Time to Train

At the beginning of this year, I made a major life change

I left a tour to see what life would be like living off the road, specifically in New York City. Touring folk tend to fall into two camps: those who are planning to eventually go to NYC to live and work full time, and those who enjoy visiting, will go there for shop prep, but never want to live there. They’re either happy to head back to their home locals when they get off tour or plan to spend the majority of their career on the road. I’ve always been of the mind that touring was a phase of my career, not the endgame. I know I’ll miss it, I look forward to visiting for vacation coverage or tech periods, but I’m ready to try something new.

It’s rare that you’ll move to the city and immediately get a full-time show tossed in your lap (although there are people that move here because they have a job already lined up), so I came here with the intention to find work subbing on the mix for Broadway shows (which would provide income, but also counts towards qualifying days to help me keep my health insurance, plus getting to mix!) as well as working in the shops (for income and the ability to meet more people in the industry, so part socializing, part networking).

Thanks to my time on the road, I have some contacts here, so I came to the city with a rough semblance of a plan. Part of which was subbing on Funny Girl. The same sound design team I worked with on Mean Girls also did Funny Girl, so when I let them know I was planning to leave the tour and move to the city, they put me on their list of people they could call. It worked out that they needed to get someone up on the mix around the time I settled in, so I was able to get approved by management and start the training process fairly quickly.

When you’re learning to mix an existing show

You usually have between two and three weeks (16-24 shows) to get from watching the show to mixing it and your training is live, during performances with a paying audience. I got approved about a week before I actually started (it took time to finalize a schedule), so I was able to get the script and an audio archive recording of the show to start. It’s a much shorter process than I’ve talked about in a previous blog, but I still retyped the script, added in my own annotations (all the while listening to the recording of the show so I could get familiar with it), and practiced mixing it all the way through at least once a day, going through my script, adjusting or adding notes or figuring out how to make page turns easier.

Once I was in the theatre I set a rough schedule of goals. I try to break it down so I watch the show at least once, only to watch so I can start to connect what’s happening onstage to what I’ve been hearing in the recording. Then I’ll use a couple of shows to watch the mixer with my script in front of me and make notes or mark questions. Next, I’ll ghost mix for a few shows, which is basically the same thing I did with my practice board the previous week, just in the theatre, during the show where I can see how my timing lines up with the mixers. Usually, you can make a side fader bank on the console blank, so I can mix at the console, next to the mixer, without actually controlling anything. After that, I’ll start mixing the show, a few scenes at a time, adding on more each show, and ghost-mixing the rest. Finally, once I’ve mixed through the full show, I’ll plan it out so I have a few shows left in the training period where I’m just mixing the show, getting repetitions so I can settle in.

It’s worth noting that as a sub, my script has far more markings than when I’m the primary where I learn the show in tech and consistently mix it afterward. A sub is someone they’ll call for sick days, vacations, or possibly for a brush-up if it’s been a while. All of this means that I might go weeks or even months between mixing (hopefully if it’s months, that’s where the brush-up show would come in), so I need to have more detailed notes instead of assuming that I’ll remember some timing or nuance.

When you’re breaking down the show into sections

There are a couple of ways to do it, based on how you learn best:

First to Last: You start mixing with the first scene of the show on the first day, the second day you mix the first and the second scene, on the third you mix the first, second, and third scene, and so on, starting with the material you already know, adding new scenes onto the end.
- Pros: You start with familiar scenes and can settle in before you get to the new material. Also, you have the option to continue past what you’ve planned if you find you’re comfortable.
- Cons: You hop right in at the beginning regardless of the difficulty of a scene. In Miss Saigon, the first scene is “The Heat is on in Saigon” and it’s one of the hardest to mix, having a lot of quick pickups as well as band moves, cues, and ad-libs all happening at the same time. It’s not a great place to throw a mixer in for their first go.

Last to First: This is the opposite of first to last. You start on the first day with the last scene of the show (say Scene 10). On the second day you mix scenes 9 and 10, the next scenes 8, 9, and 10, etc. You start adding new material on the front, with older scenes coming later.
- Pros: Your stress level declines as you’re mixing because you started with the newest piece first and then get to more familiar territory as you continue.
- Cons: Like First to Last, it doesn’t account for the difficulty of the scenes. However, shows are more likely to have a complicated opening scene than a closing number. Also, there’s no option to keep going if you’re comfortable, so there’s less flexibility

Least to Most Complicated: Here you start with the easiest scenes or songs, like solos, then add on progressively more complicated numbers: next duets, then small groups, and finally large full company numbers.
- Pros: Helps to promote confidence by starting simple. Also, you have the option to continue on in a scene if you’re ready for more complicated material.
- Cons: It’s disjointed as you switch back and forth between the mixer and the trainee.

Personally, I prefer to learn a show first to last, and this seems to be the case with most mixers. After consistently mixing shows for a long period of time, I have a system for my script and notations to make busier, more complicated scenes easier to navigate. That way, jumping straight into a difficult scene isn’t as daunting. Plus, I found I don’t have to look down at my hands as often anymore. In my last blog, I talked about how I anchor the heel of my hands on the console and that muscle memory reference helps me know how far I’m throwing the fader. That means I can keep my attention on the script and what’s coming next instead of having to always check where my levels are.

However, when I’m the one responsible for training someone (usually when an A2 is learning the mix) I like to use the least to most complicated method. It tends to be a good way for people who are either new to mixing or don’t do it on a regular basis to ease into the show.

