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Mixing: Band Next

In my last blog, I started talking about how you can approach mixing when you’re just getting started. If you haven’t read it, here’s the cliff notes version: vocals are your first priority. Make sure you get the lines out (especially in tech), no matter how many faders you need up at the beginning. Then you can work towards line-by-line mixing from there.

Once you’re comfortable enough with the vocals and can start paying attention to other things, what’s next? If it’s a musical, the answer’s easy: the music.

The band is more self-sufficient than the vocals. They’ll do some dynamics on their own, so they can take care of themselves to a point while you’re settling in with the vocals. For the things they don’t do on their own, you’ll tend to notice and take care of them naturally. If the music is too loud and it’s hard to hear what the actors are saying, you pull it back. If we’re heading into a song, bring them back up to support the singing. All of that is a good start, but at this point, those moves are reactive as you notice something and adjust to compensate. Once you can give more attention to what’s really happening in the music, you can anticipate and be proactive.

There’s some work you can do even before you get into the theatre. If I’m working on a show that already has a cast album I’ll do what I call a Music Map. I’ll go through each song and write down which section or instrument has the melody or is featured. Even if the recording isn’t the exact version I’m going to do, it gets me in the ballpark. It could be just the sections (brass, strings, percussion, etc), or even a best guess. So what if I mark down that it’s a trumpet that has a solo and it ends up being a French horn? It’s paperwork that’s only for me, so it doesn’t have to be perfect. More than anything it gets me to put a critical ear to the show a few times so I’m more familiar with the music and feel more prepared going into tech.

This was one that I did for Les Mis: it’s a quick jot of “Valjean’s Soliloquy” with the part of the song (usually by the lyric), which section has the focus if I picked out a specific instrument and anything else I noticed like supporting instruments. You can see that it’s a rough sketch, not the end product. There are things like the note of “Keys?” towards the end, which meant I wasn’t sure if it was an acoustic instrument or a keyboard patch. Again, you’ll find out for sure once you get the musicians in the space, but this gives you a reference if you feel like you’re missing something.

Every song has a shape to it. Some get progressively louder, building to a big musical moment at the end, other times it’s a quiet ballad that has some builds but may stay pretty quiet. Others might be a mix or jump from singing into dialogue and back again, going up and down fairly drastically in volume. As the mixer, you help maintain that shape to get the right emotional build. This typically happens in one of two ways: supporting or managing.

When you’re supporting the band your faders move the same way as the dynamics. So you’re riding the fader up with the big crescendo to give the moment a little more punch, or as the music fades you’re bringing it back at the board so they settle where you need it in time to make a pocket for the vocals. This is how you usually treat slow songs (love ballads, dramatic solos) and shows that have a larger, traditional orchestra. Acoustic instruments tend to use more dynamic control, so you’re helping them along.

On the flip side, when you’re managing, that means you’re moving in the opposite direction of what the dynamics are doing. Say there’s a moment where it feels like it should get bigger musically, but logistically what’s happening is only part of the pit was playing at the beginning and when the music feels like it’s going to bump up a notch, the rest of the band comes in. Everything gets louder naturally with the additional musicians, so you don’t need to push to get the dynamic increase you want. You might even have to pull them back to make sure everything doesn’t get too big too early or overpower the singers.

Managing happens more often with electronic instruments, which might not have as much fine control over their dynamics with pedals and presets. In some cases, they don’t have any, like if a keyboard patch is a trigger. That means it doesn’t matter how hard or soft the keyboard player hits the key (velocity), the sound it triggers will always be at the same volume.

Once you have an idea of the musical shape of the show, start noting band moves in your script. These will become a part of your choreography. I’ll use numbers if I know where the band faders usually end up, or markings like crescendo, decrescendo, or circles for quick bumps if the moves are more general.

Along with overall dynamic moments, you’ll also begin to pick out individual solos or features where you may have to give additional support or managing, just on a smaller scale. For example, if a flute and a trumpet each have a moment in a song, they’ll likely have to be treated differently. The flute is naturally quieter, so you’ll likely have to push their mic to get them out over the mix. However, the trumpet may not need any help (or you might have to pull it back) depending on the player’s lung capacity and sense of subtlety.

Try to remember that no rule is absolute. Although trumpet players are very good at being loud, that doesn’t mean you’ll always pull them back. In Mean Girls, there were a couple of moments where the trumpet had a James Bond-style riff and I’d have to push it quite a bit to get them out over the rest of the band. So treat each moment as its own entity. In sound it’s easy to get caught in traps of comfort and appearance: an eq doesn’t look quite right, and you never usually have to push the drums, so why would you need to now? Try to listen first and make adjustments accordingly. Does the eq sound right? Can you not hear cymbals in this section? When in doubt, ask for a second opinion. Sometimes you just need a set of fresh ears when you’ve been listening to the same show for weeks or months.

Once you learn where the band moves are, you can focus on the details. Different songs will want different approaches: sweeping orchestras lend themselves to fluid, continuous movements while quick, pop songs tend to have quicker bumps or more dramatic pulls.

 

Here’s a video of “Why God Why?” from Miss Saigon. It’s mostly one person singing, so the attention is on the band’s moves. My main focus is to make sure the vocals (faders 1-8) are always supported—not overpowered—by the orchestra (11 and 12), but I can still fill in the music around the lyrics so the overall level stays consistent. There are pushes with the orchestra in the emotional builds which are followed by quick pulls to get the band back and make a pocket for the vocals again. Around the 3:35 mark, there’s a pull where I tuck fader 11 back a little bit more than the rest of the band to compensate for a louder key patch: an example of the managing I talked about before in action. Overall, the song starts out quiet and has slow builds, each getting a bit bigger than the one before. There’s a quick pullback when we go into the faster section, the emotional build with Chris and the Vietnamese, and then the big finish at the end with a bump.

