In season three, Artist’s Connection reached its maturity. All the processes, from recruiting guests through shooting the episode to editing the show have been worked out, debugged, and documented. I also assumed directing responsibilities, on top of the production and editing jobs I was already doing. I didn’t take over the director’s role because of an overinflated ego, or out of any kind of dissatisfaction with Alex’s work. DMA had lost a staff member and Alex was buried in work, so if I wanted the show to continue along the path that we’d started, I’d have to direct it myself. Incidentally, I wouldn’t recommend trying this if you can avoid it. If you’re busy doing a good job as a director, it’s almost impossible to pay attention to the “big picture”. Things look different in the director’s chair.
 
Lori and Kevin have come a long way as well. Lori’s upbeat attitude and sense of humor keeps the studio ambience light and breezy, which really helps to make the shoot a relaxed and fun experience for the guests and crew. But all the while, she’s going through her check list like a machine. Nothing falls through the cracks when she’s on the floor. Nothing. She’s also the one that turns screenshots and smart phone images into those beautiful pictures we upload to FaceBook prior to uploading the accompanying episode. She’s been doing Photoshop since the late 90’s…and it shows.
 
Kevin came to the show with over twenty years of newspaper experience. He’s received more than ninety industry awards, including a Stanford fellowship. He spent his late teens and most of his twenties traveling the world as a street musician, sometimes sleeping in king sized beds, sometimes sleeping in the grass beside the road. You’d think he would have nothing to learn from this show, and yet, when I compare his first interview with Roger Trott to the one I’m currently editing—Lisa Iskin—I see a marked difference in his approach, his focus, and his technique. Along with “getting the facts” like any good news reporter, he’s taken the leash off of his natural curiosity and allowed his empathy to guide him to the person behind the musician’s façade. He isn’t always successful at this—we artists have to build thick walls to shield ourselves from rejection or thoughtless criticism—but most of the time I am simply awestruck at the way he can draw out the humanity of his guests, showing us that they can also be your doctor, an employee you’re thinking of promoting, or the guy down the street. They are just like everybody else, but they are also making a priceless contribution to our world.
 
Season three ended on May 28th, and we’re looking forward to a summer of reflection, reassessment, and even a little relaxation. I see a lot of changes on the horizon, including a book deal that Kevin is pursuing. I’m not thinking about those changes at the moment though. We’ll deal with them when they come. For now, I’m feeling a quiet sense of satisfaction and pride in what we’ve accomplished, and what we’ve learned.
 
 

Season 2 went pretty smoothly. The three camera configuration has simplified activities in the studio, and that gives us more opportunity to monitor the esthetics of the shot and the content of the discussion. It also makes the editing process much better because the transitions are selected in post-production rather than on the fly from the control room. So with the studio procedures working well, I turned to other aspects of producing the show.

 The highest priority was to get the artist database up to date. This helps keep track of who applies to be a guest on the show, when they applied, what they do (singer/songwriter, instrumentalist, etc.), what they want to talk about, and how to contact them. I spent most of November contacting artists—some had applied as far back as March and hadn’t heard from us—to verify that they still wanted to be a guest. We now have a validated list of future guests. Artists continue to apply however, so we need to stay on top of this so that folks don’t fall through the cracks.

 The next priority was outreach. When the season started, we had 141 LIKEs on our Artist’s Connection Facebook page, and 31 subscribers on our YouTube channel. To date, we have 480 likes on our page and 85 subscribers on our YouTube channel. The question we’re dealing with is not how to increase our popularity—that will take care of itself—but how to ensure that everyone is notified when a new episode gets aired. Facebook uses an algorithm to limit the distribution of page posts and then wants money to increase the distribution. That would be ok with me if the page was monetized in some way, but since it isn’t, “BOOSTING” the post becomes an added expense I don’t need. I’ve decided to encourage as many viewers as possible to subscribe to our YouTube channel, so they can be reliably notified when a new episode goes up. This requires additional effort from the viewer, as they actually have to have a Google account, and actually have to click the SUBSCRIBE button while watching the video. Some people don’t want a Google account. Some people are nervous about exactly what they’re getting into when they click that SUBSCRIBE button. Some people simply don’t have the time. The process of sending out friend requests to people who might like the show, inviting them to LIKE the Artist’s Connection Facebook page, and then asking them to subscribe to our YouTube channel, is inherently clumsy and eats up a lot of time. I’m still looking for a better solution.
 There is also the question of growth. Even though Artist’s Connection has become a huge undertaking, it has always been our intention to include additional artistic disciplines in our coverage. To do this, we have two choices: build separate teams to produce and edit episodes featuring other disciplines, or replace episodes normally reserved for musicians with episodes covering other art forms. Both choices have their pitfalls. I don’t fancy the prospect of having to manage a large team of creative people. I’m not good at it. On the other hand, if I start including other kinds of artists in the current show, some of the musicians that have recently applied to be guests might not appear on the show for several years. It seems that further contemplation on this subject is in order.

