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Returning to Work: Reopening Broadway Post-COVID

Broadway was dark for 18 months starting March 12, 2020. I was head sound on a musical when we shut down. When all the COVID closures were ramping up, I knew Broadway would close soon, but I didn’t know it would be that soon—nor did I think it would be for so long. Nobody did. And I did what pretty much everyone in our business did during the pandemic: Actively sought ways to not lose my freaking mind while wondering if I would have to answer the question of who I am without a gig. I stripped wallpaper and re-alphabetized my bookshelves and my spice cabinet. I shredded 20-year-old paperwork and vacuumed my attic. You know, the usual.

What, you didn’t vacuum your attic?

When the George Floyd killing happened, shows started having company Zoom meetings where we could talk about what was going on. People talked about concerns ranging from race relations to mental health to COVID protocols.

We talked a lot about treating our fellow humans as humans and understanding that we can’t make assumptions about anyone’s situation or how they’re doing. We discussed how it’s part of our job to consider the way we make our coworkers feel: Are we being considerate, or are we assuming that what everyone needs is just a dose of our personalities? Everyone assured everyone else that when we returned to work, it was going to be different.

And it was different…just not in all the ways I thought they meant.

Reopening protocols

The first day back in the theater to reopen my show in the fall of 2021 started with a debriefing by the house COVID officer. This was after we’d shown proof of vaccination, demonstrated proper N-95 masking, and got our names checked off against the pre-approved list at the stage door. The debrief was the usual stuff: Masks are required and there were extras if we needed them, wash your hands a lot, social distance wherever possible.

We began the very surreal process of seeing what state our show was in after 18 months dormant. My biggest surprise was the lack of rodent activity around the console. Turns out, without audiences dropping their candy and snacks between the seats, mice seek more fertile pastures. Who knew?

Taking personal responsibility

Moment of honesty here: I drink a lot of water. I’m kind of a jerk about it, constantly asking people how their water intake is because hydration is legit one of the best things you can do for your health. When I’d drained my 32-oz bottle this first morning, I went to go fill it up like normal. But the water coolers were pulled out and disconnected. The unexpected long period of disuse made them mildew and new ones hadn’t arrived yet. No big deal.

At the coffee break I went out and bought a couple of giant bottles because I advocate personal responsibility (I’m impatient, and it’s faster).

When we broke for lunch, I dumped my tools and stopped in the women’s restroom. I started washing my hands and then realized there was no soap. Like, zero. And no paper towels.

For a little context, I’m often the only woman on a crew. Most load-ins I do, there’s no toilet paper in the ladies’ room. The housekeeping staff doesn’t start working until the actors move into the theater. Guy stagehands end up stealing the paper out of the ladies’ room because they run out (housekeeping isn’t there to replace their TP, either) and hey, there aren’t very many women, anyway. While it pisses me off, I would absolutely do the same thing were the tables turned and I’m used to carrying my own Starbucks napkins into the john because, again, it’s a faster solution.

But I’ve never used a theater bathroom without any soap in it.

What a COVID safety officer does and doesn’t do

I left the restroom, hands dripping, fully cognizant of the fact that I’d just used my wet, unwashed hands to open the door in a major breach of COVID (and decent humanity) protocols, and wandered around looking for hand sanitizer closer than FOH. Then I remembered the COVID officer. We had someone on site helping us with whatever we needed that was COVID-related.

I found him and said, through my properly fitted N-95 mask, “Hey, the ladies’ room doesn’t have any soap or paper towels. I figured I’m supposed to tell you.”

And he replied, “Yeah, the housekeeping staff doesn’t come in until the actors are in the building.”

I waited for the part where he said he’d take care of it, being the COVID officer and all, but that didn’t happen.

Acknowledging reality

I have 25 years of experience in the business at this point. I’m no stranger to gender discrimination or crew being treated as less than. But not providing soap during a pandemic after having a freaking meeting before we’re allowed to work about how we need to wash our hands? I was blown away.

And I was surprised by how bent I got.

What this said to me was that the crew didn’t matter, and especially not me. Hard to not take personally the lack of soap in the ladies’ room as the only worker on-site impacted by it. And yes, I’m aware that I’m allowed to use whichever bathroom I choose. Rest assured that as the only woman on the crew, I was doing exactly that.

I was angry with myself for being bothered in the first place and not just happening to have hand soap on me. I was angry for believing the industry meant the crew when it spoke of treating people more equally. And then I was angry at the COVID officer because it seemed to me that if this was his job, he should’ve had some hand soap in his kit.

Advocating for change starts with personal responsibility

Straight up: I’ve been less than graceful about Soapgate. The feelings that come up now when I tell the story prove to me that I haven’t yet let go of the resentment. I’ve mulled and percolated. I knew at the time this was more about soap and water, and I wanted to sift through what it was.

In the meantime, until the actors came into the building, I carried hand sanitizer into the restroom along with my Starbucks napkins and brought three liters of water with me every morning. You might think I would have simply placed a bottle of hand soap in the restroom, but after having not worked for 18 months, that level of forward planning and organization was beyond me.

Besides, had I done that and someone swiped it, I probably would’ve become entirely unhinged.

If we’re going to make changes in this industry—changes toward prioritizing well-being, changes toward gender and racial equality, and changes toward the crew being treated as the true partners that they are in every production—we’ve got to start with personal responsibility. Without that, we’re embracing victimhood, not advocacy.

What personal responsibility means

I start by evaluating what about the situation is within my control. I take the action that I can. And then I usually have a conversation with someone. That brings more information and helps inform my next actions.

Sometimes taking personal responsibility is leaving an unsafe job site, as we saw last year with the Blue Ridge Rock Festival. Sometimes it’s making those decisions on behalf of the crew you supervise. It may be having a difficult conversation with someone above you to get clarity about responsibilities and expectations. It’s always taking a moment for yourself to first acknowledge what you need inside your own head. And sometimes it’s stocking up on hand sanitizer, napkins, and water while you allow yourself to process—and possibly imagine petty, vindictive, and highly entertaining revenge scenarios in your head.

