Final Cut Pro 3 for Dummies

Book Description

Teaches new and inexperienced users of Final Cut Pro how to capture, import, and edit digital video. This book will include coverage on rendering, compositing, transitions, adding titles, audio and video filters, advanced effects, and much more. This book will also provide the reader with basic digital video editing information where applicable

Provides practical, real-world solutions to managing media and incorporating various special effects into unique video/film productions - with special attention given to the Timeline, Browser, and Media Manager features of Final Cut Pro. This book will also cover the new rendering, G4 realtime effects, and color capabilities of Final Cut Pro 3.

Includes coverage on how to output the final product to a number of different media sources such as videotape, DVD, CD-ROM, or even onto the Web.

Final Cut Pro 3 For Dummies will be one of the first books available to include coverage of the highly anticipated and recently released version of Final Cut Pro.

Customer Reviews:

A confusing read.......2003-08-23

Some areas of the book are pretty strong, but overall I found this book to be poorly organized and written in a confusing fashion. Some sections barely skim the surface of topics, while others seem to go into great technical detail about stuff you'll likely never use. In several instances, I actually felt like I was learning in SPITE of the book -- and that's not the feeling you want out of a how-to book. Not terrible, but I'd consider a different book if you're looking to learn Final Cut.

Great choice to get up to speed on Final Cut.......2002-10-01

This book has been a perfect aid to help me learn Final Cut Pro in preparation for completing several video projects I am working on. Unlike the limited tutorial included with program this book gives a solid introduction to all the major areas of Final Cut. Going through the chapters gave me enough foundation both to get actual work done and to explore the deeper features of FCP on my own. The only criticism I have is that the section on Color Correction is slight considering it is one of the features the program is known for. Overall, I would say Final Cut Pro for Dummies is great book to get an editor up and working with Final Cut Pro.

Very informative manual in plain English..........2002-08-28

Having limited Final Cut experience, I found this book to be extremely helpful. Unlike many softward manuals, this book explains complex instructions in accessible language. I greatly appreciated the practical and straight-forward approach.

Very useful book.......2002-07-30

I was skeptical about a Dummies book tackling film editing in Final Cut, because it seemed like a very big, complex program to me, but since I've had luck with Dummies books before, I chose this one over some other more weighty looking tomes. And I'm glad I did-it's got a breezy style which may or may not suit your tastes (it's an acquired one for me), but the first chapter gives a really nice bird's eye overview of how the whole editing process works, and it gave me some quick confidence. I jumped right to the editing chapters (starting with chp 6) and already am feeling somewhat productive with the program. It definitely beats the manual, which is very thorough, but makes you feel like you're reading a medical text.

Great book!.......2002-07-24

Was very easy to follow--excellent writing. Lots of useful real world examples. Got me up to speed quickly for my editing project.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Text Book Choice.......2001-12-30

I had to buy this book for a course in Physics. It really explains things clearly and helps with understanding.

broad and quirky.......2001-12-02

this book covered more ground than i had hoped and features lucid explanations of topics traditionally belonging to a whole variety of fields, as well as substantial biographical content and historical references. at many points while reading it i found myself entraced with descriptions of clear and important aspects of music and musical instruments which i had never known about before.

i was especially interested in a book more abstract than the western musical paradigm, and it scored fairly. enough generalized explanations were included that i felt comfortable. johnston described a lot of musical instruments, but they are mostly western ones.

my only beef is with johnston's informal writing. he glosses over some details (admitting as much) and generally avoids mathematical equations. for a book which includes, for example, generalized descriptions of the movement of masses of air in adjoined chambers of varying size, it would not have been unreasonable to have more math - imho, the principal field connecting physics and music.

An unusual approach to the topic.......2000-08-09

I have used this book as the secondary text for a college course in the physics of music. There are a number of textbooks out there for courses of this sort (Rossing, Backus, Rigden, etc.) but this book takes a very different, historical approach, with a strong emphasis on scales and intonation. The mathematical level and level of detail are quite low--I found it hard to devise test questions to see whether the students had read the book. But it is written in a quirky, engaging style, and the students in the course found it a more enjoyable read than the main textbook by Rossing. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the relationship of history, physics, and music--no science background is required!

This book answered many questions.......2000-05-11

I've been trying to understand why music works like it does for several years, and stumbled onto this book by accident. It's exactly what I needed! It explains why musical scales are like they are, and how they got that way (which is important for understanding why it used to be significant which key some symphony was written in). It explains how harmony works, and melody too. And, how musical instruments work. And on top of that, it includes a very interesting history of science and of music, a very enjoyable read.

