Step 1: Lower the display resolution from full to half. This is especially important with HD.

Step 2: Turn on low quality for layers that have lots of effects applied.

Step 3: If you’re working with animation, go to Composition Settings…

Step 4: …and try reducing the frame rate by half. (This isn’t as useful if you’re working with live action or prefer a smoother look.)

Step 5: Go to the Memory & Cache preferences…

Step 6: …and reduce the percentage of RAM that After Effects is allowed to use. You’ll have less space available for RAM previews, but things might run faster overall.

Here’s a video tutorial on using color channels in Photoshop to speed up the process of making masks. When selecting layers, remember:

1. Cmd-click on a regular layer makes a selection along the outer edge.

2. Cmd-click on a mask selects everything in the white parts of the grayscale image.

The phone scales everything to fit when playing video, so it’ll letterbox a 16:9 movie, which will be pretty gentle.

For further reading, see here and here.

Here’s a basic video tutorial for noise reduction using the free audio editor Audacity. You can also do higher-quality work with Adobe Audition (don’t confuse the very similar name).

Here’s a very basic video tutorial for the Zoom H2 audio recorder. It walks you through the process of copying a file over to your computer and performing a simple cut on it using the free audio editor Audacity.

Low End Mac explains the various issues involved in detail. They also sell RAM, video cards, and other parts for older Macs. A summary:

1. OS X 10.5 Leopard on a G4
It should install without trouble on machines 867MHz and over. Otherwise, you’ll need a utility called LeopardAssist to force an install. If LeopardAssist also fails, you might have to use an earlier version of OS X.

2. OS X 10.4 Tiger on a G4
It should install without trouble.

3. OS X 10.3 Panther and earlier on a G3
G3s can manage at least OS X 10.2 Jaguar, and some can run Panther; it varies depending on the model. (The newer G3s in blue cases will do better than the older ones in beige.) To install, use a utility called XPostFacto.

4. OS X on a pre-G3 Mac
You can consult this compatibility list for installing OS X on pre-G3 systems…but that might be more trouble than it’s worth.

Remember that, in all cases, you may need to get ahold of an external DVD drive if your older Mac can’t read DVDs. And if your install disc was bundled with an Intel Mac, you can’t use it to install on a PPC Mac.

Finally, if you don’t know what kind of OS 9 Mac you’ve got, use the System Profiler:

( Create )
F7: make a new empty frame.
F6: duplicate the current frame.
F5: extend the current frame.

( Preserve )
F8: convert the current selection into a Symbol.
Command – F8 (Mac) or Control – F8 (PC): make a new empty Symbol.

( Destroy )
Shift – F5: delete the current frame, and close the gap on the timeline.
Shift – F6: delete the current frame, and leave the rest of the timeline in place.

2. Use version numbers.
Save a new copy of your file each time you make a major change to it, adding a version number to the end of its name. This is called “versioning.” Not only can you find the most recent version at a glance this way, but you also create a simple timeline of the file’s evolution, with every major change available for inspection. (For more complex projects, you could come up with more elaborate naming schemes, or turn to automated version control software like Version Cue.)

3. Avoid duplicate filenames.
If you replace a file with a new file that has the same name, nobody but you may be aware that it’s been changed. Duplicate filenames may sometimes be necessary, but there’s always some potential for confusion. Even though you fixed a given problem with an old version, for example, someone else might be operating on the assumption that it’s still there.

4. Don’t delete old files.
Space permitting, you should archive every version of your file. Even after the project’s done, keeping old versions around can be a great help in case something goes wrong in the future. You can comb back through your files in reverse order and pinpoint where the problem first occurred.

OS X example: Disc Utility
Step 1. Click the Burn button.

Step 2. Choose a disk image. (The standard file extension for disk images is .iso.)

Step 3. Choose a speed and click Burn. Lower is better for audio and video; I never burn a video DVD at over 4x speed.

Step 1. Go to the File menu and choose Record CD from CD image.

Step 2. Pick ISO image files from the drop-down menu, and choose an image file.

Step 3. Choose a recording speed, enable Buffer Underrun Prevention, and click Start Recording.