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IEM Maintenance & Troubleshooting

The Glamour Starts Here

Special thanks to Josh Thomas for all his help with writing this article.

 

A few years ago, I went to a talk about mixing for in-ear monitors (IEMs), given by one of the top monitor engineers in the UK, Mr. Justin Grealy. As someone who mainly worked in-house, but had to accommodate more and more acts turning up with their own IEM systems, I was intrigued to learn as many tips and tricks as possible to give artists great mixes. I was not expecting most of the hour to be taken up with all the different ways to get earwax out of an IEM. Some were admittedly genius – hairdryers were mentioned at one point – but I didn’t understand at the time just how important good IEM hygiene and maintenance is for a successful mix. No amount of volume, pretty effects or space-creating trickery will make up for the sound being muffled by a wall of wax, or cutting out because of dirty connections.

IEMs can be the biggest purchase you make in your early career, so it’s worth taking the time to find the right ones for you. If you need them to work with the same act regularly, try to get the same make and model as they use (or the main person uses if they all have different ones). The goal is to get as close as possible to what they hear. Discuss with management whether their budget will cover part or all of the cost.

If you need them for one-offs or working in-house, get the best quality that you can afford. It can make a massive difference to what you hear, and so how well you can react and make subtle adjustments in a mix. Generic IEMs are cheaper and quicker to buy than a custom moulded pair, but getting a custom fit will properly seal the IEMs against the ear canal, which helps with isolation from external noise and provides a better bass response. If possible, go to a local IEM dealer and demo a few different ones before you decide. Remember, you want the ones that will reproduce the signal most accurately, not the ones that sound nicest (e.g., if the pair you have are rounded off in the higher frequencies, your mixing could sound too harsh to people who have IEMs with a flatter frequency response).

Regular cleaning of your and your clients’ IEMs is essential. Small grains of dirt on an IEM can make their way into your ear, scratch the delicate skin in the canal and lead to infection and swelling. Dirt, sweat, and wax can block the drivers’ tubes, corrode the connections and even end up in the tiny and sensitive electronics, causing damage. I would like to say if you take good enough care of them, they can last you a lifetime, but custom moulded IEMs should be replaced about every four years. The shape of your ear canal changes subtly throughout your life, so after a few years, the fit won’t be as exact and will stop forming a seal. Specialist gels like Auragel or foam wraps like Comply can help to form the seal again, but they are only a stopgap solution. Once you notice your IEMs loosening it’s time to get a new pair, from a new fitting, not the measurements the IEM company may have kept on file (these are for replacing lost or damaged IEMs).

The central part of cleaning IEMs is removing wax from the tubes that lead from the drivers to your ears. Your IEMs should come with a loop of wire with a plastic handle for this, but if they didn’t, or you lost it, or the wax is further down the tube than it can reach, there are a few do’s and don’ts you should bear in mind.

First, be gentle. Keep a close eye on what you’re doing and be careful not to damage any filters or circuitry inside the IEM. Don’t use anything that might break off and get stuck in the tube! Mechanical pencils look kind of perfect for this task, but they are a terrible idea. Also, avoid using anything pointed or sharp, like a needle. You could scratch the moulding, making tiny grooves where more wax and dirt can build up, and potentially where bacteria can fester. Using a loop, optionally followed by a specialist earwax vacuum, is the way to go. I try as much as possible to hold the IEM upside down, so any wax that gets dislodged falls out instead of further into the tube, and I use a gentle scooping motion, at an angle, to get behind the wax and bring it back out instead of risking pushing it further in. Compacted wax blocking a driver can render an IEM useless, and it can be costly and time-consuming to send back to the manufacturer to fix. I then clean the outside of the moulds with alcohol swabs.

 

Cleaning an IEM with an earwax vacuum, nozzle inserted at an angle

 

If one ear keeps cutting out, look at the connections between the cable and the IEM. It might merely be loose, but check that there isn’t any green or black stuff at the pins or in the socket. Black is most likely dirt, but green is corroding copper, usually caused by sweat. Cleaning this off with a cotton bud (Q tip) dipped in alcohol or contact cleaner (being careful not to let any liquid get into the body of the IEM) can fix this, but you need to prevent it happening again. Leaving the IEMs to air out after use, keeping a small sachet of silica gel in the case, and checking them regularly can help. If the owner likes to wear their IEMs in the gym, tell them, it’s time to invest in standard earbuds, or it will become a costly habit!

Two different brands of IEM with their respective cables. On the left, the socket is recessed into the casing where two dots can be seen, on the right, it is the area in black. There is no evidence of dirt or corrosion.

 

If the ear connections are fine, the minijack connector or belt pack socket might be dirty or corroded and can be treated in the same way. The minijack has to be fully seated for both ears to work. If the right side is intermittent, but the left is fine, the jack might be pulling out of the socket slightly, so the right side’s ring no longer makes a connection. Leaving more slack on the cable or taping it in place should help. If it isn’t the jack, gently wiggle the cable as you’re sending signal, to see if there’s a weak spot. IEM cables can get abused, being yanked and pulled during costume changes, snagged on door handles, crushed in their cases. It is wise to carry spare cables for each type of IEM you have so you can swap them out straight away if there’s a problem. Don’t wait until you need one, because it can take weeks to get them, especially at busy times of the year.

If the above steps don’t fix your problem, it might be an issue with the pack or radio frequencies, which is outside the scope of this post. If one ear has lost a big chunk of its frequency spectrum, or it sounds like it’s distorting at low levels, one of the drivers might have blown and will need to be sent for repair. Another reason to keep an eye on your bandmember’s pack volume levels and to mix responsibly!

There are all types of little gadgets and supplies you can keep with you to help with IEM maintenance and troubleshooting. IEMs and hearing aids have a lot in common, and it’s worth checking out audiologist suppliers as well as IEM specialists for things like cleaning loops, ear wax softener and earmould stetoclips (like a stethoscope for hearing aids). Always have plenty of alcohol/anti-bacterial wipes to hand, and thoroughly clean each piece of equipment between IEMs with a new swab to reduce the potential for cross-contamination and general grossness.

Whether the thought of dealing with other people’s earwax turns your stomach, or like me, you find cleaning IEMs strangely satisfying; it does more than keep your equipment at its best. It’s always good to get a reputation for being helpful and useful, and you can spot potential problems before they develop. It’s much easier and safer to deal with issues in your downtime than halfway through a show. It can also be an excellent opportunity to start the conversation with clients about anything they’ve noticed about their IEMs but hadn’t thought to mention, or how they’re dealing with volume levels and looking after their hearing in the long term. For example, increased earwax production can be the body’s defense against sustained, overly loud listening volumes. Showing that you’re interested in their hearing health now and in the future, and willing to go the extra mile, can cement your relationship and improve trust and communication, which will do more for your mixing than any effects unit ever could.

Missed this Week’s Top Stories? Read Our Quick Round-up!

It’s easy to miss the SoundGirls news and blogs, so we have put together a round-up of the blogs, articles, and news from the past week. You can keep up to date and read more at SoundGirls.org

August Feature Profile

https://soundgirls.org/rising-producer-engineer-lauren-deakin-davies/

Transitioning in the Music Industry

The Blogs

How Do You Go About Setting Up Your Console Workflow?

Production Communication

Community

Internet Round-Up

At home with Sheryl Crow, a widely beloved, and wildly underappreciated, rock star

Sheryl Crow ultimately self-produced the album at a time, she said, “when nobody would let a woman produce their own record, when it would be [viewed as] crazy to waste money on that.”Trina Shoemake won a GRAMMY for engineering the album.

