Cool!

I figure that after we get a head count, perhaps we can pick a central location for an initial bash to meet everybody. I'm in Cary; but I know Raleigh & the surrounding area quite well.....this has been home for nearly 20 years.

i'm game for raleigh vegas parties!

OK...that's 3 of us so far. I think there were 7 or 8 from the last go-around. Come on out folks......you know you are Vegas addicts. Admit it! :-] We're here to help.

Really...we are! 8-)

If we can get enough of us together, maybe we can talk Spot into coming to the Triangle for a Vegas group therapy session.

I'm in Raleighs favorite carolina town of charlotte, get up there on a fairly regular basis, if a meeting was set up at say Hibernian Irish Pub, I may be up for a GUINNESS , and some vegas.

Terrific! That would be great. We'll have to arrange it so you can come on a regular basis. :-]

Keep them comin' folks....

Well, I think we've got enough to start looking at a date/time. How are weekends for everybody? I'm driving out to Asheville to pick up a friend this weekend....but the weekend after that should be free.

I'm in Fayetteville but would drive to Raleigh on a weekend to meet with a bunch of other Vegas freaks. I have another friend here in Fayetteville that may join me.

That is if my wife will lemme get away for a bit. :)

If we're going to plan something, does anyone else use Google Calendar? Might help everyone get on the same page...

dibbkd,

I don't use Google Calendar....but a group calendar is a really good idea. I've used Yahoo Calendar while working on an IT staff for a college computer lab. It was great.

Would you mind setting up a Raleigh Vegas Users Calendar on Google and sending us the login info? If we're going to get a regular schedule going, this will help a LOT. Perhaps a good way to do this is to EMAIL the login info to those who wish to join the group. That way we don't have some forum troll browse through and start wrecking havoc with the calendar. :-] My email address is available from my website: www.i5pmusic.com/contactus.com

Thanks for this suggestion, and I hope you can make it up here with your buddy quite often!

OK Infinite5ths - I've setup a public google calendar we can add events and stuff too.

I sent you an invite, let me know if it's working for you.

Anyone else want to get on it?

I'd like to be included in any local goings on...
ultrafinriz(at)mindspring...com

Jesse

Me too. jnorman17 at nc.rr.com.

I think this calendar link works, I invited everyone who asked so far, and made this calendar "public":

Vegas calendar for NC folks

You have to sign up to edit it, but you don't have to have a gmail account. You can sign up with any email address.

Create a Google account here

dibbkd,

THANK YOU for setting this up for all of us. It looks great!

Welcome to the most recent folks. ....and just a quick note to everybody:

I'm still pretty new to Vegas, and I don't claim to be an expert by any means. If somebody else in the group is an exsperienced user or an old-timer on the forum, feel free to take the lead here. I'll play point-man if needed, but I'm kinda new to this. :-]

Hey folks!

How many of you also use Sound Forge? I'm wondering if I should extend this invite to the SF forum. I may also mention this on the Cakewalk Sonar forum, as there are some really nice Vegas/SF users on there. I'm not sure if any of them are in the Triangle area.

My weekend is looking pretty full. I'm gonna try to pick a date next weekend to put on the calendar to run in by the group. I'll try to pick an evening time.

Any other suggestions, or quesitons?

Weekend of Aug 12th is good for me. Wife said she'd like to do some shopping at Crabtree or Cary Towncenter anyway. Maybe go to Cheesecake factory that night?

Anyway, do you or the others have a studio or something up there, or just meet at someones house or what?

Should we put together some sort of rough agenda?

Perfect! That weekend works for me also.

I don't have a studio yet...in fact, where I am right now I don't even have much room. the "studio" is still under construction. I thought perhaps we could all go out to dinner, unless somebody has a nice studio or lots of room. The other plus for a dinner engagement is that it's a great opportunity to bring along significant others. [I don't have one....but I know that some folks will be travelling a long way; and regardless of distance, it's always nice to have your better half along for the ride.]

Saturday evening (Aug 12th) is a good date here. Does that leave everybody enough travel time? Also, i'm a HUGE Olive Garden fan. If we do go out for dinner, I vote for that.....but I'm very flexible. ...just thought I'd throw out an idea.

As for a rough schedule:

1) We all need to be introduced, at least informally

2) I'm interested in finding out what kind of work everybody does with Vegas

3) I'd like to find out what level of interest there is in group training sessions and/or filming events -- I find from my ham radio experience that this is a REALLY great way for everybody to learn about technology in action, even it there isn't any official 'training gameplan'

4) We should discuss some future event ideas for the group and maybe even try to schedule our next event or two

5) We need to firm up our primary communications methods. Possibilities include: Sony forums, email, Google Calendar (for scheduling), a custom website (I can host it if it's not too fancy/big), phone/text messaging, ....and anything else we can think of

6) I'd like to find out from folks in the area where the good equipment dealers are, both for purchasing and buying. I don't know if there ARE any good dealers....but if there are any I'd like to support them. We might even be able to arrange group discounts if we buy together...