Music is an essential part of a musical, but it can do so much to enhance the story on an emotional level. As a mixer, you get the chance to put an extra flourish on some of those moments to drive them home. One of my previous blogs covered some of those times in-depth and how good it feels when everything comes together. Because the next level of working with the band is learning to adjust it live to the actors so you get that emotional impact. When they’re able to go for it, you have more leeway to make the moments bigger, or if they’re under the weather or having an off day, you adapt and pull the music back so they still land in the right place relatively. Like in “Why God,” you can literally hear Chris’s frustration building as the orchestra gets bigger, but how big the orchestra can get depends on how big Chris is going to go.

It’s these details with the music that make a lot of shows more fun to mix. There’s a feeling you get when you hit a bump at just the right moment and just the right level that keeps you coming back to see if you can do it again and again. I’ve been incredibly lucky that I’ve worked with some people who are both amazing musicians and lovely humans, and you always want to let that talent shine. I can’t count the number of times one of them has come up to me, so excited because a friend came to see the show and told them they sounded good. If they know that you’re taking care of them, you build trust, which ultimately leads to a better show for everyone. So take the time and make the effort to learn the music. Some people will actually notice and appreciate it, others will just know that the show hit a little deeper this time. Either way, it can make a world of difference.

Luana Moreno – Live Sound and Recording Engineer

Luana works as a freelance engineer working with venues, rental companies, musicians, and event organizers. She currently is in the process of setting up a small commercial studio. She has been working in audio for over 15 years. Luana is originally from Brazil and now resides in Adelaide, Australia.

Luana fell in love with music when MTV came to Brazil. “I still remember watching Slayer’s “Seasons in the Abyss” and my mind was completely blown away. I bought my first CDs, Smashing Pumpkins, The Cure, Sepultura, and Hole, and became a total aficionado. I bought an electric guitar with the first payment from my first job. I have her to this day.”

Luana was introduced to audio after a recording session with her band and became interested in the recording process. She began to research courses and programs for audio engineering and also met a producer and engineer Paul Anhaia who worked at Midas Studio. She would take a short course on Audio Fundamentals where she learned the basics and then learned on the job from there. All the while Luana attended workshops and training opportunities. In 2013 Luana enrolled at Melbourne Polytechnic and received an Advanced Diploma in Sound Production in 2019.  Luana says this “doesn’t mean that I have stopped learning though, as I am always looking to learn and keep up with the industry innovations”.

Career Start

How did you get your start?

My first job was at a studio/mobile recording facility called Audiomobile. They had two mobile recording units at the time, a bus and a truck. They did a lot of recordings for music DVDs. I would rarely be on-site recording, but in the studio helping them organize the hard drives and doing general maintenance. I would often sit through mixing sessions with the other techs too.

From there I started mixing live sound at nightclubs and other venues and working for rental companies and artists in Brazil. There I also had the opportunity to do location recording and post for film for a considerable time at MeuSucesso.com and to do mixing and mastering for a few bands.  Moving to Australia I was able to get into the Live entertainment quite quickly and have only run out of work during the first six months of Covid.

How did your early internships or jobs help build a foundation for where you are now?

I think Audiomobile had the most impact because that’s where I learned how the industry worked and was able to sit in on sessions with talented and skilled technicians who didn’t mind sharing their process. Mixing in pubs and nightclubs was a great school as well because we would often be quite limited in terms of what the equipment was capable of, and that’s where I learned to work with whatever I had available.

What did you learn interning or on your early gigs?

Shadowing the other techs at Audiomobile was a great opportunity to train my ear and get up to speed with the basics, and at the pubs and rental companies I’ve learned how to set up a system, troubleshoot it, and make things work. It was also where I learned how to mix.

Did you have a mentor or someone that helped you?

Paulo Anhaia, whom I dated at the start of my career, was more of a supporter and role model than a mentor. The techs at Audiomobile who taught me in my early days: Egidio Conde, Fernando Ferrari, Luiz Leme, Eduardo Garcia.

The group of people who helped me for the longest time in my professional life were my colleagues from Mulheres do Audio( Audio Women), a group that started when I created a Facebook group after working at an AES conference as a Product Specialist and being confused for a “booth model” by the male attendees, who’d ask me, surprised: “You’re a Sound Tech? How many more women in sound are out there?”

That question got me thinking and one night I created a Facebook group and invited some of my mates: Adriana Viana, Lilla Stipp, among others. That group started regular gatherings, where I met many other incredible women who have supported me in my journey, such as Florencia Saravia-Akamin, who played that mentorship role being the most experienced of us; Roberta Siviero, who if I recall correctly introduced us to SoundGirls and organized our meeting with Karrie Keyes when she toured Brazil with Pearl Jam; Regiane Alves, Allyne Cassini, among others.  All of these women became a network, exchanging information at the meetings, organizing workshops, and referring each other for jobs.

Moving to Australia I had to start from scratch, so Toni Venditti’s help was instrumental as she offered me insights and contacts. Other people worth mentioning would be my teachers at Melbourne Poly, Shane Simmonds, Tamara Weaver, and David Rodger, and my mates Erica D’Angelo and Candace Parham. All of these people were in one way or another instrumental in opening a door, answering a question, or giving me advice when I needed it. It might sound like an Oscar acceptance speech, but it truly takes a village!

Career Now

What is a typical day like?

I have no such thing. Working for three different companies as an employee and several other clients, some days I’ll start at 5 am and some I’ll finish at 2 am. So I try to organize my calendar in advance.

On days I’m not working out of the home, I will normally take the morning off and get things done in the afternoon or early evening. I also make sure to schedule days off, where I’ll do only leisure things or nothing at all, depending on how I feel.

How do you stay organized and focused?

I do my best! Sometimes I can’t be as organised as I’d like, but I have learned to not beat myself up about it. After all, managing your schedule as a freelancer is a challenge.

Some items that help me be as organized and focused as I can be are:

Besides these, plenty of water, coffee, chewing gum, regularly exercising/ stretching, and taking breaks when I can afford to, are the main strategies that I use. Taking time to plan for the gig whenever possible. But I think the most important thing is to manage your workload the best you can because, without enough rest, all of that is irrelevant.