 

Musiq Scene: Jess Fenton: Jess Fenton, Producer/Engineer/Mixer at Fenton Music Productions.

 

SoundGirls Events

 

An Evening with Lenise Bent

Bay Area Chapter Monthly Meetings

Ableton Live for Anybody – 4 Session Online Course

SoundGirls Opportunities

SoundGirls and SoundGym

Sound Particles Licenses Available

Meyer Sound Supports SoundGirls

SoundGirls Resources

Spotify and SoundGirls Team Up – EQL Directory

SoundGirls – Gaston-Bird Travel Fund

Letter for Trades and Manufacturers

Women-Owned Businesses

A More Inclusive Industry

Events

Sexual Harassment

https://soundgirls.org/about-us/soundgirls-chapters/

Jobs and Internships

Women in the Professional Audio

Member Benefits

Production Communication

Comms, a necessary evil

Comms are, without a doubt, integral to a production’s success. Whether it’s over a radio or full-duplex communications, comms are a necessary beast. As a sound engineer, A1, A2, production manager, producer, etc. I have worked extensively with various versions of communications technology. I will focus on tech that is not brand new, mostly because that is far more common than shiny new systems. New comms systems are as rare and magical as unicorns.

Comms systems allow a production crew to speak to each other instantly. Many of my students question, especially after seeing how the equipment LOOKS, why don’t we just use phones and text? Aside from service issues inside buildings, battery life, distractions of other apps while working, etc., the main reason for me is that using a mobile just isn’t practical or professional. How many times have you had issues with a text going through? Depending on your network, this can be a frequent and annoying issue. Portable communication systems allow me to set up a reliable network of people within minutes. Hard lines ensure fewer problems than wireless (although I’ve had my fair share of bad cables and mini fires). TEST EVERY COMPONENT before the show. Seriously. Do it. These devices are MADE to take a beating, but they are not immune to damage. They are hardy little boxes, especially compared to my glass-covered iPhone.

 

Handbook of Intercom Systems Engineering

This PDF guide, The Handbook of Intercom Systems Engineering, first edition, Copyright© 2007 by Telex Communications, Inc is your magic textbook to all things comms. I frequently refer this to my students as a resource, and although it was published some time ago, I still find it to be completely relevant in the scope of existing installations. This document is my BEST advice to learning comms, troubleshooting, and designing systems based on your needs. Clear-Com and RTS have been around since the 1970s, and I believe some of that original equipment is probably still in circulation. While petitioning for new comms systems, most of the responses I have personally received involve “if it ain’t broke why fix it?” or some variation of that phrase. Most times, I am cobbling together a system from half-functioning components, which is frustrating and not the most helpful for such an important system. Comms aren’t sexy though, so many people aren’t eager to replace them.

Party Lines

Party lines sound way more fun than they actually are in real life. A party-line system is probably what most of you have encountered already. This system allows a group of people to communicate and have conversations. There is no limit to who is allowed to talk at a specific time, aside from etiquette, and there is generally no privacy.  A typical setup will include a power supply, XLR cables, belt pack user station, and a headset. RTS comms are a two-wire system, meaning that you can have the same path for talk and listen, and two separate party lines. These are more commonly found in TV production and sporting events. Most user stations will be connected in parallel, although having a splitter can help when you need to go separate ways.

Equipment

There are so many options for comms equipment, and this will vary based on the manufacturer and your production needs.

A Power Supply is necessary for most comms equipment unless it comes with its own PS. For RTS, the PS20 is a standard power option.

Belt Pack User Stations are individual, portable comms stations. These require power from a power supply.

A Main Station is rack-mounted user station, which will also require power from a PS.

Master stations are rack-mounted stations, combined with a power supply.

A Biscuit Box is a portable speaker station, which will require power from a PS.

Headset types: Single Muff, Double Muff, Phone Handset, Biscuit box.

 

Source Assignment Panel (SAP) is integral for larger productions. This allows up to 6 sources (Party Lines) and 12 selectable outputs (to people). Each user station can have two PLs. An SAP will give your production more selective communications so that each department isn’t talking over each other. If you have a video team, they need their own PL for the Director, Producers, TD, Cameras, Floor Manager, etc. They don’t need to hear about any issues from monitor land.

Who needs to be on a headset?

Paperwork and organization is a big part of the job of an A2. Anyone who needs to execute a cue at a specific moment needs to be on a headset. Who needs which type of equipment? Where are they located? Who do they need to speak with while on a headset? TV Broadcast gigs will have a lot more people on a headset than a concert or theatre event. For larger portable events, I will employ additional equipment, including a Source Assignment Panel. An input list for comms will help keep track of everyone. I will label the BP for each person; keeping organized is key! Using their names/titles for labeling is a good practice. If you don’t know, you can ask them. Communication is key. (Obviously.)

 

 

 

Community

Community is the environment that is around us, and as individuals, we play a big part in the community we create and live in. Community is the places you live, work, the social media you produce and follow, the people around us, and the individual we are towards others. Community is our surroundings and attitude. It can be supportive, oppressive, creative, boring, ever-changing, or stagnant. Community is built by individuals but felt by the whole.

What community do you create?  Do you create a community of support and open communication or miss direction and negativity?  I’ve been a part of many communities, and I’ve found that positive communities with people learning, changing, and growing are the best to thrive in.  Communities allow us to question our ideas, gain different perspectives, socialize, find support, and allow us to vent frustrations without judgment. Communities allow us to be ourselves and challenge us in new ways.

Why are communities important? Communities are important because life would be lonely if they lived completely alone. Communities provide support and strength to people facing all sorts of challenges across the globe. Other communities like your town, provide support in your backyard. Communities allow useless barriers to be broken, needed walls to be built, doorways to be created for growth and change.

SoundGirls is a wonderful example of community. Sharing thoughts and ideas openly without threat of abusive responses or rejection is what many people need. People living the way we do, women experiencing what other women are experiencing, and our partners supporting us. We break down barriers that should no longer exist. Support each other and open doors for everyone’s future and share stories of success and failure along the way so we can learn from them too.  We are engaged and growing; we share our experiences, participate in discussions, and learn from each other. We encourage as well as challenge each other to build an active and broader community every day. How have you been engaged in SoundGirls?

What other communities do you surround yourself with?  How are you involved and living in these communities?

How Do You Go About Setting Up Your Console Workflow?

Once you start mixing more than a few shows, you’ll start to find that you have some preferences in how your console is laid out.

Everyone has a particular way of doing things, and it’s all a matter of what works for you. For instance: How you do your input patch will determine where things show up on the surface.  It doesn’t have to be 1 to 1 with the snake patch; you can patch inputs to come up in whatever channels you like.

If you are mixing on a digital console with a limited number of faders available on the surface, you’ll have to think about how you want your inputs to populate them.  If you have 42 inputs and only 16 input faders/layer, how do you want to build your layers?

It’s a good idea to have all of your drums on the same layer or page so you can easily make adjustments to the overall drum mix. Likewise, if you have numerous inputs for keyboards and tracks, keeping them on the same layer or page makes for easier control.

Something I like to do is keep my most important inputs on the channels closest to the master section. For most of what I mix, this is the lead vocal or vocals. I rely heavily on VCAs/DCAs and do most of my mixing from the master section where they are found so having my most important inputs right next to the VCAs; they are always where I need them.

