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Hello, my name is
Dylan McAdams and I will be
interviewing Brian Rio. The day is
October 20 2020. And do I have
permission to record this
interview? Yes, you do. Alright,
perfect. So just to start off
could you just tell me a little bit
about yourself, like where you
work, what department you work
for, and what exactly your job
is that you do?
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Sure, Dylan. I work
for Warner media studios. We are
a division of Warner media,
which is a division of at&t. I
head up our sound design
department. It's a team of about
2725, full time staff post
production mixers, and composers
and sound designers. And then
some management people and some
freelancers.
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Now, how long
have you worked in this
profession?
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Let's see, I've been with this
company, and in this department
for almost exactly 19 years, I
didn't realize that until just
now. Yeah. It would be 19 years.
And 19 days. As a matter of
fact, I didn't move into this
leadership role until summer of
2018. So almost all of my
career, and almost all of my
time in this organization has
been or was, as a craftsperson I
was a sound designer, I
was, you know, kind of on
the artist side sitting in the
chair doing the actual craft
work and design and mixing. So
in this role, this
leadership role, where I'm no
longer actually doing that work,
more supporting the people that
are doing that work. I've been
doing this for just a little bit
over two years.
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And before you worked for Warner
media, were you also in
sound design before?
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I was actually in the
music business. Well, I skipped
a step there. So it was in the
music business coming right out
of school, which was what the
school called Full Sail in
Orlando. And so in 98, I moved
up to Atlanta, and get started
in the music business. And kind
of worked my way up at a studio
that work with some pretty high
profile artists. And we're
starting to see some momentum,
and also started to see that at
that time, the music business in
Atlanta, pretty much every
cliche you hear about the music
business at that time was true,
you know, there was a lot of
work, lot of drug addiction,
some violence. And as I started
to realize that, I probably
wouldn't want to be in that
environment for a career. I kind
of started over a few years
later, a couple years later, and
got more into the post
production side of the audio
industry. That's where I moved
into I moved to a studio called
Sound Waves, which was a post
production studio here in
Atlanta, I worked there for one
or two years, and then moved
from Sound Waves over to at the
time, we were called Turner
Studios. That was before Warner
media ever existed. And we so
many of us in the organization
are legacy Turner employees. So
when I started it was it was
Turner studios back in 2001.
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All right. Tell
me a little bit about the daily,
like the daily basis of your
job, kind of what you do every
day. And this is all before
COVID. So what did you do every day before COVID?
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before COVID I'd go
in a lot of meetings. Before
COVID I worked on campus five
days a week in an office but had
a lot of meetings primarily
focused on leading and managing
people on a team. Everything
from making sure they have
everything they need. everywhere
from emotionally to physically
to the gear that they need. And
and all that comes along with
that, you know, conversations
about budgets conversations
about how we interact and
interact with other creative
teams. Keeping the team
motivated, essentially, leading
became a real passion for me,
it's just leading, leading other
people adding value to the other
people around me. So day to day,
you know, there was kind of the,
the the maintenance and
management part, which is how to
kind of keep the existing system
moving, keep the machine moving.
I get help with that from a
manager on our team. And
Melissa, she's amazing. So she's
moved into her role about a year
ago, a little over a year ago.
And she's really helped to take
over a lot of that daily
operational, you know, stuff
that's needs a quick response.
And this kind of opened me up to
be able to think a little bit
more about strategy about the
future of the team, about the
future of technology in the
space. So pre COVID, I was
that's, that's what I did, most
the day, five days a week, and
then in the evenings, and on
weekends, usually ahead, a few
things going on in the back of
my mind. Again, with Melissa and
her role I, fortunately, on
evenings and weekends didn't
often have to engage or problem
solve some sort of urgent
problem, Melissa really handles
that stuff. So evenings and
weekends, I would be thinking
about work from time to time,
but really, more able to focus
on my family. I've got a wife
and a four year old daughter and
a two year old daughter. So
they're the most important
thing. So pre COVID. that's it
in a nutshell.
