Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, telework was already a growing trend around the globe. The pandemic had accelerated this whole process, and the necessity for remote workflows has saturated into many diverse market sectors, including our own.

A New Era of Technology

Due to advancements in computer processing, software emulation, and cloud-based storage, we are now at a point where we can offload work individually into smaller settings without having to collaborate in person. The pandemic provided on opportunity for many companies to push their technologies and improve features to help us collaborate more effectively, and do tasks we never imaged could be done remotely. This also set a new prescient, in that we are realizing these new workflows can also save us tremendous time and money, and could be the new standard from this point on.

Remote Workflow Tools

A plethora of useful and varied tools for remote workflows has emerged over the last few years, and the pandemic has increased their popularity.

One of the most used is Source Connect, a remote HD audio collaboration tool for working in real-time which auto-restores and multi-connect.

Another jewel is Evercast, a remote creative teams tool for video - with latency under 150 ms, and no waiting for uploads or downloads.

When it comes to collaboration tools for footage from cameras, there’s Frame.io, a cloud-based platform supporting teams-on videos, images, and more.

And, in order to solve issues of collecting, processing, and distributing data, there’s Aspera, a high-speed automatic orchestrator developed by IBM.

Remote audio recording tools are being developed everywhere. Take a look at Deluxe One Dub, for example, a frame-accurate audio recording platform that allows easy control over recording sessions and access to on-screen editable scripts.

When it comes to virtual reality tools, The Infinite Loop is perfect for remote working or meeting sessions which, besides being interesting and funny, offers a mind-blowing experience, much better than a Zoom meeting session with your team.

And what about mixing tools? Well, Sony’s 360 VME is a revolutionary immersive sound tool that samples the hearing in one environment to reproduce it in your headphones. Thanks to it, you can edit, pre-dub, and mix from your laptop as you were in any studio or soundstage.

The Challenges Ahead

This industry has gained a huge amount of work since pre-COVID times, and, thanks to people staying at home during lockdowns, consuming tons of audiovisual material, the demand for production and sound-mixing services, such as those offered by Enhanced Media, has increased exponentially.

However, this situation has meant a series of challenges and solutions. Besides the limited internet speed - in particular, when all people at home are using it somehow - some productions showed the lack of knowledge about remote working tools. Actors, for instance, used to record their lines with their phones instead of proper microphones, as described by Sean Massey during the MPSE panel discussion on Post Sound Editorial During the Shutdown. It led Massey’s team to use the Virtual Loop Group through Source Connect. Moreover, when recording lines, it was hard for all people to avoid background noise or unpleasant reverberations, and, thanks to this situation, the use of plugins such as iZotope  or Absentia DX have become a protocol. 

Of course, it is impossible to predict the future, only to make realistic forecasts based on what is happening in front of our eyes. Maybe some studios will open their facilities and operate in the same way they did before; maybe others will decentralize completely and work remotely. Perhaps others will find a middle ground and, for example, work with rented equipment and studios from different locations around the world.

If you’d like to know more about how Enhanced Media can help tell your next story through sound, please contact us.

*The images used on this post are taken from Pexels.com