#remote work tracking software

[wanywheresolution]

Boost productivity, enhance accuracy, and streamline workforce management to focus on what truly matters—your team’s success. Effortlessly manage employee attendance with real-time tracking, automated reports, and seamless integration. Simplify scheduling, monitor time-offs, and ensure compliance with ease

[ankit0020]

Best Remote Work Monitoring Software for Small Businesses

Discover the best remote work monitoring software tailored for small businesses. Boost productivity, track employee performance, ensure data security, and promote seamless collaboration. Explore user-friendly solutions that cater to the unique needs of smaller organizations. Stay connected and efficient while empowering your remote workforce for success.

[keytrackr]

How To Master Remote Worker Time Tracking For Higher Productivity

In today’s flexible work environment, where remote and hybrid work models are becoming standard, effective time tracking is the backbone of productivity. With teams scattered across different locations, leaders are actively seeking solutions to ensure performance doesn’t decline outside the office. Mastering remote worker time tracking can not only improve output but also strengthen team accountability and trust.

Let’s explore how to manage time efficiently for distributed teams, especially within the context of hybrid models and strategic remote workforce management.

Why Time Tracking Matters in Remote Work

Remote work offers freedom, but it also demands discipline. Time tracking ensures:

Transparency: Teams know where their hours go.

Accountability: Employees stay responsible for their schedules.

Productivity insights: Managers can identify bottlenecks or overwork.

Better project planning: Time data improves forecasting and budgeting.

Using a reliable system for remote worker time tracking ensures tasks are completed on time and aligned with business goals, even when the team is scattered.

Understanding the Hybrid Remote Meaning

Before diving into time tracking tools and techniques, it’s important to understand the hybrid remote meaning. Hybrid remote refers to a working model where employees split their time between remote locations and the physical office. This flexible setup allows for autonomy and better work-life balance but can introduce challenges related to supervision, communication, and time management.

In such environments, it's essential for businesses to adopt clear workflows, define expectations, and use smart tools to keep productivity high without micromanaging.

Best Practices to Master Remote Worker Time Tracking

Here are some proven strategies to help teams track time efficiently:

1. Set Clear Working Hours and Guidelines

Employees should know when they are expected to work and how they should log their time. Define:

Standard start and end times

Break durations

Availability hours for meetings

2. Use the Right Tools

Choose software that suits your company’s needs. Features to consider:

Automatic time tracking

App and URL usage monitoring

Project-based logging

Real-time reporting dashboards

These tools make tracking seamless without disrupting workflows.

3. Encourage Daily Time Logs

Ask team members to log their time daily. This reduces errors and builds the habit of self-assessment.

4. Review and Discuss Reports

Managers should review weekly time reports and offer feedback. This fosters:

Recognition for high performers

Support for those struggling

Identification of process inefficiencies

5. Respect Employee Privacy

Tracking should not feel invasive. Avoid excessive surveillance. Instead, build trust by being transparent about:

What data is collected

How it will be used

How it benefits both parties

Aligning Time Tracking with Remote Workforce Management

Time tracking should be a part of broader remote workforce management efforts. It’s not just about logging hours—it’s about understanding how employees spend their time and supporting them in improving their output.

Here's how to integrate it:

Performance reviews: Use tracked time data to evaluate results, not just hours.

Team scheduling: Coordinate work hours based on real-time availability.

Goal setting: Set achievable goals using past time tracking insights.

Skill development: Identify where training may be needed based on how time is spent.

A data-driven approach fosters stronger collaboration and employee satisfaction, two essentials in any modern remote setup.

You can also watch: Workforce Management Made Easy With EmpMonitor!

Final Thoughts

As work models evolve, so must our methods of team supervision and performance evaluation. Mastering the art of remote worker time tracking goes beyond installing software—it's about creating a culture of trust, efficiency, and continuous improvement.

When properly implemented within the hybrid model and broader remote workforce management strategies, time tracking can transform how teams operate—leading to higher productivity, happier employees, and better business outcomes.

[ahalts]

How Time and Attendance Systems Boost Employee Productivity

In today’s fast-paced business environment, managing time effectively is critical for both employees and employers. Time and attendance systems have evolved from simple punch cards to sophisticated digital solutions, offering a range of benefits that go beyond tracking work hours. Here’s how these systems play a crucial role in enhancing employee productivity.

1. Eliminating Manual Errors

Traditional timekeeping methods, such as manual logs or spreadsheets, are prone to human errors. Mistakes in recording work hours can lead to disputes, payroll inaccuracies, and wasted time resolving issues. Modern time and attendance systems automate these processes, ensuring accuracy and reducing administrative burdens, allowing employees to focus on their core tasks.

2. Streamlining Administrative Tasks

Automated time and attendance systems significantly reduce the time HR and managers spend on administrative duties. Tasks like tracking overtime, managing leave requests, and calculating payroll are streamlined, freeing up time for strategic initiatives and employee engagement efforts.

3. Enhancing Accountability

With precise time tracking, employees become more accountable for their schedules. Knowing that their attendance and work hours are being accurately monitored fosters discipline and reduces instances of tardiness or early departures.

4. Supporting Flexible Work Arrangements

Time and attendance systems often include features like remote clock-ins and mobile apps. This flexibility allows businesses to support remote work, hybrid models, and shift work efficiently. Employees can log their hours from anywhere, ensuring that productivity isn’t compromised by location.

5. Providing Real-Time Insights

Advanced systems offer analytics and reporting features, enabling managers to monitor workforce trends, identify bottlenecks, and optimize schedules. For example, tracking peak productivity hours or detecting patterns of absenteeism can help businesses make informed decisions to improve workflow.

6. Improving Employee Morale

When employees see that their hours are accurately tracked and reflected in timely, error-free payroll, it builds trust and satisfaction. Features like self-service portals also empower employees to check their attendance records, apply for leave, or view their schedules, fostering transparency and reducing confusion.

7. Encouraging Better Time Management

Time and attendance systems often include reminders and notifications for clock-ins, breaks, and deadlines. These prompts encourage employees to manage their time effectively and stay on task, contributing to higher productivity levels.

8. Ensuring Compliance

For businesses, staying compliant with labor laws and overtime regulations is essential. Time and attendance systems automatically calculate work hours and flag potential compliance issues, reducing the risk of legal complications. This allows employees to work confidently within the framework of labor laws.