How are you taking personal responsibility for your well-being?

 

Julie M. Sloan has served as A1 on Broadway’s Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, SpongeBob Squarepants, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, On Your Feet, Jesus Christ Superstar (2012 revival), Guys and Dolls (2009 revival), and Jersey Boys from its inception at La Jolla Playhouse in 2004, as well as the tours of Hairspray (First National) and Jesus Christ Superstar. She was A2 on Broadway’s Ain’t Too Proud and the tours of Aida (First National) and Annie Get Your Gun (2000 Revival First National).
She holds a degree in Audio Technology from the Indiana University School of Music and has mixed everything from a tree planting ceremony with the Dalai Llama to monitors for GWAR.

She left full-time industry commitments to pursue writing and health coaching in November 2021. Currently a sub mixer on Broadway for both SIX and Hamilton, she is in the editing stages of her first book, Lights, Camera, Breakdown: Raising the Curtain on Workplace Well-Being.

Getting the Best Performance From Singers in your Studio

There are many tutorials and blogs out there titled something like “tricks for recording stellar vocals” or something along those lines. We’ve all seen them. They all cover the same type of information; what preamps to use, the best vocal mic, mic placement, acoustic space treatment, mic technique, etc. rather than addressing what I think is the most important element: getting the best emotional, confident and believable performance out of your vocalists! As important as the equipment and recording techniques are, what does it matter if the singer has not given their best performance? As the engineer and/or producer, you can absolutely make or break the emotional/mental state of the singer in your studio.

Here’s the thing. Most singers are incredibly nervous or at the very least, a bit anxious when they come to record vocals. They usually have inner demons waiting to hammer them with all the worst words a demon can muster. Your singers will love working with you if you can put them at ease in every way possible. What it comes down to is how the singer feels. They need you to wear other hats besides just “engineer” and “producer” during the session. You must also be a therapist, life coach, cheerleader, bff and psychic.

Now, you can complain all day long that singers need to be professional and just deal with the stress and blah blah blah. But have you not figured out that the vocals are the most important part of the song? It doesn’t matter if you have the best drum sounds on the planet or the coolest guitar solo ever created. If the vocal falls flat, the song will not connect with people.

I know you want your singer (whether they are Kelly Clarkson good or not) to give the best vocal performance of their life in your recording session. So shift your mindset from being the dude/dudette at the console to being the singer’s advocate, sharing the common goal of creating a killer piece of art. Here is my list of the top eleven things you must do to get the best vocal performance from your singer ever.

  1. Provide a low-stress, comfortable environment. Do what you can to make the temperature comfortable (for us home studio owners, this can be difficult in the summer when you have to turn the AC off but do your best with fans, windows open between takes, etc.) This also means making sure they know ahead of time if you are going to have any visitors or observers. And if possible, keep your schedule open enough to where they don’t feel rushed in or out.
  2. Start with one run-through of the entire song as a “warm-up”. Record that first take, but tell them it’s just a warm-up. Because it is. But it’s also a take. I’m surprised at how often I go back to that warm-up take to use a word or a phrase at comping time because it was their best take.
  3. Let them hear themselves back after the warm-up take, whether it sounded good or bad, with some compression and EQ and a bit of reverb sweetening so that they sound legit. I’m not sure how or why this happens, but when they hear themselves played back the first time, it gives them the confidence they need to level everything up once you start doing real takes. Especially if they sang that first take timidly, they’ll hear themselves singing all wimpy and tell themselves, “Wait. I totally got this.”
  4. Be willing to adjust the input gain, but do it carefully. Some singers are very dynamic and will about blow the roof off on their loudest notes and be whisper-soft during the quiet spots. Others will be more even. You can figure this out very quickly during the warm-up take. As you decide what sections to record (see #6), if you need to adjust gain for the different sections, then coordinate it so you will only need to adjust the gain once; maybe twice so as to not have level change issues. What I have seen is engineers telling the singers to not sing so loudly. Which throws them totally off. Now they are holding back and in their heads and self-conscious. Rather than telling them to not sing so loudly, or softly, be the engineer that embraces their dynamics and finds the technical solutions to capture it best. (*If their technique is really bad, that’s a different conversation 😉
  5. Don’t do takes just for the sake of getting takes. I’ve had vocal files sent to me recorded at another studio where I had 8…9…12 takes of the entire song. And guess what? They all sounded pretty much the same. Sometimes it does take a singer a few takes to get into their groove, and that’s fine. But if you are working with a pretty seasoned singer, after the warm-up take, you might only need 3 or 4 to make sure you can comp the best vocal take ever. Going through the entire song and having them do 10 to 12 takes will make them pretty tired. The takes will diminish in quality and won’t be useable anyway.
  6. Record the song in sections. Ninety-nine percent of the time, this is the best way to go when recording a vocalist. When they are singing the warm-up take, make note of sections that seem harder for them, places where they have to take a catch breath in the middle of a phrase, and parts that might be too high or too low. Most singers have a harder time singing low when their voice is more warmed up so have them start with the low sections. The cheerleader hat comes on for the hard parts. Get really good at punching in and punching out so that they can get a great take on difficult notes that might need a focused breath right before or a vocal “placeholder” (more on that later). If there is a section that is especially hard or taxing on them vocally, only get a few good takes, then move on, go back again later if needed.
  7. Take a break if they seem tired (either you can see fatigue or you can hear fatigue). Chit-chat, offer them water, and start asking questions about them so you can get to know them better. Get their mind off of it for a bit.
  8. For crying out loud, don’t get mad at them when they are not meeting your expectations! Need I say more? Really. Yelling at them, showing frustration with passive-aggressive comments, mocking them, or whatever will most definitely not help the session go any better.
  9. Emotionally engage with the song they are recording. It seems like a no-brainer but one thing I hear from vocalists who love to record with me is that most engineers “just hit record and check out”. If the singer is struggling with getting the emotion to come across or can’t decide between two different deliveries, they could use your opinion! They may even ask for it and if all they get is a shrug from you, they take that as a sign that they are completely on their own with this. Listen to the lyrics. Discuss hidden meanings or motivations behind the song with the singer. If they wrote it, have them tell you the story behind the song. If they are creating a music video, have them tell you the visual concept and let that help drive the vocal decisions. Help them explore ways to sing this song in a way that will draw in the listeners.
  10. Let them do “vocal placeholders” if needed. I also call it “marking”. The first word of a verse can sometimes be the hardest to hit perfectly. A little trick for singers is to sing the note while the pre-roll is playing to keep the note in their voice. Then at the last second, they take their breath and begin singing the phrase. You’ll obviously need to edit out the placeholder note later. This can also be a great help when they are singing harmonies as sometimes the melody is so stuck in their mind, coming in on a harmony note accurately can be tricky.
  11. Have a good idea of where you will want doubles and multiple stacks of vocals before recording starts. You might get more than your 3 or 4 good takes in spots where you will want a fuller stacked sound, like in the chorus. It’s easier to get a few extra takes when you are first tracking that section than later when you are recording backing vocals. Sometimes you may not know what you’ll need until after the singer is gone. Once you have your lead vocal comp’d, use other good takes as doubles and stacks when inspiration strikes. You’d be surprised at how many times I decide quite far into the production process, long after the singer is gone that a double of that one phrase would bring the right emphasis to it. I use 2 of the other good takes (maybe even from the warm-up take) and add them to the final lead comp’d vocal – pan one hard left and the other hard right and there you have it.

