CA: What is the status of the video at this point?

JN: The video has been transferred to the state of the art digital Beta format. When that procedure occurs, the video is given a completely separate time code of its own. So, now both the sound and picture have a way to precisely measure content, which is indelibly synched to the performance. Meaning for instance, if it is 16 minutes, 20 seconds and 45 frames — or whatever — into a song, that time will always be at the same exact spot. This brings up a [little-known fact], which is that even the most reliable analog machine varies to a degree every time you use it. So, if you have a pair of analog machines that you wish to play simultaneously, while you can start them together, they will begin to drift almost immediately. I mean, within the context of, say an hour, two analog machines running at the exact same speed should be pretty darn close, but they will not be exact. When I was running tests early on in the process, I played the audio and video independently. By the end of one hour, there was a 22 second discrepancy. And, hey, that is quite a bit.

CA: Obviously that wouldn't do.

JN: To say the least. So, returning to the audio, once it was in a digital format on my hard drive, I could do a rough mix. It was still in 24-track, just exactly like the master tapes, the only difference is that it is in digital and has a time code. I can still adjust the levels and equalization if need be. Once I completed the rough mix, we took a digital audio tape with the built-in time code to the place that had done the video transfer.

I was, to be honest, in a major panic at this point. I had no clue how long it would take them to marry the two. In theory, the way to do it was to copy my audio rough mix onto their machines, which also contained the new video master. Then, during playback, every time there is a loss of synchronicity, you can take a few frames out at the nearest camera change. But, I thought, "Dear Lord, at 22 seconds off and 600 edits an hour . . . this is going to take forever."

Enter Bob Johns, our Video Editor. He is an old pro and he does this all the time. He showed me that we didn't have to cut every time it was a frame off, because no one can see the difference. He was amazingly quick and it was his effort that ultimately created a single document of his edited video matched to my edited audio. That whole process took three days, man . . . THREE DAYS! I was quite literally stunned that he could cut, basically, a set in a day. We were already a month behind schedule because of the software/workstation debacle.

CA: Needless to say, you were relieved.

JN: To put it mildly. The next step was for me to get back to our studios and do a proper stereo and 5.1 surround sound mix.