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Mixing Music Live – Discounts Available to SoundGirls Members

SoundGirls Co-Founder Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato has created a course on Mixing Music Live and will teach you the fundamentals and beyond of mixing live sound.

Special discount for SoundGirls Members – Get Mixing Music Live for 50% off! Email us for a discount code soundgirls@soundgirls.org.  You must be a member of SoundGirls to receive this discount.  You can register to be a member here. This special offer is good until July 31st.

The course is usually $297 – With your SoundGirls Discount, the course is only $148.50.  This is a fantastic deal! Thanks, Michelle!

Would you like to learn about live sound and mixing from someone who has been the sound engineer for some of the most popular names in music?

Mixing Music Live is an introductory course on Live Sound and Mixing. The course was created by Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato who has had a career as a touring concert sound engineer for nearly 30 years. Michelle has worked with Gwen Stefani, Goo Goo Dolls, Styx, Melissa Etheridge, and many more.

Whether you are doing live sound as a hobby or a possible gateway into a career as a live sound engineer, Mixing Music Live will teach you the fundamentals and beyond of mixing live sound for a live event. Find out more here.

 

 

 

Master Class – Del IN al OUT – Scholarships Available

SoundGirls has received two partial scholarships for the upcoming Master Class: Del In al Out. The cost for the three-days of training is 4500 MXP, before July 8 and 6000 MXP after.  The scholarships are for 2000 MXP, bringing the cost down to 2500 MXP (you must register and pay on by July 8). The three-day Master Class will cover FOH  and Monitors. Guest speakers will include Gustavo Zertuche, Jorge Soto, Luis Roman, Oscar Tovar, Ruben Alvarez, and Rudy Rosales.

Master Class: Del IN al OUT
Date: July 15th, 16th & 17th
Place: Av de los Insurgentes Sur 1880, Tlacoquemecatl del Valle, 03100 Ciudad de México, Time: 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM

Apply for scholarships by July 5, 2019.  Scholarship winners will be notified on July 7th.

Apply for scholarships

To register for the course please contact info@ipaudioarquitectura.com

FOH

Project Analysis - Meet the artist
How to create the input list
Console selection and programming
Pre mix of the show
Channel setting
Mixing structure
Sound Check

Radio Frequency

Radio Frequency
Concepts about general Radio Frequency
RF in Mexico and the World
Antennas and Cables
Distributors vs. Combiners
What is and what causes interference
Signal to Noise Relationship
The RF coordinator's tools
RF coordination methods
Signal monitoring

Monitors

The Monitor Engineer
Profit structure
The use of processing: filters, equalization, dynamics
Equipment decision
Methods of work
IEMS: Universal vs. Molds
Mulitrack mix session

Sound Systems

Systems
Types of audio design
Selection of speakers based on the work that will be done
Design with simulation and prediction programs
Adjustment of systems
Different types of system adjustment

 

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

June Feature Profile

https://soundgirls.org/petra-randewijk-live-sound-recording-engineer/

The Blogs

Consoles, Consoles, Consoles

Troubleshooting (and Avoiding!) Common Problems in ProTools

Dealing with Burnout as a Musician

BBC New Creatives

SoundGirls Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon

Internet Round-Up

Spotify’s Sound Up program is looking for the next generation of women of color podcasters. Apply by June 21 at 11:59PM EST for a chance to spend one week in NYC learning every aspect of podcast creation.

 

 

Jessica Paz’s Unlikely Journey From Scuba Store Employee To Landmark Tony Nominee and Winner!

HADESTOWN’s Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz Win 2019 Tony Award for Best Sound Design of a Musical

SoundGirls News

The Ethel Gabriel Scholarship

https://soundgirls.org/scholarships-19/

SoundGirls Events

 

Ableton Live for Anybody

Analog/Tape Recording Workshop w/Lenise Bent Part 2

SoundGirls Orlando Expo 2019

SoundGirls Opportunities

Apply to Work The Ladybug Music Festival

SoundGirls and SoundGym

Shadowing/Mentoring/Internship Opportunities

Shadow Gil Eva Craig – NZ & Australia

SoundGirls Resources

Spotify and SoundGirls Team Up – EQL Directory

SoundGirls – Gaston-Bird Travel Fund

Letter for Trades and Manufacturers

Women-Owned Businesses

SoundGirls Scholarships 2021 Now Open

Events

Sexual Harassment

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

Jobs and Internships

Women in the Professional Audio

Member Benefits

Consoles, Consoles, Consoles

Part of the fun of working in live music is the variety and unpredictability it inevitably brings. Great as that may be, my bosses recently set up a training day for my colleagues and myself,  using some of the consoles likely to be installed on future client contracts. We spent the day getting our geek on, and these were my top three.