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And what about
after COVID happened, and
everything kind of changed with
the world around us?
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Well, the first
thing, obviously, was we had to
quickly disassociate our team in
our organization with one
physical, geographical location,
we, you know, March, Friday,
March 13, was the last day that
anybody in the department was on
campus, except I went in on
Monday, March 16, for a few
hours, just to make sure
everything was kind of buttoned
up. But so the first
adjustment was, okay, we were
all at our houses now. That was
the first thing to get get over,
we did a very good job. In our
department especially, we did a
very good job of preparing in
the in the couple weeks before,
you know, we shut everything
down. We did a lot of
preparation to get people what
they needed at home, to at least
get started. We knew we weren't
going to be able to have
everybody working at full
capacity from home for a long
time. But we were able to, you
know, by the time everybody left
campus at Friday, March 13, we
were able to pick back up work
on the 16th with essentially
zero downtime. We weren't at
100% efficiency or
effectiveness. But we didn't
have to cancel sessions because
people weren't able to work at
home. So that was the first
thing you know, the first
obvious thing is okay, you're no
longer in your studios in your
in your very high end facility
in your offices. You're all
scattered around the city. And
in our case, we've got some
folks on our team in Colorado
and in Florida. So we'd manage
that to a degree previous to
COVID. But then we had you know
25 staff people all of a sudden
all working from home. That was
the first thing to deal with.
Then after that the next
thing to deal with is the
people part. Trying to find that
that blend, strike the balance
between being realistic and
pragmatic. And the embracing how
much there was there was unknown
and remaining positive as
positive as we could and
starting to really really settle
into Okay, we may be doing this
for a while and then little by
little restarted really good
sense of, you know, okay, soon
after that I wasn't spending any
time on any sort of plan that
would have us back on campus
before June of 2019. Or no, I'm
sorry. 2020. And then, you know,
we heard from our senior
leadership, okay, guys, well, we
need to kind of start thinking
more about Labor Day, you know,
and we thought that was just
insane. Like, what September,
there's no way we'll be working
from home that long. And then
now, you know, here it is.
October 20. And last Friday ish,
or sometime last week, we get a
note from Warner media, the head
of HR, that most of us do not
plan on returning to the
workplace until June of 2021. So
it's, it's been an evolution of
managing expectations, and
trying to keep people's heads
right.
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And for when it
comes to like, sound design and
working with sound, it's a very
equipment heavy job. How hard
was it get equipment to
your employees at home? And so they
can do the same work they've
been doing in office. But now in
a home environment.
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It wasn't easy. As I
said, those first few
weeks, people's home systems
were very much cobbled together.
You know, we, some people were
working on their personal
machines, computers, they had
their own speakers, others we
were able to from around campus,
you know, oh, here's some
speakers and storage, oh, here's
this extra computer here. So
kind of that first push was very
much piecemealed. Again, we got
everybody to a point where they
were able to work. But we had to
come up pretty quickly come up
with a strategy to to get some
gear deployed to the team. One
of the most important things
when dealing with audio is
consistency. And that's one of
the reasons you know, you have
really expensive studios with
very precise acoustic treatment
and very specific type of
speaker. So you know, when you
go room to room person to
person, there's consistency and
how things sound. Because you
want that experience delivered
to the consumer, you want a
consistent good experience and
audio. So that was the biggest
hurdle right out of the gate.
It's like I said, we had some
people on computers they owned
or speakers they owned or
computers, they borrow from us
or other places. And we didn't
have a lot of consistency and
gear across the across the
department. So we got lucky in a
few ways. from a financial
standpoint, we were able to put
together kind of a baseline
system, that the we wanted
everybody on the team to have,
at a bare minimum, this certain
list of things we were able to
get that financed and deployed
including some acoustic
treatment. I'm trying to think
of when that I'll actually get
through it probably didn't get
through until June. So until
then, you know, we were getting
by, but the gear was not
consistent across the department
and that was a challenge. So
again, we feel very, very lucky
and grateful as a team that we
were able to get these more
consistent systems and gear
financed. You know, I'll say
very frequently through all
this, it's been really clear
what a fine organization we work
for. And their ability to
finance and purchase and deploy
this gear to make things easier
for our crafts people just kind
of emblematic of one of the
benefits of working for this
company.