When I was mixing the bands Styx and Mr. Big, the music was heavy with 4 part vocal harmonies.  I would always lay out my console to make sure that the four vocal channels were right next to the master section and able to be pulled to the surface in an instant. It wasn’t a set it and forget kind of mix; there was constant massaging and blending of the vocals.

Keeping important inputs near the master section stems from the days of large frame analog consoles where inputs could be spread out over quite a distance.  But I find it still works well with digital boards and tends to keep things that need lots of attention close to that area of the console.

Other things to think about are your effects returns. You might want your effects returned in channels rather than the FX returns.  Using open channels instead of dedicated FX returns for your Effects will generally give you more flexibility in routing and better EQ options.

All of these things will be determined by your input patch, so give it some thought ahead of time.

Next, consider how you will designate your VCAs/DCAs and/or Groups. Think about how you can group things to make it easier to mix.  It’s much easier to mix from the 8 or so VCA faders than all of your individual channels, especially on smaller consoles that only give you eight input faders on the surface.

If you’ve got 42 inputs, you don’t want to have everything just assigned to L and R and be mixing on 42 faders jumping through layers or pages all night.

Things can be double assigned.  What I like to do is have one VCA,  that I label BAND for all of my instruments. I tend to set up my VCAs along these lines:

Every input goes to its intended VCA- drums to drums, bass to bass, etc., but is also assigned to the band VCA, except for the vocal channels.  This way, I have control of the overall level of the band with one fader, which is incredibly useful if I am having trouble getting the lead vocal above the music.  I can just grab the band fader and bring everything but the vocal back a bit.

Now if you have a four-piece band with 16 inputs total, this isn’t such a big issue.  But still, it’s much easier to mix on 4 VCAs than 16 channels. The more involved your show gets the more thought you’ll need to put into it.

Think about what your needs are?  What will help you be as efficient as possible, and what will give you the control you need?

Groups are great for processing multiple inputs at once.  Smaller analog consoles may only have Sub Groups available and no VCAs.  You can assign all of your drum inputs to a stereo group and insert a couple of compressors across your drum mix for a little added punch to your drum mix.  You can send multiple background vocals to a group and compress them so sit together nicely.

You’ll also want to consider AUX buses.  If you are doing monitors from FOH you’ll want the aux buses to be Pre Fader and depending on the console; you may only have the option of certain aux buses being Pre Fader.

Which Auxes will be for monitor sends and which will be for effects?  How many effects do you need? If there are enough available, it’s a good idea to have separate effects for different inputs.  For example, have one for drums, a different one for vocals and yet another for instruments like keys and guitars if needed. This gives you more control and allows for more clarity in the mix.

These are just a couple of things to think about when you are setting up your workflow on the console.  For me, I build my workflow around control and efficiency, but you may have other ideas, and I’m curious to hear what works for you.

For more from Michelle, check out Mixing Music Live

Missed this Week’s Top Stories? Read Our Quick Round-up!

It’s easy to miss the SoundGirls news and blogs, so we have put together a round-up of the blogs, articles, and news from the past week. You can keep up to date and read more at SoundGirls.org

August Feature Profile

https://soundgirls.org/rising-producer-engineer-lauren-deakin-davies/

Transitioning in the Music Industry

The Blogs

Audio Tips For The Top High School Musicals Of 2019

https://soundgirls.org/welcome-to-the-machine-the-story-of-pink-floyds-live-sound/

Getting Back in the Game

Especial Slang | Igualdad y representación

Slang Special | Equality and Representation

Internet Round-Up

Mackenzie Spear – Live Sound & Mix Engineer

 

https://youtu.be/UmSfDx7vJZg

So You Want To Kiss Her During a Songwriting or Recording Session

 

 

SoundGirls Events

Ableton Live for Anybody – 4 Session Online Course

An Evening with Lenise Bent

Bay Area Chapter Monthly Meetings

SoundGirls Opportunities

SoundGirls and SoundGym

Sound Particles Licenses Available

Meyer Sound Supports SoundGirls

SoundGirls Resources

Spotify and SoundGirls Team Up – EQL Directory

SoundGirls – Gaston-Bird Travel Fund

Letter for Trades and Manufacturers

Women-Owned Businesses

A More Inclusive Industry

Events

Sexual Harassment

https://soundgirls.org/about-us/soundgirls-chapters/

Jobs and Internships

Women in the Professional Audio

Member Benefits

Audio Tips For The Top High School Musicals Of 2019

NPR Ed has just published a database of the most popular high school plays and musicals in the U.S. for 2019.  Upon reading this list, I realized that I have designed all but two of these musicals, so I thought I’d share a few experiences I encountered with each.  I’m only touching on the musicals, but here’s the link to the original article if you’d like to follow along at home, and also read about the most popular high school plays in 2019.

Alright, here we go!  (I feel like David Letterman…digital high-five if you get the reference.

#10 Shrek, The Musical & The Wizard of Oz

No, this is not a weird mashup (but that would be hilarious, someone write this right now).  These two musicals have tied for 10th place. I’ll start with Shrek.  

I loved this musical, it was so much fun, and it’s a great option for high school casts.  The biggest hurdle I faced with this show was makeup. As you probably know, Shrek is green, Fiona turns green, and donkey is grey.  There’s also a giant dragon puppet. Shrek almost never leaves the stage. He also has a pretty complicated costume and heavy face makeup, so my first piece of advice is to double-mic Shrek.

Our Shrek wore a little beanie that was never removed, so I integrated microphone elements into that beanie. I asked the costumes department to sew a few small, elastic loops into the inside of the beanie, and threaded two microphone elements (which were Hellermaned together) through the inside of the beanie that popped out the front, landing in a nice little forehead position.  Shrek’s makeup was airbrushed on him each day, and our costume department was nice enough to give me a little bit of that green so that I could paint the elements in the same color.

This paint job had to be touched up about 2 times a week. Also, if your Shrek is wearing a fat suit, I recommend placing his transmitter on the outside of that rig. Depending on the transmitter and the fabric of the suit, they can have some difficulty cutting through all of those layers.  Fiona is a little easier, but has one very important scene to consider—her transformation scene. The transformation, including green makeup and prosthetics, needs to happen super quickly.

Since I could foresee green makeup flying all over that microphone element, I made the decision to have a second element prepped and ready for this quick change. This element was also painted in the Shrek green makeup. Human Fiona wore her element in a forehead position that ran under her wig (but not under the wig cap, which I would normally do), and during the quick change, the Human Fiona wig and element would come off, disconnect from the transmitter, her face was quickly painted green, and then the green element would replace the previous one and run under Ogre Fiona’s wig.  My A2 would handle all of the element work, including holding the capsule in place while the wig was being attached, and dressers took care of the rest of the change around the A2.

Our Donkey wore a head-to-toe bodysuit, so running his element under the hood of the bodysuit to the top of the forehead was my preferred method. Finally, the dragon. The dragon is a puppet that is manipulated by several operators. We had a separate actor voicing the dragon for her very fabulous song, Forever. Our vocalist was visible onstage, so I decided to match her R&B goodness with a gold-grilled handheld wireless mic.

#9 Into The Woods

I have never designed this show, but I really want to, so if you’re reading this blog and you are a producer, call me.

# 8 Seussical 

I designed this show over a decade ago, and it was for a high school company.  In fact, I’m willing to bet that 85% of the companies producing this show nowadays are middle and high school companies.  My biggest challenges on this show were the gear and personnel.