***A word about auto-tune – The use of some type of tuning plug-in has become the industry standard, whether you like it or not. The problem is that the music we hear on our streaming playlists is littered with singers that sing un-humanly-possibly pitch perfect. For your vocal mix to stand scrutiny next to Dua Lipa and Shawn Mendez mixes, auto-tune must be used. It is not just about perfecting pitch within an inch of its life, but it is a processing effect that listeners, without realizing it, expect to hear on polished productions. Expecting a singer to sing as perfectly as the pop music coming from major labels is like expecting a model to walk into a photo shoot “photoshop perfect”. “Why do you have blemishes and scars? I don’t see those on any of the models in the Victoria Secret catalog.”

Not all productions call for the tightest auto-tune you can get, however. This is where you as the producer of the vocals must know the genre you are working in and stay true to that genre. I think of it on a scale of 1 to 10. Adele, as far as I can tell uses no to very little auto-tune (because she’s pretty pitchy haha). Similarly, some genres such as indie rock or alt-rock (think of Brandon Flowers from The Killers) require the singer to have some natural imperfections to keep the raw, emotional element of the song. You’d better believe their backing vocals are pitched, however. So if you’ve got a more soulful singer in a genre that is more forgiving of that effect, then keep the pitching loose and natural. If you are aiming for hit songs on the charts, you must learn how to massage auto-tune to where the singer still sounds “natural” (meaning, not robotic like T-Pain) but has no pitch imperfections. Melodyne is my plugin of choice for the most natural-sounding tool.

Follow these tips and I know you can become the singer’s favorite recording engineer! You’ll both benefit when the end product is something you can be equally proud of!

Some Theatre Things I’m Grateful for This Year

In the spirit of gratitude, this blog is dedicated to the late Brad Zuckerman, a brilliant mixer and stagehand who passed away suddenly this spring at the all-too-young age of 43. Brad’s original paperwork from the 2019 Off-Broadway revival of Rock of Ages is featured in some of my 2021 blogs. He was a cherished coworker to all, and something of a big brother to me in the industry. Brad: no one who met you could ever forget you. You were a fantastic sound human. But more than that, you always took my calls when I needed to vent or ask for help, and you taught me in two short weeks how to steer a ship through any storm, whether it be equipment or PR-related. I am grateful to have gotten to know you and worked with you as many times as I did.

Happy Belated Holidays, all! In the spirit of the season, I thought I would use this blog to reflect on some of the theatre industry’s biggest moments and milestones from this past year. It has been a big year, and while there is still a lot of work to be done to make this sector (and the world at large) more diverse, equitable, accessible, and welcoming, there has also been a lot of good progress made as well. And for that, we can be grateful.

So without further ado, here are my top theatre-centric gratitudes for 2023.

More Breaking of the Gender Binary on Broadway

This past June, J. Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell made history by becoming the first openly nonbinary performers to win Tony Awards in the performance categories. Newell won Best Featured Actor in a Musical for their portrayal of Lulu in Shucked and Ghee won Best Leading Actor in a Musical for their portrayal of Jerry/Daphne in Some Like it Hot. Notably, Ghee portrays a character who goes through a gender identity exploration as part of their character arc. The portrayal of more gender-expansive characters onstage and the well-earned accolades being given to these performers are both huge steps forward after similar groundbreaking milestones last year, which gave us the first openly trans acting nominee (L. Morgan Lee for her role in A Strange Loop) and the first openly nonbinary winner of Best Score (Toby Marlow for Six: The Musical, with co-writer and co-composer Lucy Moss).

In 2015, when Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron became the first all-woman team to win Best Score for Fun Home, Tesori gave us the quote “for girls, you have to see it to be it.” I referenced this back in my very first SoundGirls blog (https://soundgirls.org/my-new-years-resolutions-for-broadway-nyc-theatre/) and it feels resonant here as well. It can be hard for those of us who are not cis men to believe that we are capable of greatness when we have never seen someone who looks like us or identifies the same way as we do achieve it. And having not one but two performers outside the gender binary be voted best in their respective categories and get to give acceptance speeches on national television is a big deal.