# 3 Allen & Heath SQ5

The SQ5 is an attractive desk – the digital display looks slick and modern, while the touch screen features are precise and impressive. On first appearance, it feels sturdy, which I later find out is something the company prides itself on – they rigorously test the materials for resilience and longevity of moving parts. With 48 processing channels, 16 faders, and a 96kHz mix core, the desk can handle plenty before I need to worry.

I found the main setup to be a little time-consuming at first but well worth it in the end. Once the balance was struck (or learned) between using the touch screen and the controls, life was good! The copy and paste function is sure to be a timesaver, and the soft controls are presented in a logical way, also making life easier.

The detailed level of control and precision available (I stopped counting all the EQs on offer) plus the easy personalisation all seemed very intuitive. The final plus for me was the ability to save the settings onto USB, ensuring your setup stays just how you like it.

#2  Yamaha QL1

Nobody had a bad word to say about the QL1. It comes with 16 inputs, 8 outputs, and 16 faders, and has 33 mono and 8 stereo mix channels, and 16 mix and 8 matrix busses. Almost certainly the most foolproof of all the desks (if there is such a thing), there’s an effortless feel and ease of locating everything on it. The visuals and functions are all clear and easy to use, and GEQ, soft controls, and DCAs are all quick and obliging. The desk equivalent of a comfortable pair of shoes.

# 1 Midas Pro 2c

I was struck by how at home I felt with the 2c, owing to it perhaps to the feeling of 90s nostalgia from the screen and mouse functions. For me, it was the most visual of the desks, and at times felt more like using a DAW, which I rather liked. For a desk with 156 inputs, 166 outputs, and 64 simultaneous input processing channels, it’s very approachable, which is another plus.

Although some of the controls and buttons can look and feel quite old school, they are just a rouse to impress you all the more when you discover the touch response feature – a light tap to the faders will display your current level without moving, and when done to the knobs will select that setting control on-screen. I really liked this for being so clever, but mostly for being incredibly useful and practical.

The GEQ function works great overall, and as standard, the desk can save lots of scenes and shows as presets, with the necessary option of saving to USB for future work and clarity. The desk feels great to use, makes sense, and has plenty of great features that add a little extra.

Troubleshooting (and Avoiding!) Common Problems in ProTools

We all have technical difficulties from time to time, especially when using software as intricate as ProTools.  But, after years of making what seems like every mistake in the book, hanging out on Avid DUC, and stalking Gearslutz.com, I pride myself in my ability to overhear frantic technical freakouts and supply solid advice on the best course of action. Here are a few of the problems I see most often, and how to get through them while salvaging as much of your work and sanity as possible.

 

Problem: My Session Is Missing Audio Files

This happens all the time.  And as a supervisor, nothing is more annoying to than sitting down to review work and then finding that not everything links up.

How to Solve It

When you open a session with this issue, a dialogue box will pop up tell you that you have missing files.  Always choose “Manually Find & Relink.” Letting your computer automatically do so will take forever. Select the files you wish to relink (hopefully, all of them), and check out the path.  This will tell you where the session believes that the files live. Most likely, this will be on another drive or another computer. Once you see where the files are, you have a few options:

  1. Plug in the drive that contains the files, select that drive in the area to search, and choose find links and then commit links once the files have been found.  At that point, any files which were missing will still be missing from your audio files folder. They will only be linked to the session when the drive is plugged in.  So, you will then need to “Save Session Copy In” to save a session which does include all audio files.
  2. If you know that the files also live somewhere else on your local computer (such as a library drive), relink to that drive. Again, you will need to Save Session Copy In if you would like the files to be saved into your audio files folder where they belong.
  3. Find all of the missing files manually, and then drop them into your session’s audio files folder.  Then, relink to that folder. You may need to choose to relink the file name only if it does not work to use file name and ID.  There is no need to Save Session Copy In.
  4. If the files ARE in fact in your audio files folder, but ProTools isn’t recognizing them, you may need to search your audio files folder and relink by file name only instead of file name and ID.  Every once in a while, the file IDs become corrupt, and ProTools mistakenly can’t use them to locate your audio files.