There are 12 principals, and an endless possibility for the ensemble.  I think my total cast size was between 50-60, plus we had an 18 piece orchestra. The school chose to provide their own gear as opposed to renting from my theater, so I had to work with what they had.

For the orchestra, I was given 5 pencil condenser microphones, 1 SM57, 1 SM58, and a handful of DI boxes. Luckily, I had enough DI boxes for guitars, keyboards, and bass. I ended up mic’ing sections instead of individual instruments, as would normally be my choice.  So, I put a condenser microphone on the reed section, brass section, string section, percussion section, and used one as overhead for the drumset. I used the 57 on the snare and the 58 on the kick. Some careful EQ really helped with this skimpy choice of mics.

For actor mics, I was given 12 wireless transmitters, 9 lavs, and 3 choir mics.  Yep, you read that right. Remember, this is a cast of about 55. I put all 12 transmitters on the principals, and 7 lavs permanently on those principals that had the most stage time. Now, I really, REALLY hate microphone swapping and avoid it whenever possible, but for this show, it just had to be done. Luckily we were only swapping 2 lavs between actors.  I put together a mic swap sheet and walked my high school student A2 through the process step by step.

Since I had 12 transmitters, the packs could all stay on their dedicated actor, and the A2 would just have to attach the lav as needed. For the ensemble, I had to bargain with the director a bit. The ensemble blocking was all over the place, and the director was hoping I would just hang those 3 choir mics evenly distributed over the stage, and they would produce the same sound as the principals in lavs.  I told her that one choice mic hanging 6 ft over the head of one tiny 13 year old was not going to give her the sound she was looking for, but 3 choir mics positioned in one area over a group of 40 13 years olds would get her closer. She was not willing to forfeit all of her blocking and make the ensemble completely stationary, so we chose 3 locations where large groups of the ensemble would land for musical numbers, and I hung a choir mic over each location. On the rare occasion that an ensemble member had a pop-out solo, we made sure they were standing next to a principal so that we could get a little more gain from that open mic.

I also had a high school student mixing at front of house, so I preprogrammed the show for him, made it as user-friendly as possible, and walked him through the scenes one by one. Designing this show was the first time that I realized student production does not necessarily equal easy. Given all of the constraints and restrictions, I’m happy with the way the show turned out, and I DEFINITELY learned a lot from that production.

#7 Little Shop of Horrors

Again, I have never designed this show, but it’s one of my FAVES, so if you need a sound designer for this, you know who to call!

#6 Newsies

I did this show a few years ago, and I absolutely loved it.  The cast was phenomenal, the music was great, my biggest and only enemy during this production was sweat.  If you don’t know the show, it basically features a group of stupidly talented dancing newsboys. If the show is done right, and I’d like to think ours was, they are dancing their little hearts out for the majority of the show.  That means lots and lots of sweat.

My regular transmitter protection protocol is to put the transmitter in a non-lubricated condom rolled all the way up with a cotton ball sitting between the connector and antenna. Most of the transmitters were in a neoprene mic belt, which is super protective against a sweaty body.  Because only a few of our mic belts had flaps on them for extra transmitter security, the excessive amount of dancing would sometimes cause my cotton balls to jump out of the mic belt, and onto the ground. I decided to add a rubber band around the length of the transmitter to hold the cotton ball in. In a few cases, I found that transmitters were still getting sweated out, despite the neoprene mic belt and latex protection.  For these few microphones, I added a layer of glad wrap around the transmitter. The sticky seal on this wrap really helps to keep the transmitter dry and happy. Remember to let the seal extend above the microphone connector and antenna. I then put the glad-wrapped transmitter in the un-lubricated condom and added the cotton ball.

I also had a few situations in which the microphone element that was rigged over the ear of the actors picked up an extreme amount of sweat regularly.  One of my favorite solutions for this issue is to add a tiny, rubber washer to the element that sits just above the capsule. The idea is that the washer will help distribute accumulated sweat out instead of down into the capsule. I got mine in a pack of 100 for less than $10 from McMaster-Carr.

#5 Mary Poppins

The most important thing to remember for this show is that Mary Poppins=FLYING!  This is important to remember because

#1:  In addition to her heavy costume, corset, and mic belt, Mary Poppins also wears a flying harness.

#2: Depending on where her take-off and landing zones are, you may not have as much off-stage access to Mary as you might like.

This becomes problematic when microphone troubleshooting becomes necessary. There are also very few moments that Mary Poppins is off stage, so I decided to double mic her.  I originally had her two transmitters on her mic belt under her corset, but I found that their antennas were having a difficult time cutting through all of the layers of heavy fabrics.  It was also quite uncomfortable for our Mary Poppins, given the extra belt of the fly harness.

I ended up moving one transmitter to inside her wig, and the other clipped to the front, outside of her corset.  The wigged transmitter was a Shure UR1M. I think this position would have been too uncomfortable with anything other than a micro-transmitter. The costume department helped by making a wig cap sandwich to help keep the transmitter secure, yet still accessible.  The actor playing Mary Poppins would pin curl her hair and wear a wig cap

#1 over the curls. On top of this wig cap was an added pocket for the transmitter. She then added a wig cap

#2, which was held on with 2 hairpins. The wig was then applied. There were many times throughout this run when we had to switch to the backup mic mid-show, so I’m glad we made the choice to double mic.

#4 Beauty and the Beast   

This is a BEAST of a show!  As we all know, there are many enchanted objects that live in the beasts castle.  If the mouth and/or majority of the face are obstructed by costumes, my advice is to build the microphone into the costume in such a way that it has better access to the mouth.

I chose a forehead microphone placement for our beast, but his hair/mane was worn so low on his forehead that it became necessary to place the capsule of his mic just above his brow line, which was fine, just required a bit of a different EQ.  Most productions, including ours, feature a Beast double for the final battle between Beast and Gaston. This is to facilitate the transformation of Beast to Prince.

There are several Beast lines that occur while the double is on stage, so as not to let on about our theatre magic, I chose to record those lines and have them played back.  There is a lot happening in this scene, and it should be pretty dark and scary, so there’s no need to worry about lip sync lining up. We had a second microphone element mounted on an ear rig for Beast’s transformation to the Prince, so during that costume change, we switched to the second element.

#3 The Little Mermaid

I am currently contracted to design this show, but will not begin the process for another few months.  So far, my biggest concern is, again, flying. While our production does not feature true flying, we will be using a few silks and ropes that actors will climb and swing on.  They will be harnessed, so I will be thinking of careful transmitter placement to guard against the actor or the equipment getting damaged.

# 2 Mamma Mia! 

Mamma Mia!  seems like it would be a pretty straightforward show, and it is.  The thing that required some extra thought for me was the large number of backup vocals.  We did not use pit or offstage singers, so I chose to record our ensemble singing all of the backup vocals.  Our production also features lots of dancing, so we did record some ensemble vocal overdubs to playback and sweeten those very heavy dance moments.

The curtain call of this show features what is basically an Abba concert. For this moment, I had originally planned on our music director and his assistant to be wheeled out on stage while playing live keyboards, but because of a personnel change very close to the opening of this show, we had to scrap that idea.  I’m telling everyone this tidbit because I’m hoping someone out there is able to up the stakes of this glimmering disco concert! I also insisted that the main six use handheld wireless microphones during the concert, and we even managed to add some blingy handle covers for good measure!

