Archive for January, 2008

The More Things Change…

Posted on January 30, 2008 by adobe | Comments (1)

I’ve been living, breathing, thinking, and dreaming audio software for just over 10 years. Starting with Syntrillium in 1997, to Adobe with the team in 2003, and through the release of Audition 3 last November, it’s been my pleasure to work with some of the most brilliant minds I know to bring what (I hope) are some of the best audio tools in the world to you all. It’s been a ton of fun, and while audio (and music in particular) will continue to be my first love and passion, it’s time for me to move on and try something new. Ten years is a long time for anything, even the best job in the world.

So what now? Well, I’m not going too far–I’ve been asked to take on the enviable role of product manager for Production Premium. Now my mission is to broaden my view of the world and try to keep an eye on the whole video and interactive workflow–from planning to playback, from the web to HD, from mobile to movies. I’m thrilled by the chance to stretch into something new but still stay close (and in touch) with the audio team and products I love.

And the audio team couldn’t be in better hands. I’m thrilled to say we found someone who’s a perfect fit for the audio product management position: Lawson Hancock. Not only does Lawson have lots of software product management experience, but he’s also a musician who left Macromedia several years ago to finish his album. But I’ll let him introduce himself–Lawson has just started up a new audio team blog where he and the rest of the team will keep you all up to date on the world of audio at Adobe. Make sure to stop by and bookmark or subscribe to the new blog! And this blog? Well, I intend to keep it going with a spread focus on all sorts of Dynamic Media topics.

Finally, I just want to thank all of you, our users. The last ten years have been a thrill and it’s entirely because of your enthusiasm and passion for our tools and how it they fit into your own work. The shouts of joy when I show a new version–and the honest calling out when we fall short–have kept me engaged and excited like nothing else, and I look forward to seeing what you, and the audio team, create next.

Software Editorial Review of Soundbooth

Posted on January 29, 2008 by adobe | Comments (1)

Software Editorial has posted another review and overview of Soundbooth. The reviewer concludes with:

SoundBooth CS3 provides all the necessary tools without confusing the user, and enables good quality audio to be a part of a professional video presentation.

Cool!

More Soundbooth Training

Posted on January 23, 2008 by adobe | Comments (0)

Today I saw that Matt Armstrong over at Studio Daily has posted a short video tutorial on using Soundbooth’s Noise Reduction. It looks like the video is taken from a longer training series from classondemand.com. I’m not familiar with their training series, but it looks like they cover a bunch of titles.

Resource Central Update

Posted on January 22, 2008 by adobe | Comments (1)

Yesterday we rolled out an update to Resource Central, the live Internet-connected panel inside of Soundbooth. The update refreshed the interface, making it much easier to search and browse through available sound effects, Soundbooth Scores, and news items. Some people don’t realize that Soundbooth comes with access to more than 3,000 sound effects–just search for and download them from Resource Central!

Resource Central is a new idea for a lot of users (and Adobe!) and I think it’s an exciting glimpse into the future. A lot of people talk about the future of software services and how they’re taking over, but we know that it’ll be a long time before a browser-based application can handle everything an application like Soundbooth is capable of. But I think we’ll see the hybrid approach that Resource Central points to in more and more applications–you can already the trend at its extreme with apps like Google Earth. All the heavy lifting on the graphics happens on your local machine, but all the data comes down from servers. It’s no surprise that Adobe’s betting big on this trend with AIR, which is specifically for building connected applications that run on your desktop.

In any case, Resource Central is a toe in the water for the audio team and we’re excited to refresh it in the middle of the product cycle like this. If you have Soundbooth make sure to give it a try and download a few effects.

Soundbooth at Total Training

Posted on January 16, 2008 by adobe | Comments (0)

It looks like the fine folks over at Total Training have released their “essentials” training for Soundbooth CS3. I haven’t seen this one, but based on their previous releases I’m sure it’s a great training series. It clocks in at 2.5 hours and is available online as standalone training or on DVD as part of the Production Premium training set.

New Years 2008

Posted on January 3, 2008 by adobe | Comments (2)

Happy New Year to everyone! I know it’s been pretty quiet on the blog front lately. Who knew that things would stay so busy after we shipped Audition?

In any case, as with most everyone the New Year is a time for me to reflect on the previous twelve months and look forward to the next twelve. For the audio team 2007 was definitely a great, if exhausting, year. It was a real thrill to bring a brand new product to market with Soundbooth, and equally fun to ship what we think is a killer new version of Audition just a few months later. One of my personal measures of job satisfaction comes from seeing an ever-increasing number of people use and enjoy products I worked to create. Having two audio products in the stable for different kinds of folks means that we’re touching more people than ever before, and the strong uptake of Audition 3 by old and new customers alike has been a real thrill.

Looking forward, I always try to predict what the year will bring and I’m almost always wrong on more than half of it! We’ve got some cool things planned and I’ll look forward to sharing more when I can… In the meantime, I’ve been remiss in linking to some of the articles that you might find interesting. Today, I’ve got three reviews of Audition 3:

I think Bob’s review is particularly interesting because he sees Audition through new eyes as a general designer. Also, Gary’s review comes from the perspective of a video pro and so he talks more about the relationship between Soundbooth and Audition and why Adobe “bothers” to have two audio products.

I hope you all have a wonderful, prosperous, and great sounding New Year!