How to Avoid It In the Future

When saving your work to give to another person or to take to another computer, always use either Save Session Copy In or Export Selected Tracks as New Session.  Doing so gathers all audio files that are linked to your session from locations other than your audio files folder (like if you didn’t have “copy on import” selected or chose to import tracks by linking to files instead of copying) and copies them into the new session’s audio files folder so that they live in one place.  If you simply click and drag your working session’s folder, any files which are linked from other locations will not be copied and will be missing once the session has been moved.

Problem: My Session Keeps Crashing While Saving

This is one of the most aggravating things that can happen and always seems to occur at the end of a really long day. But there’s hope!

How to Solve It

In my experience, the most likely culprit is that your drive is near capacity.  Check the drive to which you are attempting to save, and make sure to clear off enough space.  Even if you technically have just barely enough space, this can cause the bits to be written in every tiny nook and cranny on your drive, which makes it take forever to process the request.

If drive space isn’t the issue, then you’re probably dealing with a corrupt file.  Here are your options:

  1. Close your session, open the most recent backup in your Session File Backups folder and save it off with the correct name (if you can). Then, you’ll need to redo any work between that backup and where you ended.
  2. If the above does not work, then there is probably a corrupt file somewhere in your session.  The next thing to try is to close your session, create a whole new session (checking that all of your settings such as frame rate, sample rate, etc. are the same), and then import all of your tracks through the Import Session Data file menu.  Make sure to copy all audio files instead of linking.

How to Avoid It In the Future

Keep track of your available drive space at all times.  Have a system in place for archiving old work onto separate drives to make sure that your project drive always has space.

Problem: Whenever I try to use the function keys to change tools or modes, nothing happens, or another application opens.

If you’re working on a mac, you will need to disable the function key features in order to select your tools/modes with the keyboard function keys.

How to Solve It

Open System Preferences, and click on Keyboard. Then, check the box that says, “Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys.”

How to Avoid it in the Future

Once you check this setting, you won’t have to think about it again until you purchase a new computer or reinstall your operating system.

Problem: All of the waveforms appear to have the audio zoomed in to different degrees.  Quiet-sounding files have waveforms that look huge and vice versa.

This is the result of using the audio zoom in function when you are not showing all tracks.  Clicking on the audio zoom in/out button only affects clips which are visible in your current display of tracks.  When you show all tracks, the newly displayed tracks will have non-zoomed waveforms. Yet, the audio which was visible when you zoomed in/out will continue to display the new size.

How to Solve It

To reset all waveforms to their actual size, use the quick key Control+Option+Command+[ on a mac.

How to Avoid It In the Future

If you want to avoid this issue altogether, only zoom your waveforms while all tracks are visible. Otherwise, the key command is a very quick fix.

Problem: I keep spotting my video into place, but when I re-open my session, the first frame of the video is off by a frame or more.

This is most likely the result of having your session set at an incorrect frame rate.

How to Solve It

  1. Open your video in QuickTime and hit Command+i to get info.  This will display the video’s frame rate.
  2. In ProTools, open your Session Setup window and choose the corresponding frame rate.
  3. Re-spot your video into place.

How to Avoid It in the Future

Always check the frame rate of your video in Quicktime before importing into ProTools. If you prefer not to do this, your video track in ProTools displays the frame rate below the track name. If your video’s frame rate does not match your session’s frame rate, the number will appear red. Change the frame rate in your Session Setup window to match the video.

Problem: I keep spotting my video into place, but the ProTools timecode display gets further and further away from the timecode burned into the video.

This issue is known as drift and is the result of having your session set to an incorrect frame rate.

How to Solve It

  1. Open your video in QuickTime and hit Command+i to get info.  This will display the video’s frame rate.
  2. In ProTools, open your Session Setup window and choose the corresponding frame rate.
  3. Re-spot your video into place.

How to Avoid It in the Future

Always check the frame rate of your video in Quicktime before importing into ProTools. If you prefer not to do this, your video track in ProTools displays the frame rate below the track name. If your video’s frame rate does not match your session’s frame rate, the number will appear red. Change the frame rate in your Session Setup window to match the video.

Problem: I accidentally worked on a project at the wrong frame rate.  When I was done, I set the frame rate to the correct one in the Session Setup window, but now everything is out of sync.