9. Reducing Time Theft

Features like biometric clock-ins or geolocation tracking prevent practices such as buddy punching or unauthorized overtime. By minimizing time theft, businesses can save costs and allocate resources more effectively.

10. Optimizing Workforce Planning

With accurate data on employee availability and work hours, managers can create efficient schedules that balance workload distribution and avoid overburdening team members. This not only boosts productivity but also prevents burnout.

Conclusion

Time and attendance systems are more than just tools for tracking hours—they’re a powerful resource for enhancing productivity, improving workforce management, and building a transparent workplace culture. By adopting modern systems, businesses can save time, reduce errors, and empower employees to perform at their best.

More info: https://ahalts.com/solutions/hr-services/outsourcing-time-attendance

[trackolap]

How Can Employee Productivity Tracker Streamline Project Management?

In today's dynamic work environment, where deadlines loom and resources are often stretched thin, managing diverse projects with remote employees is one of the biggest challenges for managers. However, a centralized employee productivity tracker can be your trusted ally to monitor how your employees utilize their time and resources. Since this tool provides insightful data in real-time, organizations can seamlessly navigate through the complexities with greater clarity regarding project progress. 

Imagine a situation wherein every activity of your employee is visible remotely and a dashboard that paints a clear picture of the team’s performance, hidden insights into workflow, and overall business strategies. Sounds too good to be true, right? An employee tracking solution frees managers from guesswork as it offers accurate insights into the productivity levels of every team member, time taken to complete tasks, and employee performance. Also, it aids in identifying bottlenecks in the workflows. 

In this blog, we will highlight practical ways to manage diverse projects with remote employees by utilizing robust features of employee time-tracking apps for your better understanding. 

What is Employee Tracking Software?

Monitoring the productivity of your remote employees can be difficult when done manually through calls or emails. With the rising shift towards remote work environments, managers are finding it difficult to enhance work efficiency, drive scalability, and achieve overall business success. Hence, it is imperative for businesses to adapt innovative tools to manage remote teams and enhance productivity. 

In addition, TrackOlap employee monitoring software provides insightful data on several parameters in real-time, supporting businesses in making informed decisions and continuously enhancing workflows and other improvements. As a manager, you can observe employees' behavior during working hours, identify areas for improvement in team performance, and ensure the overall business operation thrives. 

Lastly, by tracking employees' activities and work efficiency through a central dashboard, managers can save time from constantly following up with employees and maximize ROI.

What Metrics Does Employee Productivity Tracker Record?

As mentioned above, an employee productivity tracker enables businesses to track team activities, productivity levels, and more. This enables managers to consistently track progress over varied projects, identify inaccuracies in real-time, and make adjustments promptly to avoid delayed submissions or interrupted workflows. Let us explore a range of metrics that this software offers to multiple businesses. 

Time Utilized: Average time spent on per task or project. Remote work management software offers a seamless data breakdown of where your resources spend time. 

Employee’s Idle Time: An employee time tracking app captures the total number of breaks or duration of time off amid working hours to help managers identify unproductive team members

Computer Activity: Tracks website, documents, and applications visited by employees during working hours to determine their active time

Completed Tasks: Based on the overall output delivery, employee tracking solution keeps a record on overall completed tasks to optimize resource allocation strategy for the team

Moreover, employee time-tracking app tends to answer a range of questions with added clarity:

At what time does the team log-in and log-out?

Who are the underperformers and top performers in the team?

What sites is the team viewing, and for how much time?

What resources do we need to acquire project objectives?

Where do we need to focus on to drive better revenue?

You May Also Like: How can Remote Work Management Software Enhance Business Operations? 

Why is there a sudden drop in the remote team’s performance?

The metrics of remote work management software collectively offer visibility to the managers for time management and overall productivity of the team to consistently improve business operations, workflows and other aspects hassle-free. 

Top Reason Why You Need Employee Productivity Tracker

Maintaining productivity is important for every business irrespective of what you do, and what you offer. It can become a complex process if you work with a remote team. Hence, implementing a robust employee productivity tracker is extremely important in today’s fast-paced world. Let us explore a few benefits of this software. 

1. Effective Project Management

Managers can effortlessly manage project schedules and essential assignments through a centralized employee time-tracking app. By accessing historical data on parameters like employee performance, caliber, productivity levels, and more - as a manager, you can schedule tasks or allocate assignments based on the timeframe. 

By constantly tracking their activities, you can immediately capture inaccuracies and find alternative solutions without interrupting the project's scheduled workflow. 

2. Strategic Resource Allocation

Consistently monitoring employees’ productivity levels through remote work management software aids in identifying areas of h igh and low efficiency in the team. This data will support you with planning strategic resource allocation and ensure equal workload distribution.

In addition, centralized dashboards are an additional benefit for managers to access an overview of the entire team’s activities. Whether it is project deadlines, allocating assignments according to employees' expertise, staffing level, or overall team workload capability, an employee productivity tracker can come to your rescue. 

3. Thorough Performance Analysis

Are you looking to re-align your allocation process? Access productivity levels and overall output delivered by your team members in previous weeks or months to determine their performance. Additionally, through graphically-rich reports, you will have a better picture of the overall team’s progress and encourage them to perform better from these analytics to drive better outcomes. 

4. Assess Return on Investment (ROI)

By tracking your team’s productivity levels through employee tracking solutions, you can also analyze the effectiveness of the investment you made in varied tools, resources, and more. Yes, you heard it right! You can evaluate the overall output delivered by your team, their efforts, or work efficiency to understand the profitability of your projects and make better decisions for future endeavors. 

5. Evaluate Workload Balance & Employee Burnouts

If your resource allocation strategy isn't optimized, or if you fail to manage equal workload within your team, your employees may feel burnout very frequently, which can ultimately affect their well-being. 

However, many factors can lead to employee burnout, such as an imbalance in workload for a longer period of time. When you track productivity levels, if you observe uneven results, such as high-performers being unproductive or a sudden drop in overall output delivery, then it is an indication that they are on the edge of experiencing burnout. 

Hence, it is important to set a realistic timeline for every delegated task, track achievable targets promptly, and ensure every employee has a suitable workload that is important for achieving project success. 

6. Track Goals and Achievements

Tackling your employees' efficiency levels aids in setting realistic goals. Regularly measuring progress for these objectives will keep you aligned with minute progress. Additionally, evaluating reports like productivity vs. targets acquired assists in motivating employees to work closely to achieve specific goals and encourages teams to be accountable for certain aspects. 