No matter how many shows you’ve learned or how comfortable you feel mixing, it’s a daunting task

The first show I started pushing faders for real on Funny Girl (I mixed almost the first 30 minutes of the show), I was so nervous: my palms were sweating, my shoulders were tense, and I was on edge the entire time. I try to keep in mind that everyone makes mistakes, especially when they’re learning, but that only does so much to ease your mind in a high-stress environment. However, as you start mixing chunks of the lives shows, the mixer is always standing by, ready to step in if you lose your place in the chaos of a busy scene or fumble a section and need a moment to regroup. They’ll gradually give you more space as you settle in because it’s also important for you to learn how to recover if you miss a pickup, but they’re still there to support you and get you back on track.

There’s a period after you’ve mixed a few shows and you’re getting comfortable: this is a danger zone. This is where you’re prone to make more mistakes than at the beginning.

The first few times you mix a show you’re laser-focused and have plenty of adrenaline pumping through your system. As you mix scenes over and over again, that adrenaline starts to fade and you end up thinking about notes you got from the last show or a mistake you made before that you need to avoid. This is when the easy things that you thought you knew to start to slip and you make more mistakes.

I call them regression shows. In high school, we called it the “second show slump” when our first show would be great and full of energy, in the second show almost everything would go wrong, and then the third would finally be solid. Regression shows happen at different points on different shows and for different mixers, but there will likely be a point where you’ve mixed something enough times to feel confident and then out of the blue you’ll make a dumb mistake. When I was training on Mean Girls, I did well as I was learning the mix and flubbed a few smaller things like band moves or cues that were just a touch late. Then, when I was mixing the full show for the first time, I ended up missing two pickups that I’d never missed before, neither of which were in the scenes I was mixing for the first time. Same on Funny Girl: the first pick-up I missed was the fifth show I mixed, and it came with the third page (so a section I’d mixed all five times) as I was focusing on a band move.

Every time, you just have to get back up and keep going. The more mistakes you make, the better you become at recovering and sometimes you’ll even be able to catch them before you miss a line or stop yourself before you take a cue at the wrong time. The more shows you do, the more you discover better ways to help yourself learn which speeds up the process. Always ask for help when you need it: if someone’s training you to mix, they already know you can do it and they want to help you succeed.

Boosting Women’s Voices: Cutting Through The Noise

When it comes to editing voices, it’s a job filled with variety, constantly reacting to what hits the ears. While an initial setup of EQ templates might be a starting point for some, every voice is unique. Women’s voices tend to have wildly different tones and timbres that vary from person to person, and editing seems to be an area that’s often hit-and-miss across music and the spoken word. The NCBI Library of Medicine states that the male speaking voice averages around 60 – 180Hz, while the female voice generally sits around 160 – 300Hz, with roughly an octave’s difference in pitch. Despite this, there seems to be a wild disparity in how women’s voices are treated in general. Perhaps the most common problem can be summarised as cutting too much in the lower areas, and boosting too much in the higher areas when women’s voices are in the mix.

Spoken word

With the podcast industry booming, it’s interesting to observe the difference in the editing of women’s voices compared to men’s. The lack of De-esser treatment, and the copious boosting of high-end frequencies often lead to distraction with every ‘t’ and ‘s’ sound that occurs. Sibilance and harshness can abound, and pull us away from what women are actually saying.

Diagram of the Fletcher-Munson Curve

The Fletcher-Munson Curve measures how our bodies perceive loudness. It is also often referred to as the “equal loudness contour”. Created by Harvey Fletcher and Milden A. Munson in the 1930s, the pair demonstrated how loudness affects the human ear at different frequencies, and where we would perceive (or feel) these pitches and volumes as unpleasant. The most sensitive of these frequency areas that offends the ears lies between 3 – 5kHz, which is the danger zone for sibilance.

Business titan Barbara Corcoran is a fantastic speaker and all-around inspirational career woman. Her voice naturally leans to the high end in pitch and tone and has a propensity for sibilance. When I’d previously watched her on the television show Shark Tank, it was clear that this was her vocal sound, yet when I recently listened to her as a guest on a podcast, I was saddened to hear the edit of Barbara’s voice was jarring in the high-end, and desperately needed a De-esser. I was curious to see how closely my perception of the sound was aligned with what was measurably coming out, so I decided to analyse the podcast in contrast with another recording. I used a Spectral Analysis tool, capturing a snapshot of a word with an ‘s’ sound to compare the two different recordings as fairly as possible, and listened through the same speaker.

Barbara speaking at a TEDx Talk

I first measured Barbara speaking at a TEDx Talk. There was definitely a slight peak in the range of 3-5kHz when measuring Barbara’s talk, however, the peak was only a little above the others, notably its neighbour around 2kHz, and again a little above the 500Hz peak. Audibly, the voice still sounds high and naturally sibilant, however, there is a softness to the ‘s’ sound that does not detract from the talk.

In the bottom graph, the peak is marked around the 3 – 5kHz range and stands alone above the peaks in lower ranges, which demonstrates that this problem area is in fact considerably louder than the other frequencies, and not just perceived to be louder and distracting by the ear.

Diagram Barbara Corcoran’s voice in the TEDx Talk (top image) versus as a podcast guest (bottom image).

