This was a quick attempt but it's a bit tricky without having to guess what emphasis you wanted in some areas. The sections in capitals and brackets are bits I had trouble with. I'm from Australia and you will find out soon enough that American English is very different to Rest-Of-The-World English so there may be a few bits you really think sound weird.
Ahh well, it only took half an hour, I'm leaving it up to the rest of the community to make any other changes. I know it's a long post but I dunno how else to do this. I'm still pretty new to this whole forum thing.
Just a BTW, that's a really cool career. It sounds really interesting.
I am originally from Caracas Venezuela but I am now living in Miami Beach. I have been involved in audio and video (PRODUCTION?) since I was fourteen, starting with the first Atari computers (512 ST) and the first MIDI software (Master Tracks).
My first keyboard was a Casio MT 240, which I then replaced with a Yamaha DSR 1000. Eventually, I sold both and got a Kawai K1 and then an Ensoniq ASR-10. I started performing versions (WHAT?) with El Exilio band (WHAT?), usually Queen and Soda Stereo songs. By 1990, I was successfully attempting some Depeche Mode covers.
A Few years later I had the chance to play with Claroscuro. This band had three very talented members and it was one of my best experiences because we needed to run sequencers and samplers plus change the drums sounds and the guitar programs in live performances. Without the modern technology we take for granted, this was much more challenging. The sampler needed to load the OS (WHAT?) and each sound bank per song and the computer could hold just two songs at a time. The now-common hard drive didn't exist yet and everything was stored on floppy discs. The computer as well as the sampler had only 2MB of RAM. I recorded an album entitled "El Viaje de Una Vida" as well as three successful themes.
I was finishing my studies as an audio engineer at that time. I graduated in 1997 and a month later I was in Orlando FL in a multimedia program. From there, I started to move slowly in to video and animation production. Virtual reality was not a big thing for me, the enhanced reality trends were more appealing and my tasks generally involved mixing music and video to get an immersive (WHAT?) experience.
After graduation in 1998 (HOW DOES THIS WORK? WASNT IT 1997?) I started to work with Pro Tools, Digital Performer and I had an entire recording studio but I was not completely satisfied. I spent two years in web productions but that is virtual reality and the .com collapse in 1999 obviously changed the industry dramatically. You needed physical presence in the real world I said back then but no one listened. I wanted to do something more tangible for the people without spending time in a room with computers 24/7.
One day I went to a party and I saw this guy doing the visuals with an Apple iBook, I really liked what he was doing and it made me think "I can do that an better" (MAYBE I CAN DO THAT TOO. WOULD BE MORE APPROPRIATE). It was then that I discovered Video Jockey (IF THIS IS A PROGRAM, COOL, BUT IF THIS IS A PROCESS LIKE DISK JOCKEYING THEN IT SHOULD BE WRITTEN video jockeying INSTEAD). I spent the next two months inside my studio investigating every aspect of VJ I possibly could. There was a lot to learn but it was easy for me to catch on to the basics because of its similarity with the earlier keyboards I had spent so much time with already, the only difference was the media type.
Using these new tools, I began constructing the visuals for most of the events in my town, and people seemed to like. I managed to get two Apple Powerbooks (Pismo G3 500) very cheaply because they had been recently outdated by the aesthetically relatively modern TiBooks.
I applied for an O1 artist visa as a multimedia artist in 2003 and I was fortunate enough to get it. I arrived in New York early in 2004. The city failed to inspire me, I was used to living in less urban place so in August I moved to Miami. I started to do some corporate events with a reasonable amount of success. Im still creating a name for myself, which takes time, but things are otherwise travelling smoothly.
In the mean time I am working in video poor (WHAT?) production with Final Cut Pro almost exclusively. However, I also dabble in programs like L, After Effects, Artmatic (that is my best kept secret), Motion Dive 3, Videodelic and Arkaos.
It has been a very interesting career thus far. Here in Miami, I am surrounded by many creative and talented people who will hopefully inspire me to further my experiences with music and video production.
Rei
