WELCOME BACK!
Happy June 1! There's a LOT of cool stuff to talk about this week - so much that I'm not quite sure where to start first.

I thought I was done with my series of articles looking at video compression last week, but I remembered one more thing I wanted to test: using multiple instances in Apple Compressor. Video compression is a necessary evil - we need to do it, but anything that decreases the time we spend compressing stuff while retaining great image quality the better. Multiple instances is one option - but what I found surprised me and I'm sharing the results with you this week.

I'm launching two BIG training bundles this week - one for editors using Final Cut Pro X and one for editors using Adobe Premiere Pro. The only way I can provide this newsletter and everything I write for free is to sell my video training. So, I encourage you to purchase something that catches your fancy. (Oh!  And invite all your friends to purchase something, as well.)

Thinking of training, there's still time to sign up for my Final Cut Pro X "Hands-on Master Class" - we still have a few seats left. This one-day session is designed to help you solve problems with your projects. The date is June 15 and more details are below.

After you purchase one of my training bundles, join us for a free webinar this Wednesday. This one is pretty darn amazing, if I do say so myself. Over the years, I've discovered that there isn't a lot of training on improving audio in production; but plenty on making beautiful images. So, this week, I'm doing a webinar on "Recording Great Audio."  We've hired two actors and have about fifteen different mics that we'll be working with indoors, outdoors, noisy, quiet, shotguns, lavs, headsets -- which mic to use where, what they sound like and what you need to know to use them right. I'm really looking forward to sharing this with you. We only have 100 seats available, so sign up now. This will definitely fill up. (And, yes, we'll have it in our store a few days later.)

My team and I are spending May and June fine-tuning the Digital Production Buzz. Our initial listener survey taught us a lot about what you like and care about. Now, we are opening the survey to everyone on this list. I'm looking for your opinions on what we can do to make The Buzz the most compelling podcast on the planet for the media industry. More details below.

There's a lot happening around here and I'm doing everything I can to put you right in the middle of it.  As always, let me know what you think.

SURVEY REMINDER

I really need your opinion about The Buzz, especially if you've never listened to it. We want to learn what's important to you and what we need to cover. We need to know how much time you have to spend staying current. And what we can do to make our program even more helpful.

The survey takes less than five minutes - please share your opinions here.  Thanks!

COOL INTERVIEWS FROM THE BUZZ

Three very interesting interviews on The Buzz this week.

We started with Jon Chappell, CEO of Digital Rebellion, talking about his new cloud-based Kollaborate media review and annotation system. Next, Emmy Award-winning audio mixer, Ed Golya, joined us to talk about how to make your projects sound better. Then, we wrapped up with Andy Bellamy, CION Product Marketing Manager for AJA Systems, showcasing their new CION camera. Lots of great stuff to learn and talk about.

• Watch last week's Show Highlights here.
• Watch the entire show here.
• Listen to the entire show here.
• Read the show transcript here.

I have five new articles and videos for you this week. My first article continues my in-depth look at video compression. And, if all you want to know is "how do I make this go faster?" read this article - the answers are in there.  Next, I have three video excerpts from last week's webinar on Motion 5, helping you master the interface, blend modes and text. And the last article answers a reader's question about managing media and cache files in Motion 5.

I've also updated our Top 3 Lists. I'll see you next week.