Entertaining and historically informed account.......1999-10-16

A superior and engaging account of how progress in the physical sciences is intertwined with the development of music theory and the evolution of musical instruments. The conversational tone of the text is never dry, and is liberally sprinkled with illustrations. There is music, science and history a-plenty here. You do not have to be "scientifically minded" to derive a great deal of pleasure and edification from the book, it has definitely been thoughtfully shaped by a professional educator. I first read this in 1990 and return to it time and again for reference, only to find myself absorbed in re-reading sections. Obviously a labor of love, "Measured Tones" deserves a wide audience. I wish Prof Johnston had written more!

Average customer rating:

Learning about the basics of music

Tone, a Study in Musical Acoustics
Siegmund, Levarie
Manufacturer: Kent State Univ Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0873380266

Book Description

This book's purpose is to investigate tone in terms of musical values and in many ways is an outgrowth of a course taught by the authors and some of their colleagues over the last ten years. The reader is supplied with principles rather than techniques and insights rather than rules; in short, with the fundamental facts to which all further musical activities can be related.

Customer Reviews:

Learning about the basics of music.......2002-05-14

I have read many books on music but Levary end Levy book is a real step by step guide to the fundamentals of musical theory.

It is clear, easy to read and gives hints to understand many facts that are not considered in most of the books about music.

Book Description

Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale focuses on perceptions of consonance and dissonance, and how these are dependent on timbre. This also relates to musical scale: certain timbres sound more consonant in some scales than others. Sensory consonance and the ability to measure it have important implications for the design of audio devices and for musical theory and analysis. Applications include methods of adapting sounds for arbitrary scales, ways to specify scales for nonharmonic sounds, and techniques of sound manipulation based on maximizing (or minimizing) consonance. Special consideration is given here to a new method of adaptive tuning that can automatically adjust the tuning of a piece based its timbral character so as to minimize dissonance. Audio examples illustrating the ideas presented are provided on an accompanying CD. This unique analysis of sound and scale will be of interest to physicists and engineers working in acoustics, as well as to musicians and psychologists.

Customer Reviews:

excellent resource book.......2006-11-11

I am glad I found this book researching material for my dissertation on music and new technology. A unique book!

A Seminal Work.......2004-12-18

Decades from now, this book will be seen as a seminal work -- a book that opened up spacious new frontiers to musical exploration and dramatically changed the sound of the world's popular music.

All previous analyses of music started and ended with the "harmonic series" -- the pattern of partials that is produced by virating strings, for example. The musical scale, tuning, and instruments of Western music have all evolved to maximize their "fit" with this pattern of partials.

But electronic music synthesis frees musicians from the restrictions of the harmonic series. This begs the question: can emotionally-satisfying music be made with inharmonic timbres? If so, how? What, exactly, is the relationship between tuning, timbre, spectrum, and scale?

By clarifying this relationship, Sethares lays the foundation for a "Grand Unified Theory" of music. That Grand Unified Theory has not yet been created -- which means that YOU can help design it; YOU can write its seminal works; YOU can perform music that's like nothing ever heard before, and yet which resonates as emotionally as the very best works of the Common Practice Era.

YOU can be the Beethoven of the 21st century -- but first, you have to BUY THIS BOOK. :-)

Good Work.......2000-10-01

The other review is over-enthusiastic. Hardly an example of unbiased scientific inquiry, the author basically sets out to prove something and does so without searching for contradictory evidence. As a result, we get a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Very interesting, never-the-less.

Reader's should be warned that this is *not* an introductory text, and that it is not an overview of the area of tunings.

Additionally, it is interesting that the word 'timbre' is in the title, as there is not one iota of original perceptual research here...and timbre is a preceptual phenomenon.

A Landmark Book in the History of Musical Sounds.......1998-01-08

While experimenting with musical instruments and sounds, the author observed a new relationship between the timbre of sounds and the tunings in which sounds are played. In an effort to understand this relationship the author hypothesized a mechanism for relating spectrum to scale. He then went to the heart of the matter, figured it all out, and proved the hypothesis. All of this and much more are clearly presented in Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale (TTSS).

TTSS is written so as to be comprehensible to a wide readership. It was a pleasure reading this informative and stunning book. In places it is even entertaining as the author's sense of humor shows through. The book should eventually find its way into many libraries (public, private, and institutional) because it contains new and important original contributions to many areas of music.