What do you enjoy the most about your job?

The variety. Being a casual/freelancer allows me to work in different places with different people doing varied things. I enjoy wearing several hats, even if it’s challenging at times.

What do you like least?

Heavy lifting, defective gear, and difficult clients.

If you tour what do you like best?

I did tour a bit but it wasn’t for me, so I never really pursued it. I found that it’s quite stressful and you go to great places but don’t get time off to enjoy yourself.

What is your favorite day off activity? 

If I’m tired, reading in bed, playing casual games, and watching sci-fi and horror series. If I’m not too tired playing music, gardening, or going out with my partner, be it a museum, concert, movie, or dinner.

What are your long-term goals?

Grow and diversify my business, by opening my mixing studio to offer music production, mixing, mastering, and sound for film more consistently, and do more event production management. Help musicians and other creatives achieve their vision and release my projects as an artist. Continue to support the next generation of sound engineers and musicians with education and mentoring, through workshops, courses, and being involved in initiatives like Girls Rock Camp and The Tech Sisters.

What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?

I have faced sexism for sure, especially when I was starting out. Bands would arrive at the venue and ask “Are YOU mixing?” and I’d be like “ Well if you don’t want me to you can do it yourself!” and that has always been my stance. Of course, in many situations, nobody says those things to your face, so all you can do is do your best and not worry about it. I think it acts as a filter, a place that won’t hire me because I’m a queer migrant woman is not a place where I want to be.

The other big one is toxic work environments, of which I have tasted many flavors: the ‘we are family”, the abusive manager, and the threatened colleague. It can be hard to spot at first, but once you start seeing the red flags, you can’t unsee them.

How have you dealt with them?

I have learned early on to stand up for myself and to find out whether a gig is worth the trouble or not. But the thing that has made the biggest difference for me was seeking community. Having the support of other women/GNC people who understand your struggles and where you’re coming from. Who can relate and offer advice based on their lived experience. Not to downplay the support of some awesome guys I’ve met, but groups like Mulheres do Audio, and SoundGirls have been instrumental in helping me overcome these issues.

Advice you have for other women who wish to enter the field?

Do it! There are more of us than ever and we are stronger together! Connecting with other women and gender-diverse people, SoundGirls is a great place to start. Find your local community and chances are they’ll have your back.

Must have skills?

Broad musical taste, decent hearing, curiosity, interest in lifelong learning, and the ability to learn by yourself, because changes in the industry are constant and often you need the knowledge before you can consult with someone else. I believe that basic musical knowledge is a great advantage for audio technicians. No need to study Schoenberg but knowing rhythmic figures, harmony, and scales can help you a lot, both live and in the studio.

Favorite gear?

For live, any modern digital console with enough graphic eqs is fine. I’m partial to dB Technologies systems as they normally sound quite good just out of the box, and Allen & Heath consoles. The most useful items in my toolkit, besides tape and Sharpie, is undoubtedly my iPad and a router. That was the best investment I made because it helps immensely with line checks, tuning, and naming channels.

In the studio, I love Genelecs, Tannoy, Reaper, and plugins from FabFilter, Plugin Alliance, UAD, and iZotope.

Anything else you want to add?

The entertainment industry is a hard one and many toxic narratives in it need to go! Being proud of doing 80-hour weeks, the boys club, abusive behavior, and the glamorization of booze and drugs as things that are tolerable and even desirable in workplaces are unfortunately still quite common and anyone within it will likely have to deal with these issues from time to time. Still, there is a pushback against these things, especially by younger people, and I’m fully in support. Particularly in regards to long hours, yes sometimes they are inevitable due to specific circumstances, but if they are always the rule, that’s a management issue. Don’t let anyone tell you that you need to subject yourself to these things if you want to succeed in this business. There are alternatives and many opportunities to do what you love without sacrificing your mental and physical health. Boundaries are good in any relationship, professional or personal, and those who don’t respect them don’t deserve you!

Mixing: Vocals First

My first blog covered a lot about line-by-line mixing: what it is, how it’s done, and why we do it. One thing I never addressed was how you learn to do it. This video of me mixing Miss Saigon is after years of practice and certainly not what I was doing when I sat in front of my first sound console.

So, time to go back to the beginning! In high school, when our TD put me in front of that board for the first time I knew what the mute buttons did and that was about it. So that’s what I used, muting people when they went offstage and unmuting them when they came back on. I didn’t do much (if anything) with the faders, but you heard all the lines and that was really all they were looking for when we did one show with microphones per year.

As I started doing more shows, I learned what the faders did and could focus more on how everything came together: adjusting levels so dialogue sounded more consistent from person to person and blending vocals better so duets actually sounded like two people in harmony and not one person at full throttle while the other was a whisper.

Then I went to college and was taught that using faders instead of mute buttons made mixing much easier. The concept is still the same, but when you don’t have to take your hands off the faders to hit the mutes, it makes things far more efficient. Wherever you think you are when you’re first learning how to mix, always start with the vocals and do whatever you need to so you don’t miss a line. During tech, the job of designers and directors is to nitpick, find problems, and tweak them before the show gets in front of an audience, so it’s doubly important to make sure they hear every line. First, so they can hear the show and can find what doesn’t work and revamp it. Secondly, if they can hear everything, they won’t nitpick sound. Tech is stressful enough without a design team breathing down your neck asking why lines got dropped. So vocals are your number one. Even if you have all the mics onstage up at the beginning, that gives you a point to work from as you get more familiar with the show.

In July I got thrown into an emergency situation on Peter Pan Goes Wrong where the mixer got Covid and the A2 was away on vacation for the week. A phone call that started my day with, “Can you get on a train now to be at the theatre and watch the mix, just in case.” turned into “Think you can mix the show in an hour?” by the time I walked into the theatre. Since it’s a straight play and a comedy, most of the mix is dialogue and sound effects with a song thrown in to start act two just for fun. But comedy relies heavily on the audience being able to actually hear and understand the setup and punchlines, so that was the priority, with the rest of my focus going toward making sure the sound effects were in the right place.

