To explore vlogging I decided to oil-up some rusty Final Cut Pro HD chops and dive back into the fray since I have been concentrating on graphic design for casual games the last couple of years.

I was never a huge fan of the interface of FCP even when I was more deeply immersed in multimedia and nonlinear video editing. I cut my teeth on Adobe Premiere and Avid Xpress and preferred their interfaces, but a “can-do” artist should always be able to make do with what they have.

As a first foray, I did a quick edit of “Number One Son”‘s honors recital last night. As he arrived at the conservatory, he was clearly in pain from a sudden stomache ache. I knew these were not mere jitters because he has been doing the recitals long enough to be beyond nerves. I was fearful he might projectile vomit onto the grand piano on stage, and at the risk of sounding uncaring – I would be looking at YouTube hits to rival Susan Boyle or any doped-up kid after a dentist visit.

Whenever I hear his – or my esteemed mother-in-law’s performances – captured from the Sony DV Handycam, I’m struck by how unfaithful the recorded piano tone can be. Clearly the omni-directional mic on a camcorder is not the tool for the job, and the craft of micing and recording acoustic pianos is beyond the scope of this post. You have to be there.

Furthermore, at the height of his griping at practice (show me an eleven year old who would choose piano practice over video games) he was once able to produce a tone in spontaneous playing that sounded literally “divine”. Like an angel plucking a harp with full velocity. Like Zeus on Mt. Olympus striking a crystal goblet to attract the attention of assembled gods for a toast… you get the picture. I suggested a concert of playing just that one sound, as a one-up to John Cage’s silence.

Look out for my first video review of the upcoming purchase of Wacom’s well-received Intuos4 graphics Tablet. This will be the inaugural Gear Review vlog for “Dempsey Doodles”.