Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1314046
C A S Q U A R T E R L Y I FA L L 2 0 2 0 11 M E E T T H E M I X E R Friday the 13th, March 2020. It started off as an unremarkable day on set, but the mood was tense. The spread of COVID-19 was all over the news, hand sanitizer was readily available, and everyone was told it would be a short day. But when it came time to wrap, what happened next would be tough to swallow: "No one is coming back tomorrow. Everyone gets two weeks' paid. We don't know what's going to happen to the show, but leave all your gear where it is." The crew then said goodbye, elbow bumped each other, and left. That was more than six months ago. No one has returned. What was supposed to be a long-term stable gig has ended up on the back burner. Although strange, this story is not unfamiliar. As a sound mixer for television, I've quickly learned that the one thing you can rely on is that change is inevitable. The best mixers, however, not only roll with the punches, but fi nd ways to adapt. Via Zoom, I recently chatted with Emmy Award winner Griffi n Richardson CAS, a veteran sound mixer who has successfully thrived in an industry full of uncertainty and change. In addition to talking about how COVID has impacted his career (his Sound Devices 970 and Audio Developments AD149 are still under a BBQ tarp on a New York sound stage), he also talked about how going back to summer camp changed his life, about buying his fi rst home just prior to the 2007-08 writers' strike, and about the time he forgot to coordinate frequencies at Rockefeller Center. UPBRINGING Growing up, Griffi n always had an ear for music. He vividly remembers listening to classical music on his Walkman and how it blew his mind. As a teenager, he played guitar and drums and then started recording bands. In college, he took an audio course at NYU and learned how to edit dialogue by cutting tape. Becoming a sound mixer was an obvious choice as a career. "It's the only thing that made sense. It's a joke because I'm not qualifi ed to do anything else. These skills don't translate well. I don't even know how I would list them on a résumé. I guess I could work at a record store but I don't think they have those anymore!" BIG BREAK & 30 ROCK Griffi n's passion for audio combined with his work ethic led to his fi rst big break. He remembers taking a job as a boom operator for three days on a gig. He wasn't getting paid, but the experience was priceless. "The sound mixer on that job ended up hiring me as a boom operator on this movie called Wet Hot American Summer. We shot at a summer camp for 3-4 weeks and lived in the cabins for the kids. We used the communal bathrooms, and it rained 26 out of 28 days!" But Griffi n worked hard and learned fast, and that opportunity helped him land gigs as a sound mixer and make connections. In fact, a producer from Wet Hot American Summer hired Griffi n to work on his fi rst network show for television: 30 Rock on NBC. It was a huge opportunity for him, one that he realized from the get-go. "I remember tech scouting and I was the only department head with hair. Everybody else was about 25 years older than I was." The show was groundbreaking and would forever change Griffi n's career, cementing his reputation as a sought-out mixer. ROLLING WITH THE PUNCHES 30 Rock led to many more projects, including the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netfl ix, where Griffi n further honed his skills at adapting to unique circumstances. He remembers Griffi n Richardson CAS I n t e r v i e we d b y A d a m H o we l l C A S Grif n Richardson CAS at the CAS Awards