Through absolute chance, I’d seen the show a couple of weeks prior with a friend, so I at least knew the general plot and characters. Other than that I was sight-reading the script as I mixed the show for the first time in front of a paying audience. This is the point where the ego takes a backseat. I know how to mix line by line and I have over a decade of practice, so there was no doubt that I could do it. However, even a 90% accuracy rating would mean that I’d mess something up on every tenth line, and the audience couldn’t care less if the mix was an ode to line-by-line technique, but they would definitely care that they couldn’t understand the jokes because I was dropping lines.

So I went back to basics, keeping mics up a few lines ahead of where the actors were and following the helpful notes in the A2’s script of when I could take mics out because they were done for a while. It wasn’t perfect, but the crew and management were thrilled that the show had gone well and the audience had no idea that I was flying by the seat of my pants on pure adrenaline.

In that scenario, I made a conscious choice not to mix line by line and there are reasons not to: like me, you might not be familiar with the show and the audience’s experience takes priority over technique. Maybe you’re still learning how to mix in general and worried you’ll miss pick-ups. Or it could be something with the show itself: a sequence that’s too complicated, or people are talking over each other without a good way to pull them out, or quiet scenes where you’ll have an audible change in noise that’s distracting to you and the audience as you bring the faders in and out quickly (thank you HVAC systems). In any case, there should always be a reason you choose not to mix line by line, and that reason should never be that you just don’t want to.

Learning to mix is the best reason to take the time and go slow. First, you start with everyone in a scene up. Once you have a grasp on that, you can start to break it down into manageable chunks that progressively get smaller. Mark when someone doesn’t have lines for a bit: if actors 1, 2, and 5 are the only ones talking for a page or two, you can pull 3, 4, and 6 out until they’re needed. Maybe you start with everyone in a scene up. Once you feel comfortable with that, you move to only have the people you need for a couple of pages, then just one page, then the next four lines, the next three, etc. Eventually, you get used to the flow of bringing faders up and down for one line at a time.

The beginning stages of learning to mix feel backward because, instead of focusing on who you need to have up, you’re looking for people you can pull out of the mix who don’t have lines for a bit. From there, you keep making the chunks of the show smaller and smaller. Once you feel like you’re ready to go line by line, take a look at the script and see what each scene looks like. If there are scenes that only have two or three people, start with those. Larger group scenes have more variables and skipping around on faders and are therefore harder to do. Once you get into it, there are several common mistakes mixers make as they’re learning line by line. The biggest one is that they try to be overly precise about having only ONE mic up at a time. This usually looks like sliding faders past each other so one person is fading out as the other’s line fades in, which means the audience loses the first and last parts of the lines. Or snapping faders up on the first word and slamming them down on the last of a line, again, cutting off the very first and last bits of the words. Treat every line as its own individual entity. I usually bring a mic up on the last word of the previous line and then don’t take it out until the next person starts talking. As I figure out the pacing of the actors, I can get tighter with the pick-ups or learn where I have to throw mics even earlier, say if someone’s going to interrupt mid-line.

When you’re learning to mix, ironically listening is one of the hardest things to do. We get so wrapped up in the mechanics that we don’t even realize we’re cutting off bits of lines in an effort to be as tight and efficient as possible. If you start slow and work your way to line-byline gradually, it helps you develop your ear as well as your motor function so you’re less likely to fall into that trap. Another common pitfall for mixers is the concept of “fader creep” which is when a scene gets progressively louder as it goes on because you keep throwing faders slightly further and further trying to match the previous levels without realizing that everything just keeps getting bigger and bigger. There are still times I’ll put a note in my script of “Watch Fader Creep!” especially if someone is supposed to be loud in a scene, it reminds me to bring things back a bit after that moment is done or when a big musical number has just ended and you’re bringing the level back to dialogue.

When you feel like you’ve got a good grasp on line by line, the next step is testing out your single-handed dexterity. The mix video from Miss Saigon at the beginning of this blog is a rather extreme example. I do almost all of the vocals with my left hand so my right can stay on the orchestra faders (11 and 12), the vocal verb (9), the band verb (10), and take cues (the small button on the right). That ended up being my solution for this sequence where there were a lot of band moves or verb changes that happened at the same time as dialogue. In most cases, both hands will share vocal faders, but sometimes your left will have to do a little more of the heavy lifting so your right can manage the other faders. Mean Girls is a better example of this during New Kid.

Learning to mix is a process that can feel like two steps forward and one step back. When you are ready to step into the next phase of tightening up pickups, you’ll make mistakes. We’ve all been there, many of us with spectacular stories of misfired cues or agonizing moments of silence as we fumbled for the right fader. These are the moments when you start to learn the kind of brutal honesty a mixer has to have with themselves. If you’re trying to move too far too fast, you’ll miss pickups. When that happens, you have to acknowledge it and go back to your comfort zone. When I got thrown into mixing Peter Pan, I took that step back, and it was the best thing to keep the show running and the audience happy. In each show, I worked to get a little better, and that’s how the process happens.

7 tips for Making Your Recording Session Go Smoothly

As a freelance music producer and recording engineer, the recording sessions are a key component of your business. The success of the recording sessions directly impacts the quality of your final productions. With a little bit of forethought, you can ensure that the sessions go smoothly, resulting in an overall much better experience, as well as high-quality music.

Have a pre-production meeting with the artist prior to the recording session(s) so there are no surprises.

There will be no greater obstacle to overcome than having to figure out what the vision for the project is during the recording session. As a producer and engineer, unless YOU are the artist, your job is to bring the artist’s vision to life. They are depending on you and your expertise to make sure their vision is realized. They don’t know what you know, in most cases, so it is up to you to have a thorough pre-production discussion beforehand. This should drive the approach to the production of the entire song and will bleed into each recording session with every musician.

Make sure everything works at least the day before.

