WELCOME BACK!

In the US, this week is a holiday week, centering around the July 4 Independence Day celebration next Saturday.  The highways near our office are already clogged with vacation traffic. Our offices will be closed next Friday to allow our staff time off with their families and to celebrate.

In the meantime, I have six new articles and videos for you this week. Adobe released new versions of all their software last week, so this week I have a webinar, articles and videos showcasing the new features; including a follow-on to all the video compression speed tests I did in June. This article compares the speed of the new version of Adobe Media Encoder with the 2014 version and Compressor 4.2.

As a reminder, tomorrow (Tuesday) is the last day for our June bundles. (We are removing The Craft of Production from our store after June 30, so get your copy now before its gone.) We are always working on new ideas, but nothing like these bundles.

For a variety of technical reasons, I need to delay our webinar on Lighting that was scheduled for early July. I realized we needed more time to get this prepared. I moved the webinar on 3D Space in Motion up a week to compensate. I'll have a new schedule for the Lighting webinar later this summer. (If you've already signed up for this event, we'll send you an email in the next day or so with more information on the new date.)

However, I DO have a fun webinar planned for this week: Plug-ins for Final Cut Pro X. At this point, I'm still figuring out what to cover, but there should be more than a dozen new or upgraded plug-ins for us to look at. Most of which are really exciting. Details are below.

Also, we are launching a new face-to-face training: A Final Cut Pro X Master Class with me on August 8. We moved this to Saturday to make it more convenient for people that work during the week. Details are below.

For everyone in the US, have a Happy 4th of July next weekend. For everyone else, enjoy your summer and I'll chat with you next week.

COOL INTERVIEWS FROM THE BUZZ

Very Exciting News: Randi Altman joins The Buzz! Randi has been covering the post-production industry for more than 20 years. Formerly the editor-in-chief of Post Magazine, now she runs her own website - PostPerspective.com. Starting earlier this month, she joins the Buzz to provide a weekly analysis on key news we need to know.

This week, we began with Starr Ackerman. She is a musician and PR specialist with IK Multimedia, who shares her thoughts on the current state of making and listening to music. Next is James Castle Stevens. James is an professional actor with some major screen credits and shares his thoughts on what traits make for a successful director.  Then Cullie Poseria, a young cinematographer, specializes in music videos and independent films. She has lots of ideas on how to make films look great.

• Watch the entire show here.
• Listen to the entire show here.
• Read the show transcript here.

By the way, the Buzz website is evolving. Stop by, visit and check out our new look!

I have six new articles and videos for you this week!

I start with a new feature in Premiere Pro CC 2015 called "Morph Cut." This can make jump cuts become a thing of the past - but also raises interesting ethical issues. A question I get frequently asks what video formats to use for a video projector. Then, as a follow-on to my video compression speed testing earlier in May and June, I have test results from the new version of Adobe Media Encoder. Plus new videos covering three big new features in Adobe Premiere Pro.

I also updated our Top 3 Lists. See you next week!