All in all, I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished in season 2. The shorter format makes our viewers and guests much happier, and the positive feedback and comments I’m getting from not only the artists, but from the viewing public, convince me that we’re on the right track. There will always be changes, and season 3 will have no lack of them, but the reasons for continuing the show are not only valid, they are compelling. And so, on to season 3…

Whenever I mention this subject, I’m met with a mix of three reactions: ambivalence, fear, and reverence. After journeying in the wasteland of internet tutorials and personal epiphanies, and a lot of trial and error—oh, so many errors—I’ve come to the conclusion that, with a little pre-planning, multi-camera editing is no big deal. It can get complicated if the cameras aren’t similar in resolution, sensitivity, or format, but even those complications don’t present insurmountable challenges. Here is the process I use:
 
STIPULATION: Each camera records AUDIO as well as VIDEO, but the actual audio used for the edited sequence is recorded using Lavalier mics on a separate digital recorder. This becomes the MASTER AUDIO.
 

1. Replace the native audio on each raw footage clip with the MASTER AUDIO. You can use the synchronize function in your editing software, or for a more accurate match, do this manually. You can also skip this step if you are satisfied with the synchronization between the cameras, but I have run across situations where the leading edge of an audio signal starts on the left side of one frame, and in a different camera, it starts on the right side of the frame.
2. Color Key the green screen
3. Color correct clips so they are as close to a match as possible.
4. Import the synched clips and MASTER AUDIO into the preview bin.
5. Place the MASTER AUDIO on the timeline.
6. Select the parts of each clip you want to use and drag them to the timeline, synching each part to the MASTER AUDIO.
7. Render the completed sequence.

 
That’s really all there is to it.
 
This Producer’s Note is a little more technical than the others I’ve put out, but having been frequently overwhelmed and stymied by technicalities, I just wanted to offer a little encouragement to those intrepid souls that yearn for more options.

​These two episodes were recorded on August 22, 2015. This is the first time we used the three camera configuration. We used the regular studio cameras for “head shots” and the third camera, one of the hand-held cameras that DMA checks out for location shots, as the “two shot” or wide angle camera. This configuration netted two unforeseen advantages.
 

1. Once all cameras were correctly positioned and focused, no further camera operation was necessary. We could have gotten by with only one camera operator.
2. Since we were taking our video information directly from the SD cards in the cameras, there was no need for the Director to do any switching.

 
The director still needs to set up the control room and supervise the positioning and focus of the cameras, as well as control all aspects of the shoot from “clacker” to “cut”, but the role is more monitoring and coordination rather than actively participating in the mechanics of the shoot. This gives the director more time and space to assess what’s actually being recorded without being distracted by timing transitions and choosing cameras.
 
It is conceivable that two people, a Director and a Camera Operator, would be all you would need to record an entire show.
 
The technique for editing is fairly straightforward. You select the shots you want to use from the three camera outputs, and arrange them on the timeline. Then you take a complete audio track—we record audio separately, but as long as you use one audio track for the entire sequence, I think you can use the output from any one camera—and sync the audio from those shots to the master audio track. Then you adjust the video trim and transitions, render, and you have your edited show.
 
Editing this “fixed camera” configuration takes more time then editing a “live shot”. On the other hand, the actual session runs smoother because the Director is paying more attention to what’s going on, the camera crew isn’t moving and re-focusing cameras, and the host and guest aren’t distracted by all this activity. There is less opportunity for error, and more opportunity to be thoughtful about the best shots and camera angles to use.

Reflecting on the redesign activities surrounding Season II of Artist’s Connection, all I can say is we didn’t leave one stone unturned. Here is a quick summary of the major changes:

 Personnel
            Pieter Pastoor, my co-producer and general partner in crime, has turned
            the show over to me so he can pursue other projects. Many thanks to
            Pieter for his imagination, insight, and help in getting this program off the
            ground.

            Peter Bohm, associate producer and general audio wizard, is relocating to
            Southern California. My thanks to Peter for all his help and advice. I’m going
            to miss his calm, almost Zen-like approach to troubleshooting audio
            problems in the midst of chaos.

            Robert Kennedy has joined the team as our new Audio Engineer. Along with
            engineering our recording sessions at DMA, Robert, a graduate of Pro Tools
            training, also produces the radio version of Artist’s Connection. His “ears”
            are amazing, and his editing is top-notch.