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And what do you say Park
department work on shows, movies
what is the your department
focus on comes to sound?
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it's primarily short
form. We do a lot of
work for sports. You know the
the corporate division we kind
of roll up into is Warner Media
News and Sports. In the sports,
you know properties it's kind of
a legacy of Turner sports. And
they still have a name Turner
sports. But we do a lot of
content for those those
broadcasts you know, like these
high value And opens, you know,
a tease or open to a broadcast
where you are kind of setting a
story for what's about to unfold
between two teams or, or a
feature about something that's
going on in that sport. And what
we saw more and more. through
the summer, as we saw a lot of
the societal unrest is that
those elements that were being
produced by buy in for sports,
were much more they kind of
drifted into news. I mean, we
were cutting things that were
about racial injustice, and
inequity and poverty. And all of
a sudden, you know, it's like,
wow, we you know, a year ago, it
was just about, you know, the
standings in the league. So the
content shifted greatly in the
late spring, in the summer. And
then we also support all the
entertainment brands across the
portfolio for so for those
brands, we do a lot of the
trailers for the original
programming, then a lot of
promos promoting shows, graphic
elements, and then we do we do
some long form content, you
know, Turner Classic Movies,
we'll do full long form shows
for them. And then some other
one off long form shows for
sports, NBA TV, documentary
style programming. And then
within the team, like I said, We
do everything from dialogue,
editing, to recording mixing to
sound effects, editing, sound
design, and all the way up to
music, full original music
composition for, for all those
things I just listed.
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Right? Um, when
COVID-19 really kind of hit the
United States, what was your
first reaction to it?
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When it first hit as
in, like March, like early,
March, candidly, was this
confusion? And like, wait, what
does this really mean? I
remember Melissa and I were
walking. We were on campus and
walking to a meeting, I don't
know, when this was maybe, you
know, March 10, ninth, somewhere
around there. Some point that
who officially classified it as
a pandemic. And I don't know
when that was honestly. But I
remember Melissa Lee pulled her
phone up to me and showed me
that headline, and my reaction
was, what does that mean? And
she's like, I don't know. And so
it was, it was really just
confusion and uncertainty. You
know, I, the, we weren't given a
lot of solid data about what was
really going on. So it was a lot
of confusion and uncertainty,
and a lot of fear, a little bit
of anger. So none of those are
real, positive emotions. But
then also, knowing that in the
position, a position like the
one, like the ones we hold is,
we also have to manage people,
we have to help people. We have
to support the people that are
on our teams. So you have to
balance that all those real real
feelings and questions and
concerns you have to balance
with, we're gonna be okay, you
know, you have to insert hope
for the people that you support.
We're going to be okay, we got
to stay galvanized as a team.
And we'll get through this and
oftentimes, you're saying that
and trying your best to sell it.
But you're still uncertain how
all that's going to look. So the
early reactions I think were
were quite mixed bag, but a lot
of confusion and concern and
fear. And then a lot of
manufactured hope and and
positivity to try to kind of
balance that for the team.
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You mentioned
fear, were you ever at any point
when they started shutting
businesses down and cutting staff
around the world? Were you ever
afraid of your job or if your
team was going to be cut?
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I wasn't ever afraid
of that. It may have been naive.