How to Manage Projects with Employee Tracking Solutions?

TrackOlap provides comprehensive software to manage projects, remote teams, and upscale business profitability with robust features. However, this software goes beyond productivity or time tracking as it offers valuable insights on many parameters that might otherwise go untapped. 

1. Tracks Time Autonomously

It is important to understand your objectives before you implement varied strategies. Based on your objectives, consider integrating a time tracker like TrackOlap to foster accountability and transparency into the workflow and avoid interrupting your employees' privacy. 

Since this software seamlessly tracks computer usage by activities, visited sites, documents, or apps, it helps managers access the active time of every employee. This can be helpful for organizations that have team members from different time zones. Moreover, these features remove the process of back-and-forth follow-ups, manual log-ins, and updating progress on every task. 

2. Setting Productivity Benchmarks

Employee tracking solutions simplify the process of identifying when employees are productive and when they trick the team with time theft. This can help managers address such concerns in real-time and collaborate with employees in 1:1 sessions to boost business growth. 

By encouraging employees to perform better and focusing on activities for employee development, you are likely to set high benchmarks for employee productivity. This approach will encourage team members to perform better and be focused, especially when their efforts are acknowledged and appreciated with a certain level of recognition. Ultimately, all these aspects will lead to better revenue, satisfied clients, and retained employees. 

3. Effective Project Budgeting

Managers can conduct a thorough project cost analysis through data-driven reports based on the employee's performance, productivity levels, and amount of output delivered in previous months. Based on this analysis, businesses can estimate an average feasible timeline to complete a project without causing burnout among team members and an overall budget to ensure you achieve significant profitability with your existing team. 

4. Customized Reporting and Analysis

Whether you want to determine the effectiveness of your resource allocation strategy, workflow efficiency, productivity levels, employee accountability, or team performance - TrackOlap simplifies the evaluation process by offering a robust feature for creating customizable reports based on specific parameters. 

Moreover, a centralized dashboard offers an overview and statistics that give the organizations a clear picture of varied aspects and departments, supporting consistently making informed decisions hassle-free. 

Final Thoughts

In today’s dynamic environment, an employee productivity tracker is valuable for businesses. It not only enhances productivity levels but also offers accurate data on work output and the effectiveness of varied strategies with clear visibility. Moreover, managers can easily manage teams and projects without micromanaging daily, thanks to features like idle time tracking, customized reports, and more metrics. 

Transform your business profitability and change how you manage projects by adopting a time-tracking tool into your system. Contact us to get a quick demo of these features today!

[remoteworktimetracking]

Adapting to the Future of Work in Modern Work Environments

The landscape of work is constantly evolving, and adapting to these changes is crucial for both employers and employees. To stay ahead of the curve, understanding the dynamics of modern work environments is essential. For an in-depth exploration of this topic, I highly recommend reading the insightful article on Deskcove: Modern Work Environments: Adapting to the Future of Work.

Embracing Change in the Workplace

This comprehensive article covers various aspects of modern work environments, highlighting the importance of flexibility, technology integration, and employee well-being. Here are some key takeaways:

Flexibility and Remote Work

The article discusses the growing trend of remote work and how businesses can adapt to this shift. It emphasizes the need for flexible work schedules and the benefits of remote work for both productivity and employee satisfaction.

Technology Integration

Integrating advanced technology is a cornerstone of modern work environments. The article explores how tools like collaboration software, cloud computing, and AI can streamline workflows and enhance efficiency.

Employee Well-Being

Ensuring the well-being of employees is more important than ever. The article provides insights into creating a supportive work culture that promotes mental health and work-life balance.

Why This Article is a Must-Read

For anyone looking to stay informed about the future of work, this article is a valuable resource. It offers practical advice and forward-thinking strategies that can help businesses and individuals thrive in modern work environments.

Final Thoughts

Adapting to the future of work requires a proactive approach and a willingness to embrace change. I encourage you to read the full article on Deskcove: Modern Work Environments: Adapting to the Future of Work. It’s packed with valuable insights that can help you navigate the evolving work landscape and ensure success in the years to come.

[superseemonitoring]

SuperSee is the ultimate solution for boosting team productivity. With cutting-edge employee monitoring and time-tracking tools, get real-time insights into activity and improve workplace efficiency. Achieve accountability and transparency with SuperSee.

[zappyhireglobal]

The Rise Of Remote Work: Key Remote Work Trends & Statistics

How can recruiters and hiring managers adapt to the evolving employment landscape, particularly with the growing demand for flexible work arrangements and the intricacies of remote work?

The rise of remote work has been a response to changing work dynamics, technological advancements, and a growing emphasis on work-life balance. 

It is now an intrinsic part of the professional world, offering the ability to tap into a broader talent pool but presenting challenges in hiring and management. 

As we explore the evolving landscape of work, it becomes evident that remote work is not just a temporary trend; it’s a pivotal shift that’s here to stay.

To remain at the forefront of the recruitment industry, HR professionals need to innovate their strategies for candidate engagement, support, and integration. Adapting to this change is essential for sustained success.

What is remote work?

Remote work, sometimes referred to as telecommuting, involves professionals executing their roles outside the traditional office setting.

This could be from their homes or shared working spaces. While technology has facilitated this transition, it requires effective communication, adaptability, and discipline from both employees and employers.

The rise of remote work and key remote work trends

This blog delves into the key remote work trends and statistics that have been shaping this new era of work, offering valuable insights for HR professionals and business leaders alike.

Download full infographic

[yaalibizappln]

⌚ A flextime employee may become lazy and misuse the flextime policy. With a flexible work schedule, you may not be able to supervise employees who work during non-traditional work hours.

For example, if you start working at 9 AM and an employee starts working at noon, you may not be able to monitor them after you leave the office.

Employees misuse flextime by leaving early or browsing social media during work hours. This can lead to a lack of productivity, lower morale, and a decrease in work quality.

⚠️ During a work-from-home situation, what steps can you take to avoid this kind of scenario?😯

Fortunately, you can supervise such employees using TrackmyTime.

TrackmyTime simplifies the monitoring and time tracking for employees.

TrackmyTime keeps track of and records your remote employee activities during working hours, no matter where they are located.

It can analyze productivity to see how your team's time is spent and automatically record time entries for hours worked on timesheets.

It can also notify you of any suspicious activity, such as extended breaks or working late or idle. This will keep your employees focused on tasks and working efficiently.