 

#1 The Addams Family   

 

It seems only right that this show is in the number one slot, it is definitely in my top three favorite designs.  If I’m being perfectly honest, I didn’t encounter too many issues I needed a creative solution for on this show.  I did get to play with a few fun effects, though. I don’t know if this is the typical casting, but our Cousin It also played the monster in Pugsley’s room.

Both of these characters featured a costume that completely covered the actor’s head. The monster costume was literally built on top of a motorcycle helmet worn by the actor.  As you can imagine, these are not ideal microphone situations. I chose to cover the echo chamber that these pieces created with effects. Since both characters made only sounds and not words, I was able to be pretty heavy-handed with the effects, as I was not worried about intelligibility or tedious balance.

For both characters, I used a dual pitch. I dialed both of It’s pitches extremely high, and both of the monster’s pitches extremely low. We gave the actor some time during tech to experiment with different sounds to see what could be produced through these effects. The outcome was very exciting, and a crowd favorite!

The opening number of the show features ensemble “ah’s,” which were sung offstage for our production. To give this an “other-worldly” feel, I basically drowned them in a large chamber reverb with a shockingly long 9-second decay. The same effect was applied to the women’s ensemble final “ah’s” in The Moon and Me.

Whatever musical you may be working on, remember that you do not always have to be beholden to budget, inventory, or personnel.  Creative solutions are out there, you just have to think outside the box. Also, remember your community if you get stuck! There is nothing wrong with reaching out to your hive, analog or digital, to discover just the right trick!     

Transitioning in the Music Industry

 

Laura Nagtegaal is a transgender woman, fully transitioning in 2017.  This is her experience working in the music industry.

Backline Tech Laura Nagtegaal has been working in Live Event Production since 1995.  She started out doing merchandise and moved into working as a backline tech, stage manager and tour manager. She owns her own company surrealm.net and hails from the Netherlands. She has worked with acts such as Samael, Within Temptation, Porcupine  Tree, Amon Amarth, Carcass, Triptykon, Blind Guardian, and Ayreon.

She fell in love with production when she was on a school performance night and had volunteered to push faders. A few years later, her mentor TM/FOH at the time for The Gathering Raymond Tabak encouraged her to combine her three passions into one “taking care of, music, and technique”. She got her start by hanging out at venues or with bands, eventually helping The Gathering with their internet presence, before there was such a thing.  “We are talking Internet Stone Age here, I was setting up and maintaining their web presence in 1995, took over running the fan club at some point, and I started selling merch at their Dutch shows in 1996. That’s where it all went wrong (right) for me.”

Raymond Tabak would connect Laura with an up and coming Dutch band as their merchandiser and introduce her to a German tour manager, Jens “Bobo” Bornhöft who understood that she wanted to tour. Tabak encouraged Laura to be more assertive, but not cocky, to be confident about her skills. She took his words to heart when a few months later she heard that Samael would be touring and Bobo would be their tour manager cold calling Bobo and asked to be part of the crew. The interview was short “Can you tune guitars? Yeah, I can. I play bass. Okay, you’ve got yourself a tour.”

“I did my first tour as a guitar tech for Samael & Cathedral, and literally two weeks after that tour, I jumped on my next tour, selling merch for The Gathering, again with Bobo.
At that point, I pretty much knew, this was what I wanted to do, and didn’t look back. I have lived out of my suitcase or duffel bag since.”

Laura has had a long and exciting career following her passions, except she did all this with an identity that was not true to Laura, one that she was in deep denial about and kept closeted. While Laura knew at an early age that her gender assignment was wrong, she recalls she was between nine or eleven, she did not fully accept this until 2016.

SoundGirls sat down with Laura to discuss life on the road before and after transitioning, general advice for people in the industry and what we as a society and industry must do to move beyond gender.

What do you like best about touring?

The fact that I could be the silent force, supplying my service to the band, from an innate wish to provide my brand of “taking care of, music, and technique” sauce to their show and success, while remaining hidden, and in the background.

The camaraderie between crew members ( the Rocky theme tune starts playing in the back of my head), coming to great things because of synergy.

What do you like least?

Now that I have transitioned, I can finally pinpoint that –
The “while remaining hidden, and in the background” I just mentioned as something I cherished, don’t get me wrong though, it’s not that I want to be in the spotlight. No, it’s something deeper that that. In my being closeted, I was in deep denial about my identity, I hid, from myself, and the world. What better position to do so than in a hostile environment. It should come as no shock, that the live music industry can be a pretty harsh and sometimes straight-up “misogynist. And there I was, hiding”, like a sheep in wolves’ clothing, dressed in black, no name, no ego, no voice, no identity. Just a nameless unsung (I won’t use the word “hero” here) being doing their thing.

What is your favorite day off activity?

What I wish to have done more of, is to go and explore my surroundings with local friends. What I used to do was to basically hide in my comfort zone, whether that was my bunk, the back lounge, or my hotel room. In my denial, I didn’t really “grant myself permission to decompress”. Then I considered that to be a waste of energy, having to transition from “all work no play” to “free, myself”. Now I think I should add a deeper layer of “if I unwind too much, maybe my true self will come out, but I can’t let that happen”. For that same reason, I didn’t drink (I drink socially, about a glass a month now, because I like the taste), I didn’t do drugs, (still don’t, it just doesn’t appeal to me), and I just didn’t have fun. Remember that internet meme with grumpy cat? “I had fun once. I didn’t like it.” I devoutly lived by that. I flat-lined through my life & job.

What is your educational or training background?

I coasted through the highest level of high school (our middle school and beyond system is a tiered system based on IQ/aptitude) remarkably unchallenged and uninspired; by then, I had already started closeting myself and as a result, I went from being a very ambitious guy to a grey and uninspired mouse. I went to University and made two feeble attempts; first Computer Science, then Psychology, but did not actually study. I quit because I emigrated to Italy for love, but I think, in the end, that was just the easier way out. Now that I am fully transitioned, I regret having thrown away my opportunities there and then.

What are your long-term goals?

On a spiritual level, happiness through self-acceptance, and wisdom.

When did you first know your gender assignment was wrong?

I can’t really pinpoint it, but when I was about 9-11, I first did, and said, and dreamt things that I can now clearly define as me ‘knowing’ my gender assignment was wrong. A recurring dream/wish was waking up and finally having (or if that wasn’t in the cards, then at least for just a day) have a female body.

When did you fully accept this?

Not until the summer of  2016. I don’t remember the exact date anymore; I only know it was somewhere in the two-week period spent between Oulu (Finland), Pine Mountain, GA, home, and Tampa, FL. Tampa, FL was where we prepped for your five-week North American & Asian tour, and I kept to myself more than ever before.

On that tour, every day off was spent in solitude, trying to find second-hand stores and swapping out my duffel bag. A few days into that tour, at Cat’s Cradle (Carrboro, NC), we had Chinese food ordered in for dinner, and my fortune cookie said: “You need to live authentically, and you can’t ignore that.”  No words ever rang truer.
When I finally got back home from Taiwan, mid-October, I hugged my fiancee, and together with her, started my transition.

How long did it take for you to decide to transition?

In what way? Between “knowing” and “accepting,” or between “accepting” and “doing”?
That first period lasted about 30 years; all that time, I sort of “knew,” but repressed it, I felt guilty towards life, like I was cheating on life by wanting to be different than what I was put on this earth as. And as a result, I censored myself to the extreme; flat-lining, apathy, all work no play, isolated, lethargic, passively self-destructive – All of those applied to me.