Format
            Each episode now features a single artist. This makes each show about 20
            minutes long, which is more attuned to our YouTube and radio audience.
            We start with a quote from the interview, and then proceed to the artist
            intro, the artist performance, and finally to the full interview. For me, this
            seems to flow a little better than Season One’s format, but the jury is still
            out until the viewers weigh in.

Process
            We have gone to a three camera configuration, with all the cuts and dissolves accomplished in 
            post-production. This allows us to be a lot more accurate in keeping up with the flow of the interview. 
            It also makes removing “problems”—traffic noise, a cell phone left on, etc.—much easier because we’re 
            not having to work around the actions of the video switcher. It vastly increases the editing load, but I 
            think we get a better product.

             We’re now using a green screen to put a pleasant background behind the
             host and artist during the interview. This background is an actual video, and
             you’ll notice the horizon getting darker and the Moon changing positions as
             the interview progresses.

             We’re still working audio issues with noise reduction, phase correction, and
             limiting/compression. It’s quite a challenge to make the video version
             sound as good as Robert’s radio production. I’m very impressed with that
             guy.


            All in all, it’s been a pretty dramatic summer. I look forward to our viewers’ response to the redesign 
            with cautious optimism.

Episode 6 was shot in the afternoon. The outside temperature was in the 90’s, so all the air conditioning was running. We turned off the studio air conditioning while the cameras were running, but there was a fan and a vent that were controlled from a different source. The following week we learned they could be turned off by a will switch next to the switch that controlled the ON AIR light. In any event, this extra environmental noise made it necessary to delve into noise reduction.

It turns out; the default settings in Premiere Pro for noise reduction are pretty heavy handed. It gets rid of almost all of the noise, but leaves a lot of phase cancellation and other artifacts on what’s left. I imported these files into Cubase and spent a lot of time with EQ, gates, and compression, trying to get a more natural sound. I finally got an acceptable audio track, but the process took a lot of work. Then one evening, I was watching an Audacity tutorial and I realized that noise reduction is a compromise between the threshold and sensitivity settings. The less noise reduction, the fewer artifacts left on the audio. So, by settling for a very small amount of noise, you reduce the time spent repairing the audio track! Something to try for Episode 7.

We incorporated the lessons learned from Episode 4 regarding camera angles. Since the guest and host are nearly facing each other, we had to position each camera almost over the shoulder of one of them to get a good shot at the other’s face. For the wide shots, we had to move one of the cameras to a more central location.

The audio was recorded through DMA’s audio chain, with a separate output recorded on a digital audio recorder. Since the audio to the recorder didn’t pass through any other equipment, it was uncompressed and free of hum and other electronic noise. I processed this audio in my home studio and then inserted it back into the video in post-production. This process eliminated the hum and other electronic noise present in the earlier episodes, but that made the environmental noise (traffic, air conditioning, etc.) more noticeable.

We’ve got our studio procedures pretty much under control now, and this resulted in a smooth flow from artist to artist. Everyone knew what they were supposed to do, and we finished shooting the episode ahead of schedule.

We had some fairly significant breakthroughs with Episode 4. These were in the post-production phase, and represent an editing milestone for me. Since we started this show, I’ve been wanting to process the sound separately from the video. I’ve been using Cubase for more than ten years, and am vastly more comfortable with editing audio on that platform than with Premiere Pro, the video editing software. For several reasons, there were a lot of problems with doing this. I’ve finally come up with a process that works pretty well, although it adds a few extra hours to the post-production schedule. The average listener may or may not notice a difference, but there were audio track issues that have been driving me crazy from the start, and they are fixed in Episode 4. We are trying something in Episode 5 and 6 that, if it works, will make the audio even better. Stay tuned.

Why is the audio important? Well, we promise the artists a very nice video that they can use for their promotional activities, and if the audio is sub-standard, that kind of screws up the whole video. The artists come to the DMA studios on their own time—some have even come from as far as Southern California—provide us with a candid and honest interview and a wonderful performance, and leave without asking to be paid. The least we can do is to try our best to keep our promise to give them a quality video. And audio is a major part of a quality video, so we’ve been working very hard to give them that.

The other big achievement with Episode 4 is we now have a workable process to produce soundtracks of the show, edited for radio. This means that Artist’s Connection will be introduced to an additional community, the radio listeners—both broadcast and internet. So our community becomes larger, and the artists will have more opportunities to connect with them. We’re really excited about this. As we send it out to the various stations that have requested it, we’re hoping to get feedback about the format of the show, to see if it needs to be modified to make it more radio-friendly.

So, a lot of progress, a few discoveries, and a lot of hard work. But that, after all, is what retirement is for!