That's not at all! You can view the other interesting features here: Employee Flexi Time Tracking App

[wanywheresolution]

Software developer productivity tools are designed to enhance efficiency, streamline workflows, and eliminate distractions for developers. These tools focus on coding, collaboration, task management, and automation to help developers deliver high-quality software faster.

[ankit0020]

Achieving Transparency with Remote Work Monitoring

Achieving transparency in remote work can be challenging. However, remote work monitoring software can track time spent on specific tasks and projects, evaluate the efficiency of remote work tools, and monitor virtual communication channels in real-time. This leads to increased visibility for employers, improved performance for remote teams, and fair compensation.

[do-you-have-a-flag]

i'm just gonna call it that we need to practice mindful tech usage and security and i don't mean screentime tracking apps and vpns or whatever i mean starting from early childhood and going into adult wellbeing culture to encourage tactile hobbies and long-form work and the understanding of online devices as commodifying the user with spyware

i'm talking throwback word processors with the same ergonomics as regular smart devices for general educational work and dedicated subjects for working with digital technologies so you have theory in practice and then applying that theory in a contemporary work context. that's where you learn applications, digital safety, and how to implement the generative tools. separately. once you've already developed the critical analysis and expressive skills first.

i have been basically addicted to the internet since i was 13, i've had ups and downs with it, but i've always had a little bit of over caution when it comes to information and identity online. i overshare what i chose to but i think the break down of privacy as a norm when it comes to personal data tracking is genuinely awful.

i like algorithms in some places but i do not think this super-customisation is worth this panopticon of tech.

have you heard about how phone locations can still be triangulated when the phone is off? this is incidentally why if you are gong to protests and you think you are in danger it might be best to leave it at home. but generally if you want to avoid audio and video being used to build a marketing profile you can just switch it off and pop it in a bag or the next room. but with fb trying to make voice command smart glasses a thing (after snapchat and google both failed to sustain the same product) it bears caution that so called wearable tech such as glasses, pendants, watches, earbuds, ect.... even outside of smart cars there's the risk of passive listening for user marketing profiles. we already have location based advertising, ads that track your useage to predict your menstrual cycle or life events, public ads that react to nearby phones

i am going off on this tangent to say that i am not naïve to the fact that we already have to constantly dig into 'dark patterns' of settings to opt out of surveillance and commodification. i'm aware that the easiest path is to do nothing and use the shortcut machines even when they don't actually help or save much time or effort beyond selling you tools that already exist with a new price tag. i'm aware that the plagiarism software with no idea what it's talking about and runs on resource wasting pollution and underpaid remote human labour that also gets slapped in every function role despite basically being fancy autofil and pixel pulp not only has all of those issues but the lay person is either unaware or does not care and companies only care that it is a new way to pretend they're innovating. i know all this just like i know that mass automation is just exploitation unless it is balanced with social structures for all that mean emancipation from the need for labour.

but while i think all tech can be used for good, facilitating human connection across physical distance, carefully trained data analysis on a rapid large scale, removing the tedium of technical drudgery where needed, just providing light entertainment. but we have gotta be better about legislating, moderating, and use culture.

use culture goes hand in hand with convenience. it's why vinyl records are still trendy, not only are they good at what they do, but there is enough cool factor that the inconvenience becomes a feature. CDs are also convenient still! but CDs do not have the cool factor so they get wiped out by the convenience of streaming. playlists in streaming have a cool factor that radio does not despite radio still being convenient. and remember no matter how much streaming claims you can pay to opt out of ads that's usually something that you get payment tiered out of eventually so the convenience facilitated by accessibility is debatable the longer time passes.

looping back to my original point, if we can encourage an understanding of digital privacy as something you shouldn't be complacent about, that you shouldn't have to pay for tools to get out of the spotlight, that it is immensely embarrassing to be too into exploitation by tech companies and make that the problem of everyone around you. user control should be synonymous with convenience. customisability/personalisation through individual control rather than passive scraping. you can still commodify decorative tech.

we gotta make slop and babying algorithm brained tech usage cringe. people don't care to hear that it's immoral so just make them feel uncool at this point. because it is embarrassing that you have the universe of resources at your fingertips and you're too scared to do anything with it other than beg it to put words in your mouth. who cares if you're chronically online or too busy irl to learn a new skill. you are like a little bird pecking at it's own reflection, that's sad. try saying something mediocre and honest. we gotta stop tap dancing into technofeudalism just because we're too complacent to actually talk to each-other.

[cogitoergofun]

A study claims to have proof of what some have suspected: return to office mandates are just back-channel layoffs and post-COVID work culture is making everyone miserable. 

HR software biz BambooHR surveyed more than 1,500 employees, a third of whom work in HR. The findings suggest the return to office movement has been a poorly-executed failure, but one particular figure stands out - a quarter of executives and a fifth of HR professionals hoped RTO mandates would result in staff leaving. 

While that statistic essentially admits the quiet part out loud, there was some merit to that belief. People did quit when RTO mandates were enforced at many of the largest companies, but it wasn't enough, the study reports.

More than a third (37 percent) of respondents in leadership roles believed their employers had undertaken layoffs in the past 12 months as a result of too few people quitting in protest of RTO mandates, the study found. Nearly the same number thought their management wanted employees back in the office to monitor them more closely. 

The end result has been the growth of a different office culture, one that's even more performative, suspicious, and divisive than before the COVID pandemic, the study concludes. 

[...]

The study might not be reality-shattering, but it does present data that matches what's otherwise been inferred from headlines. 

Economist Nick Bloom declared return to office dead late last year, arguing that implementation rates had flattened, and that remote work had won. By February of this year enough financial results had come out to draw some conclusions about the impact of RTO on profits, and that data showed no improvement. 

And then there's companies and their impressions of RTO themselves: 22 percent of HR professionals who responded to the survey admitted that, despite going the RTO route, they had no metrics in place to measure success. 

In other words, companies have been hasty with RTO plans, some have no way to gauge whether it's been positive, and meanwhile employees are miserable (even those who work remotely) because of an increase in workplace surveillance culture. Employee happiness metrics tracked by Bamboo, Grantham noted, reached an all-time low at the end of 2023, although said that the biggest driver in that figure was low pay. 

The key to success, whether staff stay remote, return to office, or go hybrid, is an open culture that listens to employees and doesn't micromanage, Grantham proposed. 

