Larry Jordan's Newsletter

NEWS - Nov. 9, 2020

Six tutorials, two new book reviews, and all kinds of news this week. Let's start with the news.

Leadership guru Kevin Eikenberry has invited me to be on his podcast today at 9 AM PST / 12 PM EST. Kevin provides training, consulting and coaching services to organizations who believe in investing in their most valuable assets – their people. My interview will focus on helping leaders better understand how visual communication can empower their messages, attract an audience and help them motivate change. Please join us!

Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/KevinEikenberryFanPage

LinkedIn link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevineikenberry/

As most of you know, Apple has an event scheduled for 10 AM tomorrow. While Apple is tight-lipped about these things, rumors are running rampant that this will mark the formal unveiling of actual hardware containing the new Apple silicon. While Apple has told us this transition will take up to two years, it will be good to see the first steps. This event will also, most likely, provide a ship date for macOS Big Sur. This will be a MAJOR release - so be careful in updating. Don't upgrade any mission-critical systems for a few weeks until developers have a chance to test their programs against the actual release.

Thinking of announcements, Blackmagic Design announced DaVinci Resolve 17. They are releasing details this morning (Monday) at 10 AM PST. Specific features are under embargo until then. Resolve will continue putting pressure on Avid, Adobe and Apple to continue improving their software.

Link: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com

Avid announced a new version of Media Central. This version accelerates end-to-end workflows for TV news, sports and post production teams with the introduction of mobile apps and support for third-party newsroom computer systems (NRCS) that drive increased collaboration and openness. This also marks Avid's deeper support for Adobe Premiere Pro.

Link: https://www.avid.com/products/mediacentral

In another sign of our troubled times, TVTechnology reports that ESPN will be reducing their workforce up to 500 positions, including live production, to focus more on streaming.

Link: www.tvtechnology.com/news/espn-to-reduce-workforce-focus-more-on-streaming

SonicFire Pro announced a 6.5.3 update. This update supports the up-coming Big Sur, along with drag'n'drop functionality into any application that supports drag'n'drop audio file import. This features works both ways. Drag a WAV file from your NLE back into SonicFire and it will open the project that created it.

Link: https://www.smartsound.com/sonicfire/

Trivia note: On Nov. 6, 1936, RCA demonstrated television to the press for the first time. That's 84 years ago. Pretty amazing.

My book received two excellent reviews last week - one from Philip Hodgetts and the other from Brady Betzel at PostPerspective.com. My book continues to generate high praise - if you haven't purchased your copy yet, now's a great time - the holidays are coming! (I'm also linking to Oliver's review, published earlier.)

Link: Philip Hodgett's review

Link: PostPerspective (Brady Betzel) review

Link: Oliver Peters' Review

Last week's webinar - Ask Larry Anything - was great fun! Unlike most webinars, which only talk about one or two pieces of software, this session covered ten! Lots of questions and demos. Because of all the interest, I've posted this to both my store and our Video Training Library.

Link: Larry's Store

Link: Become a member

With the potential for Apple to make big news tomorrow, I'm skipping this week's webinar. However, I'm VERY interested in your suggestions on future presentations. One idea I'm thinking about is showcasing favorite effects. Let me know what some of your favorite effects are and I'll see if I can add them to a future presentation.

Email your webinar suggestions to Larry.

Also, please remember to signup for The Inside Tips. These are now read in 40 countries each day. There's lots to learn - with each tip designed to save you time or expand your thinking. As always, every Tip Letter is free.

Link: https://www.theinsidetips.com

Turning to this week's tutorials, my lead story presents a new-ish technology that simplifies repairing and maintaining our Macs: Recovery mode. This replaces the old system of Safe Boot. Next, about six weeks ago, Apple removed the ability to export chapter markers from Final Cut Pro X. I first thought this was a bug, but even the checkbox option was gone! However, there's a workaround that only takes a couple of minutes. I've detailed this in a tutorial this week.

One of the challenges we face as media creators is that technology companies obsolete technology that we need to create programs so they can generate sales. It drives me nuts, but it is not likely to change. Nowhere is this more damaging than when codecs that we archived our media in are no longer supported. This happened most recently with the death of support for 32-bit codecs. However, I discovered a program that potentially allows us to recover media that won't play on macOS Catalina or Big Sur. I provide a demo of it here.

Link: Find, Categorize & Convert Older Media & Codecs

I also have tutorials on creating a cool, light-saber burn in Motion, a first look at accusonus ERA 5 audio effects bundle, and how to verify that your audio levels meet spec. You'll find these links in the Articles section below.

Well... the election is finally over. What I learned from this experience is that democracy is not a given - it's an ongoing process. Democracy needs to be actively supported. A significant battle was won - but there are more than 67 million people who believe that character, truth and science don't count. That is so discouraging. We still have work to do.

Winter is coming. Stay healthy and stay hopeful. And until next Monday, edit well.