There are 345 pages divided into 13 sections and 6 short appendices. There is an extensive bibliography, a discography, an index, and an accompanying Compact Disk containing 33 sound examples. All sound examples are explained in the book, and they provide convincing support for the author's premises.

A succinctly written Prelude tells what Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale is all about. I found myself looking forward to learning more about the ideas outlined here. You'll find yourself anxious to learn where a particular concept will lead. The author has a knack for gradually building up an idea to its climax while keeping the reader involved, and this is rare amongst books where new ideas are being presented.

The book begins, in Section 1, with a challenge to current thinking concerning the consonance of musical octaves. A new idea is presented and its validity demonstrated using audio examples on the accompanying CD. ... Superb demonstration!... Section 1 also introduces a unique and practical method of quantifying the tonal consonance of any musical sound. The next four sections are entitled respectively: The Science of Sound, Musical Scales, Consonance and Dissonance of Harmonic Sounds, and Related Spectra and Scales. These sections taught me much about musical sounds and concepts. They are well written and include many informative figures, and they provide descriptions of more unique audio examples on the CD.

The Science of Sound section addresses the issue: what is sound? This leads into clear discussions of relevant terms. The reader is taken on a fascinating journey into timbre, pitch, scales, tunings, spectral analysis, beats and consonance. After reading about Musical Scales, you'll feel like an expert, and gain an appreciation of scales since the time of Pythagoras. You'll understand the profound influence they have had over the centuries in defining musics of an era.

The next section on Consonance and Dissonance provides a historical perspective of the way in which these terms have been used, and then focuses on Sensory Consonance. This has the unique property, amongst consonance/dissonance concepts, of being quantifiable in a scientific sense. It is here that one discovers a fundamental connection between the consonance works of Helmholtz 1877, Plomp & Levett 1965 and Partch 1974, which leads to a reasonably complete understanding of sensory consonance. The plot thickens as the connection between sensory consonance and musical scales unfolds. This connection is then transformed into practice as the author creates new and unique songs, A Bell, A Rock and A Crystal. It is amazing to observe musical passages created in this way.

The following section, Adaptive Tunings, describes the author's algorithms for tuning in real time, or , as is sometimes described, how to "tune on the fly". Once again, the accompanying CD provides adaptively tuned musical passages verifying algorithmic predictions. It seems that music is about to expand its domain of musical sounds in a significant way. Read the book to find out why and how this is happening.

The book contains much, much more. There is a section on Gamelans, a theory for 10 TET, dissonance curve computer programs, sensory consonance score of a Scarlatti sonata, analysis and synthesis of harmonic and non-harmonic sounds. Fourier Transform analysis and limitations, dissonance surfaces for chords, and a well thought out final section: Speculation, Interpretation, Conclusion.

I believe the author also recognized a basic limitation of Western music, and again went to the heart of the problem, figured it all out, and then proved his point. The result of these efforts is this exceptional book.

Average customer rating:
TONE: A STUDY IN MUSICAL ACOUSTICS.
Siegmund & Ernst Levy. Levarie
Manufacturer: Kent State Univ. Press,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ON34VK

Average customer rating:
Tone a Study in Musical Acoustics
Siegmund Lavarie
Manufacturer: KENT STATE UNIV+PRESS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VB12OQ

Book Description

The New York Times the #1 name in crosswords - and Will Shortz, crossword editor extraordinaire, bring you more crosswords to tantalize and challenge you. These 130 easy New York Times crosswords have been selected from puzzles published in the Monday and Tuesday editions of the paper and are guaranteed solver-friendly. Best of all, this easy-to-carry book is compact enough to fit into your purse, briefcase, and take anywhere!

The New York Times More Sun, Sand, and Crosswords: Light and Easy Puzzles

Average customer rating:

The New York Times More Sun, Sand, and Crosswords: Light and Easy Puzzles
The New York Times
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0312331126

Book Description

Solve the Day Away!When the sun's shining down, your cares fall away, and delightful hours of relaxation stretch ahead of you, there's no better way to fill the time than with fun, easy crosswords from The New York Times and editor Will Shortz---whether you're at the beach or not!Chosen from the Monday and Tuesday Times crosswords---the easiest of the week---this new collection is perfect for sitting, relaxing, and puzzling away

The New York Times More Quick Crosswords: Fast and Easy Puzzles

Average customer rating:

Great fun!