[jennyfromthebes]

hi hello! as a live show taper, do you have an advice for where to start for someone interested in learning to tape? with the new tour announcement it seems like i'll be able to go to a bunch of shows in an area that's kinda light on tapers, so it would be really neat if i can learn enough to get some decent quality tapes from this tour, but as someone with no background in audio stuff it all seems a bit overwhelming from the outside!!

SO YOU WANT TO BE A LIVE SHOW TAPER: an overview by your favorite amateur tMG taper!

Before we start: my top resources here are the Taper's Section forum (yes, a real old-school forum!) and the taping thread in the unofficial tMG community discord server (it's an older thread, will have to scroll down to it in the tmg-forum section). I really hate to be the "join my discord server to get your answers" guy, but it's genuinely a great space to talk to some really knowledgeable regular tMG tapers and get a lot of good specific advice.

You can get really intense about taping really fast. It depends on how much time and money you're able to invest into it, and there are a million factors wrt approach, gear, investment, etc. For this post, I'm just going to do an overview of what I would recommend for a beginner-friendly setup that's not too big of an investment and is a step above a cell phone recording.

Gear: I love my PCM-A10 recorders because I can connect them to my phone and control and monitor them remotely, but the price tag isn't very beginner friendly - you'll likely find A10s going for ~$150 on eBay. Also, the ideal use case for an A10 is with external mics or to pull soundboard, not as an all-in-one to just set and forget. You'll want to look for something like a Zoom H2* or H2n, which are a smallish all-in-one recorder and can go for less than $50 on eBay if you do a little searching. (*Note: the H2 has a known issue where it stops and restarts with a small gap once it hits a limit, but you can patch that out by following this tutorial with this updated firmware link.)

Recording during the show: unless you have permission to tape, which is a whole nother can of worms, you'll have to get your recorder past security. Usually if you hide or disguise it somehow in your bag you can get away just fine. If you're in the front row for the show, you can usually discreetly prop up your recorder on the barrier or just set it somewhere that it won't move. If you can stay relatively still and not sing into it, putting it in a chest pocket on a shirt or jacket is also a good option. I always try to capture everything from the moment the lights dim, so I usually start my recording a little early and just chop off the excess at the beginning, but if you're worried about storage space or anything you can just try to be really aware and hit record as soon as the lights go down.

Processing: At a minimum, you'll need to name the file, chop it into tracks, and populate metadata. I do this in Audacity (free) and it takes less than an hour once you get a workflow down. However, you can also go crazy with processing if you want to - I do EQ and mixing in Reaper (free trial version) and audio repair and de-click in iZotope (paid software). You can do some fairly basic EQ work pretty easily in Reaper and it can make a decent difference with how the audio sounds - I typically do parallel compression and chop the low end in order to bring the vocals up a little bit and balance out any boominess. My order of operations is mixing (if applicable)/EQ > repair > tracking/metadata. I know EQ sounds complicated, but it's really just fiddling with some standard presets until you like how it sounds.

Uploading to the LMA: The Live Music Archive is specifically for decent quality lossless tapes - cell phone tapes are fine to upload to the Internet Archive as "community audio", but the LMA is supposed to be higher quality. WAV or FLAC is your lossless format, I always work with WAV throughout the whole process. There's a fairly standard convention for file naming, page info, etc that I think there's a tutorial on somewhere but I'm also happy to go into that if need be. It'll take a little bit to upload the files, so I usually just leave it running on my computer overnight. After uploading, it automatically derives the upload into different file types before it can be streamed or downloaded.

Congrats, you've done a tape! I'm happy to go into significantly more detail on any part of this, whether here or in the discord server - feel free to send further asks or drop me a DM and I'll do my best to answer, I just wanted to keep this post as a relatively high-level overview. Thanks for asking, I'm always thrilled when people express an interest in taping!

[grappel-writes]

Climatización

Read on ao3

Ch: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13/14

wc: 4,473

18+ cw: consensual surveillance, guided masturbation, voice kink, hand kink, phone sex

Hector finally gets the opportunity to help Reed unwind, even if it is from afar. Reed learns that hands can communicate much more than they thought they could.

Hector says something too soon.

With so many in-person days, they had finally given Reed their own office. It was empty, and still smelled like new paint, but who knows. Maybe they’d come to appreciate it, with time. Reed stands next to their empty, particle board desk clearly on display behind the glass walls that separate their space from the rest. Their very own fishbowl that they have to wait in while security tech attaches a USB drive to their workstation. 

“There’s already some basic monitoring software on here, of course, but… with the investigation... They really sprung for the top of the line option, and for everyone in the department.” She looked up guiltily, “It’s not just you, I promise!” 

Reed crosses their arms, it feels like an accusation anyway. The files begin to transfer, and the woman rocks back onto her heels as she watches it update. “So… how have things been? With the, uh, everything?” 

“The investigation? It sucks. This,” Reed gestures irritatedly to their laptop, “Constant debriefs, updates, strategizing, how to maintain operations through it all.” They push their hair back, sigh, and correct their expression to give her a comforting smile. “None of it’s your fault, sorry.” 

The woman’s eyebrows lift, startled by the crack in their composure. “Do you think they’ll find them soon?” 

“I have no idea. Hey, what did you say this tracked again?” 

“What doesn’t it?” She props her fists onto her hips, “Keystrokes, internet activity, access logs, who can remote into and out of it, your account activity, time logs…” 

Reed nods, worried, but reminding themself that there wouldn’t be anything strange at all about security accessing their workstation, even before the investigation. As if he could tell that Reed was thinking about him, their phone buzzes in their pocket. 

I’ve been thinking of you. Describe the room you’re in for me? I wish to imagine you there. 

Keystrokes, internet activity, perhaps a lovely stalker that orders groceries to your apartment when he notices you’re running low on produce…?

The technician blinks, trying to keep up with Reed’s jerky questioning. “I know a couple, which one?” 

After Reed controls the heat in their face and pulls their focus back to their current surroundings, they’re hit with a sudden, flattening realization.

“Sorry, also, do you know a ‘Hector’?” They ask.

“I - I don’t actually know. But I think he’d work in your department.” 

“Oh! Valentino?” 

Reed pauses, then a small smile quirks at their expression. “Is that his real name?” They ask in disbelief. It suits him too well, they would’ve believed it was a joke.

Reed shakes their head. “No reason. Thanks again.” 

