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in-person sessions have been significantly limited throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic , though Riggi and his team have been working hard to keep their collaborations intimate and fluid . After initially ceasing operations for a few weeks in mid- March as the pandemic tightened its grip on North America , they quickly reemerged with an adapted workflow that kept the studio and its staff in business .
“ We couldn ’ t really take in foot traffic , but we still made waves as best we could online , getting set up on sites like [ music and audio services-for-hire platform ] Sound- Better or Avid Link and its message boards ,” Riggi explains , giving a quick shout-out to the latter company – while he sits in front of his C24 – for long endorsing the studio .
“ We were working with clients remotely , doing Facebook or Zoom chats to reestablish that personal connection . I could stream music straight to clients using Audiomovers and they were getting very high quality on their end with barely any artifacts . We locked down a lot of jobs because people were stuck at home but still wanted some human interaction , and wanted to give them as much control over their projects as we could .”
When the Province of Ontario initiated stage one of its ( initial ) reopening in mid-May 2020 , Riggi says “ the phones went crazy ” with people wanting to book time . “ Within a month , we ’ d made up for all of our lost business ,” he notes . “ In some cases , it was people
that just wanted to be out and making music and maybe didn ’ t have any grand plans for it [ laughs ]. It was like , ‘ I ’ ll do a demo !’”
While Riggi and his team were happy to indulge , he admits that he prefers working on more complex and expansive projects that put his facility , equipment , and expertise to full use .
“ I like the jobs that are hard – the ones other people don ’ t want to touch ,” he says . “ For one , you get paid what you ’ re worth . People know when it ’ s not just a , ‘ Grab a guitar , strum C , F , and G , and send them on their way .’”
Fortunately , Riggi Media gets a good number and variety of those types of projects in a typical year that split pretty evenly between audio and video .
On the audio side , Riggi estimates about 70 per cent of their projects are music-based and the other 30 involve ADR , post , and other broadcast-focused work . On the video side , it ’ s again split evenly between original creative projects – from feature films to TV to music videos – and corporate or advertising-type work .
“ The nice thing about it is there ’ s a lot of crossover – people will come in and cut an album , and then will call us for the music video ,” Riggi explains , and that trend has continued throughout the pandemic .
In fact , the surge in livestreams and other online content made available over the past year has added new facets to the studio ’ s services . For example , they recorded and produced content with a group of local musicians to fundraise for youth centres and programming that was notably successful . “ It worked out really well and they were able to raise a lot of money , and we were especially happy to be able to give something back to the community ,” says Riggi .
That brings up the issue of geography and the unique client demographics that it brings with it . Windsor is directly across the river from Detroit , MI , a couple of hours by car from the larger centre of London , ON , and less than four from the Toronto area . That makes for a unique clientele for both audio and video projects .
“ We ’ ve got a really good collection of equipment and a cheaper day rate than you ’ d find in a bigger centre like Toronto ,” Riggi shares , “ so we ’ ll get everything from local emerging bands to some bigger touring artists . [ Windsor is ] somewhere that people also like to visit ; there ’ s a lot going on here – a lot of waterfront , a lot of wineries ...”
Detroit remains a relatively substantial hub for media production , so Riggi acknowledges there ’ s not a significant amount of business that comes from across the border , though if a U . S . -based production is hiring Canadian actors or artists for work , they ’ ll often send them to Riggi instead of going through the hassles of work permits and the like that come with cross-border travel .
Reflecting on some of his favourite projects in recent years , Riggi ’ s first one comes
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