A cable can work one day and then start crackling the next. A tube can blow overnight. Even your computer can suddenly go out. Check all of the equipment you are planning on using for the recording session the day before. Fire everything up, do a quick mock take of something, listen back, and make sure all is working as it should.

Have everything on and warm before the session is to begin.

Turn everything on at least an hour before to give the equipment enough time to warm up. This will also allow you to double-check that everything is working (even though you checked the day before, something could still go out overnight, right?)

Keep your space clutter-free, clean, and comfortable.

Do a basic overview of the space to make sure there’s no dust or clutter. Check the bathroom and make sure it is properly stocked and clean. Make sure the room has lighting options, depending on what the musician or artist might need. Many studio owners (including myself) have fancy LED lights with various colors so we can create moods in our studio space. I always let the artist know that I can adjust the colors to be whatever they want. Sometimes I’m asked to remove all color and make the lights white and bright because they are reading sheet music. Be ready to accommodate so that the artist/musician is comfortable. Temperature can be a tricky element of home recording spaces as well. You’ll have to turn off the AC or furnaces to remove background sound, so be prepared for that. You may need to open doors or turn on AC during breaks or have space heaters nearby to bring some heat.

Give yourself a buffer of time between sessions.

People run late, sessions run long. Cramming sessions too close to one another will create a more stressful situation for you, keeping you from being your best. If the artist or musician is rushed at any point during their session, their performance will likely be hindered. By the same token, really long sessions with no pre-production meeting ahead of time can be very tiring and can wear everyone out. Only book sessions as long as you want and are comfortable with and definitely don’t push a vocalist to sing for longer than 4 hours. Most vocalists don’t have that kind of stamina.

Do not overbook yourself.

Make sure you are prioritizing your mental and physical health. Make sure you are getting enough sleep, eating well, and getting outside for a little walk (at least) once a day. The session will only be as good as the engineer.

Have rules and boundaries for your studio.

To keep your studio environment healthy and conducive to creativity but also technical quality, you need to create rules for your studio. You also need to be ready to enforce them. What these rules need to be is up to you and may change over time. Remember, it is your space and you are the one in charge.

Dynamic EQ and Multibands

Dynamic EQs and Multiband compressors are a crowd favorite in the mix engineer world. Personally, if I were to be stranded on an island and had to use only one plugin or insert, I would choose a dynamic EQ, however, both have significant strengths and applications.

In theory, the two are fairly similar, with most sources stating that the tools have minimal practical differences:

A dynamic EQ has multiple configurable parametric EQ bands that correspond to the user’s chosen threshold, with variable attack and release parameters. The dynamic EQ can achieve subtlety, with more precise, surgical operation, and can dance along to an input’s dynamic tonality. This tool achieves linearity until, of course, the band is engaged.

A multiband compressor splits the frequency spectrum into multiple bands (two, four, or even 6, in the case of say the Waves C6) that have corresponding compressor functionality to each of these bands. Multibands differ in large part from dynamic EQ in that from the instance of engagement their crossover filters impart phase shift onto the application. This can “color” the sound, creating artifacts, resonances, and other potentially unwanted information.

I will typically lean on a dynamic EQ as opposed to a multiband because of their ability to maintain more musical processing; the dynamics of the artist’s performance can be managed more effectively, in instances of proximity effect, or if their voice becomes strident throughout. In previous applications, while using Waves F6, I was able to simultaneously apply some subtractive EQ to the input (example 1), and also adjust a variety of bands throughout the vocalist’s range to accommodate for proximity; sibilance; resonances (example 3 and 4); and occasional nasal buildup or lack of clarity when the artist was feeling under the weather. You can see these in the examples below. Each band has varying release times, but this was determined by listening to the source and dialing it in to taste.

Using a sidechain within dynamic EQs will help achieve vocal clarity in a busy mix. To compete with masking frequencies, you can key from an input to only attenuate certain bands when a threshold is crossed, allowing them to return to position when the band is not triggered. For instance, a male vocalist singing within a dense mix might compete for space with the rhythm guitar or lead guitar. You can throw an instance of your flavor of dynamic EQ onto the rhythm guitar channel and tell it to attenuate low mids at a desired Q (example 5) and engage it for a specific period of time; when the vocalist backs away, those bands will once again fill the appropriate gap in the mix. Example 6 here shows the same 400 Hz attenuation and also another just under 1kHz. I also tend to reach for this plugin if I want to soften harsh harmonic content, instead of opting for something that’ll squish a broader frequency range. It’s also important to note that you can choose to process bands in mid-side or stereo modes.

These tools are a game-changer for not only input channels but also for groups and reverb returns.

Choose your platform, choose your flavor. Most consoles have either of these on-board, but Waves and other third-party programs also have great software, if you have the hardware to support using them. My processing for a single input has varied depending on what console I’ve been given and what tools were on hand. Do some research and experiment for yourself!

Transfemininity, Noise and Self-Defense

 

“And if any man of the lord tries to use violence to challenge me

I swear to the gay gods that watch over me

That I will eat your face”

 

This blog entry is gonna be more about questions than about answers. I’m a pathological self-doubter if that makes any sense.

It must be some sort of self-defense mechanism. If I don’t commit to an answer, I can hold an equidistant safe spot. Actually, I think I’m more of a recovering pathological self-doubter. There are things I definitely don’t doubt about. You can’t doubt patriarchy, the weight of gender expectations and roles, the violence we face because of it, the joy -and scares- of being bold and standing proud in front of it.

Maybe It’s not self-doubt; maybe it’s gaslighting. A whole lifetime of society gaslighting you into thinking you are someone you’re not.

Somewhere between these joys, fears, and doubts, a desire to express yourself is born. It’s unavoidably colored by euphoria and dysphoria, care and anger, patience and frustration, violence and desire. There’s something in the shared experiences that transfem people go through that I believe shapes and also a common source of inspiration for us. It’s there in the culture. It’s so much there… that we have kinda become a meme.