Music

In music, the same problems surround women singers. Often, in striving to add ‘air’ or ‘brightness’ or ‘clarity’ to a vocal, women’s voices succumb to the harshness in the 3 – 5kHz range. In boosting above 2kHz a little too liberally, and adding reverb or other effects that can further highlight the high-end, women’s voices can end up sounding thin, jarring, and full of squeaky ‘s’ sounds. So how do the experts celebrate the richness and full tonal spectrum of strong women’s vocals, and do it so well?

In a 2011 interview talking about the making of Adele’s album 21, producer Paul Epworth and mix engineer Tom Elmhirst gave a run-down of their process. The pair have worked with some formidable women’s voices, from Florence + The Machine and Amy Winehouse to Adele. On the song Rolling In The Deep, Elmhirst used the Waves Q6 EQ on the chorus vocal, pulling out certain frequencies “very, very heavily”:

“I had the Q6 on the chorus vocal, notching out 930, 1634, and 3175 Hz very, very heavily: -18dB, -18dB, and -12.1dB respectively, with very narrow Q. I also had the EQIII on the lead-vocal sub, notching something out again. Something obviously needed to be taken out. The vocal is the most important thing in the track, and taking those frequencies out allowed me to keep it upfront in the mix, particularly in the chorus. Regarding the outboard, I had the Pultec EQ, Urei 1176, and the Tube-Tech CL1B on the lead vocal sub-insert. The Pultec boosted around 100Hz and 12k. It’s colourful, but not drastic. There was not a lot of gain.”

Diagram of Adele Vocal EQ

When it came to De-essers, Elmhirst likes to add several for precision – on Rolling In The Deep, Elmhirst explained:

“I did use two Waves De-essers, one taking out at 5449Hz and the other at 11004Hz. Rather than use one to try to cover all the sibilance I used two. I do that quite often.”

While on Someone Like You, he went even further, summarising his EQ and De-esser decisions on the piano-vocal track:

“I had three de-essers on the lead vocal in this case, working at 4185, 7413 and 7712 Hz, and I did some notching on the Waves Q10, taking out 537, 2973, and 10899 Hz, with maximum Q in all cases. The Sonnox Oxford EQ simply takes out everything below 100Hz, and it adds a little around 8k.”

Boosting women’s voices

It’s interesting to compare and contrast the rich tapestry of content that is available to us these days, as well as the amount of guidance that is out there. Considering women’s speaking voices sit around 160 – 300 Hz it’s staggering how many guides and training materials generally recommend using a low pass filter cutting up to 200 Hz – where the voice actually is – and boosting from 4 kHz and up – where madness lies. Every voice needs something different, whether softly spoken, cutting through in an arrangement, or leading a band at a show.

Book Review – Floyd Toole’s Sound Reproduction

Happy New Year! The season of resolutions. Like some of you, I have made it a priority to read more this year. One of those books is going to be Floyd Toole’s Sound Reproduction. Let me preface this by saying I have read this book, but in chapters that were required for a college class. I have never read it in its entirety nor out of personal interest.

Dense, reference books like these can be intimidating and difficult to tackle for any individual. Establishing a personal interest and desire for deeper knowledge has helped me push through its many chapters. In this article, I will share my tips and suggestions for this very challenge. You will also find some of my personal opinions on individual chapters. Hopefully, you find it insightful!

I will be referencing the third edition of this book in this blog.

Before starting at Chapter One…

The introduction or preface is often overlooked. Toole’s introduction gives an excellent overview of the book in a light and easy-to-read way. His investment in quality audio is evident. It is a section I would highly recommend reading first.
I had a teacher once recommend reading the last chapter of a reference text before digging into the rest of the book. I found this to be especially helpful for this instance. Chapter 17 of the third edition goes over Hearing loss and Conservation. This was an eye-opening chapter to begin. It gave weight to everything that I read. Chapter 18 is titled Fifty Years of Progress. It is both a hopeful and extensive section. A good first step into the more referential material.
I have started to highlight things as I read. To some, this might not be a big deal. To book purists like me, this is not an easy habit to cultivate. However, I have found it super helpful in remembering details I want to go back and remember. With such a dense selection of information (460+ pages), I can accept writing in a book for ease of later use.

The first chapter of this book goes over Sound Production versus Sound Reproduction. It is one of my favorite chapters in this book. It does an excellent job of outlining some of Toole’s most fundamental thoughts and ways of thinking. Many of these opinions are shared by a vast majority of our industry.

The Circle of Confusion is first introduced here; something uniquely coined by Toole. This was where I came to terms with a few things about audio. One, sound quality is a gamble when there is a lack of standards. Therefore, we need standards. Two, ‘the notion that recordings are inherently flawless is seriously misguided’, which is a direct quote from the book itself. I think this idea can also be applied to loudspeakers. A truly flawless speaker is simply not realistic. Lastly, and arguably one of the most important takeaways, ‘the delivered art is what matters’. This applies to both live and reproduced sound and has taught me to be appreciative of both.

Now, I am not going to go through each and every chapter of this book. I will allow you to do that for yourself. The next few chapters I will touch upon are also some of my favorites. However, I have to admit that the farther you progress into this book, the more extensive detail and technical information is shared. Chapter four is almost fifty pages long and dense with definitions and specifics. I found this chapter to be invaluable with review and new information. It is delivered in such a fluid and interesting way that avoids the typical dry textbook narrative.

I feel strongly about both chapters four and five. If you are only going to read two chapters from this book, these are my suggestions. These chapters talk about how sound functions. Chapter four takes a stronger physics approach and chapter five dives into how sound functions from a loudspeaker. All of this renders down to the question of ‘what is good sound?’.