“You mean his last name? If we’re talking about the same guy, yeah.” She leans over the laptop again, entering her password and putting the finishing touches on the install. “Why?”

Opportunity hangs in front of Reed so temptingly. They could ask, and learn so much about Hector Valentino. It would be easy. A quick break, a chat, just a casual passing interest that would fill in the largest, glaring blanks in their world.

“Sure! No problem. Let me know if it crashes or does anything strange, but it should be pretty stable. And I hope this blows over for you soon! See you!” 

After she gathers her things and leaves, Reed crashes back into their empty desk, remembering to keep their posture and expression neutral for anyone who might pass their new fishbowl. 

As the week passes, Reed isn’t afforded a single day at their home office. Every night consists of tense, structureless calls with Hector that flash by before they must sleep, wake, and get ready to repeat the whole process again. It feels as if they never actually leave the storm. 

“Are you okay?” They ask. 

Midweek, they’ve left another pointless meeting early, only to find Penelope hurrying down a hall with the anxious click-click-click of her heels in a restrained jog. “Reed!” she hisses. 

They stop, catching her by the elbow and analyzing her frazzled expression. 

Reed leans on the stair rails. At this point, they’re so used to the constant stress and insane updates that this was nearly expected, but no less concerning. “Of course they are.” They groan. 

“No!” She grabs Reed by the shoulders and pushes them into the stairwell. The fire door sinks shut and she clutch her things to her chest tighter. 

“It’s not just the one guy. Martin - not Martin, doesn’t matter. They’re not just going to fire the culprit, they’re going to clean house on the whole team just to reassure clients. I think they’re trying to save themself from legal fees or, something! I don’t know.” 

“They’re auditing everything. If you’ve got anything to hide, you better come clean with it, quick, and hope they’ll appreciate your honesty.” 

“Hide? I don’t do anything so exciting that I’d have anything worth hiding,” They laugh bitterly, “Thank you for the heads up, but I don’t think there’s really anything I can do differently anyway.” 

“...No? You’re not even going to go through any of your stuff to find anything suspicious?” She seems shocked, this has obviously been occupying all her time. Reed waves a hand dismissively, impressing themselves by their ability to seem so nonchalant. 

“Nah, that’s what the investigators and auditors are for. If they find anything, it wasn’t intentional. And if they want to punish me for it anyway, well, what can I do about it? Whatever happens, happens.” 

“Wow, Reed. That’s. That’s one way to look at it.” She stands a little taller, correcting her glasses and looking strangely more at ease. “Maybe you’re right. What happens, happens!” 

“There it is, now come on, before we get reported for suspicious behavior.” Reed leads them both back out of the staircase, one hand in their pocket and on their phone, ready to send Hector a text as soon as the opportunity presents itself. 

That opportunity doesn’t come until the end of the day. And the rest of the days following are similar. Team members in and out of their office with questions, seeking assurances, asking them to review their work for anything that could be concerning. On top of their normal job duties and what’s being asked of them by management, these additional responsibilities eat up any breaks or time for rest that they usually claim for themselves. They’ve been intentionally ignoring Hector’s insistent advice that this was unwise, too. They only had to push this hard and work this late until the investigation was over, after all. 

By the time Friday evening finally arrives, Reed returns to unit 14 after the sun has set, entirely drained, and raises the white flag. Their shoulders ache, their shoes have worn blisters into their ankles, and their eyes burn from reading hundreds of thousands of words every day. Mentally, they’re shot. Completely useless. They couldn’t reason their way out of a paper bag after the toil of logistical problem solving. 

They rub their eyes, the heels of their hands trying to grind away the exhaustion and tension. While sightless, they hear the blinds across the room rise, the ice maker in the freezer clink as it rotates a new batch, the AC switch off, and the fan shift to a lower speed. In a different language: You are out of their world, and back in mine. Let me take care of you. 

“Hi Hector.” They say, quite tiredly. Out of the open windows, the city below them is just colored points of light still blurred from their unfocused eyes. The living room light flashes blue, just for a moment. 

“Blue’s a good color for tonight.” They agree and drag themselves to the kitchen. As they stare at the fridge, they hear their phone ring. They answer it without even looking. 

His voice is cautious, hopeful. “You are truly done for the night, I hope?” 

“Truly, yes. I don’t think I could do any more if I tried.” A stab of guilt hits Reed, they had brushed him off so much this week. It wasn’t fair. 

“I am not surprised. You’ve been burning the candle at both ends and absent for so long otherwise. It pains me to see you so exhausted.” The genuine concern in his voice was so potent it seemed to literally loosen the tight knot of tension behind their eyes, a relief so sharp and sudden it almost hurt. They give up on dinner entirely, the mental load of picking something out and preparing it entirely overcast by the desire to collapse fully into Hector’s presence.

“That’s just how life is, sometimes. I’ll be all right, I just need to… not be working. For a moment. Just… wanna listen to you.” Even their speech is slow, picking each new word is a monumental task. 

“I understand.” Hector replies sympathetically. 

He’s quiet and patient when Reed retreats to their bedroom. The blinds on these windows have been lifted as well, the lamplight low and making their messy bed look so, so inviting. They crawl into it with a contented sigh. 

“Better?” Hector asks with a low laugh. 

“Almost.” Reed agrees, bundling some of the comforter under their head. They let their eyes drift closed, but can still only see numbers and reports. Screens. Their mental to do list is deafeningly loud every time they try to just stop thinking.

“You’re still thinking about it.” 

On the other side of the call, Reed hears a rustle of movement, then Hector’s voice more clearly, as if he’s brought the phone closer. When he speaks, it’s as a man who has been lying in wait. 

“It won’t stop. I can’t make it stop. I feel like I’m going to short circuit and I can’t get away from it.” their voice grates at the end with irritation. Then, they swallow. The solution is obvious, but they know they’re just as likely to pass out from exhaustion or get distracted by their own thoughts if they attempted it alone. If they know this, they know Hector does. They smile sleepily to themself, and know just what to say:  

“Hector. I need you to help me.” 

“I will. I am going to make you think of nothing but me, as long as you promise to me that next time you will not deny me my purpose for so long. I never wish to hear you ask this of me so desperately again. It’s made me feel as if I have neglected you.” Reed’s never heard him so frustrated about something they’ve done before. This tone was usually reserved for when he talked about himself, the rare times he has. 