I believe the transfem experience is a tangle of feelings that expresses itself artistically in many different ways, but I’m amazed at how a lot of us go for experimental, glitchy, noisy, and annoying sounds.

In a way, I feel like it’s a very specific kind of queerness. The story of queerness is also the story of reappropriating stuff meant to degrade us or simply inaccessible to us. I felt for a while that I was expected to perform femininity in a certain way because of my transness. Just like cis women, I was expected to be delicate, gentle, sensitive, soft-spoken… or at least try, goddamn it. And just as many cis women I rebel to that. Part of this act of rebellion is writing problematic, glitchy, noisy little songs. Yes, I’m a queen. Yes, I’m sensitive and gentle. And yes, I will behead you if you attack me or my community.

It’s no surprise that our music often sounds problematic; we’ve been problematized all our lives. No wonder we sound aggressive, we need to defend ourselves. Of course, we sound subversive and weird, you’ve called us monsters for so long we might as well be the most exquisite monsters in the cabinet of curiosities.

There’s nothing I despise more than the idea that there’s some be-all-end-all reason for our transness. I don’t think I am who I am because there was an estrogen spike during my mother’s third trimester of pregnancy. I’m not claiming some essential reason why some of us produce the music we produce; this blog post is not about that. It’s about celebrating this intersection between harsh rough sounds and transfemininity.

Did you listen to Black Dresses? Ada Rook and Devi McCallion embodied that intersection beautifully. Sasha Geffen puts it perfectly in an interview for thefader.com: “The Canadian duo makes catchy, haunted-sounding music about surviving as trans women in an antagonistic world”. They sound like chewing firecrackers; I absolutely love them. At the end of the day, it’s not necessarily about feeling good, it’s more about feeling something real. It’s more about tickling a fiber you maybe didn’t know existed. It’s about an almost religious revelation, the discovery of a hidden truth about the human condition.

And a lot of it reminds me of literal “learn how to throw punches” self-defense. Self-defense is not about beating the shit out of people. It’s about learning how to stand your ground, it’s about protecting your face and knowing when it’s better to run. It’s about acknowledging that the world can be a dangerous place, but also that we can use the tools that patriarchy took away from us to deter aggressors just by standing in front of them with a certain posture. I see a lot of self-defense “don’t mess with me or imma mess you” in the sound choices of transfem folk. It makes sense, right? To me, it’s the sound of empowerment.

Or maybe I’m reading too much into it? Did I mention I’m a recovering pathological self-doubter? Maybe it’s just about having fun and a specific aesthetic taste, the kind that grows in you like an infection or an addiction from listening to Astro Creep: 2000 when you were a kid in the 90s. Maybe I just like the sound of chewing firecrackers and there’s no deeper meaning to this and the fact that so many transfem artists like that too to the point of becoming a meme is just… coincidence.

Call me a self-doubter, but I doubt it.

Judit K. (Barcelona, 1984) is a restless musician in constant transformation with a passion for glitchy, noisy, loud and almost annoying sounds. She’s been playing keyboards with Obsidian Kingdom from 2016 to 2021 and now is the girl behind the synths in Lys Morke. She’s also a solo artist working on her second album SAFO.EXE, a reinterpretation of Safo’s poetry from the end of the world. She combines her passion for music with feminist and lgtbiq+ activism. You can find her sharing musical and political content (and selfies, bc why not) on instagram: @_juditk

One of Many Roads to Broadway

Happy New Year, SoundGirls followers! As I reflected on the year gone by, it occurred to me that since the post-shutdown theatre reopening in the spring/summer of 2021, I haven’t written much about my specific career journey. In particular, I haven’t yet blogged about getting to work on my first Broadway show! Making my debut was a big milestone for me, and getting there has been a long and winding path. Also, the journey is different for everyone. So even though my story is individual for me, I thought it might be interesting and helpful to share. So, strap in for a ride on my road to Hogwarts!

Intro: A Catch-up to the catch-up

I’ll try to make this quick. Starting in the summer of 2021, my life was a whirlwind of mixing out-of-town tryouts (4 in the span of 12 months) and picking up freelance gigs in CT and NYC. I did NOT get to spend a lot of time at home, and while the opportunities were good for my career, the necessary sacrifices SUCKED for my marriage and my mental health in general.

So, in the summer of 2022, I worked on changing some of that: choosing my gigs more thoughtfully, reclaiming some of my headspace, and making plans to get myself actively moving toward some of my big career goals. I reflected a lot about that journey in a blog I wrote about the potential dangers of emotional attachment to one’s work which you can read here.

How to Own Your Work Without it Owning You

That period of reflection led me to make a lot of good choices going forward. I advocated for time off from my gigs to go to family events and a friend’s wedding. I reached out to an old connection who was on a show I wanted to be involved in, and he hired me for the entire 4-week shop build. I quit a show for the first time ever (!!) because I recognized that despite it being fun to mix, the overall process was making me miserable. And as fate would have it, that reflection and work paid off in a big way just a few weeks later.

Hard Work + Network = Broadway Debut!

 

First day at my new workplace!

 

At the end of 2022, I was offered a job at Harry Potter and the Cursed Child as a substitute A2. Like many opportunities in this business, this one truly was proof of two timeless career adages: 1. Luck = preparation meets opportunity, and 2. Don’t underestimate the power of the network.

Bear with me for some long but important preamble…At the very beginning of that year, I lost out on a big job I had been hoping to get. While the hiring decision wasn’t about my work or anything personal, I was still devastated. For a while, I questioned everything about that experience and what led up to it; Had I not done a good enough job during the tryout to be worthy of moving on with the show? Was I kidding myself to think I might have been ready to mix on Broadway? Had the designer been unhappy with my work in the first place, and if so, had I failed to notice?

