Archive notice: This article was originally published on April 14, 2010. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
DP spoke with Michael Dalock-Schmidt, Marketing Manager Avid, Northern & Central Europe, about roadshows, current challenges and new technological paths in the DCC industry.
DP: Musikmesse Frankfurt took place last month. What highlights did AVID, and Digidesign in particular, have to offer this year? Which products received a strong response from customers?
Michael Dalock-Schmidt: This year, AVID was represented at ProLight & Sound, which takes place in parallel with MusikMesse, with its VENUE family of live-sound products. With our VENUE products, we reach an additional group of customers. In principle, the AVID product portfolio reaches an enormous range of creatives – from hobby musicians, professional musicians and producers to FOH, sound engineers in post, broadcasters and so on. And that is just in the audio field. This year, however, we limited our own stand to live sound. Further products, such as our Pro Tools Instrument Expansion Pack, could be seen at numerous partner stands. Many exhibitors – especially in the software sector – have recently been staying away from traditional trade-fair concepts. Why is it still crucial for AVID to fly the flag with a stand?
In fact, trade fairs are also repeatedly put under review by us. We do not believe in the motto “It has always been done this way” either. Far from it. We look closely at the markets and endeavour to act in accordance with customer wishes. Sometimes a trade fair is the right measure for the market, sometimes social-media platforms, sometimes a roadshow.
DP: How important is it today to approach the community directly through your own roadshows and concepts, as Avid already did with its “Creation Tour” at the beginning of the year?
Michael Dalock-Schmidt: The “Avid Creation Tour” was a real kick. It was very strenuous and very elaborate, but the whole team also enjoyed it. Ultimately, the success of the tour was decisive. At our event in Berlin, there really was a 100-metre queue of people when the doors opened. We have proof! To answer the question: very important! On this tour, we were able to demonstrate the full power of Avid. We had genuine stars of the industry on our stage. The events ran from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., and at each of our events we had guests who simply did not want to leave. An important aspect of the tour was also the community gathering.
DP: In spring, NAB also defines the latest equipment trends in postproduction. What impulses did Avid send out at this annual fixed star of the industry?
Michael Dalock-Schmidt: NAB is and remains a mandatory event. The new versions of our video-editing products Avid Media Composer, Symphony and NewsCutter are interesting. Camera formats are integrated even better here. But there are also numerous new features for broadcast workflows that will delight our customers because they make their work easier, more efficient and more profitable.
DP: Media Composer version 5 is a particular highlight and also contains a revised version of the AMA tool. How does this affect the editing workflow?
Michael Dalock-Schmidt: Avid Media Access now makes it possible to edit many formats natively. Customers can now edit any media format that can be played in QuickTime Player, for example. This includes files in the Apple ProRes codec and .MOV files created by DSLR cameras such as the Canon 5D. There is also now direct access to .R3D footage with full metadata protection. Media Composer, NewsCutter and Symphony systems now also support the popular AVCHD format and many other new additions.
DP: Avid’s individual production pillars are also gradually growing together; audio integration in Media Composer is improving in particular.
Michael Dalock-Schmidt: Yes, with support for RTAS audio plug-ins, Avid Media Composer, NewsCutter and Symphony now offer the ability to use hundreds of real-time effects, making editing the audio track in the video-editing system more convenient. Stereo timelines are now also treated as a single channel, making more efficient use of the available timelines.
DP: Alongside the challenges of interoperability, the film and video industry has to deal with many new ones, such as stereoscopic editing workflows. These are points that Avid has addressed successfully in recent years through its close links to the industry and will continue to pursue, correct?
Michael Dalock-Schmidt: I could not have put it better. That is exactly what defines Avid: proximity to customers and an open ear for the requirements that the market places on our customers. Stereoscopy is only one of many areas. The openness of our systems is being expanded continuously in order to offer increasingly flexible solutions and workflows.
DP: Production houses today have to operate with ever tighter budgets. How does Avid respond in the video sector to its flexible and apparently less expensive software competition? What arguments are there today for an established Avid NLE system?
Michael Dalock-Schmidt: Who claims that other solutions are less expensive? If you look at what is so nicely called “Total Cost of Ownership”, I maintain that we are no more expensive than other manufacturers. What our customers receive are solutions and not simply boxes.
With Avid solutions, our customers save time, have high reliability, rely on production-proven systems, make future-proof investments and work with the manufacturer that lives exclusively for the content-creation industry.
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