Print folks learn multi-track audio

The pace in our newsroom just gets faster and faster. This e-mail yesterday from our East Manatee Editor Jim Jones was a bit of a reality check for me:

Folks:
With a little long-distance coaching from Mr. Richard McNeil, the east office has produced its first multi-track audio recording. We mixed two tracks of voice with two tracks of percussion instruments and incorporated fades, also for the first time.

Richard McNeil is the Herald’s web developer in Interactive Media, and this young man has patiently coached most of us through a lot of learning challenges. Both Jim and reporter Richard Dymond, who wrote today’s story and also worked on the percussion-heavy audio, have been in this business a long time. Dymond’s story focuses on the young percussionists coming from around the state to the two-day percussion camp at Lakewood Ranch High School, which continues today.

It’s pretty cool when the thrill of learning overshadows the weight of multi-layers of work that multi-media adds.

-- Joan