But I wasn't ever really afraid
of that. And I know that this
doesn't totally reconcile with
everything I've said previous to
this, but in that specific
point. You know, when you when
you work in a organization the
size of hours or in a
corporate America to this scale,
you go through a lot of
uncertain times when it comes to
job security when it comes to
your team security and your
individual job security. So you
kind of have coping
mechanisms practiced for that,
you know, kind of like I've been
through that a lot. We've all
been through that a lot. Like if
you've worked in corporate
America for 20 years, you've
been through several rounds of
restructuring, reorganizing
mergers, etc. in you, you've
learned that it's, to a degree,
there is a point where you have
zero control over that. And it
is wasted energy to feel anxiety
or fear, over potential loss of
your job or reduction on your
team. So you know, I'm saying
that coming off the heels of
saying I was I was scared about
all these other things, or angry
or fearful about all these other
things. And the same applies,
you know, there was very little
I could do about COVID to keep
myself safe or to keep my family
safe. There was little I could
do that I wasn't doing. So it
could be argued that that that
fear and concern and anxiety was
was misplaced energy. The
difference is, is I didn't have
any experience with dealing with
a pandemic, and how to how to
compartmentalize that anxiety,
or that fear or that anger
versus when you think that your
company may be reorganizing?
Like, I kind of had some
practice with dealing with that
anxiety. So that combined with
we had some very, very strong
messaging from our senior
leadership, specific to us, and
that time entertainment that,
hey, we were not there yet.
Like, we don't need to worry
about that. You know, we were I
don't know if some genius plan
it this way. But you know, we
Warner media doesn't have theme
parks, you know, a lot of these
other huge corporations had, you
know, Disney had to deal with
all the losses from theme parks
and NBC Universal, all those
theme parks. So it was a little
bit different for us. And I'm
not saying that we are making it
through this without changes.
But in those early days, that's
a very, very, very long winded.
No, I didn't I didn't have a lot
of fear about about my job
security, or the job security of
the people I support on my team.
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All right. What
was your immediate first
reaction to when COVID hit? Do
you think it was a good response
and how they handled it?
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Yes. The I mean, I
have been so proud to work for
this organization. For quite
some time, but especially since
March, it was absolutely made
clear that the priority is to
take care of yourself and your
family. And then the work. It
was made very clear, hey, don't
be worried about your job
security right now. I just feel
like the company nailed it.
They're identified and
recognized and validated very
quickly, that, you know, a lot
of us are going to be working
from home with kids out of
school. Oftentimes, you know,
spouses, both working at home
with kids out of school. The
company made it okay to step
away, take a little bit of time,
do what you have to do to get
through this. Like nobody was
really, really sweating the
work. You know, we kept getting
the work done. But it was
really, really made clear and
encouraged to pay to step away
or if you need to, if you need
to just turn off your computer
and put your head down on your
desk for a little while do it.
You know and and early on. There
were pretty quickly some
academic or intellectual type
articles put out about how to
how to manage a remote team. And
one of the very first and most
important things to get through
to me was You have to trust the
people around you. That has to
be your starting position as you
have To trust that they are
going to do their best to get
the work done, you can't go into
it thinking, Hey, we're gonna
have this person made game, this
system or this, you can't, you
have to start with a position of
trusting the people around you.
And I feel like the company
communicated that clearly.
They're gonna, they're gonna
trust that if I need to step
away, I'm going to step away,
and I'm still going to take care
of the people around me and my
job. So I did that with the team
that I support. And I feel like
our leadership was doing that
with me. So I was very, very
proud of how the company
reacted.
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It's great to be
here. So it's been about eight
months now, since COVID, has
been affecting the United States
and changing how all jobs are
running, has it started to
become more used to it in your,
in your work days? Or like, is
it starting to become like, Oh,
this is how my days run. Now I
don't need to worry about like,
going to the office during the
night Have you become used to
COVID-19?
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I'd say I've become
used to working from home. When
say I've become used to
COVID-19. working from home, is
you know, the reason we've been
working from home is COVID-19.
But if we're able to strip
COVID-19, which is an inherently
horrible thing, strip that away
from the conversation, working
from home is presented some some
beautiful changes in quality of
life for a lot of people. You
know, and there's a flip side to
that. But first I'll talk about
my experiences. I get to today
at from at 1145. I walked up to
my daughter's preschool and I
picked them up from preschool
and walk them home and had lunch
with them and was back at my
desk at 1230. That's not going
to happen if I'm working
in Midtown Atlanta. It's not
even, it's not even something
you would think about. When I
finish work at six o'clock, I
take about five minutes to
transition my brain. And I walk
upstairs and I'm with my family.
