Busy days ahead!

This week has been pretty amazing already and it is only going to get better! On Monday, our class schedule at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting included spending some time working on our radio final production. This was probably the most relaxed of our days - even though it was probably also one of our most crucial. We have a very limited amount of class time to put together our one hour radio show. This particular class was a little less than productive, but I think it also produced some positive results. If nothing else, it got us moving in the right direction. Several of us have scheduled some studio time to get together outside of class time to get some work done on the production. The second half of our day was spent on a fourth session with Final Cut Pro. A number of us also stayed after class and worked on various projects.
Tuesday's class was spent doing some more recording and editing with Adobe Audition for the first half. The second half was our day consisted of first class of TV news. Our instructor for this class was WFSB's Hallie Jackson.
Today was our midterm. While it was far from being an eventful day, any time you have a test to take can be stressful. After we took our midterm we spent some time talking about what the second half of our semester is going to be like.

Tomorrow is going to be a real test of my endurance, however... Classes from 9:30 - 1 followed by some computer time with Final Cut Pro until 4 PM to work on some video editing from the footage I shot last Thursday for Tainted Cherry. From 4 - 6 I will be in the studio doing an interview with a couple of members of the Steve Dunn Band. The interview is going to be a part of our radio final. Finally from 6:30-8:30, there is a News Writing Workshop given by Hallie Jackson and Chris Collibee - the news assignment editor for WFSB.

A Little Less Than Great.

Well, I got into the edit suite today and got a really good look at the video footage. While the live mix of the band sounded really good, the feed from the sound board was really light on the bass. Unfortunately, the because the camera's headphone jack is broken, I couldn't really monitor the feed during the shoot. The resulting videos will be less than ideal, but that's why we call it learning from experience. The next time that I do this, I will be ready to take precautions to avoid a similar problem.

On a slightly better note, I now have an eight gigabyte flash drive for the purpose of easily archiving and transporting my mp3 and video files. This will come in handy when using studio B as it isn't connected to the server at CSB. Recording anything in that studio is otherwise stuck in studio B without a way to transport it to another computer. Likewise, anything recorded in studio A cannot be retrieved in studio B.

Another Great Day of Classes

Today was our 4th and final class for AVID. Today's topic was using AVID to edit the audio - setting levels, balancing multiple tracks of audio, and trimming the clips to achieve the best, overall effect. I am really looking forward to applying what I have learned to the footage that I shot last week!
In addition to our class on AVID, we went back into the radio studio to learn more about NexGen. Specifically, we learned how to load things like the commercials and sweepers that we recorded using Adobe Audition into NexGen so that we can use them in our show.

While this may not sound like a very productive 4 hours, that is because there are a lot of little details that were covered during the classes. Both video editing - whether with AVID or Final Cut - and NexGen are loaded with important details that need to be addressed properly. With regards to NexGen, it is pretty simple to add spots, songs, etc. to the program. However, if the details are glossed over it will make things much harder for everyone in the future. Losing an advertising client because the wrong spot played because you failed to enter the right information while loading the spot into NexGen would not go well for your career. With AVID, proper attention to the details is important. Adding cross-fades between clips or peppering in too many effects could make or break your presentation.

A Great Finale to a Great Week!

Yes, I am aware that today is only Thursday, so it might seem a bit odd that I am claiming this week to be over. However, my classes at the CT School of Broadcasting run from Monday through Thursday. So my second full week of classes is now in the books.

This week started off with us continuing our on-hands learning of Adobe Audition. Next, we moved on to working with both AVID and Final Cut Pro for editing video footage. I have done some editing of some videos that I shot with my personal camcorder, but the software I have is nothing compared to what AVID and Final Cut Pro can do! I am really looking forward to getting in and really working with these two programs.
In addition to our exploration of AVID and Final Cut Pro, we were introduced to NexGen - the software used by radio stations for programing their daily play lists.

Today was the icing on the cake! Today we spent time in one of the radio studios doing some work with NexGen and doing some talk-over work. Our instructor, Kevin Johnson (no relation) from Mix 93.1, had us head into the studio one at a time and take a turn performing a 'talk break' on mic. We can't actually broadcast over the air from this studio, but the others in the class can hear what we do. Most of  us in the class (we number only 19, total) were pretty excited about getting into the studio.
Following our foray into the studio, we switched gears. Our instructor for the second half of our class was Joe Zone, the sports director for WFSB in Hartford. Joe threw a lot of great information our way - though I didn't have to take a lot of notes. The next time that we meet with Joe Zone we will be getting on camera and doing our own sports broadcast.