2020 is the year that the entertainment industry replaced a misperception of complex supply chains with practicality and began embracing cloud-based remote workflows. As the pandemic forced businesses to close and strict stay-at-home orders ensued, the industry had no choice but to evolve, and to do it quickly. With the increased demand for original and localized content as both linear and digital viewership skyrocketed, so did the inherent need for a more flexible but secure solution that enabled work to be done safely and remotely.
Remote workflows sprouted up from a host of vendors, but not all were delivering what the community expected and needed. With many, obstacles to replicating studio-level output remained: slow software downloads, sub-optimal audio quality, and unfriendly user interfaces meant delivery could be delayed and results could be spotty.
Deluxe tapped into its cloud-based technologies to develop new solutions for the post production and localization marketplace - where we have a long history - to provide a solution for our clients who were dubbing a tsunami of content for the OTT space, as well as for the newly launched direct-to-consumer providers. While scale and speed were important, forsaking quality was not an option.
The goal was both simple and complex: create a flexible, seamless and more interactive experience for voice actors, directors and sound engineers to collaborate remotely and still deliver high quality sound, no matter the location.
Understanding the challenges our enterprise customers, along with post supervisors, sound supervisors, voice actors, directors and sound engineers continue to face, Deluxe, which had recently introduced its cloud-based One Dub, added to it a new, collaborative feature called Session Sync. The software allows directors, engineers and voice actors to create a studio anywhere with only a professional microphone and a laptop. With no software installation required and bleeding edge content security, One Dub with Session Sync, offered a number of features to distinguish it in the remote audio recording marketplace.
Voice actors, directors and engineers have responded very positively to the collaboration tools. In addition to enabling users to record and collaborate in a fully cloud-based environment with frame-accuracy and uncompressed 24-bit, 48kHz audio, they can also collaboratively edit in the same live session. Post and sound supervisors find the ease of re-creating studio quality with talent in virtually any location a bonus to schedules and budgets.
Clearly, the safety that remote work offers has a value greater than any number. The post production business has pivoted to address content workflows in response to the pandemic and next year we hope the creative community will be back on sets working safely. In the meantime, audiences have more and more ways to consume content, ensuring that original production and localization will see continued growth, and demand for secure remote solutions will remain long after COVID-19 has been eradicated.
Chris Reynolds is the Executive Vice President of Worldwide Localization and Fulfillment at Deluxe (www.bydeluxe.com), which has studios worldwide.