It is SO easy to get in your head about getting rejected, especially in this biz, and I let myself fall prey to the doubt at first. However, in the weeks that followed, a funny thing kept happening: every couple of days I would get these random emails from sound people I didn’t know saying that I had been recommended to them by the designer of this show that I didn’t book, and was I available for future work? I was relieved, humbled, and grateful every time this happened. It was a total validation of this designer’s trust in me, and getting these recommendations (plus doing a lot of unpacking with my amazing friends and my therapist) allowed me to slowly let go of a lot of that self-doubt I had been harboring.

Fast forward to August, and yet another of these emails pops up. This one says something to the effect of “Hi, my name is A, I got your name from B, who got your name from C [the designer from before]. I am looking for a mixer for this workshop of a musical and oh also by the way do you sub? I’m looking for another A2 swing for my regular show.” In the signature of the email, it said “Head Audio, Lyric Theatre,” which is where Harry Potter plays. I couldn’t believe it! At this point, I hadn’t even worked for B (the middle person in the network) yet, but this original designer’s trust in me was enough that this co-sign of a co-sign counted for a lot. My now-boss called me a few days later to talk over the details, and I started training at the Lyric (and working on the workshop) less than a week later 🙂

Broadway: the same, just bigger

A fresh new double-rig for one of our lead actors, built by yours truly.

So, there I am backstage on Broadway. I hadn’t been an A2 in a while, and of course I had never worked on a Broadway show aside from one shop build, so I was definitely nervous about jumping in on such a big show. It turned out, thankfully, that I had nothing to worry about. Everyone at the Lyric was so amazingly nice and helpful. From stage management to dressers to my fellow sound folks, everyone was quick to point out all the important details, like where I had to stand, what I had to do during each quick change, and even the order in which people needed to move so we don’t have a backstage collision! This may seem small, but it’s the combination of thousands of details like this that makes a show as huge as HP run smoothly.

HP is so big that, unlike many shows that just have an A1 and an A2, it takes a sound crew of FOUR to do each performance! 1 person mixes, 1 runs all the sound effects and playback, and 2 people deal with mics backstage. Any of those jobs would be too much for one person, given that there are many hundreds of sound cues, multiple mic swaps and quick changes, and 56 channels of RF to keep a handle on! When I sub there, I run either of the 2 backstage tracks and depending on whether the absent person is a FOH person or a backstage person, the other regular crew people shift around to the other positions to cover the absence.

The biggest thing I have learned/had reinforced for me the most over my year-plus at the Lyric has been that having a good attitude counts first, and then you do good work to back it up. As I mentioned, it has been ages since I had run a backstage track, but I was ready to listen hard, keep my head down, follow instructions, stay in my lane, and not make a fuss. And that almost counted more than if I’d already been great at any of the arts and crafts that go into building our mic rigs. The ability to stay calm and adapt when something goes amiss is truly the most important quality a good stagehand needs, and cultivating mine has served me well every time I am there.

Looking Ahead

All told, booking HP felt like a big culmination of my preparation and work finally paying off. I’m still chasing many dreams, but it felt perfect to have a few big doors open for me. I have gotten to work on a lot more Broadway shows as part of the shop, load-in, and load-out crews. This allowed me to network with even more people in the “big leagues,” and move into a much higher-paying tier of work at venues like Lincoln Center and The Shed. Thanks to these gigs and HP, I was even able to make my first year of Local One money. I’ll explain that in more detail in my upcoming blog series, “IATSE 101,” but basically it means I am now 1/3 of the way through the 3-year process of joining the New York City chapter of the Stagehands union, which will be a huge deal for my career when I finish. All in all, it feels really good to know I’m on the right track.

The interior of the Lyric Theatre on Broadway

So Happy New Year SoundGirls, and best wishes to you all for career and personal success in 2024! I’ll be back with the first installment of “IATSE 101” in the Spring. Until then, I’ll be in the dungeons of Hogwarts, pinching myself ☺

Yi Hsuan Lee – Independent Live Sound Tech

Yi Hsuan Lee aka Kate Lee has been working in audio for the last 12 years, getting her start in 2012. Kate growing up was a music fan, saving her money to see as many concerts and festivals as possible. Kate was also a drummer and discovered early on, she did not like being onstage. Then she met the singer from her drum teacher’s band who was a production manager for a local venue. This is when Kate discovered a behind-the-scenes career path. She interned at the venue working in both lighting and audio, and fell in love. Eight months later Kate would take the plunge, moving to Los Angeles to attend the Musician’s Institute for Audio Engineering. Kate has recently toured with LCD Soundsystem and Pearl Jam as part of the monitor team.

Career Start

How did you get your start?

Right before I graduated from MI, my instructor invited us to shadow him when he did gigs at night or on the weekend.  I tried to go to every gig to help out, ask questions, and maybe get to mix a couple of songs. Eventually, he started to pass me some small gigs, and, then after six months, he asked if I was interested in a part-time job at MI as a production team member which was sound, lights, and camera for classes, concerts, and workshops. Eventually, it turned into a full-time job shortly after that.

How did your early internships or jobs help build a foundation for where you are now?

There is meaning for every gig, job, and opportunity. When I worked at MI, I got to experience many different sounds, different vocals,  guitars, and tones every day.  I was able to play with and try different equipment and FX, just to see how it sounded and learn from it. You don’t need fancy gear to learn, use what you have and be creative. Because it’s a school, I was able to sit in some classes and clinics that I was interested in. I would stay late at work just to get some studio time or get my hands on a console. I was really lucky to start in MI where mistakes are ok and there were plenty of resources for me to continue to learn and grow.

What did you learn interning or on your early gigs?

I learned to listen more and speak less. Especially when you are just starting out. Absorb everything, good or bad. Be teachable, be humble.

Did you have a mentor or someone that helped you?

Joe Fiorillo who was the instructor that took me under his wing when I first started. He took a chance on me. He loves to teach, share knowledge, and of course great stories. More importantly, he is always willing to help students and the next generation to succeed. He passed many gigs and opportunities to many of us. He helps me build my confidence and lets me grow in a safe place. I can say that without him I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Another person will be Ivan Ortis from Rat Sound System. After working at MI for six years, I was desperately looking for change. I knew a bigger world existed for me to learn and explore. Then Ivan hired me at Rat Shop. I was able to learn in a big production setting and develop all my stage tech skills while working in the shop.