The sheer amount of research and experimenting that Floyd Toole has done in an effort to standardize this information is astonishing. He has been a household name for me since beginning my career in sound. He mentions a few other remarkable individuals in his book. Harry F. Olson is one of these individuals. This man’s article titled Direct Radiator Loudspeaker Enclosures heavily influenced the design of my own studio monitors. It is a fascinating article I recommend to all. This text is rich in references to other experiments, research, and articles. Toole does not leave anything out.

Lastly, don’t rush reading a book like this. You need to find some kind of enjoyment when taking on this kind of information. This rule can apply to any heavy audio text you choose to read. The Toole book is commonly required by audio professors in colleges and universities throughout the country so the likelihood of you coming across it is high. So if you do tackle this industry standard, I hope you find it insightful and that you find my observations helpful.

Link to the Harry F Olson article via AES E-Library

January

If you have found this blog I’m going to assume you are one of about three options. One, my friend or family member. Two saw a post about it on Instagram or Facebook. Or three you are a sound designer and engineer who is entering the field or has been in the field for a little while but is feeling a little lost and alone when looking for new jobs. And if you aren’t in any of those 3 options I’m surprised and totally happy you are here! No matter who you are, how you found my blog, or why you decided to keep reading past the first five sentences… I am happy you came across my blog and I hope you gain something from reading this blog.

Today’s blog will be a little different than my future posts because I need to lay out some foundational information to make you understand why I decided to write this blog. First off, my name is Elizabeth Calandra and I am currently in the final semester of my degree in theatre with a minor in dance. I originally went to college to perform but then found sound design and absolutely fell in love with it. With graduation just around the corner, I am starting the absolutely terrifying process of applying for “real world” jobs as a sound designer and audio engineer. In starting this process over the last few months, I have often thought how amazing it would be if I could go on a website or group chat of some kind and see that other people in my specified industry were struggling in the same ways I have been. So, when I saw the opportunity to create that myself… I couldn’t say no.

This blog will be different than the other blogs on SoundGilrs no doubt. The chance I know something you don’t know about the technicalities of sound is possible but not what I am setting out to teach or talk to people about. I am simply going to narrate my final semester of school applying for jobs and then my first six months post-college in the industry and hope this makes someone feel a little less alone.

So let’s get started and talk about January. This month I have reached a total of 33 jobs that I have applied for. This includes sound designer, engineer, and assistant jobs for regional, professional, and children’s theatres, as well as some event companies. In this first blog I am going to focus less on the jobs applied for and more so on advice, I have gotten or wished people told me on this journey. So here are my top five tips when starting to job hunt.

My first piece of advice when newly starting to apply for jobs is to keep a list of places you have applied to, and places you want to apply to once their applications open. If you don’t keep a running list of the jobs you apply to, you are relying on your memory alone, and trust me you will apply to the same place more than once because you forgot you already applied. I know because I did it. Also, if you keep a list of places you want to apply to, you can check their websites weekly for new job openings they might have posted.

My second piece of advice is to set aside time each week to look for jobs. There are new jobs posted daily in this industry, especially in January and February for summer work, the more you check the more opportunities there are available for you. Like I said prior, checking all the websites of the theatres or companies you have on your list for new job postings is one way. As well as various websites, live theatre technician posting websites include offstage jobs, playbill, USITT, and even right here on Soundgirls. You can also check indeed and various Facebook groups that are more geared to your specialty. I check all of these places weekly and apply to the jobs I see and think would be a good fit for me.

My third piece of advice is to not apply for all the jobs you see posted that are in your field. Just like when you apply for a job, the company is seeing if you are a good fit for them, so it is important to know if they are a good fit for you. Before applying to a company always look at their website, reviews on google, and social media accounts to get a feel of the kind of theatre or company they are. If it is a larger company I definitely suggest looking at reviews and googling what the work environment is like. Now you do have to take these reviews with a grain of salt. However, they could draw your attention to something in an interview you didn’t like, which you might not have thought about it if you didn’t do prior research.

My fourth piece of advice is to know your self-worth. We are often told in this industry that sometimes we have to settle, which I don’t disagree with. However, I think this can be misinterpreted to mean settling for being treated poorly and that is not what you should do. Never ever let an employer make you question your self-worth or what you deserve in a job. Sure, entry-level positions aren’t the end goal and aren’t glamorous, but that doesn’t mean anyone has the right to mistreat, belittle or harass you.

My fifth piece of advice is to not be afraid to ask for help. Looking for jobs in this industry is absolutely terrifying. You are not alone. Even if it feels like it, you at least have me who’s going through it with you. I vent to my friends, my professors, and my parents more than I’d like to admit about my job searches. However, this has also led me to some of the jobs I have applied to. My professors recommend theatre’s all the time for me to apply to. As well as my friends, when they apply for a job at a theatre they tell me to apply there too. Even my parents have pointed me in the direction of opportunities and they have almost no connections in this industry, or so I thought! My point is to lean on the people around you and if you are reading this that includes me now as well.

To conclude I just want to say thank you for starting this journey with me. I promise it will be a crazy year to follow along with. What I can’t promise is that my year will end happily because I am not going to lie on this blog. I won’t say I got a job if I didn’t and I won’t say I’m happy if I’m not. So, if you are looking for a happily ever after blog this isn’t the one for you.

If you have questions about me or want to contact me for advice or help finding jobs or even just to talk to someone going through what you are going through, my website should be linked to my blog page. There is a contact me tab on my website that any of my readers are more than welcome to fill out. I hope to hear from you soon! Thank you for reading and talk to you in February.

