WRITTEN BY KATE FINAN, CO-OWNER OF BOOM BOX POST

A couple weeks ago, Jeff wrote a great post about our journey from an in-studio editorial and mix facility to an entirely work-from-home team with remote client services. He talked about all of the challenges of quickly pivoting our entire business model in the face of COVID, which was no small order. You can also hear more about that time if you listen to the Tonebenders COVID & the Sound Community Round Table that we took part of. They caught us mid-transition, and we were tired, overwhelmed, but so appreciate of our team’s ability to rise to any challenge.

But, now we’ve all moved on to a whole different phase of the pandemic: one where we’re fairly settled into our new normal and just waiting to see how long we stay here. 

Our Business During COVID-19

We, at Boom Box Post, are among the lucky ones. Because we work in animation and our clients aren’t on set, our entire Los Angeles client-base was able to transition very quickly to work-from-home, thus keeping our operations alive and well. That is far from the case for our live-action counterparts. But, that doesn’t mean that we haven’t also seen changes in the amount and type of work that has come through our now-virtual door. 

Unlike live action, animation is often done overseas, and then shipped back to an LA-based production company. A number of our television series are animated in China, India, Israel, and other countries which have undergone various degrees of government-mandated quarantines. Some of these companies were able to set up part of their staff to work effectively from home. But in most cases, workers do have the means to work from home, and schedules were delayed for as long as those closures persisted. In this way, our business is being greatly affected not just by US legislation, but by health concerns and political action across the world.

Additionally, on our series, all dialogue is recorded in a voice-over booth here in LA. With Safer at Home in place, currently, all sessions have been cancelled. Some productions were able to quickly gear up to get all of their talent recording effectively at home--a very tall order considering that some of that talent consists of child actors who are not as tech savvy as an adult professional voice actor. But others are making do with sub-par home recordings done in whatever fashion is possible, considering them scratch, and planning to record the real lines when we are all allowed back in the studio again (whenever that may be). Some series are mixing with scratch in place and planning to punch in at a later date. Others are holding off on mixing all together until all materials are available to avoid confusion in the post-COVID aftermath. 

Whatever each crew has decided, none of it is simple, and none of it is consistent from series to series. So while we have been able to adapt amazingly well and continue our business in a way that few are lucky enough to do, it has been a struggle to keep up with all of the different needs, demands, and concerns depending on each unique client situation.

Great Things that Have Happened

On the up side, some amazing things have happened. Number one, I’m typing this blog post while sitting in my backyard, sipping iced tea, on a beautiful Los Angeles day. So really, how could I possibly complain about this? We’ve all had more time with family lately (um…. for better or worse. You know what I mean, fellow parents!!!). I haven’t eaten this many home-cooked meals for at least ten years. Maybe twenty, if we’re honest.

And we’ve proven yet again that we, at Boom Box Post, have the best staff in the biz. We have not received one single complain through this whole transition--even a good-natured gripe during one of our Zoom Tipsy Tuesdays! So while I’m sure that everyone is tired of learning all this new technology (I feel like my head will explode if I’m asked to figure out one more remote playback solution or video conferencing platform), I think we’ve also learned so much in a very short time that will benefit our workflow in the future. 

Meet Roger, Tess’s new pup!

How We Are Staying Connected

It’s hard to feel like we’re all part of a cohesive team while working in isolation. So, we’ve been trying hard to continue our usual team-building and social engagements. But, we’ve had to get creative in order to keep things fun!

We’re still organizing virtual team lunches from time to time when we watch each other slurp spaghetti and spoon leftover chili into our mouths while oohing and ahhing over how cute everyone’s cats and dogs are. I have to admit, the pets are a great addition. 

We started a #recipes channel on Slack so we can share easy recipes that require few or very easily modified ingredient lists since grocery shopping can be hit or miss these days. 

We goaded Tess into adopting a dog. The pressure was real. But she’s going to be an awesome dog mom, and I think we can all agree that those dog walks are clutch right now. 

And, we’re still doing our Lunch & Learns and Tipsy Tuesdays via Zoom! They’re incredibly chaotic, but it’s cool to see everyone in their natural habitat. And it always reminds me how much I miss having a big, vibrant, talented team surrounding me all day. 

Tips from Our Team in a Time of Turmoil

Because, as I mentioned, our team has been so amazing about not saying a peep about how COVID is affecting them, I decided to reach out to ask what their experience has been so far, and if they have any tips on how to stay sane during this tough time. Here’s what they had to say!

What do you miss the most about the office?

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Tim

I feel like everyone is going to say the thing they miss most about the office are the people. Which is true, I do miss seeing everyone’s face everyday. But I think what I miss the most is our server. At-home internet just isn’t it and I miss being able to download large sessions in 2 seconds. I also miss the act of actually going into the office. My commute always turns into a karaoke session…

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Jacob

I miss seeing my coworkers and eating lunch with them. I miss hearing about what is happening in all my friends' lives and taking a relaxing break with them during the day.