The New York Times More Quick Crosswords: Fast and Easy Puzzles
The New York Times
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0312342462
Release Date: 2005-05-19

Book Description

For puzzlers who want a speedy, fun solving experience comes this latest collection of easy, fast-to-finish crosswords from The New York Times Following in the footsteps of the successful New York Times Quick Crossword Puzzles, this compact volume features: -Seventy-five great, solvable New York Times puzzles -Edited by crossword legend Will Shortz -The most popular difficulty level-easy-in an easy-to-carry format.

Customer Reviews:

Great fun!.......2007-06-12

I keep this book in my purse and it's great for passing the time...especially when you're having to wait for an appointment or while sitting in traffic. I highly recommend it!

The New York Times More Crosswords for Your Bedside: 75 Soothing, Easy Puzzles

Average customer rating:

The New York Times More Crosswords for Your Bedside: 75 Soothing, Easy Puzzles

Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0312336128
Release Date: 2004-09-23

Book Description

Whether you like to do your crosswords sitting up in bed in the morning with the scent of fresh coffee wafting through the air, or to enjoy them as you relax in the evening, this new collection of light and easy puzzles from The New York Times and popular editor Will Shortz will fit the bill. So why not make some space on your nightstand and settle in for some serious puzzling fun?

Average customer rating:

The New York Times More Quick Crosswords : Fast And Easy Puzzles
Will Shortz
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTDZ18

Average customer rating:

The New York Times More Sun, Sand, and Crosswords : Light and Easy Puzzles
St. Martin's Griffin
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTM39I

Book Description

A noted clinical psychologist, speaker, and radio host, Dr. Henry Cloud is ready to break out to a whole new audience with this book that explains the central importance of character and integrity in success—and how you can develop yours.

Customer Reviews:

An exercise in well intentioned mediocrity.......2007-10-02

First things first, Henry Cloud deserves praise for putting the subject of Integrity on the table. Integrity, or as our grandparents called it, Character, seems to have acquired an almost quaint, musty old time patina of days gone by.

Nothing could be further from the truth. In contemporary language, the central failing of our age is what clinical psychologists call Character Disorder. The endless litany of leadership breakdowns, the Enrons, the WorldComs, ad infinitum, the narcissistic exhibitionism of reality TV, the oily relativism of modern politics, are all manifestations of the Character Disordered personality.

This stands in contrast to the preceding generation which seems to have labored greatly under the weight of excess repression and neurotic anxiety. The Baby Boom in its impatience decided that "repression" was a blanket social ill, and all that need be done was remove the repression and by an unspecified magic, an inner goodness would be liberated.

In this philosophical adventure, the Baby Boom generation was terribly misguided, and then swerved in the opposing direction with a velvet fascism of their own design, Political Correctness. But neither the cult of the liberated self nor the shaming of the compliant self would lead to a resolved state of Character.

The reason for this is that the concept of Character rests on the idea of being tested by adversity. We wanted Character minus the adversity, resolution with challenge, the bargain basement Hero's Journey, and then we'd "put lipstick on the pig" and pretend we'd had some great Soul shaping life adventure.

Here I wish Dr. Cloud had delineated his subject with more brimstone and less soft soap. As timely as his book is, and as welcome as it is, and as useful as I am sure it will be until something more gripping hits the shelves, it still comes across as something of a bland scoutmaster's talk to the boys around the campfire.

Integrity.......2007-07-12

Excellent reading! You don't want to put it down. Down to earth principals for everyone. It should be read by all Management and they should encourage employees to read.

Theory meets practice.......2007-07-05

This is rare book in terms of solid theoretical insight into human behavior, coming essentially from Dr Cloud's extensive experience as a clinical psychologist combined with analysis and inference drawn from his consulting experience with business leaders and CEOs.

The introductory chapters however lack the punch and clarity on what the book is about does not emerge initially. This is perhaps because in my opinion, the approach and definition of the topic of integrity of character is radically new and takes some time to understand. The definition that integrity is much beyond and higher than just honesty and ethics and is about the courage to meet the demands of reality is difficult to comprehend at the beginning. Thereafter the book devotes one part each to the six dimensions of integrity - Establishing trust, Orientation toward reality, Getting results, Embracing the negative, Orientation toward increase and Orientation toward transcendence. Each of these facets as I like to call are like the sides of a hexagon; equally important to create the whole.

The depth of discussions of each of the six dimensions is accompanied by actual case studies and quotes from some of the best business books. In the part devoted to Establishing Trust, Dr Cloud narrates a situation in which a CEO completely fails to convince his people on the benefits of a merger. In fact the meeting intended to get the buy-in of the folks turns counter productive. The CEO was talking, but not communicating. He failed to empathize to some of the genuine concerns of the people thereby ending up alienating the team.

