James R. Martinez is a freelance videographer who works with KORG USA. KORG USA is responsible for distributing the KORG, Marshall, and VOX brands throughout the U.S., and Martinez plays a vital role in this process. He does the audio and video editing, as well as web and graphic design for all of the websites maintained by KORG USA. "Most of the projects I do feature the artists who use our gear," says Martinez. "Many companies simply put a band name and link on their website, which is fine, but we like to take it to a new level by taping the artists and letting people see them in their own skin. We'll tape them at photo shoots, when they show up at trade shows, or even in their own personal studios. These become commercials on the web that promote both the products and the bands that use them." Some of Martinez's webmercials have featured Chino Moreno of Team Sleep, Matt Bachand of Shadows Fall, and Funeral For a Friend.

The efficiency and fluidity of the programs make the work experience enjoyable, not frustrating. If you learn one of the programs you should have no problems jumping head-first into another.

James R. Martinez

Martinez jumped right into audio and video editing with Sony Creative Software. "Within a month of getting Vegas, I was shooting, editing, and creating a video news release to be distributed on an interactive CD-ROM to various guitar publications, as well as on the web. I remember thinking 'I may have bitten off more than I can chew on this project!' I used masking and panning for bringing titles in and out, incorporated product graphics and used the cookie cutter to focus attention on specific areas of the product. This was the first project I used Vegas for and it came out great."

If I have an idea or approach in mind for a particular project, I can think it out and create it without getting frustrated by poorly designed interfaces, hard to navigate windows, dizzying menus, or hard-to-find preference settings.

James R. Martinez

After creating his first video news release, Martinez began working with various artists developing webmercials. "I always begin by capturing the raw footage in Vegas. Its video capture capabilities allow me to shuttle through the footage so I only use hard drive space for the good stuff. Once I've captured my clips, it's resource collection time. I will gather video clips, product images, logos, as well as band photos and artwork that relate to the specific video, and drag them into a session so they are in my Vegas media pool, ripe for the picking. If I am working on an artist video, I try to use or create music that is very close to the type of music they play. Sometimes we even get permission to use their material which works out great. I take their audio and create a good loop using either Sound Forge or ACID Music Studio. In the event I can't use their material, I will create something in ACID Music Studio. I have a small collection of loops that I work from and I generally never run out of ideas for using and manipulating them. Once my resources are complete, I start to drop the media in piece by piece and begin the 'Frankensteining' of a video."

For more information about KORG USA, please visit www.korg.com. For more information about James R. Martinez, please visit his site at www.jamesrmartinez.com or www.myspace.com/j_dos.