Between “accepting” and “doing,” there were either “a few days,” if you looked at when I walked into that department store and for the first time with ‘permission’ took something off the rack in the women’s department.

I got home from the tour about six weeks after having accepted myself, and in the next four months, I had experimented with style, clothes, confidence, before the two of us  (my partner and I) went to Budapest for a weekend getaway, and me going to my first therapy session directly off the plane, on Valentine’s day. That day is officially considered the first day of my transition going full-time’, or as it’s officially called ‘real life experience’.

Was your partner supportive? Are you still together?

We are no longer together. A few weeks after Valentine’s day, she left.  I am still grateful to her for having provided the safe space for me to finally accept myself. She was very supportive in my transition. But as a couple, I saw her pull away from us, from me, hard in the remaining five months after I got home form tour.

She has many friends who don’t identify as straight and/or cisgender, and with the amount of love and respect she showed when talking about them, I finally felt safe enough to face myself in the mirror, learn to accept myself, and tell her that I too am not cisgender. If she hadn’t been my partner, I probably would have self-combusted. In between the amount of self-restriction I imposed on myself, and my actual identity clashing with that more and more, and more extremely, I doubt I would have been able to repress my true self any longer.

With the acts and crews that you have worked with in the past, how did you tell them? What was their reaction?

For bands that I had started working prior to coming out, I had prepared an email that I would send to all musicians and crew, to prepare them. I used a fair amount of humour in explaining my transition, but the message itself was dead serious. The reactions were all remarkably positive; ranging from the fairly cool and business-like “I will support you 100%” to the warmest possible support.

Having worked for so many bands, with so many crews doing the same, working at festivals would promise to be an experience worth living. Those I worked for, of course ‘knew,’ but then the other bands and crew would show a mix of OMG!, WTF!, wow I’m so happy for you! you look great!, or simply not recognising me. I remember this festival in Milano (Italy) a few months after I had come out. The billing was five bands, and I travelled with the main act, Blind Guardian, double-dipped for two more (both of which I had sent that same email), and had worked for the other two in the past. That was quite the rollercoaster ride.

For the bands, you are still working with how have they acted or treated you since your transition?

I still work for Blind Guardian, but they’re in the studio now. Before we parted ways, for the time being, Andre, the guitar player I work, for told me he didn’t care what my name was, as long as I continued being his tech. Ayreon, whilst having remained connected to the main musicians since 2006/7 when they were in other bands, only became ‘my’ band after I transitioned. I’ve received a very warm welcome as Laura.

What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced? Before you transitioned and after?

Before I transitioned? Pretty much passively self-destructing. I would just go through life as uninspired and “un” as possible; flat-lining, and when I’d get close to feeling any kind of “happy.” I would prevent myself from getting there. I wasn’t “me,” so the being I “had to pretend to be,” wasn’t allowed to be happy in my stead.

Since my transition, I have met remarkably few barriers. I think that comes from my approach to life. I always had a positive and wholesome outlook on life, the universe, and all there is; karma, synchronicity, balance, juxtaposition within whilst opposing halves complement each other (yin-yang). Once I managed to accept myself for who and how I truly am, many things in my life just fell in place. Where many transgender people face anything from ridicule to violence up to being murdered, the most negative experience as a transgender woman I’ve had was while I pushed my gear on stage during a festival’s changeover, and a VIP pass owner threw a “you’re an ugly beard lady” at me.

How have you dealt with them?

Before transitioning? I didn’t. I just pretended I wasn’t ‘home’; I was all three of those monkeys, speak not, hear not, see not.

Since transitioning? I didn’t need to, except for in sports. I’m sure you are aware of the debate about “is a transgender woman allowed to play in gender protected divisions?” In the sport I have played since 2010, disc golf, I have – whilst also being a board member for the worldwide governing body – started being an advocate for that sport (and other sports as well) to adopt a more inclusive rules sets, whilst also keeping in mind ‘fair competition’. Until better and more studies have been done, the International Olympic Committee’s standards are “the fairest” (whilst still being far from perfect).

I have since, returned from Amateur Disc Golf World Championships, where I won the Women 40+ title, and that resulted in dozens of topics and memes on social media, over 3000 posts in total is my latest guesstimate, most of which were utterly hurtful and rife with accusations, and some crossed the border of harassment. The vast of these negative messages were made by angry men who – in an attempt to ‘protect the real women from people like me – did nothing more than actually doing a major disservice to women in sports by blatantly calling them the weaker half.I am not reporting any of the harassment, I want it to remain visible to the world, to see what transgender people deal with on a daily basis, And by doing so, I am trying to raise more awareness and visibility for LGBTQ+ (transgender in particular) people in sports, and be strong for those who are not (yet/anymore) strong enough to deal with the hatred themselves.

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

Not anything that I would say only to women wishing to enter the field, I think.
Make sure you’ve got each other’s backs. Not just on stage, but off stage too. Your team is as strong as the weakest link.

Anyone wishing to enter this field should be aware of the highs and lows in this industry; it’s not all party and fun and sparkly. If you keep close to your true self, and keep in mind why you want to be in this field (“fame by association” doesn’t really apply in this field), you’ll find lots of ways and methods to look at yourself in the mirror at the end of the day and say: “You done good! I’m proud of you!”

Working in this field is an endless string of deadlines; you’ll feel and experience lots of highs as you keep meeting and beating those deadlines head-on. You’ll literally feel like you’re on top of the world. But if and when you fall off the bus, and those deadlines beat you, you could easily be spit out and left to rot by the side of the road as the bus continues. It’s a harsh reality, but it’s also a very honest one.
And those wise words that Raymond told me when I was a rookie, they’re still true today. “You need to be a bit more assertive. Not cocky, though. Be confident about your skills, but don’t make false promises.”

Especially to women, I want to say this. I am very aware of the steeper hill women need to climb in this field. Sexism in the workplace is a very ‘sad but true thing, and in the music industry, it is probably even more so. Things are changing for the better nowadays; not in the least by movements and initiatives like SoundGirls, and in Europe there are Women in Live Music. I see more artists nowadays that prefer a respectful and more diverse work environment. It’s not anywhere near the perfect situation yet, but the days where a woman on the tour bus was either “the girlfriend of” or, even more disrespectfully, “a groupie” have been left behind us.

Girl, when you’ve got the skills, flaunt them. You worked hard for your skills!

When you decided to transition, did you feel that you could successfully transition in the music industry and continue to work?

When I learnt to accept myself for who I truly am, I was actually on a crossroads of sorts; synchronicity happening all over my life. In the months leading up to that, we had gotten engaged, I knew I had an end-or-tour cycle that had lasted 1.5 years coming up mid-October, and there were talks that I would be asked to run the European office for the Professional Disc Golf Association, setting up the European “office” and putting things in motion to get the foundation arranged. If that were to happen indeed, that would either be  2016, or 2017.

These things sort of organically pointed to a “you are safe and taken care of”, both at home, as well as financially. Which set my soul free, to actually relax, and learn to look into that mirror, and have that one big important talk with myself.

That knowing I was safe allowed me to not having to desperately find tours, a thing that hadn’t been an issue with me anyway, except for those moments of drought we all experience from time to time. Structurally, my phone and inbox always had incoming requests. I didn’t actively look for tours, but didn’t say “no” to any either; bar one, where I just “knew” my being transgender would be causing awkward situations. I continued doing ‘shorter runs’ and festivals, as always. And I’d “introduce” myself to the bands I had already worked for. I didn’t have any ‘new for me” bands then.

