage) using a variety of recent technologies including:
Jordan has worked with Digi for many years and is now the Product Manager for Post Production within the Audio division. During the interview Jordan talks about his background, the recent releases and what we can expect from Avid Audio with regards to Post production in the future. HD video linked below:
So I took yesterday off work to edit my blog videos (yes! in Media Composer 3.5 no less!) to promote Avid…sighs…what hope does my girlfriend have?! So coming your way shortly are a couple of demos showing video satellite workflows and a few interviews with key staff from Avid Audio.
It was a tidy process – Im lucky enough to be running my Media composer on an old PC alongside my Mac G5 PTHD rig, so as soon as I finished cutting the video, I just popped the audio across and locked them up in the “Video Satellite” configuration until Id finished the audio then popped it back to MC and exported my high res QT H264s and upload to web – qed!
Off to Singapore next week to “cross-train” some of our video division on what the audio team does and things like this – yes, its really happening!
I’ve been having fun with Sonic No Noise and look forwards to trying out Izotope RX in the near future – need to pull back that trade show walla from my interview records!
Anyways, just a quick note to let you know the videos should be up very soon. Stay tuned.
Meanwhile – does anyone have any questions about Digidesign inside Avid, now as Avid Audio? The Digi User conference has been busy with a lot of discussion, a lot of it needlessly doom and gloom IMHO (but what would I know, I only work for the company, right?). What do you think of the new Avid logo?
I’d love to hear some of your thoughts – please, post some comments!
Yesterday I managed to be a busy beaver and in between the post suite demos I was involved with (showing Stereoscopic workflows, RED workflows and Video Satellite) I managed to get even MORE interviews to cut up on my return, with folks such as:
Jordan Glasgow, head of interop for the audio side of Avid
David Gibbons, Head of Product Marketing – the guys who decide what goes in each Audio release
I thought some of you might like to see the people behind the decisions that effect us all and hear what they have to say about the “new Avid” and the directions and plans for the future.
*Don’t expect anything too controversial, if they were to reveal anything top secret to me, its not like I’m in a position to release it to the world without taking a beating, but they were absolutely a pleasure to get on camera and very willing to talk directly out there to you guys, the community of users who support us all which I think is a wonderful thing, personally.
Hmm, what has been going on? Well the stand has been packed, main stage could have used more chairs. We have had some great main stage demos, showing the basics of making music on ICON for post and some basic sound design bits, those were recorded and should go up on the Avid community site soon (linked from the side panel on the left in case you never noticed). Main stage was also demoing MC obviously, plus DS and…wait for it…Torq, from MAudio – that got peoples attention, a DJ package being shown under the Avid banner!!
I’m also hoping to get some more demo material of video satellite in action with LE and MC. Its not every day you get a chance see these configs in action without considerable trouble, so its a great opportunity to get some of the action on camera to see how it works.
So, lots of stuff to trickle out on my return! I haven’t had much time to wander the halls outside the Avid booth and the private demo suites, but hope to have a look around tomorrow. From what I hear, NAB 2009 is largely about Stereoscopic and RED workflows on the post side of things, but a bit of a case of manufacturers showing what they already have to market, with not too many new products on show.
In case you didn’t know, Media composer can edit in 3D and its well impressive, and DS can conform RED/R3D materials (dpx files) from an offline cut using Media composer in no time flat – very tidy workflow.
Thats all for Day 3, more in a few days after I get back to the other side of the world…stay tuned.
So if you asked me for a business card last week, it would have read “Digidesign” on it…this week, as of Monday NAB 2009, it reads Avid. New logo, new web site, new direction, new company…seriously.
Over the last 10 years, Avid as a company have had many CEOs devoted to change, to the principles of “interop” of making the audio and video arms talk and co-operate properly. For various reasons, this hasnt happened at the times when it was promised. Gary Greenfield however, is making change happen. In the last 18 months, we’ve seen some folks lets go (for better for worse) and the marketing, logistics, manufacturing, management and sales teams of the big 5 Avid companies have been slowly but surely merged into one single company. Thats right, not just merging 2 companies, but 5, at the same time!
I managed to score an interview with Dave Lebolt and will edit that up on my return and post it up. I also grabbed an interview with Paul Neyrinck, Digi (sorry Avid Audio) 3rd party developer of many industry standard surround sound encode/decode solutions. More interviews hopefully to come!
Lastly, I saw a presentation by Larry Blake on our main stage today, talking about ICON and how its revolutionised the way he works – a great quote from him was that working with a traditional hollywood mix stage using a console and PT dubbers is like “typing up a document in word, then printing it out, then typing it up again from scratch to make a few changes, then printing it out and then typing it up again with a few changes…” His point being the lack of integration of the workflow from the sound designer right through to the mix stage when using dubbing workflows over “automation follows edit” type conform within PT. It was a great presentation, wish I could share it with you all but my camera ran out of batteries
I’ll be over here all week, helping Avid show end to end post production solutions – with particular emphasis on Video satellite HD picture workflows. I’m also looking forwards to hearing Larry Blake speak on the Avid stand – hopefully get some footage to post and share!
Avid, encompassing Digidesign, M-Audio, Sibelius, Pinnacle, Sundance Media and Softimage products, has gone through some big changes in the last year and a half since our new CEO, Gary Greenfield came on board. He’s brought on board some great new staff to help the company transform, promoted existing staff into new roles and all in all, the company is evolving into a very different entity from the one I joined 6 years ago. The key thing for Gary is “Customer success is our success” and we’ve made a tonne of structural changes to make that more of a reality.
I’m thinking this week will see some interesting developments, as NAB always does. I’ll be here and post a few topics as time permits. I’ve also brought my HDV camera with a view to gathering some interviews over here to host on the blog. Stay tuned for more news as it hits!
Where’s Avid @ NAB?
Las Vegas Convention Center
Las Vegas, Nevada USA
Booth # SU 902, South Hall
More info on guest speakers and other events at NAB is here
Sorry for the lack of new material coming up at the moment – hopefully get some new vids up soon.
The delay is mainly that I’ve been on the road showing PT8 to the Aussies and once I get through that I’m off to NAB, then back to NZ to continue the tour – no rest for the wicked…
Next week are the Sydney and Melbourne events, hopefully see some of you there!
Avid, encompassing Digidesign, M-Audio, Sibelius, Pinnacle, Sundance Media and Softimage products, has gone through some big changes in the last year and a half since our new CEO, Gary Greenfield came on board. He’s brought on board some great new staff to help the company transform, promoted existing staff into new roles and all in all, the company is evolving into a very different entity from the one I joined 6 years ago. The key thing for Gary is “Customer success is our success” and we’ve made a tonne of structural changes to make that more of a reality.