How Can I Help?

If you’re interested in helping or are in need of help, please join here → Studio Relief LA on Discord

The Situation

As we are beginning to look towards recovering from these fires, Studio Relief LA has been building a network of volunteers to help. We are bolstered by a shared enthusiasm and resolve to help those in our creative community that have been impacted and displaced by the fires, even as many of our volunteers are not entirely sure what they can offer to our cause.

So, since people have stepped up, asking “How can I help?” I should try to answer that question. I know what I would do, and the answer is simply, my job, but my job is somewhat arcane even to my colleagues in post-production audio.
If you have signed up for our cause, you have expressed an interest in helping, and solidarity with the victims. Many of you might even be ready, right this moment, to offer your time and equipment to help, but the grim reality is that until we have fully assessed the destruction, we truly have no idea of the scale this effort would take, or even the needs of those affected.

These victims are suffering and displaced right now, and their immediate and intermediate needs must be met before we can think about rebuilding. Our hope is that we will have a network of helpers that can assist through the conclusion of the recovery process – when the victims have housing, their fundamental needs met, and they are ready to create and return to their livelihoods.

The music and film/television industries are, frankly, merciless to creatives. Both are currently reeling from existential crises on top of this new disaster, and I deeply worry that these victims will not be able to return to work, and be left behind when work has already been scarce and turbulent.

Learn more and get involved here → Links to Get Started

Rebuilding

If I can help even one person rebuild their home studio and get back to creating after this disaster, it would forever be the most important accomplishment of my career. Studios are boutique, unique to an individual, and can be massive investments over time. Every creative creates differently, and has a collection of hardware, instruments, and software to do so, in a tailored space, sometimes even purpose-built, for recording, mixing, editing and/or producing sound for music and picture. Post-production and music professionals have different needs. A studio in a single-family home has different considerations than one in a home with shared walls. Property permissions are also a huge factor.

These challenges can be met, and here are some of the ways you can help us along the way as we try to help our creative community:

Logistics

As a proud union member, I know organizing takes organizing:

Find people who wish to help, which is already underway!
Sharing this cause to your networks is an easy way to help
Assessment of the scope of our mission, finding victims in need and assigning efforts to each project
Coordination of volunteers and donations will be crucial, if the effort scales
Equipment donations, if they scale, may require short-term storage
Coordinating with other organizations/entities with overlapping goals and missions to maximize our impact and effectiveness towards relief efforts
Anyone walking the same road as us is a welcome companion

Fabrication

Building acoustic treatment can be done cheaply and to scale, and only requires basic carpentry and power tools to assemble.
Studios often have equipment that is mounted in 19” racks which are also easily built with the same skills above
Commercially available studio furniture often ships flat packed. If you like IKEA, you can assemble studio furniture. Or who knows, maybe someone out there could even build some studio furniture.
Straight-up construction skills like framing, drywalling, and electrical are all useful here, but there are building code considerations, and it gets complicated when we get into this territory
Audio, video, and data cables are built using soldered or crimped connections. Cable building is a very learnable skill and useful for any audio professional!

Equipment

People have already offered to donate equipment, which is amazing
Volunteer efforts to source equipment through donations and purchases
Solicit equipment donations from manufacturers, societies, the community at large, and other organizations willing to help
Coordinate short-term storage and distribution of equipment to victims and volunteer integrators
Equipment needs include musical instruments, computers, acoustic panels, furniture, audio interfaces and processors, displays, microphones, studio monitors, software licenses, amplifiers, cabling…I could go on, but you get the idea

Integration/finishing

Once you have collected all the studio equipment, the task comes to put it all together and set it up to meet the needs of the artist (this is what I do!)
Acoustic treatment – installing acoustic treatment on walls and ceilings as dictated by the environment
Furnishing – studio furniture, lighting
Equipment wiring – interconnecting it all with audio/data cabling, creating the signal flow
Equipment setup – final checks, calibration of equipment, room tuning if applicable
Computer setup/installation – there is usually a computer in the heart of a modern studio, running a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) such as Pro Tools, Apple Logic, etc. with specific setup needs

Victim Support

Studios take time to build and beyond their fundamental needs, there are ways that we can help the victims as they get on their feet:

Finding temporary studio space for artists
Creating an equipment lending network if people want to help, but cannot part with their gear entirely (I get it, you love your gear, I won’t judge you 😊). Some folks have already launched a Facebook group for this purpose here → Gear Shift
Job placement/professional networking; freelancers know that the hustle never ends