Of course, there is still work to be done. A third openly nonbinary performer in the 2023 Broadway season, Justin David Sullivan (who plays the character May in the musical &Juliet), chose to remove themselves from Tony eligibility rather than have to choose whether to compete as “actor” or “actress.” Last season, the nonbinary performer Asia Kate Dillon (who had played Malcolm in a revival of Macbeth) also withdrew themselves from consideration for the same reason. Gendered categories in any awards are inherently exclusive, and the fact that they only seem to exist for performance-related awards speaks to the double standard that society has long held about the abilities of men vs. women. But nonetheless, these big wins by Ghee and Newell represent a step forward, and I’m grateful that their brilliant performances were recognized.

Hot Labor Summer/Year

 

The highly publicized strikes by workers in the WGA and SAG-AFTRA this summer and fall brought some much-needed attention to the current state of the creative economy in the US. All American TV and film production came to a halt for over 100 days. Daytime and late-night talk shows went off the air. Thousands of workers were willing to give up their incomes and livelihoods to band together and take a stand against the AMPTP, the organization of studios and producers with whom they bargain to secure a contract. Actors and writers were fighting for better wages (especially for streaming content) and against the threat of jobs being lost to AI, such as producers using scripts written with or by ChatGPT, or face scans of performers being used without their consent or compensation in TV shows or movies. And as of this writing, they seem to be on the way to prevailing. WGA has secured and approved a fairer contract, while members of SAG-AFTRA are currently voting on whether to ratify their new contract. Both unions (along with others who picketed in solidarity like IATSE and Teamsters Local 399) have returned to work. But the message of this strike has been heard loudly and clearly. Streaming has changed the way we consume media, and so the ways that we treat our entertainment workers must change too.

Also in the entertainment world, a vote by IATSE Pink Contract workers to authorize a strike came very close to shutting down 28 Broadway shows and 17 national tours. These stagehands were fighting for increased pay (with a goal of achieving parity with the Local One employees working alongside them) as well as guaranteed weekly and daily rest periods to combat the long and exhausting days and weeks that are often faced by touring crews. Gains were made, and a strike was averted, but there is still more work to be done. And I am grateful that the population at large is now more aware of the power imbalance that exists between labor and employers, and that thanks to these and other big labor moments this year, public sentiment is more pro-union than ever.

Side note: This all was of particular importance to me because, after many years of effort, I was finally able to join IATSE myself this year (shoutout to Local 74 of Southern CT)! I’ll have a lot more to say about it in a coming blog series that I’m calling “IATSE 101.” I’ll go over the history and importance of the stagehands union, share my own union story in more detail, and try to answer common questions about ACT cards, Pink Contracts, Local One, the benefits of joining the union, and more. So, if you have questions about this, send them my way (beccastollsound.com/contact), and look out for those blogs later in 2024!

Conscious and Unconscious Mentoring and Mentorship

 

Over the years, but especially since I began blogging, I’ve had the profound and unexpected blessing of people taking the time to let me know that I have been serving as a role model to them or to someone they know, sometimes without knowing it myself. I’m always so incredibly flattered by this, and thrilled to know that someone out there is possibly benefiting from my rambling on about what it’s like to work in this industry. If you read my blog on mentoring (https://soundgirls.org/on-mentorship/), you’ll know that this has become one of the most important things to me, because as Jeanine Tesori tells us, it helps us to be it when we can see it.

So, for this gratitude, I’d like to shout out some people I’ve gotten to see and thus aspire to be. These folks, especially the women, have shown me through their words and actions that anything I want to do is well within my reach. While this list isn’t exhaustive, I want to shout out (in no particular order): Bridget O’Connor, Chris Evans, Dillon Cody, Chris Lußman, Darren Shaw, Lucas Indelicato, Nate Putnam, Josh Liebert, Sam Lerner, Mackenzie Ellis, Carin Ford, Max Gutierrez, and fellow SG blogger Heather Augustine (read her stuff here https://soundgirls.org/category/blog/heather-augustine/). Special recognition goes to Badass Broadway Mixing Mamas Jillian Marie Walker and Anna Lee Craig. I especially want to be y’all when I grow up

To all these mentors and more, thanks for paying it forward even if you didn’t know it. I promise to keep doing the same every time I’m given the chance.

Y’ALL, MY READERS!

Lastly, I am grateful to everyone who has read along and/or reached out to me these past two years through SoundGirls. Keeping up this blog isn’t always easy to do on top of a hectic freelance theatre worker life, but it brings me a lot of joy, and I hope it has helped you to learn a little more about the crazy world of NYC theatre sound! A big thanks also to Karrie and the whole SoundGirls team for all the work they do to support this community. Together we truly are empowering the next generation of Women in Audio.

Orchestrating Success

A Symphony Of Self-Care, Career Goals, And Confidence For The New Year

As 2024 gets underway, the time for reflection and embarking on New Year’s resolutions is upon us. Whether our hopes and dreams for the next 12 months consist of overhauling many parts of our lives or maintaining and building on things that are already working. There are three main areas that can often benefit from a life audit.

Harmonising Self-Care For A Resonant Year

We hear the term “self-care” so much nowadays, but don’t always understand or apply it to our busy daily lives. If we think about ourselves with the same attitude we would give to an instrument or a piece of equipment, it can be surprising to observe the ways in which we neglect to maintain or tune up as often as we need. We know that cleaning our gear, changing our strings, and PAT testing our electronics is non-negotiable and that without these regular checks, we run the risk of poor performance at best, and a breakdown at worst.

Working to assess any repairs that are needed in ourselves or in our lives can give us direction on what we need to care for – in other words, understanding what is working and what is not. Where are the loose connections, broken parts, and out-of-tune bits in our physical and emotional lives? It can help us to reflect on whether these are things we need to fix or replace, or perhaps get rid of altogether.

 

Motivational guru Tony Robbins describes self-care as “regularly doing things for yourself that make you feel good”, and recommends scheduling it in so that it becomes a part of your regular routine. If we make a frequent habit of testing what’s working and reflecting on what makes us feel good, we can find a reliable baseline for fixing the cracks and eliminating the glitches before they become overpowering.