Review of Congress Radio

1942 was an intense time in World History. World War II was rampaging across Europe and expanding beyond Asia and the Pacific. It would be easy to miss an important event trying to summarize 1942. Congress Radio: Usha Mehta and the Underground Radio Station of 1942 by Usha Thakkar is set in 1942 as well. However, the story of Congress Radio is not directly related to WWII, and it is one area of history that I had not heard much about India’s Independence from Great Britain. Mahatma Gandhi began the Quit India Movement in August of 1942 at the All India Congress Committee (AICC), and from it, a series of revolts and conflicts between the ruling British and Indian citizens occurred. Inspired by Gandhi and the lack of independent news, Usha Mehta, along with Vithalbhai Jhaveri, Vitthaldas Khakar, Chandrakant Jhaveri, and Babubhai Thakkar created the underground radio station they called Congress Radio.

Congress Radio begins with a summary of India’s independence movement. Thakkar runs through the significant events chronologically and introduces the major players for those who are unfamiliar. Even though the introduction discusses an emotional connection between the author, the subject, and the setting, everything is presented in a straightforward manner. In fact, the whole book reads much like a police report. Unsurprisingly, the appendix is full of police reports and court records. For those into minimally biased, court proceedings of important history or those who are invested in the history of modern India, this is a perfect read. For those wanting to be inspired by the bravery of young college students rebelling in the face of the world’s largest empire: there are pieces that exist in College Radio, but not in the main section of the book. Look for the inspiration and struggle in the court records, especially Mehta’s, and in Mehta’s recollections.

Usha Mehta (also referred to as Ushaben), was 22 when she helped create Congress Radio on August 14, 1942. It was often her voice broadcasted at 42.34 m. Interspersed between her reports of local uprisings were pre-recorded speeches of Gandhi and other leaders. Despite relocating the broadcasting location almost daily the organizers of Congress Radio were arrested and taken off the air on November 12, 1942. There was no mistaking Usha Mehta’s involvement, however, she chose to remain silent during the trial, even with solitary confinement and other coercion tactics. Mehta’s strength and Congress Radio’s dissemination of uncensored news were so vital to India, that it helped earn Mehta the Padma Vibhushan (Lotus Decoration), India’s second highest civilian honor.

Passion in the face of oppression. Strength in the face of power. Congress Radio has those moments of inspiration, but this is a book for history buffs and subject matter experts. However, I am encouraged to find more stories like Usha Mehta’s hiding in the world of audio.

Becoming a Member of Recording Academy® / Grammys®

SoundGirls! Interested in joining the Recording Academy® / Grammys®?

Join us on Wednesday, Feb 8 at 1pm PST to learn more.

Hosted by

Amanda Garcia Davenport – Membership Manager and

Catharine Wood – Producer, Engineer, and Studio Owner

REGISTER HERE

My Catharsis: Never Give Up On Your Passion

From a very early age, music was everything to me, I remember sitting on this sofa in the corner of the living room, I was around 4 or 5 years old. I had just put my favorite Richard Clayderman vinyl (yes, it’s true!). On my hands, I had this little ‘piano toy’ borrowed from my big sister that I could play all the tunes by ear. They call this ability absolute pitch (AP) since during my childhood I used to play and repeat all the notes by hearing only. I had no idea of music theory at all and in my mind, it was something normal to repeat flawlessly the notes. Years later I found that this piano toy was, in fact, the first commercial digital synthesizer called Casio VL-Tone VL-1, used in several hit songs around the world like “Da Da Da” from Trio. It’s been almost three decades, and I remember these moments like they were yesterday.

I could keep improving my piano skills but being born in a familiar environment where music is seen only as a hobby is one of the worst things for a kid with musical talent. Generally, you don’t want to disappoint your parents whom you love, so when your family wants you to study something that gives you “financial stability” you try to follow “their dreams” or you are at least influenced by it. I know many people that break free, but at the same time, many people are caged in this nightmare, like I was.

Trying to please my family I left music (as a profession) aside almost my whole life. Being a schoolteacher was a profession well seen in my family, so I followed this study path at the University. But I could at least choose the specialization in music to be able to teach music in schools. To be honest I wanted to be a musician or work with music but not be a teacher in a school. After finishing University, I had my diploma, sounds great, right? No, unfortunately, I encountered another issue because in Spain it was very difficult to work in a private school with only a specialty in music, so I needed to continue to do more specialties in other areas just to be able to work. Also, English was a requirement to get more job offers so I needed to learn a second language as quickly as possible, I had a plan.

Destiny – Music is always around us

The plan was to go to Ireland to improve my English. Deep down I never strayed from what I was most passionate about. During an English class, a colleague mentioned that he was playing in a small music band, and they were open to musicians and in need of a first flute. I couldn’t believe it! Coincidence? For my spare time in Dublin, I got music with me, I mean… my flute. Did I say that I play the flute? Ok, backing in time during my early childhood I wanted to learn piano in a school, but familiar financial issues kept me away, so I ended up learning by myself. But years later when I was around 12 years old, I could learn the transverse flute to play in the music band of my small town in Spain. There I had a concert to be the first flute. It was supposed to be my very first debut, but it was a fiasco for me.