Brad

I miss my full 5.1 rig. I currently only have the capabilities for stereo. However, I’m no stranger to cutting shows that get mixed in 5.1 in stereo, so it hasn’t been too hard to adapt.

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Tess

I miss seeing everyone every day and catching up! Both coworkers and clients.

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Sam

I would just say being around the whole team. Working at home can get lonely and boring not having others to talk to. I would say being able to socialize and going to other people's rooms for a question or for whatever reason makes the time go by a lot faster. Another aspect is that it's a change of scenery. Working from home is just the same thing over and over again. I hardly even know what day of the week it is anymore.

For you, what’s the best part of working from home? 

Kirsty

For me, the best part of WFH is I don't need to deal with traffic any more. It's great that there's only 20 feet from my working desk to my couch. But I also miss being able to communicate with people in the office. Now we have to type in Slack. I'd love to congratulate people in person for their promotion or pet adoption.

Natalia

Being able to have home cooked meals! I like to cook so that’s a good thing about working from home, also I’m fostering so I get to spend much more time with the dog!

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Tim

I adopted a cat a few months ago, so it’s been nice to spend all day with her. She is almost always on my lap or by my feet while I work. It’s also nice to be able to keep an eye on her and tell her to STOP SCRATCHING THE COUCH!

Tess

Honestly, not a huge fan of working from home. But I'm glad we're all being safe!

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Jacob

It is awesome to lose my commute. While I enjoy listening to my podcasts on the way to work, I enjoy using the extra time to cook breakfast and tidy up the house before I start working in the morning, not to mention the extra time with my wife after work.

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Brad

Having my wife as a coworker!

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Sam

There's a few major pros of working from home that I love. The first one being that I get to be around my dog all day so he does keep me somewhat entertained. The second one is not having to drive to work. Everyone knows LA traffic sucks so not having to deal with that is amazing. One other bonus is being able to wake up later. All I have to do is walk from my bed to the computer!

Do you have any hot WFH tips? 

Natalia

Be organized, especially if you have different work projects going on. And also, have a dedicated space for work and don’t bring it into your personal space of the house. You need to create boundaries between work and down time within the same home. Also, set a strict schedule for when to work, pretty much keep the same schedule as if you were going into the studio. If not, you’ll end up losing track of time that way. But also, don’t forget to stand up and take breaks from time to time!

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Tim

I have made multiple quarantine playlists. Jamming out while I work helps keep my mind off the fact that I haven’t left the house in weeks. So if you’re someone who can focus while listening to music, I definitely recommend putting on some tunes!

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Jacob

I like to set hourly benchmarks for myself when editing sound effects. I sort of did that before WFH, but I find it to be extra important now that I have all the distractions of my home close at hand. This way I always know where I am and where I should be in my work, and I'm never surprised if I am running behind at the end of the day.

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Tess

Best WFH tip I have is to keep your regular schedule! I've found that to be tricky, but if I drift out for a day I'm much less productive than when I'm strict about my schedule.

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Brad

Be conscious of the work time/home time divide. When there’s no clear cut end to your work day and you don’t have to leave work to go home, it’s hard to know when to stop for the day, which can lead to fatigue on your ears, eyes, and mind.

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Sam

I think the most important thing for me is taking breaks away from the computer to not lose sanity. Exercising on my lunch break and going outside for a few minutes at a time throughout the day really do help me personally.

Do you want to share any fun internet time wasters to brighten everyone’s day?

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Greg

I play sudoku, solitaire, Tripeaks solitaire, and wordscapes. For websites, addictinggames.com is a classic for a multitude of quickplay games, mix.com is the updated version of stumbleupon. It’s now a browser add-on that you can just click the button and it takes you to a random page of your selected interests. Everything from games to photography, science and technology articles, comedic/satiric articles, etc. etc.

Also there’s this classic for a good throwback game every once in a while https://gold-miner-games.com/classic-gold-miner.htm

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Tim

My friends and I have been playing skribbl.io over Facetime a lot. It’s basically Pictionary without the teams. I don’t like to share my wins.

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Kate

If you’re having a hard time with the utter silence of working from home, you can use this office noise generator! Move the sliders to make just the right mix of chatty colleagues, aggressive typer next door, room tone, and that solidly 90’s printer technology that can screech louder than any banshee.

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Jacob

I love the Youtube Channel Kittisaurus. Watching the cats get up to shenanigans is always a good laugh.

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Brad

This video, Little Girl Performs Hilarious Self-Written Song Entitled “I Wonder What’s Inside Your Butthole,” recently had me on the floor laughing. It’s also a total jam hahaha.

Do you have any great WFH tips? Share your experience with us in the comments below! Stay safe, everyone!




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