Never did I consider quitting touring, or worry about not being able to continue touring.
I had definitely realised that my being ‘hidden’ as a guitar tech, could potentially “hurt” me in the long run, if I were to return to that position, so I actively started calling for TM and merch jobs instead.

I have basically restarted my career this year, it feels that way. But I still know all the tricks and people; people just seemed to have forgotten I still had all the tricks. Starting this August, I did my very first shows post-surgery with Cradle of Filth. These are my very first shows this year (don’t ask me how incredibly empty my wallet is, I was literally weeks from going bankrupt).

I have been immediately adopted and felt incredibly included by the band and crew. This phrase was uttered multiple times: “We are so amazed by your resume, why would you work with us (band) them (crew)?” I am pleasantly surprised by that, but it also makes the sting of not having even gotten a single show confirmed (despite having talked with dozens of bands regarding them having open spots) between April and August.

I am back to doing backline, and I am not at all worried about the things I was worried about. I was worried, I would start feeling really constricted in the exact same place that I had unconsciously felt and seen as my perfect hiding spot before. Now I actually “own” that position. Before I owned it as a guitar technician that many people thought was a really good tech. Now I own it as “Laura, guitar tech”. It doesn’t change anything for the outside work, but for me it’s night and day. And I am sure that, now that people see I am back in business, things will pick up again.

I still think I could/would prefer TM or merch better (although many of my colleagues (especially female ones) are working hard to persuade me to at least drop the merch position from that wishlist.

Any advice to those wishing to transition?

Learn to accept yourself, listen, really listen to yourself. Intensely, and attentively.. Not just with your ears, but with your heart. Until further notice, we’re going to be in this place only once. Make it the best time, for you. The real you.

As far as practical things go, I found great support in writing a letter/email to the bands I was going to be meeting for the first time after starting transition. I felt that would both break the ice, open the dialogue, and give the band and crew the time to process. Maybe that will work for you. It did for me.

As you can read, I used a fair bit of humour to help break the ice, but I was dead f’n serious about the message I wanted to bring across.

And as for the social transition goes; be very aware that not everybody will be as comfortable with the new you as you. Just like with friends and colleagues, for them, this transition is quite possibly going to be a lightning strike on a clear sky; whereas for you this is most likely a slow process and you just reached critical mass/tipping point. Give them the time to catch up with you. I noticed that if you are genuine, you’ll get genuine support (and just ignore – but respect – the ones that can’t accept you). Just make sure you are being RESPECTED. And be firm there. You will need to. You MUST. For you. AND for them.
Tolerance, and acceptance, and ultimately understanding you is not yours to demand, even though it would and should be normal in an ideal world.

Jokes you start may always be made. The joke started by them, had better the kindest type of jokes, NOT at your expense. Be careful when you allow that to happen; it could instantly turn into “not respecting you”. One of my favourite jokes & show stoppers & head-turners was: “I’d give up my left testicle for that”  The look on their faces when they heard that the First time!!!! Priceless. Another one was: “I’m about to give up my balls, but I’ll always have bigger balls than you!” (I had grown confidence overnight when I had learnt to accept myself; before I was the meekest and least ‘standing their ground’ person you’d know`)

Trans women, in particular, are in a unique position to see exactly how sexist dynamics in the workplace tend to play out. Women have long spoken of the fact they had to be twice as effective as their male counterparts to get recognition for their work. This fact keeps WOC and Trans Women working even harder than white cis women. Were you aware of this before you transition?

I was and disliked it, but I didn’t do anything to change it, other than trying to, and sometimes succeeding at getting women hired for open positions on crews I had a voice in.

Do you feel that you underestimated sexism before you transitioned?

For me, personally, I had assumed and hoped that I would still be the highly valued commodity I apparently was, I’d typically be able to string tours back to back; sometimes to the point of meeting my sister or brother-in-law at the train station or airport to exchange laundry.

Now that I am fully transitioned and ready to go back to full-time touring, I have been put forward or responded to crew wanted ads, about 30 times in the last two months, several times by former colleagues of mine, and most of the time, the bands or contacts responded with “we’re still looking”, “sorry, the band chose X instead”, or simply no answer, when asking for updates on my possibly being hired. I have just landed a gig with Cardle of Filth, for the second half of their festival run this summer, and upcoming tours.

Are you finding that doing your job in the way you did before isn’t enough anymore?

I wish that were the case. Because that would mean, I could somehow influence the outcome of this predicament. My two current bands, Blind Guardian and Ayreon, are either in the studio since 2017 and not coming back on the road for a while, or doing 3/4 shows a year.

I had learnt to accept myself, and outed myself to my then-fiancée whilst on tour with Blind Guardian, but stayed closeted on tour, aside from completely changing my wardrobe on days off. I flew in with cargo shorts and work shirts and flew home with a bag full of dresses, cute tops, pumps, and jeans. When I came off tour and had gotten an offer for a work-from-home situation that would allow me to transition in peace and quiet, I started transitioning socially, and start diagnostic psych evaluation therapy, to be allowed to start medically transitioning. I had not retired from touring, but it was not a high priority for me. I did still do weekend and festival runs with bands, but I couldn’t commit to longer tours.

I’m certain that – callous as this industry is in its “out of sight, out of mind” – is part of my trouble finding jobs again, but I maintained close contact with my beloved colleagues, all of whom I knew and worked with before I transitioned.

Yet, when I announced I would be back to full-time touring starting April 2019, I have only been met with “silence”, instead of my inbox and phone filling with requests, as they did before I transitioned. Some part of it may be that I openly professed I would prefer TM or merch tours over backline. I don’t think I’d necessarily want to submerge myself again/anymore in the “being hidden, black, invisible, nameless, egoless, voiceless” as a backline tech. No offence to anyone working in that position. I love the job myself. But, me having loved that position explicitly FOR being all of the above, it was my disguise, my ‘beard’. I think it’d possibly feel rather constricted now, if I went back to that position.

As a tour manager or merchandiser, If I wanted to wear a bright pink tutu because that’s how I feel today, then I should want to be able to. In those positions, I can simply be me, Laura.

But most of all, I am experiencing this glass ceiling that cisgender women have experienced all their lives. In this industry, but also whilst having that work from a home office job, working for the PDGA, the worldwide governing body for disc golf. All of a sudden, my opinions and points were not automatically accepted for being valuable. As my former male identity, I didn’t have a different professional opinion or skill set. It was literally just my name, my outfit, and my pronouns that changed, and all of a sudden, I meet resilience and reluctance.

There’s ample anecdotal proof of women in the workplace communicating by email as themselves, and receiving abuse, ridicule or disdain in answer to their proposals.
Simply changing their signature to mimic as being a male person would already noticeably change the response they’d get.  See Cultural sexism in the world is very real when you’ve lived on both sides of the coin” I’m living proof of the opposite. I changed my signature, and lo and behold, my value is reduced to a fraction of what it was.

Traits in men that are perceived as assertive are traits in women that are perceived as bitchy?  Have you found this to be true?

I have yet to see the opposite of that being confirmed, so yes, I then, by deduction, assume that is true.

What has surprised you the most after transitioning?

How much self-worth, self-confidence, self-appreciation, even self-love I have for myself. That literally came the day I learned to accept myself for who I am, truly.
And all of that shows in my whole being, in my interactions with others, in my outlook on life, in the stars in my eyes, in the bold clothing choices I like to make now, in how I changed them multiple times a week of a triple portion of pasta per meal for some fresh fruit or vegetables. Anything and everything, really.