Composing Career Goals For A Melodious Journey

Setting career goals can sometimes feel as overwhelming or conversely, as exciting as writing a symphony – a delicate interplay of notes, movements, and rhythms that shape your professional narrative. What do you want the symphony to sound like, to convey, and what would you like the order of notes to be?

 

 

As Zig Ziglar wisely observed, “A goal properly set is halfway reached”. Each career goal is a note in the symphony of your life. Just as a composer carefully selects notes, choose goals that contribute meaningfully to your career narrative, and take the lead. There may have been dissonance, and movements that are slow and sad, however ultimately, we are the maestros able to compose the next part in contrast, one note at a time.

 

In addition to making SMART goals, the experts at verywellmind recommend asking yourself how motivated you are, reflecting on why your goals are important to you, setting a positive tone, and focusing on the process, not the outcome.

Without clear goals and intention, the possibilities are vast – it can feel as though we are sitting with our hands in front of 88 piano keys, with any one or more of them as a viable option. By narrowing down what notes you want to play, and holding the intention of enjoying the time spent composing, our energy becomes better directed, and our time well-spent.

Confidence Building for a Flourishing Performance

The first time we do something, it’s very rarely perfect or great. This is why we practice, and why we strive for our 10,000 hours to master our skills and build our muscle memory. We learn different permutations, troubleshooting, and problem-solving. Whether we are playing an instrument, working with technology, or just our bodies, the repetition of doing something well is the same.

Brian Tracy encourages consistent practice, noting that “The key to success is action.” Building confidence can be paradoxical – it takes confidence to start something new, to do something for the first time, or to try things outside of our comfort zone. By taking the leap, we build more confidence in ourselves and our abilities. By incorporating practice and repetition as we would if we were learning a new instrument, we get better, we grow more confident in ourselves, and we become less fearful of the unknown.

Buddhist Monk and mindfulness extraordinaire Thich Nhat Hanh put it best when he said: “Fearlessness is not only possible, it is the ultimate joy. When you touch non-fear, you are free”.

As we step into the new year, remember that self-care, career goal-setting, and confidence-building are the notes that form the symphony of your success. Tune up your mind, body, and spirit like you would your equipment, decide what your masterpiece will be in 2024, and work on composing it day by day.

 

How I Record at Home 

Recording commercial music in a bedroom, a basement, or even a garage instead of a professional studio seems to be the norm these days, especially after the pandemic forced people to stay away from public spaces for so long. Even before that time though, many self-taught producers have put together home studios as part of the learning process and have released great records from these sacred spaces. My favorite example of an album recorded mostly at home is WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? by Billie Eilish, which was released in 2019 and received several Grammy awards. Since beginning my journey as an independent artist, I’ve resorted to home recording for its convenience. I have a low budget, work remotely with other producers, and am in a smaller town with fewer studios available. There’s certainly no right way to have a home set up, so long as you can capture the desired sound. Below are some details of my home recording process to inspire you to set up your own budget-friendly space.

I adapted my main studio space from my bedroom, utilizing a large office desk for listening and recording and my dresser drawers for storing gear. Keeping some room acoustic principles in mind is important, but I believe it’s not a dealbreaker if you can’t find the perfect spot in your allocated space. We can make do with what we’ve got and adjust accordingly. My room isn’t a perfect square which is good for minimizing room nodes. I’ve set my desk up along the longest wall with windows behind it. The windows are covered by thin shutters which I can use as diffusers, and if I’m looking for more isolation, I can easily drape blankets over them. I think it’s up to the producer how much acoustic treatment is needed. Being the cheapy cheapscape I am, I just keep all my blankets around for when I need them and clean up additional room noise using iZotope RX9 as part of my editing process.

At my desk, I primarily record vocals and occasionally acoustic guitar. My guitar has a DI option available, so I typically record that with a microphone pointing to the body of the guitar at some distance to capture different textures. For quick vocal layering, I use a portable vocal shield over my microphone and punch record while sitting at my desk. When recording lead vocals, however, I set up a makeshift booth in my closet for more precision. I’m going for a dryer sound, so I still use the vocal shield in the closet. For extra precaution, I set up my blankets on the floor and used the hangers in my closet to drape them along the walls. It seems tedious, but I usually spend the whole day in my “booth” working through multiple sessions so I can spend the rest of my time editing in my main space. It also guarantees I won’t capture my dog’s snores in my room…

I keep the gear I use simple and consistent because it’s more efficient for me to keep equipment and levels set up to my preference. It also makes it easier to troubleshoot any issues because I’m so familiar with my toolbox. For my microphone, I use an Audio Technica 4050 large diaphragm condenser microphone for vocals and acoustic guitar. I’ve found it to be a budget-friendly option for large diaphragm condensers that still capture higher frequencies accurately. I was kindly gifted my audio interface, the Universal Audio Apollo Twin Duo, which is a few years old now and works for my ProTools and Ableton sessions. It’s a great option for anyone recording at home who only needs a few inputs, but there are other options like a Focusrite Scarlett interface that are less expensive and will work just fine. The magic in a recording will most likely come from you and not the gear you use.

For loudspeakers, I’ve had the Kali Audio LP-6 monitors for a few years now, and they are an awesome budget-friendly choice for a new home studio. I have them set up on my desk with foam barriers underneath, and I measure my listening position on a weekly basis (mostly because I have a very curious studio cat). The most important aspect of having a good home listening environment for me is having references and knowing how my space sounds. I keep a Spotify playlist of mixes I’m familiar with, and I check mixes on my headphones, speakers, iPhone, AirPods, and especially my car where I spend most of my time listening to music. I also check my mixes with other producers and friends and family so I don’t get stuck in my mind and my room.

The final touch to any home studio is to invite your aesthetic and energy into it. I love having candles, crystals, plants, and my pets in my room to raise the vibrations. I’m integrated entirely into the recording process because I have this small but sacred space that is uniquely mine. Traditional studios are still incredible places to create and record, but for now, I’ve found a method that works great with my lifestyle as an independent artist with engineering capabilities. I hope this inspires you to put together your home studio, big or small.