It used to take me an hour on
average, to drive home, I used
to leave my office at six
o'clock, I'd be in my car, it's
610, then I'd be home An hour
later. So I say all that with
the disclaimer that it's not
that way for everyone. And I
acknowledge that. And I live in
a state of gratitude for being
able to look at working from
home in that light. Because it's
not that way for everyone. A lot
of people are really, really
struggling, working from home.
They don't have the luxury of
having a dedicated workspace
like I have here. They don't
have those little feel good
moments of going to pick up your
kids from school walking, you
know, I mean, a lot of people
are really, really hurting just
working from home. Not talking
about COVID. But it's been
interesting. It has in a new way
shined a light on the vast range
in differences of the socio
economic situations, different
people on our teams are in. I
never would have had a reason to
in the past to be on a video
call with an entry level person
who has maybe has roommates and
in lives in an apartment that's
not that nice. And then they're
on a video call and they never
would have had a reason to look
in on a more senior crafts
person dedicated space or, you
know, their acoustically treated
room or how nice their house
might be. Like we never really
had a reason to look at those
things or talk about those
things until we all work from
home. So it's another long
winded answer, Dylan I know. But
yeah, I've fully adjusted to
working from home. I fully enjoy
working from home. I anticipate
a need for me returning to the
office in some capacity, post
COVID. But I'll never go back to
well, if I have anything to say
about it. I'll never go back to
going into the office five times
a week. And I say that again,
with the caveat that I'm on the
lucky side of that spectrum.
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That kind of
leads into my next question
about how cCOVID-19 and
like the idea of working from
home has really kind of like
busted the myth that you need to
be in the office. Do you think
that Warner Media in the future
will kind of stick to this
method of allowing people who
can do their job as productively
in the office, at home, continue
being at home?
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Yeah, I think I think
there's a lot, there's a lot of
play there. I think the short
answer is yes. We've proven and
one of the most difficult things
to prove would be for example,
you know, an editor, like a
video or film or whatever
editor, a crafts person working
from home. That was that was not
easy to figure out. And it
seemed like an insurmountable
thing to figure out. Pre COVID,
you know, we had some ideas
about how it might work. But
essentially, it was no to do
this type of job, you need to be
in this type of room, on campus
with these type of people having
access to you physically. We've
proven that to be false, to a
degree. So I think that, for all
of the positive reasons I listed
about working from home. For me,
I think that our I think that
Warner media will recognize that
it's, it's in their best
interest to facilitate all those
positive things I listed for me,
by allowing me to work from home
in some capacity. They also will
recognize that there's people
who are struggling working from
home, you know, the flip side of
that coin, so they're gonna want
to facilitate those people
getting back to a workplace, I
would think. And then at the end
of the day, there is some work
that you can't get around it, it
just needs to be I'm sorry, it
is done more effectively and
more efficiently. on campus.
From a gear standpoint, from a
infrastructure standpoint, and
from a collaboration standpoint,
sometimes you just can't be
getting some people sitting in
an edit room together, talking
about ideas and watching
something and talking about
ideas and watching something,
and so on and so forth. The
other part of it is, real estate
is not cheap. So, as
organizations start to get a
little taste of the potential
savings, if they, if they start
to look at real estate in a
little bit of a different light,
or as you look at you can maybe
have several properties, you
know, maybe even a few
properties around the same city.
And, you know, if I'm, you know,
much further up in the
organization, I'm going to say,
Well, if we were able to
consolidate some of those
properties into one property,
knowing that, you know, maybe
30% of the workforce at all, all
of those properties can work
full time remote, you might just
have saved yourself millions and
millions and millions of dollars
in real estate costs. So there's
the kind of mental health and
morale productivity side to
facilitating people working from
home, if they want to, and they
think that's healthy. And then
there's also the potential
financial gains from not eating
up a ton of real estate and
downtown or Midtown Atlanta if
you don't have to.