Back in Dublin, I’m a grown woman with a childhood trauma in live music performance. I had my second chance to participate in a music band again as a first flute. Destiny? I was facing a never healed wound. Just 15 years before in the music band of my small town, the conductor gave me the opportunity to play my first solo in a live presentation, I studied it day and night relentlessly for this moment, but just on the day of the concert, I trembled and the air just did not come out, the notes did not sound right and the conductor made me a sign to shut up and pointed my partner to overtake my performance, I was devasted. I was a failure – I thought. In Ireland, I was about 27 years old and feeling more confident, and also the trust given by the conductor gave me the braveness to play splendidly as the first flute again in a concert in Dublin. It was my catharsis; I had finally crossed the barrier of everything that was holding me back.

After my studies in Ireland, I returned to Spain to look for a job as a teacher. In the meantime, I started playing flute in a jazz-blues band in my small town. It was an opportunity to improvise on the fly, it was my first experience in jam sessions. I loved it, ‘oh my’… it was magical! Then I found a job in Madrid to work as a childhood teacher of English and music.

Even working with music as a teacher, I was not happy. I needed desperately a new motivation for my soul caged in a job that I was not motivated for. Then I bought this little guitar-like instrument, famous in Hawaii and based on the Portuguese cavaquinho called the ukulele. It was my salvation. By chance, I discovered a new world, and I made friends in the Ukulele Club in Madrid, we were like a family. Along with playing with the ukulele I was also singing and that became another passion, I really enjoyed playing with my voice. To help others to learn I started creating tutorials in Spanish on Youtube in my spare time. I called the channel “Lydia Ukelele”. I remember receiving some criticisms from people close to me undermining my tutorials for being so “easy”. Indeed, that was my purpose to not be a barrier for anyone. I’m proud that organically the channel got almost half a million views in total just by doing good. There I received tons of good vibes and positive comments from grateful people.

The truth is I always wanted to work with music. I wanted to compose, produce my own music, to write my own melodies and lyrics. With the support of my fiancé, I decided to leave teaching for good and dedicate myself entirely to music composition and music production. Music production? I accepted the challenge. Music production was by no means easy as I needed to sail through seas totally unknown to me. I deep dove into looking for knowledge through courses, books, and websites like ‘SoundGirls’. I’m still learning but for the first time ever, at 36 years old, I feel I am on the right path, for me it is a dream coming true the possibility to live and work with my passion: music. Since this change, I’ve been composing original songs and scoring for short movies.

Finally, I would like to say to all of you who think that music is your passion, please don’t base your path on the opinion of others. You are free to choose whatever you like to do. Do not let anything or anyone stop you, always follow your dreams no matter what your family, your teachers, or even your friends tell you, only listen to your heart.

“Miracle” was my first instrumental song composition released last year on SoundCloud. The title is not by chance, it has a lot of meaning to me. It’s my miracle.

Recently I also released an instrumental composition titled “Never Surrender” then remember: never give up what you love the most! Keep inspired. Keep going.

With love,

Lydia Guía

Traveling

Do you remember the movie Planes, Trains, And Automobiles? Traveling has lately felt more and more like this movie. For those of you who have not seen this classic, I highly suggest you watch it and enjoy the laughs. For those who have seen it though, you know all too well what I’m talking about. Traveling to wherever with someone you don’t exactly get along with, let alone tolerate. Now add the fact that we have to do this while carrying our gear, clothes, necessities, and essentials from destination to destination. This can be complicated and at many times trying, especially when jumping from planes to trains, to automobiles.

It’s normal for all of us who are in this industry to travel with our own gear. Unfortunately in today’s world, however, this has become more of a tangled mess rather than an easy way of moving with our work. How are we supposed to move our tools, mixers, headphones, and all the rest we need through the endless regulations that are modern transportation? These are some tips and possibly even some answers you may not have thought of.

Planes

A toddler is crying at the back of the aisle, there’s been turbulence for at least an hour, your coworker hasn’t stopped snoring since they sat down next to you, and you just finished a 13-hour load out and have to head straight to the next venue for the load in once you land. Now boarding for planes.

As someone who has spent much of these past few years traveling in some manner, boarding with the tools of the trade has proven on more than one occasion to be a difficult task. Before you say “You can simply check the bag,” yes, you can simply check the bag with your gear. But what about your other bags with tools, spares, clothes, and other essentials? If you check every bag, this gets quite expensive, and too often when we tour or travel for work, the companies don’t always reimburse us and some companies don’t even cover more than one checked bag and one carry-on. “So just pack light.” Well, that’s not always an option in this line of work. Your options often come down to either bringing it yourself, buying it when you arrive (in which case you’ll just have to pack it later), or renting it wherever you’re going. In the long run, it is generally more cost-efficient to bring what you need yourself and rent other items on a case-by-case basis. “Just don’t fly, drive yourself or get on a bus.” I see where you’re going with this as that is the more cost-efficient answer. But, occasionally there are once-in-a-lifetime opportunities like working at a huge international festival which requires making the trek onto a plane. When you’re loading out a music festival one weekend on the East Coast, and need to load in a film festival on Tuesday on the West Coast, a bus won’t exactly do the trick and you’re likely to fall asleep at the wheel before you make it to the other end of the country. A plane is sometimes your only option when trying to travel long distances in short amounts of time.

So how do we get all of our shit through the TSA?