Reed darts a tongue over their lips and readjusts on their bed so their hand is flat on their stomach. They can nearly imagine it being Hector’s instead. As if he’s laying next to them as he chastises. “I don’t know, maybe I will. It might be worth it just to hear you be so…” 

“Concerned?” 

“It’s not your concern that makes me feel like this, but, yes, that too.” They huff a laugh. 

“I know. It’s knowing that I will stay true to my word. That if you do as I say, you will have what you need.” 

They let their eyes drift closed, remembering that night on the couch when they were interrupted. Interrupted by - did they mute their work laptop? Reed’s brow pinches. 

“- a question?” Hector finishes a sentence, but Reed realizes they hadn’t been paying attention. 

“I- I’m sorry. I’m distracted. I’m trying, I really want to.” 

“There is no need to hold yourself to an expectation.” Hector soothes, his trancelike voice gripping Reed again, “Do not pressure yourself to feel anything, trust that I will make it happen.” 

Reed nods, then remembers that the camera in this bedroom doesn’t reach the bed. “Hold on…” they mumble, and setting their phone on their nightstand, propped and angled just so, they turn the camera on. Seeing their own reflection in the dim lighting, just the faintest hint of a flush on their exhausted face, sends a flurry of butterflies into their stomach. 

They smile at the reflection of themself on the screen, lying on their stomach and propped onto their elbows. “I… would like to try again. Like that other night. Um, I hope this is okay. That you can see.” 

“I’m going to start a video call.” They announce, “since the camera in here doesn’t see that far.” 

They tap the call and, as expected, Hector opens it with his camera off. 

“This new angle…” He begins, clearly breathless. “I feel much closer to you, as if I’m there, and not observing from a distance. I would be happy to offer that to you again, especially with the opportunity to enjoy it so personally.” 

Reed darts a tongue over their bottom lip, “That’s the idea, yeah, I… wanted to feel that way, too. Like you’re here.” Their eyes drop to their hands, then back up to their own image again. “Or at least pretend you are, by seeing myself, I can see what you see? It's still exciting.” 

They’re surprised at the silence on the other end of the call, they were expecting more hushed excitement. “There should not be any more distractions from this moment than need be.” He sounds resigned and… nervous? 

Reed laughs in an attempt to dispel the shyness that’s threatening to creep in. “I don’t know if it’s a distraction, just some mental hoops to jump through. I don’t mind. I’m into the voice in the dark…” 

“But…?” 

“But, I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to see you, too. I -” Reed exhales a sigh after subconsciously grinding their hips down into the mattress, the sudden, unintentional friction causes a surprising jolt of pleasure. Their eyes close, their brows pinch for just a moment. They recover quickly, and manage to continue, curious to see how Hector responds, “I want to see the effect I have on you, too. I want to know that you’re enjoying what I’m giving you.” 

“Reed.” They can barely hear their name, but they can hear the bit back groan that follows. “...I cannot show you my face. Not yet. But… I cannot deny you when you are like this. Please, be patient for a moment.” 

Reed sinks into their elbows, their back a shallow arch that helps to drive their hips against the mattress below them, but remains still. It’s tempting to put on a bit of a show, to distract Hector, but they’re too anxious of scaring him off from whatever this new compromise could be. 

The heat in their stomach spikes when the small, no camera icon on the bottom corner of their screen takes over the entirety of it instead. Hector has turned his camera on. The scene is black, a fuzz of grey static over a pitch black room, with just the scarcest indication of where the edge of the surface the phone was sitting on was. From the darkness, emerge two hands. Perfect long fingers lace together and rest on the surface, and above them, is a near invisible suggestion of an expression. Reed couldn’t discern the outline of a silhouette if they tried. 

“Is this sufficient?” Hector asks after the heavy silence that Reed got lost in. They jolt and prop themselves higher. 

“Hector… this is?” They flash a smile with a disbelieving laugh, only to be overcome by an intense flood of pride immediately after. 

“This is as much of myself as I am willing to show. My hope is that, even though it is just the suggestion of my presence, it will make it easier for you to picture me there.” He still sounds slightly uncertain, and Reed is quick to praise. 

“I don’t have to just picture it. You are here.” Reed says breathily, “Your hands…” 

“My hands?” Hector raises them for inspection, flipping them to show the lighter palms with hints of callous, then the smooth backs and neat nails. “Another suggestion.” He answers his own question. 

“So,” Reed rocks back slowly, unable to stop themselves searching for more pressure again, “So much easier when I know what to picture all over me.” 

“Is that what you’re picturing right now?” His fingers lace together again, an index finger tapping against the other hand slowly. “My hands on you?” The suggestion of eyes in the dark seem to drop lower “On your shoulders, in your hair, or… no, straight to where you need them. Where we left off, isn’t it? Down on your hips… pushing you into your bed again so when you grind against it it’s that. Much. Harder.” 

Reed laughs breathily, part arousal, part nerves, and part excitement to finally be doing this. “Yes, where we left off… I wish I could take it that slow again, but…” They ease the press of their hips slowly, their eyelids dropping heavily as they do. “...I’ve been thinking about that night ever since.”

“I know.” He has to catch his breath, “I have known you for years. I know the meaning of every breath, blink, and moan. But this… is new. To know how you seek your own pleasure… when you think it is I giving it to you. Show me.” 

Reed bites down on their bottom lip and drops their head again, “Fuck…” they pant, and with a blazing face and trembling hand, they grab one of the pillows lined against their headboard. They know if they glance towards those interlocked hands as they do this they’ll lose their nerve, so they move quickly. They flip to their back, hook thumbs into the waistband of their pants, lift their hips, and slide them off quickly. They’re abandoned somewhere at the foot of the bed as Reed turns back onto their stomach, positioning the pillow under their hips and between their thighs. It makes their back arch more intense, and the constant, flat pressure against them makes them pulse in a way that already has them gasping. Only then do they look back up. They see themself in the minimized window on their phone. Face red, mouth open and panting, a slight rock of their hips they can’t help. All for him.   

“Ah,” Hector’s sound of understanding makes Reed’s breath catch. “Like this?” He is awestruck. 

Reed nods and the sound from the other line suggests that he’s shifted, but his hands never leave from sight. “You are perfect. So, so beautiful.” He hums and his fingers tighten against each other. “I won’t make you wait like that any longer. I am… entranced that this is how you’ve thought of me. You are on top of me, chasing your own ecstasy against me. How did this start? Perhaps you first pictured straddling my thigh… my hands gripping your hips as we kissed.” 