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Just to clarify a
quick clarification question
when you say campus, you mean
Techwood campus?
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Yes, that's correct.
I mean, the techwood campus in
Midtown Atlanta.
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Alright, Perfect,
thank you. Alright, so
throughout these eight months,
what is probably the greatest
challenge you have faced with
the changing environment of the
profession that you're in?
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Okay, so this is
okay, I'll just go with the, the
reality is, is the the biggest
challenge of the last eight
months is has been not related
specifically to our jobs. I'm
just speaking for my little, my
little carved out part of the
company. It's been everything
that's going on, and the world
around us. You know, I mentioned
earlier societal unrest, which
applies to everything from
COVID, and the number of people
dying from COVID, and all of
that fear to George Floyd and to
all of the Black Lives Matter
movement. And to, you know, the
death of RGB. I mean, there's
been so much societal unrest and
so much loss in society. That
there, there's a grieving that
has to happen, right? And
there's various stages of grief
going on for various societal
losses at the same time, in
those stages of grief, interact
with each other and complicate
each other. So, as a person that
that heads up a team of people,
I've found myself along with
Melissa, in a very, very
different position, where it's
not as important for me to be
there for them for the work, but
people are just having a hard
time dealing with reality right
now. So, the work hasn't been
that hard. I mean, there's parts
of it that have been very
challenging and very hard. But
what's harder is everything
that's going on around us. And
keep in our heads, right. And
and when you had a pretty big
team, there's a lot of people to
think about. So that's been the
hardest part to me is, is the,
and not just me, I'll take me
out of it. But seeing the people
that I support is seeing them in
different stages of grief for
all of these different losses
that are piling up on each
other. And just when you think,
or they think they're making
progress on something, then
something else really, really
tough happens. So that's been
the biggest challenge is being
there for them. And it's been
there for people on your
team that in a way you're not
accustomed to. It's a
new type of support.
38
00:36:57.690 --> 00:37:07.500
As a team
leader, how have you kind of
like adjusted how you operate to
kind of help them through this
tough time? Yeah.
39
00:37:09.370 --> 00:40:37.870
What starts with
giving myself a little bit of a
break, like giving myself a
little bit of room to not nail
everything perfectly? Because
I'm so tired of hearing people
say these are unprecedented
times, but they are. So there's
no playbook for this stuff.
Dylan, I cuss a lot. So when you
hear me pause as me trying not
to be profane. This stuff,
there's no playbook for this
stuff. So, you know, I've had to
really give myself a pass on not
like, Okay, I'm just not going
to nail everything here, I'm
gonna do my best. But then also,
making sure everybody else feels
that same. Same thing, that same
feeling of Hey, this is this is
an impossible time to bet 1000.
You know what I mean? Nobody's
going to bet 1000 through this
thing, through all of these
things. So I don't want to sound
like I was a tyrant before this
and had unreasonable
expectations. But I certainly
had pretty high
expectations of myself, pre
COVID, when it comes to getting
things right, for a team. But
through all of this, it's just
been like, there's no, there's
no chance that you're going to
get every single thing right
through this. So then, again,
passing that on to the people
that I support has been
important. And then candidly,
we've ventured into areas of
people's lives that we just
didn't use to venture into. You
know, after the George Floyd
killing, I think that next week,
we held a department meeting
where we talked about Black
people in our country. That was
something I never thought I
would head up a department
meeting that talked about how
Black people in our country are
being treated. And that's a
totally different space for a
leader. That's blurring a lot of
lines. Then, our CEO, who have
been a huge I've been very
impressive for, but you know, on
a corporate level, they hit us
up with some, some pretty heavy
stuff. You know, white fragility
is a book that I'm blanking on
the author's name, but they had
her talk to our organization and
just lay it out and talk about
discomfort. But all of a sudden
at the next department meeting,
we're talking about anti racism,
we're talking about tools for
empathy, we're talking about how
we're going to act. All of that
is a very, very different way of
leading people. You know, it's,
it's, it's, I say this with
caution, but it's like, when we
start to get into a space where
we're not just trying to be
better collaborators and better
team members or better
employees, the like, you're kind
of hinting at, okay, we're gonna
make each other better people,
right. And that really, I felt
empowered by our CEO, to kind of
start operating on that level.
