Well...
How things can change in the course of a single monthly blog post...
Or journal entry.
I don't write in my journal often.
When I do, it's because something of significance has happened, or a lot has happened and I need to catch up.
I wrote back in November, and then again on February 7th.
My journal entry on February 7th 2020, after writing about a number of big auditions, ended with:
"So much is happening, ALAS!
Wheels are in motion.
LEGGO!"
My next entry came on March 19th 2020, and it began with:
"My, oh my. All wheels have halted."
And boy did they halt.
All productions have halted.
Auditions have come to a near altogether halt.
I was hoping to get another audio book to keep me working from home, but nada.
This has definitely been a difficult time for everyone.
I'm simply taking this pandemic one day at a time.
I'm technically on Day 15 of self-quarantine.
Definitely feels like way more than that.
I've started doing a 6-weeks to handstand online course! I'm on Week 2 Day 7. This helps me to ensure that I get out of my pjs everyday.
I've started journaling more frequently, about every other day.
Some days I color
Other days I read.
I talk to friends & family via phone & video call more than I ever have.
I take part in uplifting online activities such as VanesVibes High Vibe Chats.
I watch movies here and there.
I'm trying not to look too much into the future.
Simply living one day at a time and trusting that "this too shall pass."
With all that said, below is my KPI for the month of March:
HOME STUDIO UPGRADES
In lieu of these unprecedented times and working to keep up with the requirements of the Voice Over industry, Arami and I spent the weekend investing in and setting up two new softwares for our home recording studio!
The first is Source Connect.
This fancy software allows us to connect to the client/agency while we record from our home studio.
They can direct us in real time and I believe we can record directly into their software.
This software is very technical, and us being the designated "IT administrators" of our home studio, it took us a few hours and a bunch of google searches to understand and set up.
In the processed we learned a whole bunch about forwarding ports, our router, input and output IPs and more.
Nonetheless, we are definitely still learning about Source Connect and hope that we indeed set it up correctly.
Fingers crossed!
The second software we invested in, is the renowned PRO TOOLS.
Previously, we had been using the open source - and thus FREE software - Audacity.
Audacity is an absolutely amazing software, especially being free, and it's great to start off.
However, it has its limitations, and we knew that in due time, we were going to have to upgrade to Pro Tools.
Well, the time has come.
Much like Audacity and any new software, Pro Tools has a learning curve, were riding that wave with the gracious help of others, as well as YouTube, Google, and our friends: Trial & Error.
Arami and I were a bit nervous to make some investments at a time when all income has halted.
Almost seems counterproductive, the last checks from our previous work is arriving soon and there's no new work to add on to our Accounts Receivable excel sheet...
But many times in life, you need to take a leap of faith.
And we did.
We have no doubt that these new softwares have taken us to a new level in the Voice Over world, and as you can see from the screenshots above, we're ecstatic to have taken this leap.
THE MONTH AHEAD
At this point, I don't think anyone can guess what tomorrow will bring.
I pray this pandemic passes and we can return to the usual grind.
Meanwhile, I'm hoping to start getting some at-home voice over work, another Audio Book would do me real good right about now.
Next month I can announce that top secret project that I mentioned in last month's newsletter! Keep a look out for that.
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Stay safe. Stay Healthy. Stay sane. STAY HOME.