Reel to Reel Audio / Fantastic Memories

OMG?!!! Has it been almost a year now since my last post? Unbelievable that so much time has passed without adding to this. I'll spare you the cliche's and just catch up.

Overall, all is well in the Hopkins family. Bumps in the road are navigated successfully and we keep moving forward on our sojourn.

Since this is primarily about New Dawn Productions, I'll tell you that I am still doing enough video work to keep me busy along with other scheduled volunteerism tasks as they arise. Last year I moved up to the Mac and Final Cut Pro for video editing. I must say it is quite a step up from doing this on the PC, even with the best software on PC. I am loving my MacBook Pro.

I'd like to do more audio editing, spurred on by my recent rediscovery of my trusty old reel to reel recorder. I dug it out, freshened it up a bit, and played some of my old tapes on it. WoW, I was amazed that all still works well and that the old tapes sound as good as they do. Sure, some deterioration has occurred, but now I play them into my Mac, digitize, edit, enhance the EQ, and voila - a darned good sound all things considered. Of course I can't create what is not on the tape to begin with, but the latest software allows for quite a bit of cleaning up the old music to provide an amazing listening experience that brings back wonderful memories. For example, I recently found a recital recorded at the University of Michigan in 1960 by a student who became a professor at WVU-Tech. We did some terrific recordings together while I was working there in the 70's and he was the Band Director. A few months ago while rummaging around Tech looking for my old recordings, I stumbled onto this recital that he had done and forgot to take with him upon his retirement. I salvaged it, digitized it, cleaned it up, and sent it to him on a CD at his retirement home in California. He was beyond grateful to relive a portion of his youth that he had totally forgotten about. It was a great pleasure for me to bring him some.

Next month I'll unveil my improved website that will have many more video examples to demonstrate how you too can share your precious moments with your friends and family in a fun and entertaining way.

Make it a fantastic week !!!

Rich