"There's a reason the A is listed first in AV. It's audio/visual not visual/audio," says Master Communications Group, a highly experienced team of Minneapolis video production professionals.

"Amateur producers often focus too much on the video side of a project and forget the importance of the audio. Poorly recorded sound will kill a video more than poor video quality. When you watch a video and the audio quality is not good, the first thing your brain says is, 'The picture looks bad.' Here is just a short list of what can make an interview sound like Charlie Brown's teacher:

• Using a camera mic for the interview
• Improper placement of microphone
• Wrong microphone chosen for the task
• Using a phone to shoot the interview

The bottom line is: your video is only as good as your sound.”

Our friends at PhillyCAM (Philadelphia Community Access Media) have created a few short videos that will help you choose and use the best mic for your video. Watch and learn!

Boom Mic Tutorial
Handheld Tutorial

This promises to be interesting, a three day live 'zoom' music festival featuring Marin musicians running Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Friday will feature Marin Youth musicians. Tune in on Comcast CH 30, AT&T 99 and online at www.marintv.org/30. Thanks go out to all the festival organizers and participants!

The Bay Area-wide “Shelter in Place” order has been extended through May 31. In accordance with that mandate, CMCM will continue to be closed to members and the general public until at least that date.

CMCM studio reservations, equipment checkouts, workshops, and events are suspended until further notice. But since a large part of the work CMCM performs is Government services -- covering local meetings and operating the related government channels -- this work will continue since it is an essential part of public health and emergency communications between local governments and their constituents.

Programming will continue to be scheduled across all three channels, and you can submit programs to air on Marin TV electronically -- without having to leave home -- then tune into Channel 26 to see the results.

If you post your videos to YouTube, Vimeo or DropBox - just send the link. If you want to upload files to our dropbox, just ask.

To submit programs, please fill out the form found at this URL: https://cmcm.tv/online

To contact staff, please use email only. Thank you!

General Center questions, Member Services: jill@marintv.org

Due to the COVID-19 Shelter in Place order, Marin TV's crazy funny stand-up comedy show will not tape the next episode on Monday, April 13 -- the first time we've ever had to cancel!

Thanks for supporting CMCM during these difficult times. Stay safe -- and keep laughing!