40
00:40:40.710 --> 00:41:10.260
Very interesting,
very, very deep stuff, I assume
that you'd have to go through.
Um, you've kind of talked about
this a bit, but how has
working from home affected
your relationships and your
family life, you mentioned that
you're able to take your
children to preschool and pick
them up and what else has really
been good for your family,
because of working from home and
the new policies that are in
place?
41
00:41:11.400 --> 00:44:06.660
It's been time. It's
been an interesting time. This is
kind of, kind of related to your
question, but it's on my mind
is, is the the notion of
boundaries, you know, my family,
historically, it's always been
like a work life balance. And
you'll hear people talk now it's
like, oh, it's a life work
balance. And I remember pre
COVID listening to some podcast,
called On Being With Krista
something. But she had
somebody on there that was
talking about how the the notion
of work life balance was flawed.
because it implies that, you
know, these are two separate
entities, these are two separate
lives or almost identities, that
that are at odds. And she, she
proposed more of a work life
integration. And I thought that
was a fascinating idea. And
again, this was far pre COVID.
But you fast forward to now. And
I really think about that a lot.
And it brings me some peace of
mind, is I don't, this has been
forced for a lot of us. But
there is no work life balance
for me anymore. And for my
family, you know, you asked
about my family, like, I almost
want my daughters to have a full
understanding and appreciation
of how much of me goes into
work, and how that is a small
portion compared to how much of
me goes into being their dad.
And those things are integrated.
And they need to function in
harmony. Like I don't, and this
I'm not there. And this is maybe
Pollyanna and maybe impossible.
But I would like my family to
have a very clear understanding
of everything that I put my
energy into, and have them
understand that they are the
biggest slice of my focus and
harmoniously with all of these
other parts of my life, which
primarily include work. So it's
been interesting and healthy and
valuable for, for me and for
them to see, okay, Daddy's gonna
go downstairs and go to work
now, but they see how much more
of me they get, then my work
gets. So I think that's brought
us all closer. And whereas
before, it was this binary that
was at workers at home, you
know, and and the two things
didn't ever intermingle.
Whereas now it's just like,
okay, all of it just needs to
integrate and be balanced and be
harmonious.
42
00:44:07.920 --> 00:44:22.980
It definitely.
Kind of flipping gears a little
bit. Um, did you think that the
media industry will kind of be
different after COVID has
finally passed? Hmm.
43
00:44:24.840 --> 00:44:29.940
Sorry, I'm sipping
some coffee. The media industry
being different after COVID?
44
00:44:30.719 --> 00:44:39.209
To think
some policies will change, to
think they've discovered new
ways to work that just makes it
more efficient.
45
00:44:40.440 --> 00:46:56.910
Yeah, without a
doubt, yes to all of those
things. So yes, the media
industry will change. I mean,
it's a really, really humongous
idea. What is the media industry
but yes, I mean, movie theaters.
I don't know. I mean, movie
theaters no longer a thing?
Maybe? I don't know. They're not
doing great. In our home theater
experiences improving and
becoming more accessible, yes.