7) Once we have an idea of each person's specialties, it would be nice to put together a database so we can call on each other for help with certain tasks. For example: I do a fair amount of classical acoustic recording (live and otherwise) and I'm a classical violinist (with a degree in violin). I've got TONS of classical & some jazz musician connections (for performance, teaching, composition, etc.). I'm getting into sample-based composition and arranging. Now, somebody else might be a guru at filming, casting, script writing, lighting, marketing, video editing/rendering, ADR, CD production, animation/modelling, etc. I'd like to know I can call somebody if I get a job that requires something like that.

Those are just some ideas off the top of my head.....certainly not MUST DOs, but just some thoughts.

I just added an August 12th event on our Google calendar from 5pm to 7pm.

This is TOTALLY flexible - both date and time. I just wanted to propose a time. If this doesn't work for anybody, just let me/us know. It's easy to edit the event.

As we firm up the plan, we'll add details such as place, direction (perhaps a link to a map) and (a) contact number(s) in case somebody gets lost or needs to call the group.

Oh, and dibbkd...I just noticed your suggestion of the Cheesecake factory....I'd be up for a trip there after Olive Garden (Hey...I'm 24, and I'm not afraid to eat.).....or we could just do the Cheesecake factory instead. :-]

...any preferences?

Meeting in a restaurant on Saturday night will definitely be fun, and a good way to get to know each other. But the better restaurants in Raleigh are very crowded on Saturday nights, and not condusive (or receptive) to a long meeting. Many of the restaurants encourage small meeting groups, and some even provide private rooms, but not on their busiest nights. Is there any chance we could meet on a week night, or perhaps late Saturday afternoon, or at some place other than a restaurant?

Jerry

Sure...I'm game for anything....but I can't offer my place. It's just not big enough for a crowd. :-\ ...wish I could.

I'm game for an early dinner, or lunch.....or a different day. Or I suppose we could shoot for a non-eating venue. I'm even game for something outdoors....but it's probably going to be a bit hot for most folks' taste.

I think we're shooting for a weekend to make it easier for the out of town folks to drive here and back. Depending on the size of the group, we might be able to hit a coffee shop instead. (I'm not a coffee drinker...but it would be nice to have a place to sit. :-)

If folks are willing to do an outdoor venue, then there are several options. I'm close to a couple of nice parks, and to Jordan Lake. If we're a small enough bunch, I MIGHT be able to get us into my neighborhood pool....and we could order pizza or something. I need to check on that.....not sure what the party rules are at the pool.

Where did everybody go??

Curious... are you guys

Professional Users?
or
Hobbyists?

I ask this because I used to live in Durham (15-501) and for the life of me... I couldn't find any Professional Studios that used Vegas. I am now an AVID editor in Southern CA... but always looking at the Job Market back in the RTP.

What's a good avenue for Production/Post Production Job Hunting in the Triangle?

Hey planet9!

I guess I fit more in the "hobbyist" category at present. I don't do any high-end editing or other commercial work. But then I didn't really buy Vegas to do work for other people. I wanted it mainly for my own productions and as a tool to extend my audio/music-for-picture capabilities.

I'm primarily a musician, not a video guy, so I'm not really in your line of work. Vegas fits my basic video editing & transfer and post-production needs.

Does that info help answer your first question?

As for production/post-pro in the Triangle: I don't know of any film studios here. I suppose that there is TV-related work and probably some work for large corporations...but the Triangle isn't yet known as a major film production market. Part of my long-range goal is to encourage independent and freelance style film work in the area. It's good for the overall entertainment industry community in the Triangle, and it provides another market for music. Raleigh in particular has made some great efforts to promote the performing arts in the area and I think that film work could really take off here. The area is gorgeous and has a lot of resources to drive entertainment industry business.

I say all of that because my attempt to put together a Vegas users group in the Triangle is geared towards this exact purpose. I think that there are a TON of creative individuals in this part of the country. Film work seems like a great venue to employ all of the diverse talents in this area. ....so why not see if we can make something interesting happen here? It will take more of a "do-it-all" business approach at first, simply because the film/entertainment industry isn't established here like it is in California, NYC, Nashville, etc. But I really think it could be very soon....

P.S. When I say "film work" I include TV series and long documentary type work. I consider sports, news and commercials to be a different type of work - which I think is already well established in the area. I'd love to hear opinions on this.