Beyond the systematic sexism in the industry and society as a whole, we have to add an additional layer of transphobia? What is your opinion, does the industry need to do to address this? What can the industry do?

I don’t know what this industry, in particular, could or should do, that the rest of our society wouldn’t or couldn’t. This problem with transphobia is it is global and in everyday life. Most of it comes from ignorance mixed with arrogance and apathy, I think. We fear what we don’t know. How many people in the streets still think that homosexuality or being transgender is a disease, and an infectious one, at that!

For years, society and mainstream media have ridiculed and discriminated against those who are not heteronormative; whether it’s a snide remark on a popular sitcom or mockery, anything. Luckily, I live in The Netherlands, Europe, where things are ‘pretty easy’ for me. Aside from pockets of the country where being trans might be frowned upon, I would compare most of The Netherlands with flower power era San Francisco, despite several religious and political fractions that would rather see LGBTQIA+ people not exist, or at least kept it to themselves.

My insurance has so far covered almost all my transition expenses (aside from changing my wardrobe and going to beauty salons and hairdressers now, I spent about $350 out of pocket for my medical & surgical transition in the 30 months that my whole transition has taken me) but when I see how much violence and ridicule and discrimination transgender and other not-heteronormative people face in the USA, my heart bleeds and bleeds. The current (U.S.) administration is openly trying and managing to, divide the country and society across party lines, race, heteronormativity vs. non, religion, and they’re causing irreparable harm to those it involves, and as a result, to itself as a country, as a nation.

So, to get back to the question, what could this industry do? Help raise awareness, understanding, and acceptance, and this interview with me is one step in the right direction. As Pete Bright, the tour manager who booked me for Cradle of Filth said: “I don’t care if your male, female, or whatever. You are here to do your job. That’s all that matters.” If more people thought that way (gender, race, religion, etcetera), we’d have a much happier world to live in.

What would you like the industry to know?

Me being transgender and having you as my male crew colleague doesn’t mean I am going to hit on you (I never felt attracted to men anyway, not romantically, not physically), and yes, you’re now going to have to go to the toilet on the tour bus sitting down. You’re supposed to anyway, you never managed to NOT hit just the seat on a non-moving toilet; don’t let your toxic masculinity fool you into believing that you can all of a sudden manage to on a moving bus.

And yes, I might look more magnificent on stage than you do, with my nails done, a nice top, and good hair.. But here’s the thing, for me it’s not a race. It never was. Before my transition, I never took part in that dick measuring contest that masculinity seems to be about (not all, but yes, a large part of masculinity is based on that), just try to imagine how little I care about that race now.

Regardless of your or my genitalia or name, we’re here to put on the best possible show for the audience. Can we just get on with that? Thank you.

Women and other marginalized groups have been starting their own networks, organizations, and banding together to make our voices heard and create employment opportunities.  What else can we do?

Stay the course. Just like in the Feminist Movement, stay the course, but also, stay true to the actual core message. Feminism wasn’t, isn’t, and shouldn’t be misandry. Replacing misogyny with misandry is not the answer. It’s about breaking down the patriarchy and removing the glass ceiling that women face daily, just for the fact they’re women. I understand, that to make your voice heard, you need to place extreme focus on the opposite side of the current direction, but it’s important to not go to the other extreme.

We should all, regardless of gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual preference, religion, ethnicity, race, socio-economic background work towards providing a world where equal chances, and equal options, and equal rewards, exist for all who dwell upon this earth.

Must have skills?

Being able to deal with deadlines is probably the most valuable of them all. All other skills and weaknesses fall and stand with that one.

And “don’t be an asshole.” But that one goes for life in general, not just for this field.
In this field, especially on stage, having people skills is a very good skill to have. You can be the best engineer or technician in the world, but if you can’t deal with people and behave like an asshole, your grammy-nominated skills will soon not be enough to keep you on the team.

Further Reading

Against Me! singer Laura Jane Grace on getting the ‘needle to move’ on transgender issues

Against Me! Rocker Laura Jane Grace Opens Up About Trans Identity in 2015

Trans and Gender Nonconforming Identities

Transgender FAQS

Transgender Reading List for Adults

Trans-misogyny primer by Julia Serano

The New Smear Against Transgender Men

The first transgender athlete on Team USA reveals how he combats sexism in sports

Laverne Cox lambastes ‘deadnaming.’ What is it, and why is it a problem?

Deadnaming A Trans Person Is Violence — So Why Does The Media Do It Anyway?

Transgender Men Sexism

Crossing the divide – Do men really have it easier? These transgender guys found the truth was more complex.

Getting Back in the Game

 

I run a small freelance business called BackBeat365 Productions. During my time in school for audio, I built a list of clientele that I recorded and continued working with throughout my time there, as well as after I had graduated. Recently, I have taken a time-out from working with clients, as well as interning, because I was feeling very burnt out. To be clear, I was still recording, but only recording MY band’s music.

I feel most creatives are extremely hard on themselves, so taking this time out was a big decision for me, but I’m glad I did it. Why you ask? Because now I’m enjoying engineering again. It’s fulfilling that creative, yet technical side of my brain that was fried from doing it every day for four years. Since I let myself take a break, now I can come back at it- full force, but remember to take a step back (probably not as long as a few months ever again), but for a week or so. This way, I let myself, my ears recover, and remember why I love this craft.

Today, I’ll be talking about how to dive back in, stay relevant to your clientele, and meet new clients. The key to getting back into running a creative business is staying practiced in your craft. I may not have been working with clients or actively seeking new clients, but what I was doing (and still am doing), is recording my bands’ music, staying up to date (because in this industry, things are always changing), and continue learning.

So, that was a very general how-to for diving back into your creative business. Now, let’s talk about staying relevant to your clientele. For all of the bands and artists, I record and have recorded I like to create a comfortable, safe, and friendly space for them to be creative. I want to create that space because it gives the artist the opportunity to trust you. They are giving their art over to you in a sense, so it would make sense to provide them with a comfortable place to express themselves.

This has created a bond between many of my clients and me. I stay in touch through social media, and texting/calling to see how they are and vice versa. Also, a way to remain relevant in the engineering community even if you are taking a slight break is posting on your social media accounts what you are doing to stay practiced in your craft. It lets your clients, and future clients know that you are still in the game!

Last but not least is how to meet new clients. The way I’ll explain how to do that is short and sweet. You just have to practice approaching people, holding a conversation, and then following up with them after you’ve spoken to them through email or social media. Keep yourself on their radar. If it’s a band that you are seeking out, and you REALLY want to work with- maybe offer to one free song for them with one mix and one master revision (that way you are not drowning yourself in too much free work- trust me I know from experience). And do such a good job that they HAVE to come back and work with you for their next single, EP, album, or whatever it may be. They will tell their friends in bands, and then you’ll start building your client list once again! If your in a band this may be even easier for you!  You’re already playing with bands, and you’re on the same level- all you have to do is let them know you’re an engineer, give them your card, and follow up with them. Even send them your most recent work that’s been released.

I hope this helped you remember that it’s okay to take a break if you’re feeling mentally fried, or more stressed out than normal. Just know there are certain things you have to keep up while you’re taking a slight step back if you want diving back into your business with ease. Thank you for reading. You can always email me any questions you have at virginia@backbeat365.com, or follow me on my socials and talk to me/see what I’m up to musically there.

Instagram: virginial97

Instagram: happyhollowband

 

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