1 Bag For 1

For those of us who spend more time in a hotel than in our own homes, it is essential that we bring enough clothes and other items to get us through several months at a time. The 1-for-1 method is something that has helped me greatly when getting through multiple airports in a single day. You bring 1 bag large enough to fit all of your clothes, yes even your steel-toe work boots because getting those off at security is just a pain. Pack tightly, and remember if you roll something up you can DIY steam it yourself later while you enjoy a hot shower in the hotel. When it comes to sanitary and personal essentials, pack liquids in a small clear bag so it doesn’t have to be taken out and inspected through every airport. Typically, you can fit this small clear bag in either your carry-on or your clothes bag. In my gear bag, the largest of the bags, I always put the heavier and sharper objects that I know won’t make it through the inspections and check the bag.

Some of the gear that I bring are:

12-channel compact mixer
mixing headphones
audio interface

I recommend always ensuring this bag, especially if you decide to put even more gear in yours. Then the carry-on is the smallest bag I have on me but still has a lot in it. Often this is my work bag that I have repurposed for the flight, but still carries much of the same. This holds a lot of my spares, laptop, change of clothes, passport, and other travel items that will require quick access. I always pack another small bag in my carry-on, this is for food. Find the food that you need while working on the road and be sure that you have enough of it to get you through the travel day until you can get more. As long as the food items are unopened, the majority of airports won’t give you any grief about it.

So, we have 1 bag for clothes, 1 small clear bag for liquids that can fit in the clothes bag, 1 gear bag, and 1 carry-on for easy access items. This now allows you to check a bag, and ensure it, without breaking your wallet while still having the normal suitcase and carry-on for the plane.

Travel Kits

The infamous “All you could ever need in one!” travel kits. The reason I don’t like to recommend these is that they come with a lot of bells and whistles but not a lot of useful storage. It’s a lot of very tiny pockets. But, as women this is not something we are unfamiliar with. Why do you think we get so excited when we find pants or skirts or really anything with pockets then almost instinctively yell “It has pockets!!” at the top of our lungs? It’s because we don’t get anything with normal-sized pockets, so we are used to compact packing. But, having a travel kit with a hanging toiletry bag is essential when you know you’ll be bunking with someone at your new destination. This way there’s no debate on who brought what, all of your items are in your hanging storage.

Packing cubes are great for organising so you know exactly what is in which cube. These can also keep things like your going-out shoes and work shoes separate so your going-out shoes don’t get ruined as easily by the heavy work boots. Some higher-end travel kits even come with built-in coolers, so you can bring anything you buy at the airport central onto the plane and have as a snack while you wait for your ride at your destination. You also have the ultimate invention of the luggage with the built-in charger. If you’re traveling during some of the busiest times of the year, a free outlet is hard to come by.

Trains

It is true that I haven’t met many people in the United States who mostly travel by train to get from one gig to the next. But that isn’t true for the rest of the world. During some of my time in the United Kingdom, it was extremely common to travel long distances by train. Even for some of my gigs on the East Coast, it made more sense to book a train for a quick weekend gig, or even a one-day event rather than justify the cost of a last-minute flight for something that was only a few hours away. “Why not just drive yourself?” Driving for a few hours does make more sense, but the times that I took the train to gigs on the East Coast, I had just gotten done with a different event. There were several times I would be getting done with a concert and jumping on a train late that night to make it to load in a festival the next afternoon. That precious time on the train was used for sleep, even though they rarely turned off the lights.

Leave Everything Except

Honestly, if it’s just a one-day job, how much do you really need to bring and how much can your rent or they’ll already have there? Leave as much as you can behind and bring just what you think is essential. If you’re traveling for a quick trip, you’ll need a small bag for your valued items like your wallet, phone, coffee that you relied on at the airport earlier that day, etc. This bag should never leave your person, especially if you’re traveling overnight.

Think minimalist.

antique train cabin/compartment.

You should also have a change of clothes and of course the gear you thought essential to bring. For quick gigs, I like to bring my own mixing headphones but not much else of my own gear. Depending on if it’s an outdoor gig, you’ll also want to be sure you have enough room for weather items like an emergency cover for any of your own gear in case of rain, and try to bring your own fan if it’s too hot outside for any normal person to be working. Trains will also allow you to bring your own food and drink on board as long as they aren’t excessive. I constantly have my cooling water bottle when traveling on trains, this can save you waiting on the dining cart for constant refills of your martini while your bunkmate downs their fifth cup of coffee for the day and continues telling you about that one time in band camp.

If you’re traveling overnight, remember to bring a small pillow. This will save your neck after being bent over a console all night and then sleeping upright. If you have the option on a last-minute ticket, try to book a sleeping cabin so you can also have access to the shower down the hall. Keep in mind, the cabins aren’t always available with such late notice but they do allow for extra space to stretch out after a long run and an even longer day tomorrow.

Show Up With Everything

While sleeping cabins can’t always be booked with a last-minute train ticket, they can be booked with even just a few hours notice. This will allow you to bring extra gear that may not be necessary but might be nice to have in case something goes wrong with rented equipment or the equipment the event is providing. For the times you can show with more than just what is required, this can in some ways ease your trip. When you show up with everything, you don’t have to worry about something not working or going haywire.

We have all arrived at a reliable event with just the necessities to find something has broken, and of course, it’s always something we have and purposefully left behind to make the trip easier. When you can bring as much of your own gear as possible, you don’t get screwed over when something decides to die right before the show starts. Equipment from venues can also be outdated, or overused. When multiple engineers and technicians travel to venues, we often don’t get told what state the equipment is in, even during advancement discussions. Walking in the stage door and seeing something in a state of duress is unfortunately not uncommon. What venues don’t always want to tell us is that they work their own technicians so much that their technicians don’t have the time to maintain equipment or get approval to upgrade.

