Our Mock PSA

Similar to our creation of our first commercial, we also recorded a mock public service announcement. Really, this is very similar to a commercial but tends to be longer and uses fewer - if any - effects. For a real radio station, the revenue is also considerably different. PSAs are played for free while commercials are paid for by the advertiser. Paul and I again paired off for the recording and editing of this mock PSA.

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.