Back in January I mentioned the problem of trying to get a number of updates and upgrades done in the studio – while also trying to provide client services. Well, I’ve been able to bring most of those projects to a conclusion. I have spent considerable hours researching and pre-planning various parts of these changes, and can now say I’m getting quite close to being able to start in. The updates are going to involve incorporating a new main studio computer, a new DAW (more on that to come), a new rackmount console with digital snakes, updating the session cameras/monitors, and other accommodations to enhance the recording/production experience and product. Any update usually requires removal before install, so there’ll be dozens of unneeded wires pulled out which had connection to the old mixing console and other retired gear. The wiring changes also involve reworking patchbays (which has been a big part of my pre-planning) as I think through the new signal flows. On the more mundane side I also plan to put a new floor in the control room. The current one has seen 35+ years of traffic and is getting tired. It would seem I have a lot to do, so I should probably post this and get to work. More in the weeks to come.

As of this writing we’re at the last day of month one in 2022. The proverbial “it went really fast” comes to mind, as well as any number of other statements being made about what 2022 will be. We’re still hearing hourly (if we choose to listen that often) about all the COVID news, market fluctuations, weather/climate and escalating world tensions. And then we find we have to come back to what each of us are going to do in light of (or in spite of) everything around us. Business and personal decisions continue and we’re each a day older with every one that passes.

One of the “events” my wife and I took part in during this winter was to attend the memorial service of a fellow audio engineer. We were within months of each other in age when his life ended suddenly. As I listened to the stories of people who knew him and had worked on projects in his studio I found myself wondering what people would be saying should I be the one who was the topic of the day. Would there be a recounting of fun times, the joy of completed work, the comradery of the process, years of relationship developed and maintained over time, being along side when life brought its tougher moments – or what? I guess it’s all called our legacy, but it’s really forged day by day over years of time.

These events (and other reflective moments) I think should cause us to take an inventory of our earthly and forever destiny, but also to maximize the journey. I, like most of us, often say when asked about something that consumes a lot of my time, “Well it’s not really my priority, I just seem to spend a lot of time on it.” I believe to be truly honest we should recognize that what we spend our time on is in fact our priority. Yes, we’ll always have seasons where what becomes front and center must shift – even if temporarily before we can come back to our longer term focuses, but when does “short term” become “long term”. Year after year finally becomes a lifetime and before we know it that was our life – even if we said all along we wanted to be something different or our life lived another way. And so comes to mind some decisions and plan of action I need to undertake shortly here at Tesco Productions with studio upgrades and some updating of the control room and studio spaces. One of the ironies of being in business for over 35 years and hopefully having done a decent job serving clients all that time, is that you develop a pretty large list of people wanting you to work with them and providing referrals. That’s a great problem to have for which I’m certainly grateful, but I’m also needing to figure out how to carve out the necessary time to get these updates done that will provide much greater efficiency, more enjoyable sessions and better products. I haven’t solved how to do this yet, but it does need to get done very soon. Any suggestions? Maybe I should just do more of this – after all I can reflect and make plans on the ice, right?