In the chapter `In touch with reality" Dr Cloud starts with the story of the CEO of a dog food company who obstinately tries all possible ways to increase the sales of the company's product except in finding out what his ultimate customers really want. When finally explained to the CEO by an employee "Sir... the dogs don't like it", reality finally dawns. Dogs bark, but reality bites!

In many chapters I found commonality in inferences to CEOs' achieving corporate results and to success of marriages. Perhaps this is a reflection of Dr Cloud's typical mix of clientele.

The six dimensions are well sequenced and are interrelated. Ignorance or failure of one dimension can lead to overall nonperformance explains Dr Cloud. The "gap" in a person who lacks the wholeness of character is bound to result in failure in three specific ways and to quote from the book (page 38):
1. Hitting performance ceiling that is much lower than ones aptitude
2. Hitting an obstacle or situation that derails you
3. Reaching great success only to self destruct and lose it all.

This book was presented to me by a colleague. While I thank him for the wonderful gift, trust me, I loved it and shall do my best to put it into practice to fill in my gaps.

A Really Good Book that will help you tremendously!.......2007-04-24

In my view some of the reviews are a bit hyped up. One is far too negative. This is a really good book aimed at bringing up the integrity factor for corporate leaders. We all know this is a problem.

I think Dr. Cloud has offered up a number of great concepts in a very readable form that will help many CEO's 'get it'. Many of his illustrations bring a sense of healthy reflection and conviction to the reader. Many (but not all) of his illustrations feed the concept he is making well. I found myself agreeing with him because of the pure logic of his points (over and over).

A few problems some of my buddies pointed out with this book are:
He has redefined the word integrity to include a lot more than the word normally means. The problem with this is that many readers will tend to forget his nuanced definition over time and therefore may forget what he is saying they need to do. Whenever someone takes a common word and expands it's definition to mean more than the dictionaries give for that word, we risk cultivating a short term memory of the concepts given.

For myself, I think I found nagging questions left unanswered in my mind.
How does he know these are the keys? What has research shown? What are the real priorities of a great or successful leader?

I think the research I am aware of points to different factors, and this is why I was a little unconvinced that he has hit on 'the key' for success. One can have integrity and still not be a great leader. Leadership and integrity are two different things. To bring success to a corporate organization requires more than integrity. It requires inspiring and equipping leadership. This is the 'inspirational factor'. Hasn't research proven these are keys that cannot be overlooked for success? I think so. I think that integrity in the soul of a powerful leader then becomes inspiring, partially because of the integrity, but also because of the leadership and competence of the leader.

So I found myself asking the question...why has he chosen these things. He says that he chose them because they occured to him in a conversation. That was unconvincing for me. Now the points he makes seem really important, but how do we know that they are really the keys for success that he claims they are? Surely some studies could be developed to bear this theory out or to show if it needs adjusting. Having said all this, Integrity is a really good book. It's packed with great points and will help you tremendously.

So I would suggest that this book be read as it really is, a proposal on what we need to bear in mind for success in our ventures. With that in mind, I think this book is very helpful, it is very creative and it is fun to read. He challenges us in six essential areas that all feed into integrity in one way or another. One of his concepts is that success requires us to finish well. Another one is that we must connect well with others and gain their trust. The intrinsic logical quality of the points is as solid as it can get. This book is also packed with a steady stream of great illustrations. If you are a reader who loves illustrations, you will absolutely love this book.

I think this book is good for owners, presidents of corporations or managers of people in various settings.

I highly recommend Integrity for developing great leadership talent in churches as well. There are a lot of great ideas in this book that any trainer of leaders can use. I hope you enjoy it thoroughly. I certainly have.

Required Reading for Recruiters, Hiring Managers and Human Resources -- Crisis-Resistant Personality Traits .......2007-04-04

Your candidate may have the skills and experience to succeed -- but do they possess the character traits to rise above times of crisis? I've seen enough "can't miss candidates" crash and burn to be skeptical. However, this book provided clarity on many a bad hiring decision I've made in the past, as well as how unlikely stars can emerge in "interesting times". It won't stop me from ever making a poor personnel decision, but I'm certainly better armed to assess the intangible traits that can make or break job performance in changing times -- whether the change signals crisis or success.

Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality

Average customer rating:

Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality
Henry Cloud
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books