Seizing the Opportunity By Becoming A Constant Learner

 

My first show as a touring engineer, I was thrown into an audience of 15,000+ people; vastly different from the whatever-cap rooms of lower Broadway and other small Nashville venues, churches, and rehearsals I had come up in. I had never touched a DiGiCo outside of the one time at the Clair shop, thanks to some dear friends of mine. I had also never mixed on a large format line array.

Amid the chaos of being in an intimidating environment, I had to choose to lean into the discomfort of these new challenges. It’s daunting, but it may be the only way to effectively achieve success in this career. When the opportunity presents itself, have some grace for yourself and others, but focus on being a constant student. Nothing I mention here is rocket science, and everyone will develop their own variation – mostly this is a reflection on some of the foundations that have helped me feel grounded, stay inspired, and most importantly have fun at the beginning of my career.

The night before that first gigantic show, I stayed up studying console manuals and whatever articles on gear I could find and listened to every single song of the artist I was being hired to mix. I learned the arrangement and intention of the setlist, simultaneously referencing the multitrack I was provided to learn how the band and artist had developed the thrill of the live show. Weekend warrior-style touring allowed me to diligently study board tapes upon returning home and it equally provided time to intently review and research the notes I had gathered from the weekend.

Developing a routine came down to a few key actions. As I mentioned previously, I committed to a physical notebook. For me, every mistake and any thoughts from the day made it onto these pages, as did more technical questions regarding my mix or gear. I was also able to gather information and opinions from peers and the headliner crews, who took the time to share their mixing or system engineering techniques. Tour managers and production managers also encouraged dialogue between myself and members of the crew/band. These conversations all turned into actionable data to later provide an educational framework.

Reading was also an important part of this journey. Before touring, I consumed articles and videos regarding studio and live mixing, and Bob McCarthy’s System Design and Optimization book was visited frequently, as well as various other audio fundamental books and manufacturer’s websites. Today there are so many resources for discovering new technical blogs, videos, and plenty of resources have emerged even in the last two years to support this kind of study. You could probably ask your nearest friendly audio nerd to share their favorite with you.

Today my structure is more detailed and systematic than it initially was on that first show, although much of the routine looks the same. It has been important to take risks and push technical and creative boundaries. I am reiterating classic advice, but I challenged myself by making mistakes and asking questions (yes, even those trivial, “wrong” ones). Reading and writing have been huge for my comprehension, and I’m sure many others can emphasize this.

Being studious in these ways helps me to push my limits. I eventually leaped outside of country music to pursue another genre, for the sake of curiosity and an eagerness to learn. The fun part of our industry is that these shows can always be pushed farther; the creative and technical journey certainly never ends, and what I shared here is a small part of what has helped me achieve everything so far. I encourage you to take a moment to discover what works for you, and enjoy the process as you do!

Live Sound Engineer Sana Romanos

 

Sana grew up in Lebanon, Beirut, a region that is hostile to women and their advancement, yet Sana prevailed as a native Arab woman, running mixing consoles and leading teams. Something that had never been seen before. Sana says  “I come from a third-world country that most people have never heard of unless it made the news for wars and bombings but I am now working for one of the top international companies in our industry. All of this to say – there was a lot of betting against me going into the live sound field, but none of that mattered in the long run- so the lesson to learn: aim, focus, work and you will find a place for yourself in this industry.”Sana currently works as a specialist for Meyer Sound and is a freelance live sound engineer.

Early Life

When did you discover audio as a career path?

My parents took me to my first large-scale concert when I was 15 here in Beirut. I was fascinated that sound can be “spread” into such a big space, beyond just headphones or car radio systems. During that same concert, I saw a person behind a big board full of knobs and thought well this must be a cool job to have! That concert I believe was the trigger of my interest in audio and in a career in this field.

Did music and audio interest you while you were growing up?

I always loved listening to music and had a very varied taste while growing up but I never was able to learn to play any instruments. I was more into the sciences – math and physics. – and I entered this field not from the musician’s side like most but more from the scientific side.

Educational Background

Did you attend a University/College/Trade School?

Yes, I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Physics from the American University of Beirut (2012) and a Master of Science in Audio Engineering from Université Blaise-Pascal in France (2014)

 

Career Start

How did you get your start? 

I did an internship in the summer of my first year of master’s back home in Beirut in one of the largest rental companies there. I then went back to France finished my masters and then returned home to Beirut to be hired by that same rental company. I worked there for the next 3 years (2014- 2017)

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

That internship led to my first job offer. I consider the 3 years spent at that rental company as the years that really formed and shaped my career. I was doing all sorts of work with them from managing teams to running set-ups and beginning to mix at large-scale events and festivals in the region.

What did you learn interning or on your early gigs? 

Speed in troubleshooting and working under pressure. Mainly the internship and then first job exposed me to a variety of sub-fields so that later on I was able to choose and be more selective in the jobs that I wanted to take on as a freelancer.

Did you have a mentor or someone that really helped you?  

A few worth mentioning along the way. The owner of the rental company I worked for, Fida Zalloum, was the one who gave me my first shot at mixing and managing projects. Then along the way very few local engineers were helpful except for one, Wissam Jarrah, who I still consider as my mentor and who I go back to for questions and support when needed. Then after I joined Meyer Sound I can honestly say that the entire technical team at Meyer has been beyond supportive and helpful, it has been great being part of this team.

Career Now

What is a typical day like?

I am mostly traveling for my work with Meyer Sound – which I love because not a week is like the other. If I am not on the road then I am working remotely from my apartment in Beirut doing system design, technical support, and education work for the company. I am also still taking on selective projects as a MON or FOH engineer and technical concert/festival management locally.

How do you stay organized and focused?

I am not great at working ahead of time I am more of a work-under-pressure type of person but what helps me stay on time is being organized and sorted in my to-do list and priorities.