Career Now

What is a typical day like?

As a stage tech/monitor tech, before unloading the truck, I’ll meet with the house stage manager, if I’m going in with the band, I’ll check with house audio people as well. I‘ll ask several questions, where is my monitor world going to be? How much space do I need and what I can have? Where can I store my dead case? Where to tie in my power? How many stagehands do I have? What’s the path for my snake? I prefer to have a big picture of how I want things to lay out before I start pushing cases so I’m not doing things twice. After talking to the stage manager and house audio, I should have a pretty good idea of how my stuff is going to lay out. I’ll direct stagehands to unload the truck, help the monitor engineer, then tie in the power, run the snake, and start the patch stage. Once the stage is patched, we will do a line check, fix any issues, and get ready for soundcheck and show.

How do you stay organized and focused?

As a tech, staying organized is everything. Keep documenting everything. The way I stay focused is I’m always thinking about what I can do better. What can we do differently to make our life easier? When I work I always think ahead and adjust my workflow accordingly.

What do you enjoy the most about your job?

When the show starts, the audience is having a good time. I enjoyed every show I worked on, no matter how exhausted I am. It is always touching to see the show come together and knowing that I’m a little part of it, we are creating memorable experiences for people.

What do you like least?

Long hours and pulling feeder.

If you tour, what do you like best?

Travel between different cities, trying good restaurants and local coffee shops.

What do you like least?

Sleeping on a tour bus. jet lag, canceled flights, and missing bags.

What is your favorite day off activity? 

Catch up with friends and family. Relaxing. Have a walk in nature.

What are your long-term goals?

Keep doing what I love and keep learning new things.

What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?

The language barrier and being a 5-foot-tall Asian woman in this male-dominated field.

How have you dealt with them?

I’m just focusing on my job and making sure I do a good job on every gig. I believe people recognize good work. I’ll let my work speak for me. A lot of time I’ll be in charge of leading stagehands and I need to give them clear instructions and direction. I’ve learned to be confident with what I do and own it.

Advice you have for other women and young women who wish to enter the field?

You have to love what you do because this job is not easy.  If you want it, you have to work hard and ignore any negative comments. It’s never too late to start.

Must have skills?

Signal flow and troubleshooting.

Finding Your First Post-Grad Job in Audio

Landing your first post-grad job in the audio industry can feel overwhelming. Despite the plethora of advice from seasoned professionals, recruiters, and company websites, the nuances of the audio industry remain somewhat elusive. This landscape is evolving, shaped by the enduring effects of a global pandemic, the integration of AI into creative domains, and most recently, the impact of the Hollywood strikes. Whether you’re an Audio Engineering graduate, a freelance enthusiast, or just starting your audio journey and feeling daunted, I’ve decided to use my first blog here with SoundGirls to offer advice from my own experiences to help you step confidently into the professional audio world.

Before we get started, allow me to introduce myself: I’m Grace Usleman, a recent graduate of Belmont University with a degree in Audio Engineering as well as double minors in Voice Performance and Music Business. My passion lies in Foley Art, ADR, and all facets of post-production sound. The following advice stems from my personal journey as a young woman navigating the professional audio-sphere. While my immediate goal is securing a full-time post-production position, I trust these insights can assist you in your journey as an audio professional no matter where you’re starting from.

In the realm of professional audio, the job search doesn’t always fit the conventional mold. You won’t often find quick movie gigs or live tour positions listed on platforms like LinkedIn. Yet, exceptions exist—my most recent internship at a post-production studio was found through Handshake. While browsing these sites is beneficial, relying solely on them for your dream job might fall short. Therefore, my first piece of advice: Networking is key. Craft a portfolio website showcasing your work and consider carrying business cards for chance encounters with individuals who might align with your aspirations—be it running live sound for a local venue or working as an ADR recordist, you never know who is just around the corner!

Networking might seem daunting, but when done well, it’s about building meaningful connections, learning from mentors, and refining your professional skills. Personally, networking has placed me in rooms with intelligent, empathetic individuals eager to share their experiences while simultaneously valuing mine.

Effective networking hinges on etiquette. Respect others’ time and effort, whether at a job fair or over a coffee meeting. Likewise, acknowledge your own commitment and enthusiasm, too. Gratitude goes a long way—express your thanks promptly and graciously. And don’t hesitate to follow up! A polite message reaffirms your interest and often reignites connections that might have been overlooked or, frankly, forgotten.

Avoid the temptation to apply to every available job. I fell into this trap immediately post-graduation, tirelessly crafting custom cover letters for positions I wasn’t truly passionate about. It drained my energy and didn’t yield any productive outcomes. Instead, I recommend writing personalized messages to professionals in your field of interest, which can be far more rewarding both practically and emotionally.

Tailor your resume for each application. Take time to understand the company, its projects, and its employees. Who knows, maybe you share a  mutual connection that you might use to launch an introduction! Your diverse experiences—school projects, personal work, summer jobs—contribute to a skill set desired in the audio industry, and can be tailored to each new set of job qualifications and requirements. When I first started applying to internships and short-term positions in college, I was nervous that my lack of experience would be seen as undesirable. However, being fresh and ready to learn made me a sponge for knowledge, and gave you the opportunity to express open-mindedness and interest in exploring many facets of a position, company, studio, etc: flexibility is a needed asset, especially in professional audio. Chances are, you probably have more experience than you think.

These pointers are intended to ease any worries as you embark on your professional journey in the audiosphere—whether a recent graduate, transitioning from another industry, or carving your path as a freelancer. It’s easy to lose sight of your worth and feel discouraged, but your skills are invaluable in this industry, and your efforts won’t go unnoticed.

Thank you for reading. You can find more insights on audio to come on my blog here at SoungGirls.org. Wishing you the best in networking, building your portfolio, and pursuing your dreams in audio!

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