Is premium content becoming more
available at home? Yes. Have we
found ways to more cost
effectively produce premium
content? Yes. Those things won't
get undone. You know, again, the
movie theater thing, I don't
know, maybe there'll be back,
maybe it'll be fine. But what a
huge thing that is just just
thinking like, okay, the home
theater experience. Like, I
mean, home theater implies
you're at home a version of a
movie theater, and that that
whole idea is kind of being
rebalanced. And then, you know,
there's, there was this moment,
early in the pandemic, where we
had a lot of production going
on, that was pretty low
fidelity. You know, you had
interviews being done only on
zoom calls, you know, you had
sports broadcast being called
with the announcer not even
there, and, you know, there's
there was a lot of anxiety I had
over like, Okay, well, we can't
let this level of fidelity
become the new norm. Right,
we've got to, we got to get back
to producing things, you know,
the way in, you know, high
definition Ultra HD, immersive
audio, all that. That corrected
itself pretty quickly,
fortunately. But we certainly
look at different ways of, of
creating that very, very high
production value content. So
short answer is, yes, it will,
it has all changed, and it will
not change back.
46
00:46:58.320 --> 00:47:24.390
And kind of
speaking of what you said about
home theater versus movie
theater, has that changed how,
like audio and sound is credited?
for my little knowledge with the
production field, the difference
between a movie sets or a large
broadcast sound is very
different than like a home fader
type of sound. Has that changed
anyway and affected the
business?
47
00:47:26.880 --> 00:49:14.760
It's a conversation
we're having. Essentially, for
example, you know, when a major
motion picture is being
produced and released, you know,
the soundtrack for that
motion picture is mixed on a big
soundstage with a humongous
screen and, you know, half a
million dollars of speakers all
over the place. And really,
really prioritizing that theater
experience. or trying to emulate
that theater experience thinking
that'll be the premium
experience for the greatest
number of people will be going
to a movie theater that is
roughly this size, watching a
screen that is roughly this big
listening to speakers that are
roughly this expensive, large.
Then after that, that mix is
done. what's called a near field
mix, we'll be done. And that's
more mixed in you know, kind of
more like the rooms we have on
on the Tech campus. So you know,
they're, they're not these huge
theater, soundstages there's
some good size rooms, but
they're you know, maybe 12
speakers, maybe 14 speakers in
the room. None of the speakers
are very, very far away from the
the mixer. That's why they're
called near field. So I don't I
mean, there's been conversations
about like, which one do you
prioritize now? Historically,
it's been you get your
theatrical mix done, your big
room farfield big speaker mix
done. And then you and then you
do your near film mix. I'm
wondering maybe there's a shift
in priority. I mean, at some
point, does the Near Field mix
become the most important? I
don't know.
48
00:49:17.730 --> 00:49:25.710
I just got two more
questions left. First one is are
you still happy in the field of
like sound design with all the
changes going on?
49
00:49:27.239 --> 00:50:47.939
Yes, I am. I am
passionate about sound and audio
and how sound contributes to
eliciting desired emotion in any
content. So yes, and and I have
a newly energized interest. I've
always had this interest but
just leading people
is, regardless of whether
it's in a field associated with
sound or music or audio, but
that notion of just adding value
to the people around you, and
supporting the people around
you. That has been more what
I've been doing the last eight
quality of audio. So that's been
something I've always been
interested in and enjoyed and
have really highlighted that.
Okay, that's the part of the job
that I like the most is
lifting up the people. It just
happens to be a bunch of people
working on audio.
50
00:50:51.090 --> 00:50:58.380
And lastly, are
there any questions or things
that came to your mind? I didn't
ask but you think is important
to share?
51
00:51:00.329 --> 00:51:16.499
Let me think on that
one for a second. No, I think
you covered every single thing I
would ever want to cover.
52
00:51:19.500 --> 00:51:20.190
Thank you.
53
00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:22.850
Good questions. Great
questions. No, Of Course.
54
00:51:22.850 --> 00:51:47.600
So thank you for
taking the time to speak with me
today. Everything you said has
been super helpful and very
interesting and enlightening. And
we'll definitely be a very large
contribution to like the
understanding of the current
state of media and broadcast
industry and just about how this
the system now works under the
age of COVID and the changing
times. So thank you so much.
55
00:51:48.020 --> 00:51:50.990
Of course, man. I'm
happy to talk anytime.
