It was almost exactly a year ago that I got the call from Syndicate Sound asking if I could come in last minute to record and mix a TV spot for them. This was just after Doug Ford had announced the first impending COVID-19 lockdown but before it would take effect. Reluctantly, I said I would. The next morning I biked to the studio and donned my 3M workshop respirator which was the closest thing I had to a medical mask. Thankfully the clients would be attending by phone patch and as was the director. It seemed I wasn’t the only person uneasy about being out and about town that day.

I wonder if I made the talent uncomfortable that morning, setting them up on mic with this thing on, wheezing through the valves like Darth Vader. If they even remember, they might look back on it a bit differently now. I know I do.

The clients were waffling over changes to the copy that might guide the spot (about tradition, family and above all togetherness) toward something more timely. I think in the end it was left relatively unchanged. Certainly none of us on the job really grasped the upheaval to be visited upon our traditions in the coming year. Togetherness would have to wait.