If you have already begun working on a project with your session set to the wrong frame rate, you cannot fix the problem by simply setting your session to the correct frame rate.  You must perform a sample rate conversion to re-sync your work.

How to Solve It

  1. Open your video in QuickTime and hit Command+i to get info.  Check the correct frame rate of the video.
  2. Open a new ProTools session with the correct sample rate and bit depth.
  3. Open the Session Setup window and choose the new (correct) frame rate to match your video.
  4. Go to File > Import Session Data, and navigate to your project, which was done at the wrong frame rate.
  5. Select all of your tracks, and make sure you are copying all audio (not linking).  Click the Apply SRC checkbox, and choose the correct pull-up/pull down from the Source Sample Rate dropdown menu. To do this, choose your sample rate from the bottom of the list and then choose which direction you need to adjust.
  6. Click OK.
  7. Import your video, and re-sync it to your session.
  8. Check that the timecode burn-in matches the ProTools timecode window.  Your audio should be in sync.

How to Avoid It in the Future

Always check the frame rate of your video in Quicktime before importing into ProTools. If you prefer not to do this, your video track in ProTools displays the frame rate below the track name. If your video’s frame rate does not match your session’s frame rate, the number will appear red. Change the frame rate in your Session Setup window to match the video.

Problem: I was working in ProTools, and now my computer is displaying the “spinning beachball.” I can’t click on anything.  What should I do?

Your session has crashed.  You will need to force quit and open one of your backups (and pray that it was set to back up fairly recently).

How to Solve It

  1. Use the key command Control+Option+Command+Esc to bring up the force quit window.
  2. Force quit ProTools and any other applications that are listed as not responding.  If you still cannot click on anything, you may want to force quit the Finder as well.
  3. If that does not work, you will need to “hard restart” your computer by holding down the on/off button on the computer until you hear it restart.
  4. Once you are able to use your mouse again, navigate to your Session File Backups folder and choose the most recent version. You will need to redo any work that was accomplished after that copy was saved.
  5. Re-save this as your original file name and it will replace your previously saved session.

How to Avoid It in the Future

Crashes are unavoidable. But, you can usually get used to which actions in ProTools are most likely to bog down your system. Take note of what you were doing each time this happens, and try to avoid it in the future. If a particular file is causing the crash, try to save a new copy of the file, or revert to an old version which doesn’t cause the issue.

Dealing with Burnout as a Musician

Burnout can come in many different forms for musicians. It might manifest as writer’s block, or the feeling of being overworked, or perhaps financial stress has taken its toll. For whatever reason, burnout can be difficult to manage however, you don’t have to go through it alone.

Here are some tips to help battle burnout:

For a lot of musicians, it’s hard to draw the line between creating music as part of your job and writing music for yourself or for fun.  Even if you do enjoy it, it’s important to have a life outside of music.

Financial stress is not something new to musicians. Almost every week in the U.K there seems to be a new report about funding cuts or lack of work for people within the arts sector. It’s a difficult situation to be in and there is no easy answer to secure a financially stable future however, planning your jobs out in advance can certainly help ease your mind about where the gaps are and perhaps spark a few ideas on how to fill them.

When you’re in the midst of burnout it’s often hard to see the positives. If you take five minutes out of your day, try to write down or at least think about why you decided to create a career in music. Hopefully, you’ll remember the positive reasons for wanting to be a musician.

Good luck and just remember you’re not alone: this too shall pass.

More Resources:

Tips for Staying Healthy on the Road

Health and wellness on the road. Why you owe it to yourself.

The Tour Life is Hard — Homeopathy Can Help

Rock ‘n’ Roll Yogi

A Red and Sensitive Topic

Let’s Talk About Mental Health

Fit on Tour

 

 

SoundGirls Orlando Expo 2019

The  SoundGirls Orlando Expo 2019 is scheduled

We are also seeking volunteers to help run the expo if you are interested in volunteering please sign up here

SoundGirls is excited to announce the 2nd SoundGirls Orlando Expo. Hosted by Full Sail University and organized by the Orlando SoundGirls Chapter, the expo will feature a  number of panel discussions, seminars and audio manufacturer demos and training sessions.

Manufacturers, Panels, and Seminars TBA

BBC New Creatives

I have recently been accepted onto the BBC New Creatives scheme 2019. This is the first time the project has been run. It aims to give artists the opportunity to make fresh and innovative short films, audio, and interactive works. This new talent development scheme is being launched by BBC Arts and Arts Council England. There are various hubs across the UK, including Tyneside Cinema which is covering the North of England, which is where I applied as my family base is in Newcastle upon Tyne.

