Roll on, amigo.

Here we are, nine shows done, another in progress. Let me tell you a little about how it's going.

First off, some hard reality: we're a week behind. Been that way for a few weeks now, after we got thrown for a loop when the Mid America Open final nine got rained out. When things don't go exactly as planned (which is typical), the show suffers.

Like any Big Project, disctv has been a series of challenges. Each week they change, but they are always there. Fortunately, everyone involved is extremely passionate about the show, which makes tackling big challenges much easier.

Here's a typical week: the production crew (John, Leo and me) get up around 4:30am on Friday morning and head out to the next locale. We drive if the event is within eight hours or so, fly otherwise. To fly to an event less than eight hours by road away is a waste of time and money: due to 911, it now takes longer to fly that distance than to drive.

We shoot all day, then check the footage by night to make sure we got what we thought we got. When the event is over, it's back to the studio, when the serious work begins.

The show then begins its journey from analog tape to digital form. Key video clips - maybe 20% of all footage shot - is digitized into the computer. On any given week there's a fair chance - maybe 40% -- that one of the hard drive arrays will fail and hours of work will be lost. You get used to it.

Once the needed footage is digitized, John begins the work of editing the pieces together while I get busy on writing and creating graphics. Leo spends this time organizing the logistics for the next couple of Tour stops, dealing with paperwork and a million other items that need attending. By this point we're usually at Tuesday night or early Wednesday. As the editing wraps up, we record voiceover segments while John adds music tracks and begins inserting graphics. The voicing goes on next, then final tweaks and fixes until the one-hour program is ready to be mastered for distribution.

Each master tape must be recorded in real time, so it takes an hour to dub a copy for each of our stations. The masters are shipped overnight to the stations, and hopefully there are a few hours left on Thursday night to get some sleep before it begins all over again.

Occasionally there is an all-nighter. These normally pop up when something unexpected happens to push back to entire process. As 4am is rolling around, everyone in the studio begins to get double vision from staring at computer screens too long.

I'm starting to get that way now… cya.

Brian

For more information on disctv, go to the full site. You'll find lots of clips, information where to see the show, and lots more.