When it’s your own gear that you’re bringing on the train you can also do a quick maintenance job on the ride to the venue, at least when you’re not asleep in your cabin or grabbing something to eat for the first time that day from the dining cart that’s about to close or cramming yourself into a tiny shower installment so you can feel some warmish water while someone constantly knocks on the door. This way you can be extra sure that when you arrive everything, including yourself, for the most part, will be in working order.

Automobiles

“Just drive yourself!” Fine, we’ll drive ourselves.

Let’s be honest, if you can drive yourself to every single gig and venue where you work, then you know how much it can suck. Forget the fact that every major highway in the world will always have traffic and crashes so you’re almost guaranteed to be an hour late, but an automobile is either boring or a constant battlefield.

You have to start the journey by packing the car, and unless you are insanely good at Tetris, that’s not going to happen easily. “It gets easier over time.” Packing and unpacking the car does get easier with every gig you do luckily, but it getting easier doesn’t change the number of things you have to load every time.

You also have to decide who’s going to be the driver, which can start an argument if it’s a small group. The most common solution to this is to take turns driving, which is where the argument of who drives first comes in. “That doesn’t seem too bad, just rotate who has to drive first while touring.” Except when you all have to wake up at four a.m. the next morning, and the person who drove last complains because the person who drives next doesn’t have to do as long of a journey as they did, things can get heated. You also have to address the elephant in the room of the cost of driving yourself, a.k.a. fuel prices. Believe it or not, there are more festivals and live events that don’t pay for the travel expenses of things like fuel. This means having to either split it between those traveling or having one person pay. “It’s ridiculous to ask one person to pay for all of that!” Not entirely actually, especially if others who are traveling are paying for everyone’s meals or accommodations. If expenses are being split other ways, asking one person to pay for fuel isn’t a bad idea.

You finally get on the road, and now you have to not only deal with other people’s bad driving on the road but with everyone that you’re traveling with as well. “That can’t be too bad.” Have you ever been on a long ass road trip with someone for months on end? You eventually run out of things to talk about, and you’re constantly fighting over who controls the radio and where to stop for food. “So drive separately.” Making these long trips alone isn’t really an option, notably when you’re getting paid to travel with these people.

Then you finally get to the venue and everything happens in a blur of unloading, setup, soundcheck, etc. If you’re lucky, at the end of the night you get to stay in a hotel before hitting the road again. But that’s not always the case as we are all too familiar with.

Van Life

Packing for van life doesn’t really have the same excitement as packing for a cross-country road trip with friends fresh from school, or even throwing in gear with no plan for your first-ever gig. When you essentially live out of a van or bus for months on end, it’s often a pain in the ass. The majority of the space has to go to the essential gear, and even more, space is taken if you’re bringing your own console and sound system so you can be a self-contained show. Now fit people in and all the things they want to bring.

In van life, it’s crucial to plan ahead as much as possible. This means playing the game of van-Tetris until every last inch of space is used by either people or gear. When you have the small space planned out, everything has a spot where it’s supposed to go so you can have as much comfort room as possible to stretch out for the long hours on the road. It’s often helpful to get a shelf built into the van if it doesn’t already have one for luggage and essentials you might need to grab at any moment.

After so many hours on the road, the van or bus can get messy… Especially when you’re traveling with guys who think it’s your job to clean up after them. Well, it’s not. Always have a designated trash bag and air freshener. These can be bags that you buy at a supermarket or the large bag you get when ordering several meals from the drive-through at two in the morning. Either way, make sure everyone knows where it is so you don’t have to constantly deal with a van that looks and smells like you’ve been on the road a while.

Wait In The Truck

As someone who had to drive herself to many many live events with her own gear, a truck is a nice investment to have in this industry. Packing a backseat full of gear in a small car and then having to drive for hours is physically and mentally draining. The last thing you want when you’re on the road all the time is to be crammed into a smaller space than you have to be. Though a smaller vehicle is more affordable, it means storing your gear in places like your back seat and right next to you upfront.

Whenever I would offer to bring my friends to events if they got their tickets, I would always have the backseat ready for them. This can’t happen if that backseat is packed to the brim with mic stands and amps. You also always have that one friend who can complain about anything. Imagine sticking them in the backseat with some of your gear and they gripe the entire time about how they’re being squished with no room while you’re trying to drive with the seat all the way forward, the steering in your lap, and running out of fuel for both the car and yourself.

This is the nightmare that all of us want to avoid.

Several people in this industry who do freelance also have a day job. Going from your day job straight to a gig that night in a small car means that you have to think pretty far in advance so that you don’t have to constantly go back to your place to pack the car, then drive to wherever the venue is. With a truck, you put as much of the heavier gear in the bed and throw a tarp and some straps over it. Especially when working an outdoor gig, a truck is easier to drive over tougher terrain. Being able to drive right up to the stage and unload rather than hauling everything from the parking area saves essential time if something goes wrong.

So When You Travel

Clearly, no matter how you travel, the travel day is messy even with the best of planning and organising. Even for those who have done the travel day for years, it’s not always the relaxing day you intend it to be and need it to be. Having to move not only ourselves but also tools of the trade alongside someone we may not always get along with can clearly be difficult. Every travel situation we find ourselves in with this line of work will have its own complications. Whether we are flying miles high in the sky, speeding across the terrain on a train, or driving with habits that resemble that of a one-speed racer, we can almost always be certain that the travel day will be a hassle.