The programme has been designed for emerging creatives aged 16-30 years old to make new artistic works to potentially be published for BBC channels and platforms in the future.

There are three pathways to choose from:

As a SoundGirl, I chose to go down the audio route! But there are opportunities for the creativity of all genres, from poetry and art to dance and electronic music.

 

 

The process so far:

The workshop was held at ‘The Sharp Project’ in Manchester, and the group was informed that there were 142 applicants for the whole programme, but only 20 specifically for audio. They whittled the group down to eight by carrying out phone interviews.

We were each assigned a mentor, well established in the audio industry, throughout the weekend to help develop our ideas. I have since been in touch with my mentor via email. It has been great to have continued support throughout the project and not just be left to make something by myself.

The whole programme is a well-thought-out and structured collaboration between Naked Productions and BBC Arts and Arts Council England. The coordinators aim to help you improve your knowledge, skills, and abilities in designing, producing, and sharing creative work.

 

 

I have the next month to develop my project and create a 5-10 minute audio piece. I will have a mastering day at the end of the programme.

As I am relatively new to audio, with my only experience being in student radio and my own experimental podcast experience, I have already learnt lots of new vocabulary which may be obvious to some, but I have decided to note some words here in case anyone else is a novice when it comes to the technical language.

Audio vocab:

Foley: the reproduction of everyday sound effects that are added to film, video and other media in post-production to enhance audio quality

Diegetic: sound whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film, e.g., voices of characters

Non-diegetic: sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action, e.g., narrator’s commentary, sound effects which are added for the dramatic effect, mood music

Binaural audio: binaural recording is a method of recording sound that uses two microphones, arranged with the intent to create a 3-D stereo sound sensation for the listener of actually being in the room with the performers or instruments

ADR: Additional Dialogue Recording

Dialogue: that cannot be salvaged from production tracks must be re-recorded in a studio. An actor watches the image repeatedly while listening to the original production track on headphones as a guide. The actor then re-performs each line to match the wording and lip movements. Actors vary in their ability to achieve sync and to recapture the emotional tone of their performance.

Blanket agreement: in the music industry, a blanket license is used to give blanket permission to use any music from a specific catalogue.

PRS: PRS for Music Limited is the UK’s leading collection society, bringing together two collection societies: the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society and the Performing Right Society. It undertakes collective rights management for musical works on behalf of its 140,000 members.

 

 

The programme focuses on many aspects of creative work, including:

There is funding and budgets available so that participants can produce high-quality audio content. There are also opportunities to learn more about the specific editing process at the BBC. We were given lots of information about mics including contact mics, lapel mics, M/S mics, and stereo mics.

I would highly encourage any young creative people to apply.

The next deadline for applications for Film and Audio work is midnight, Sunday 7 July 2019.

You never know what might come of it!

Good luck!

Find out more here:

New Creatives North and Tyneside Cinema

Twitter:

Instagram:

Tyneside Cinema:

BBC Arts:

Arts Council England

WHERE ELSE TO FIND ME:

 

 

SoundGirls Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon

On May 26th, 2019, a group of SoundGirls met online to discuss the ins and outs of Wikipedia.  Myself and April Tucker led the talk, and while initial attendance was small, I could see a growing interest among the SoundGirls community.  Much of what was covered was an expansion of the previous articles I had written. I began with the ethos of the online encyclopedia, and quickly progressed to a step-by-step instruction of how to edit Wikipedia pages.  April focused on tips and tricks that make Wikipedia even easier to navigate. I admit, I learned many new techniques from this talk.

If you missed the Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon event, we have you covered, starting at the 2-hour mark.

 

 

Furthermore, the best way to start editing Wikipedia is to create an account there. Wikipedia was made for everyone, and there are tasks for every editing level. I have a page available specifically for those SoundGirls starting their editing journey with guides and links.  My Talk Page is also available for specific questions, and I check it regularly.

SoundGirls have an opportunity to spread awareness through Wikipedia, but it takes all of us.  Every little edit, no matter how small, adds up. Similar to Geena Davis’ crusade of “If She Can See It She Can Be It,” let us build towards gender parity.

User Page

Talk Page

Editing Sound Girls into Wikipedia

Editing SoundGirls into Wikipedia

 

 

 

 

 

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