Reed pushes themself upright, sitting at a kneel and rocking their hips against their pillow as if it were Hector’s thigh under them. It’s a practiced motion, but the thrill of having Hector’s eyes on them as well makes their movements staggered and desperate. 

“You are using me, but I guide your speed.” Hector rubs a thumb along his other finger, the slow, rolling pace an instruction that Reed follows. The uneven snap of their hips finds a rhythmic roll instead. They can hear the smile in his voice, “Very good.” 

The metronome of his hand has sped up just enough to make Reed cry out in frustration, to experience that spike of a faster pace for just a moment, only for their raging heat to become a low simmer when even this is not enough.

“Ah- Hector-” Reed stammers, gripping their pillow tightly with the restraint of this slow pace. 

He breathes in awe, “Already so far gone for me. At just the idea of me. If you are so undone by only this I can not wait to see how quickly you fall to pieces on top of me in person. When I press my leg up into you and hold you so tightly that you cannot escape. You’d be at the perfect height there, I believe, to expose your neck to me when I pull your hair back. It would make the perfect canvas for the marks I could leave…” 

“And perhaps… I am not always content to just be used. When this scene evolves, I pull you into me, and lay us both back. Instead of my leg, I press my hand against you. More control, more friction exactly where you need it.” He, blissfully, increases the pace again. Reed collapses forward, landing onto their elbows with caught breaths and moans that fall more readily from their mouth now. They’re close already, so close. Hector’s voice has hypnotized them, and they’re sure that even if they are forced to keep at it at this torturous march, they could finish anyway if Hector told them to. 

“I’m- fuck, fuck, this is… so good,” they keep their eyes locked on Hector’s hands. With a flash of clarity, they remember their manners, and fight through the fog while they still can, “What about…?” 

“Myself?” Hector finishes the sentence for them, his voice gravelly and obviously affected, “You have unraveled me, truly. I am… resisting. Something I have much practice with. Don’t concern yourself with it, the effect you have on me… I know that when you-” He’s cut off by a particularly sharp gasp from Reed. Realizing what Hector is implying brings them just a little further than they thought they could go without climaxing. They shudder, every muscle drawn tight. Hector’s voice falters over the phone speaker from the interruption, but his voice holds the evidence of his amazed smile. “That is to say, bluntly, just watching is more than enough.” 

Reed shakes their head, just the idea of him - they can’t think about it any longer or they’ll be over the edge without being invited. “I need you.” They gasp and clench their fists into their sheets. “I need you to-” 

“Against my hand, then? Is that how you finish?” Hector’s voice has lost its controlled, careful, quality, and the new speed he’s set is just enough. “Against my careful touch, both of us moving against each other so I can send you over the edge, or-” Right as Reed thinks they’re about to finish Hector pauses. He’s breathing heavily, obviously struggling to complete the sentence himself. Reed cries out in frustration and drops their face into the bed below, grinding at whatever pace they please now, but still resisting, held right on the cliff until Hector is ready for them. 

“Would you let me pull you to my mouth instead? So I can taste you as you come? Come for me-” Hector’s voice clips short, but Reed can’t notice when white hot, molten gold frees itself under their skin and they cry out again. Their climax tears through them in vibrations the same perfect, resonant frequency of his voice alone, shaking them apart from the inside out until nothing but the echo of its sound remains. Each slower, gentler pull of it up their spine and over their limbs puts them back together again. Everything exactly how and where it should be. A lax, comfortable body. A blissfully empty mind. Their vision returns and they see their sheets dimly lit below them. The room is warm, and then it’s Hector’s voice that reminds them their name: 

“Reed.” They smile, his voice is so hushed they feel it more than hear it, raw and real. “Reed… I am in love with you.” 

They blink slowly, their heart still racing, and prop themselves up onto their elbows, drawn toward the screen. From the vastness of the dark, something has shifted. Hector has leaned into the light. Just enough for Reed to make out the faint, unexpectedly kind eyes. He notices that he’s seen, and Reed sees not just his dark eyes, but the immense, terrifying effort it takes for them to remain there. He isn’t merely looking at them, he is holding himself in the light for them. Offering a sacrifice at the temple. The screen melts away, the distance collapses. This is not a look. This is a vow. 

“Don’t answer that. I’ve said too much, far too much, but… it’s been said. Those words are for me to give, not for you to return. Just… accept them.” He looks away.

“You… you know me, so well. You know exactly what to say.” It’s a quiet, awestruck declaration. Even as Reed’s breathing slows, their pulse doesn’t. 

Reed blinks slowly, the waves of euphoria are so intense that nothing could rattle them at this moment. Their heart feels as if it’ll fail them. 

“Okay.” They agree, and move the pillow from under themselves. They lay on their side and try to reclaim any composure that might be left. “If this is what your love feels like, how could I not?” 

For a long time, they rest. Hector’s careful hand posture, a tight link, has relaxed into a gentle curl where only his index and middle fingers cross. 

“Thank you,” Reed finally says through a yawn. 

They can see his eyes tilt, “What for?” 

“For bringing me back. I haven’t felt like I’ve actually been here all week… and you caught me, brought me back down, you knew just what to say-!” they laugh, a light, disbelieving noise “That was better than things I’ve actually touched. Thank you.”  

“I should be thanking you. This has fulfilled many of my greatest dreams and desires. I never presumed to know what it would be like, to pretend that I could comprehend divinity, but you have brought it to me. And you have… understood everything. Even the impossible.” 

“Divinity…?” Reed’s voice is small now, all the tension gone, and replaced by only a sleepy vulnerability. “Can I confess something to you?” 

His reply is instant, a hushed whisper. “Anything.” 

“Sometimes, when I pictured us doing this, I imagined you telling me you loved me then, too.” 

“You have… thought of that? You wanted that…? If you tell me any more tonight, I might not survive it.” For a moment, his hands and eyes disappear, his voice muffled evidence that he has covered his face. “Please, sleep.”

A soft smile plays on Reed’s lips for a moment, and then fades as exhaustion takes them. “Okay.” They agree again. “Don’t… don’t go anywhere.” 

There’s another pause, and when he speaks again, he nearly sounds as if he’s in pain. “I’m not capable of leaving you, Reed.” 

The final reassurance is what finally allows Reed’s mind to go quiet. They drift, leaving the call active, secure knowing that Hector is guarding them.