What do you enjoy the most about your job?

That there is no overwhelming routine. It is always varied- always on the move in different settings especially when traveling and being in different countries, witnessing and working with different cultures and people.

What do you like least?

Sometimes the extensive traveling takes a toll on me physically but I am learning to take breaks when that happens – still a work in progress!

What is your favorite day off activity? 

Relaxing, reading books, catching up with my loved ones.

What are your long-term goals?

To keep doing what I love and keep learning and exploring new things in this field,

What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?

The obvious thing about being a woman in this male-dominated field especially in the Middle-East where I come from.

How have you dealt with them?

I just focused on what I wanted – it was clear to me from the beginning that this is what I wanted to be this is what I wanted to work in – and that is the only thing that at the core mattered as long as I was convicted and motivated all the obstacles were obsolete.

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

Be sure this is what you want because it is not easy – but if it is truly what you want then the difficulties won’t matter in the big picture.

Must have skills?

Emotional intelligence – especially when doing monitors. It is important to know how to read people and how to react and support them in the high-pressure environment that is the stage and performance time.

 

Thank You R

As almost everyone in this industry knows, and as I have said multiple times, this work is a thankless job. You do ridiculous hours, sometimes no guarantee of pay because companies are trying to take advantage of everything they can including free labour, hardly any time to rest/prep/have personal time, and the list goes on. But occasionally, you get something that makes it worth it. Occasionally you get a reaction from a young audience member and you know that is the moment they fall in love with the arts. Or a chance encounter with someone you have idolised. Or just after a really long strenuous and stressful week, you get the rare occurrence of a thank you.

A recent day while on tour, there was a particularly bad day. It had been a rough few days leading up to this day for various reasons. Mostly admin paperwork and things that were generally out of my control and out of my pay grade. But of course, these things were still factors in making a show happen so as the day approached for the show, and things still weren’t complete, the stress levels rose and a question began to be prevalent on everyone’s mind. Can we even put the show on without this paperwork done? For those who don’t understand why I was stressing about something that was out of my control, it’s simply because I was worried for two main reasons. The first being that the blame would be put on us technicians for the show not being able to be put on (even though the admin paperwork needed was not our responsibility). The second being that at the time it was unclear to me if a show was cancelled whether or not we would still be paid. So, hopefully, this lets you see why I was a bit stressed. Us techies were not the only ones stressed about this either. The performers were dying to know whether they were going to get to perform or not, and if not would it mean we would premiere the show later or would they also not get paid for months of hard work? Obviously, on the day the performance was supposed to be opening, tensions were more than a little high.

 

 

We get into the venue and it takes us a while to get the rig working. Once that was finally done, the lighting plan was still not given to us so we had very little information to go off of but we tried to make it work. The paperwork still hasn’t been finished and signed off on. We have less than 8 hours before the curtain goes up by the time we have finished with the lighting. We skip ahead to rehearsals where the performers are practically ignoring us techies and we’re trying not to yell at them to pay attention to where their damn spots are marked. The sound keeps cutting in and out during rehearsals, so we do a hard reset of the system. That seems to fix the problem and we have less than 6 hours before the curtain goes up. After rehearsals, we’re frantically trying to see what anyone can do about the paperwork and the legalities of what might happen if it doesn’t get finished in time. The head honcho finally comes up to the Technical Director, less than 3 hours before the curtain goes up, and he gives us the news that would determine the rest of our weekend, potentially the rest of the tour. The paperwork has just been signed off and given approval. There’s almost a collective breath of relief. Now we just face one other problem… The performers don’t feel ready for the show because they have been practising for other shows for the tour in case the paperwork didn’t pan out. So now we’ve finally been given the green light, with an unprepared cast.

 

 

Amazingly, they pull it together and make the show happen anyway. As the saying always says “The show must go on.” It was after the show and once the audience left that one performer, in particular, made a point to come up to the tech booth as we were finishing shutting everything down and prepping for the show the next day. This performer, I’ll call him R, is the senior performer on tour. He’s been with the company for a while and is the one who tries to get the other performers comfortable with us techies. What he said to us that day I will never forget. He said,

“I know today was rough. Rougher than most of us would have liked it to be. I know a lot of the others didn’t notice how stressed you guys were, but I did, and some of the others who have been with us a while noticed as I’m sure you noticed we’ve been stressed too and some of them took it out on you guys which wasn’t cool. So I’m sorry for them. I always wanted to say thank you because you guys did amazing with all that was going on.”

We techies just kind of looked at each other. R was always nice but this was something entirely unexpected. We congratulated him on making the show happen and for a great performance. The relief came over his face as he was clearly happy to hear that the audience couldn’t see the nerves bundling underneath. We as technicians often forget the performers are just as stressed about a show as we are. Just like performers often don’t understand why we’re stressed about a show. It was nearly an industry miracle getting an apology as well as a thank you. So I just wanted to remind everyone that it does happen, even if as rarely as spotting a unicorn.

 

Similarities Between Different Audio Disciplines Part 2


Part one covered the differences and similarities between dialogue editing and podcast mixing and between sound reinforcement for musical theater and themed entertainment. Here we will be comparing two other surprisingly related audio disciplines: game audio and sound design for themed entertainment.

