Willie Sanchez: Phenomenal People who encourage and support their communities

by Michelle Weston

With the encouragement of fellow colleague, Marlene, I have been afforded the opportunity and experience of a lifetime to work with an Emmy award winning television producer Willie Sanchez, whose show Images/Imagenes has covered cultural events and issues facing New Jersey’s Latino community since its premiere in 1972. Whenever I have free time aside from the kids' activities, and my work, I seize any opportunity to support Mr. Sanchez and his cause through volunteerism.



Images/Imagenes is the longest running Hispanic affairs program in the PBS system and one of the longest running television programs of its kind in the country. In conjunction with the series, NJN produces the annual Hispanic Youth Showcase, a talent show where Latino youths from New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania compete for scholarships. The showcase is aired on the network.



On May 26, 2011 the showcase was held at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center's (NJPAC), Victoria Theatre. The performances were in categories such as dance (solo, duo and groups), instrumental music, and vocal performances. Those that write and perform published songs, instrumental music, choreograph and/or perform dances, are artistically translating tangible and intangible works of art of the "original" content creators. That evening, there was a mix of original and previously published pieces.























My reverence and deep respect for Mr. Sanchez's thirty years of dedication to these young performers stems from my appreciation and study of the arts and sciences over the years.












Prior to being a content creator (that creates intellectual works), I was a content performer of other people's intellectual works such as:



*movement

*choreography

*sound recordings for radio, television, vinyl records and cassette tapes, compact disk, etc...


Drawing on my own studies and experiences, my goal was to capture the essence of the human body through symbolism and expressionism.

The performers were in categories from tiny tots to young adults. That night the youth displayed solid examples of the hard work and dedication that goes into developing as a performer. The dancer's body (this includes voice work to strengthen the diaphragm learned in ethnic dance, and vocal training) needs strength and flexibility exercises to prevent injuries and to develop technique: Kinesiology


Dance is very much about human anatomy including the intense strengthening of the skeletal and muscular systems. A dancer's first experiences and introductions to the form includes geometrical concepts such as symmetry, physical properties such as motion, and other scientific concepts such as space, time, matter, and harmonics.




Because it is a rare phenomenon, to find this many talented, kids and consistent, dedicated, self-less parents all encompassed under one roof I was determined to, even with the lighting restrictions, to get good content.


The dancer's in this showcase were truly amazing. I was extremely impressed by the contestants, especially, the tots who had technique, placement, alignment, etc....Awesome!!!

Check out the form:




Past Contestants


Many of the professionals that have received exposure from the showcase, who have gone on to flourish in their own careers, include Caitlin Sanchez The Voice of "Dora the Explorer".




Caitlin got her start with the showcase several years ago.

Radio Show and Blog in the works. Stay tuned

All the latest information on Creating Content.......

Happy New Year- Electrical Engineering-Dynamic & Integral

Happy New Year!!!!

I have been gone for a while working on differential equations and verifying trig identities involving sine and cosine by stretching, squeezing, and translating a function until it matches the target function among other things. Electrical Engineering is a good challenge and learning from the best Electrical Engineers in the country feels great. I love these guys!!!! Secure engineers are never intimidated. Kudos!!!

So.....as an owner of an analog/digital project recording studio, NLE and interactive design studio, it is imperative that I control my experiences through client based projects and services however, from time to time I like to provide my time through offering other organizations my time. It's my way of giving back, while in school, and it also teaches my children the value of donating time to a good cause while meeting interesting people. Volunteer work is *very* rewarding.

So my recent work, as a volunteer has been very engaging. I spent the past six months working as an engineering and production intern on a Emmy Award Winning legal show and a public affairs show. Not that I needed any more professional technical experience, it was just part of the protocol that comes with being a new engineering technology graduate. While I have thousands of hours of real work practical experience as an engineer through my work with my past clients and networks, I also enjoy donating my time to organizations in need. Especially those that are having fiscal difficulties.

Although, told repeatedly that "the network" would hire me permanently, (*if I were interested in accepting and......under different financial climates), my experiences have shown me that volunteering (and also contracting-working on individual projects with clients) gives me more control over my options and are more rewarding.

It's not that I don't enjoy working in theses environments ( I have for years) it's just that when I am in these situations, It usually only takes me a couple of hours to master a position and then the work is static and redundant.

"Dynamic and Integral" are adjectives that describe my work ethic. So with the exception of an occasional issue that may need to be solved, permanent placement gets old.....real fast.

Volunteering, and work in the field with a variety of clients, is very much......dynamic and integral.


The past year was also spent working in the Information Technology group at two New Jersey Hospitals. I followed one of my professors (who was the CIO at one hospital and then relocated to the next). I respect his work and have learned a great deal from him and with broadband being the future for programming delivery, this year was well spent looking at information systems from a medical perspective.

IP is an acronym that is in my future and whether it is Internet Protocols or Intellectual Property......It is quite possible that I may go into programming for health networks....or on the backend design and trouble shoot those networks....who knows????

All I know is, that they both are acronyms that are very much "Integral and Dynamic".



I look forward to blogging this year. Thanks for following.

MW

Sound/Engineering work on upcoming Film

The Rolls - 4 Channel Professional Field Audio Mixer


The Zoom H4


Sound mixers (AKA sound desks, sound consoles or sound boards) are amongst the most common type of equipment in the world of audio production. A few weeks ago I worked on and independent short as a sound recordist/engineer. The shoot went well however, there were some issues with the zoom H4.

We used a previously owned MX422 - 4 Channel Professional Field Audio Mixer however, due to some line channel issues (it was previously owned device), we opted to signal the audio directly to the H4. The H4's specs were decent however the large, dual-format XLR input jacks at the bottom, were lacking a pin lock causing the cable to pull out in the middle of of a take however, it was quickly resolved with some gaffer's tape and everything was fine.

The cast and crew were great to work with and it was a beautiful day.

See my recording studio

Read the Reviews:

H4 Review
H4 Review 2

Anatomy of the human ear, Amplitude & Frequencies

Here is a visual representation of sound waveforms and Spectral Displays



Someone recently asked me what engineering had to do with audio and video and my answer was......amplitude, spectrums & frequencies.




The human ear can respond to minute pressure variations in the air if they are in the audible frequency range, roughly 20 Hz - 20 kHz. It is capable of detecting pressure variations of less than one billionth of atmospheric pressure. The threshold of hearing corresponds to air vibrations on the order of a tenth of an atomic diameter. This incredible sensitivity is enhanced by an effective amplification of the sound signal by the outer and middle ear structures. Contributing to the wide dynamic range of human hearing are protective mechanisms that reduce the ear's response to very loud sounds. Sound intensities over this wide range are usually expressed in decibels.


Source 1

**DISCLAIMER: The material on this blog is produced/reproduced for enjoyment, review and information purposes only. The images contained within this site, with the exception of those represented to be originally produced by THE SPECTRUM GROUP or Michelle Weston, are believed to be in the public domain. They have been obtained either from public domain libraries on the Internet or contributed to THE SPECTRUM GROUP by users of this service. THE SPECTRUM GROUP does not sell or license any of these public domain images.

One of the special senses-sight

Lights is a form of (electromagnetic energy)

Some of what I do depends on light.

What you see with your eyes is not what you get with a camera. Camera's don't work like the light sensitive retina of the eye and lacks the brain that interprets retinal signals to take part in the "act of seeing".

Content Creation- Web Design

Web designers work with art directors and other web designers and interactive developers on ecommerce and brand sites. There is a great deal that goes into coordination of designing and maintaining an ecommerce and brand site.

Check this one out

Liz