Direct mp4 download or play: April 16th, 1989
Finally, I decided to try to capture one of my many 8 millimeter videotapes from the 1980s. For years (most of the time living in Seattle) I thought the camcorder the original recordings were made on was not working. I discovered just today only the camera part isn’t working. The video recorder/player is totally okay. This video is one of the last recordings of my mother before being diagnosed with breast cancer. She passed away less than a year later in March of 1990. The video shows what she liked doing best, working in the yard. We had a big back yard (an acre) consisting of a steep hillside with Monterey Pine trees in Martinez, California. Also, it shows my mother’s beloved cats Big Butt, Buddy, Spot, and Tabatha Stinkaton. Guess what names I chose! Back then, the weather in California was much more seasonal with ample rainfall. There was always a lot of fairly lush green grasses and wildflowers in our yard each spring.
On a more technical note, I was trying out a different microphone on the camcorder, probably a Sony ECM939LT. The camcorder is a Sony CCD – V220 “Video 8 Pro.” This camera not only has AFM (audio frequency modulation) audio recording, but it could also record in digital PCM stereo audio onto a separate track on the 8 millimeter cassette. In fact, it has analog VU meters just like on the Sony TC-D5M audio cassette recorder. I figured the digital audio would likely fail, due to tape deterioration. It didn’t! It played and captured properly and so this recording has a similar quality to some of the ambient recordings I’ve made while living in Seattle. The video capture was performed with the 8 millimeter camcorder connected all analog (yellow cable video, white cable left channel audio, red cable right channel audio) into the analog line in on a digital Sony DCR-HC1000 Handycam. The video is converted to digital in the Handycam and sent to the computer via firewire. I found a great free DV video capture program called Scenalyzer. Then the video, which split into four parts went into Corel VideoStudio X9, where the parts joined seamlessly, and rendered into one file, nearly 6 gigabytes in size. I imported the edited file into Adobe Audition where the audio and video are separated in the multi-track view. The DV video file format and PCM audio with an extension of .AVI is totally compatible with Adobe Audition. While working in Adobe Audition, a low cut below 40 hertz was applied to cut wind noise and bumping of the microphone. A little amplification was added to sweeten it up just a bit. The peak audio level on the loudest sounds was brought up to -.35Db. This new file was exported from Adobe Audition which made another almost 6 gigabyte DV file with the improved audio. Then, I used Handbrake to make a high quality mp4 file (high profile, slow render, strict 640 x 480-4 x3 frame size, 256 Kbps AAC audio) for the internet. In addition, the Mp4 file was ran through Video Container Changer to make the Flash video file for the regular WordPress Flash player. Of course, now I include “Direct mp4 download or play” options. Sorry for being long winded about the details, but I won’t do this again for more 8 millimeter videotapes I hope to have up before the end of the year. A final note, I no longer have Richard Lyons to help me with grammar and punctuation. So I’ll be checking and/or correcting this text in the coming days or weeks.
Big Butt
Buddy
Spot
Tabatha Stinkaton
Sony CCD V220 8 millimeter camcorder
10 users commented on " April 16th, 1989 "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackDownloading now and can’t wait to watch!
And I saw no grammar or punctuation errors! Yay you!
Thank you, Leona! More to come.
Your mother was a sweetheart, bless her.
My mother and grandmother didn’t seem to mind being recorded and hearing their voices on the radio. They just sort of laughed it off and went on talking about cooking, cleaning, gardening, shopping, etc. A good example of this is “The Poppy Seed Tape.”
Yeah, I remember you saying on the Willsaphone stupid show they didn’t mind too much. Hope you’re doing alright David.
Thank you, Dillon. As you may know, my best friend for 40 years and a member of Negativland Richard Lyons, passed away earlier this year on April 19th. I thought for awhile maybe I should stop posting. Then I realized this little blog seems to be making some people happy. I know I’m rather ignorant about social media and think I’m actually afraid of it (especially Facebook and Twitter), but I am learning. I prefer speaking on the phone as opposed to everyone “typing at each other” and emogees just don’t feel right for me. I don’t own a smartphone, either. I never learned to type, as I simply don’t care enough to do so. This text is being created “one finger hunt and peck.” At the moment I’m feeling not perfect, but okay. As far as I can tell I’ll be posting items here for the foreseeable future. At this point, I’d like to thank everyone who has left comments over the years.
It was a sad day indeed to loose him and Don. But they did live a great life with great friends like yourself. I understand completely, I dont use twitter or anything like it. But it’s great you’re learning. Do what makes you feel comfortable.
We all would like to thank you and Negativland for all the years of wonderful music. Myself, it helped me get through some stuff, just listening and letting my troubles go by the wayside. We fans really appreciate what you guys have created for us to enjoy.
I also wanted to say, on the album wilsaphone stupid show, I reallly loved the musical beds you guys put under your recordings of your family. The track ‘dreams about fire, mr dirt, white clouds, the end’ I really liked. It starts at 2:09.
That reminds me, often during the conversations of my mother and grandmother, there was music in the background. That music was coming from the stereo in the living room. It was usually tuned to the local “Beautiful Music” FM radio station, KDFM in Walnut Creek, California.
We need more beautiful music on the radio these days.