Collaboration

Every medium benefits from collaboration. Video games and themed entertainment can’t be made without it! Collaboration manifests in many ways throughout the design process, so I’ll focus on communicating with the art and programming departments. Collaboration between those departments with audio designers has quite a few similarities when we compare game audio processes with themed entertainment workflows.
Decisions the art department makes affect the sound design. In game audio, it is very hard to put sound effects to an animation that does not exist yet, or even create ambience and music when you do not know what the world looks like. It is wise for sound designers to check in early in the process. Storyboards and renderings can tell a lot about the world of a game before the game itself is even built. Incomplete or temporary animations are often more than enough to get started on sounds for a character. The sound designer combines these resources with clarifying questions, such as: What is this character wearing? Are the walls in this room wood or stone?, et cetera.
Reaching out to the art department early on informs the sound design for themed entertainment attractions as well. Working off of a script and renderings is a great start, just like with game audio. Set designers for live events will also provide draftings of the scenery, such as ground plans and elevations. This paperwork informs speaker placement, acoustics, backstage tech rooms, and audience pathways. It is wise to have conversations with the art department early on about where you need to put speakers. Directors and set designers will typically want audio equipment to be hidden, and it is the sound designer’s job to make sure that there is a speaker for every special effect and that there are no dead zones. Showing your system to the rest of the team post-installation will not only frustrate other departments but also, your technicians who ran all the cable and hung all the speakers who will have to redo the work. And, you may end up not having the best speaker placement. Communicating from the start will empower you to advocate for the ideal placement of equipment, and ideate with the set designer on ways of hiding equipment.

Then there’s programmers. Programmers implement sound effects and music, integrate all the art and lighting assets and video game programmers also code game mechanics. Establishing an ongoing process ensures that sounds are being played when and where you want them to, and the programming team might even have some cool ideas! In both mediums, the most obvious way to relay necessary information is by keeping an asset list. The asset list should say what the sound is, where and when it plays, how it is triggered, whether it loops, the file name, the file length, the sample rate, the number of channels, and any short creative notes. It is also wise to meet with the programmers early and often, so they can flag any limitations on their end. They are implementing your work, so a positive relationship is a must.
This section talked about collaboration between departments, and these examples are just the most common and the most similar between video games and live attractions. More about programming audio later.

Non-Linear Processes

When I say that the process is non-linear for both disciplines, I do not just mean that the sound design is reiterated until the desired outcome is achieved. Both types of experiences have to be designed based on conditions, not a linear timeline.
In video games, sound (or a change in sound) is triggered such as when the player enters a new room, area, or level; when they encounter/attack/kill an enemy; when the status of their health changes; when a button is pressed; and many more. In themed entertainment, sound is heard or changes when the audience enters a new room, when an actor decides to jump at them (hitting a button to activate a startling sound); when the player interacts with an object in the world; and much more.
Notice how all of these things may occur at a moment in time, but they are triggered by conditions determined by choice and interaction, or by other conditions that have previously been met. Before the product is launched, sound designers need to be able to work on any part of the project at a given time or make adjustments to one part without affecting the rest of the experience. In addition to having a cohesive design in mind, designers in both sectors need to plan their sounds and programming so change can be implemented without a terrible domino effect on other parts of the experience.

Spatialization and Acoustics

In games and themed entertainment, the goal is to immerse the audience in a realistic, three-dimensional space. For this reason, both video games and live experiences involve realistic localization of sound. Google Dictionary defines localization as, “the process of making something local in character or restricting it to a particular place.” Music, user interface sounds, and ambiences are often stereo. However, all other sounds assigned to an object or character, and thus are usually mono.  In real life, sound comes from specific sources in a physical space, and games and attractions emulate that through object-based immersive audio. Sound sources are attached to objects in the game engine. Sound designers in themed entertainment use precise speaker placement and acoustics to trick the audience into hearing a sound from a particular source.
Both mediums require knowledge of and a good ear for acoustics. In game audio, sound designers program virtual room acoustics as a part of creating realistic environments. They have to understand how the sound of voices and objects are affected by the room they are in and the distance from the player. Themed entertainment deals with real-life acoustics, which uses the same principles to achieve immersion. Knowing how sound will bounce off of or get absorbed by objects will inform speaker placement, how the audience perceives the sound, and how the sound designer can work with the set designer to hide the speakers.

Both mediums implement audio via specific sound sources and 3D audio environments, and audio designers have to understand acoustics to create realistic immersion.

Audio Implementation for Adaptive Audio

Earlier we talked about condition-based sound design, where sound is triggered when conditions are met. Possible conditions include entering a new room, encountering an enemy, or pressing a button. The actual term for this is “adaptive audio.” Games and attractions may have linear elements, but both use adaptive audio principles. So how do those sounds get from your DAW to the game engine (video games) or sent through speakers (themed entertainment)? There is another step between those, which is implementation.
Games use something called middleware. Sound files are brought into the middleware software where they then get mixed and programmed. Sound designers can even connect to a build of the game and rehearse their mixes. Common middleware programs are Wwise, FMOD, and Unreal Engine’s Blueprints. Some game studios have their own proprietary middleware. Developers will then integrate metadata from the middleware into the game. On a very small team, the sound designer will also program in the game engine. On larger teams, there is a separate technical sound designer role that will handle programming. No matter the team size, game audio designers implement audio via middleware.
Themed entertainment attractions, on the other hand, use something called show control software. Show control software mixes and routes audio signal and patches inputs and outputs (alongside using other DSP). Show control software is also where triggers for all the technical elements of the experience are programmed. Types of triggers can include but are not limited to a “go” button (at the most basic, the spacebar of a computer), a contact closure, OSC commands, or MIDI commands. Sound, lights, automation, and video are all things that are possible to trigger in show control software. Think of it as a combination of an audio middleware and a game engine. Examples of show control software are QLab, QSys, and WinScript. On a very small team, the sound designer will create content as well as programming audio and all the show control for the experience. As teams get larger, there are more roles. Sound content may be a separate role from the programmer, and there may even be a programmer, a sound designer, a mixer, and someone dedicated to installing and troubleshooting IP networks.
Both video games and themed entertainment require some knowledge of audio implementation. Even if the sound designer is focused solely on content, they need to have an idea of how audio gets into the experience so they can communicate effectively with the programmer and build content appropriate for the sound system.

Agility

As mentioned in part one, many audio disciplines have more in common than most audio professionals realize. The past few years have shown us that being agile can sustain us in times of unpredictable circumstances such as labor strikes, economic uncertainty, and pandemics. Opening up our minds to applications of similar skills across mediums can also open up new job possibilities.

 

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