Seattle SoundGirls was started by Natalie Bayne and Brittany Cohen. Natalie taught at the California Recording Institute in the early 2000’s and considers it the best job she ever had. She loved teaching but sadly she never had any female students. Natalie remembers what it was like being the only woman in her audio courses, she found it to be very isolating. So, Natalie decided to start a program specifically geared toward teaching audio skills to girls. (more…)
Post-production basics (part 2): Sound editing – Dialog
In part one, we covered file transfer between a video workstation and DAW and how to prep these materials for a sound editor. In this part, we will cover some of the basics of sound editorial.
Different types of sound editing
Sound editing for picture can be broken into different elements (and job titles):
These roles could be different people or it could be one person doing all of the above. In credits, if someone is listed as “Sound Editor” they likely worked on multiple elements.
Dialog Editing
As we saw in part one, the materials are brought into an audio workstation from a video workstation (through an AAF or OMF) and then “split” so that each element is placed on appropriate tracks. The dialog editor is responsible for going through all of the dialog tracks for the following:
The fundamentals of dialog editing
Here’s an example of a very basic dialog edit; The above track is edited while the grey track (lower) is how it was delivered by the picture editor.
Production dialog naturally has an audible noise floor (from background noise). For an exterior shot, this could be distant traffic or light wind; interior might be an air conditioner running or a refrigerator hum. Most dialog clips will need a fade in/fade out to make the ambience come in (or shift to another mic) more naturally. In the above example, there’s a small spot where a mic is missing. The dialog editor would need to “fill” that – in this case, the original audio in that area was fine so the region was extended to fill in the hole.
Towards the end of the clip (the 5th region), an edit was moved slightly to clean up a bad dialog edit in the middle of a word. At the very end, the original audio had something going on (a noise or start of a new word). That had to be edited to add a clean fade out using audio from earlier in the track.
Removing mics
This is a before and after look of two tracks of dialog. It’s two people with separate mics talking at close proximity. Even just looking at the regions (without listening) you can get a general idea of when one person (or both) are talking. Even though it looks obvious, it’s still a good idea to listen through each track to make sure you’re not removing anything important that’s hidden in the waveform (like a quiet word or laugh). In this example, the second region of dialog was fill added by a picture editor (or assistant) that came from another scene. That had to be replaced with fill that from this scene to match sonically. It may have sounded fine in the picture edit bay, but the ambience shift would have been really obvious to the mixer. Sometimes issues like that aren’t audible unless you’re listening with professional-quality headphones, studio monitors, or with a compressor on the dialog.
Dialog organization
There’s a lot of different ways to organize dialog and the style can change depending on a few factors (like the style of project or the mixer). For example, when working on reality tv shows (or documentary), I like working with two sets of tracks: interviews and in-scene dialog. A scene could switch many times between action (in-scene dialog) to an interview of someone talking about what’s happening. Here’s an example of that style:
Even though it’s the same person talking, it doesn’t make sense to have on the same track because it’s different locations, different mics (or mic placement), and the source mics probably have different levels.
That style of dialog editing may not work for a scripted film or tv show, though. It may make more sense to have 5-10 generic dialog tracks. Regardless of who’s mixing, you typically want to edit the same character/same mic on the same tracks through a scene. In this example, there’s 3 people (or three mics):
It’s possible that the character on DIA B will be on the track DIA C in the next scene.
There’s a lot of small details to dialog editing that will be specific to the mixer you are editing for; Below is the same audio but edited to another mixer’s preferences (no straight fades, longer fade ins/outs, switching between tracks A-B and C-D between scenes):
It’s always a good idea to speak with the mixer you’re editing for to get a sense for their preferences. Some mixers have 5 dialog tracks ready to go and others have 20. Some mixers only want a specific type of cross fade. It can help to see another project that was edited for that mixer, too. In essence, the dialog editor’s job is to make it easy and seamless for the mixer to import the dialog edit and start working as quickly as possible.
Removing sounds
It’s pretty much expected for a professional dialog editor to know how to do detailed audio clean up using corrective software or plugins (with functions like declick, decrackle, and hum removal). Detail work is the key; Broadband noise reduction (globally reducing noise) typically happens during the mix, not by the dialog editor.
Izotope RX is commonly used software that dialog editors use to remove problem sounds. In the example below, there’s wind on the mic that’s causing rumble and clicks. The left side is the original audio; the right side is after it’s been treated by RX 5 (to remove low pops, de-plosives and declick):
The biggest change is in the low frequencies (seen as bright yellow in the left photo). What’s impressive is that it’s done without compromising the quality of the dialog. A mixer could achieve a similar result with a high pass filter but they would be completely losing low end information – which can cause a shift in ambience or negatively affect the sound of the voice.
Izotope can also repair mic dropouts, as seen in this before and after:
Tips for dialog editing
One trick that I use when dialog editing is to add EQ and compression (for my own reference) – basically to listen similarly to how the mixer will be. It may take some adjusting between scenes but the idea is to hear things that you may not catch otherwise. For example, some lavs sound very dull or boxy (especially if poorly placed). A lav might need 6 dB or more of a high end boost – significant enough to hear issues that went totally unnoticed before.
Sometimes it’s up to the dialog editor whether to cut a scene with lavs or booms (this is another discussion to have with your mixer; some people prefer one or to have both options in the cut). It can be hard to gauge which sounds better when one of the EQs is totally off (or levels are totally off). In addition to adding a temp EQ, it can help to adjust clip gain as you’re working. Ultimately this could help your mixer too (if they are using clip gain data when it comes time to mix).
Unused mics: There’s a couple ways to handle mics that aren’t needed. If there’s two mics on the same person and both sound pretty good, it’s ok to edit both and leave one unmuted and the other one muted. You could also make “X” tracks; “X1, X2, etc” and place any unused tracks on there. Your mixer may want these tracks or not (that’s another question to ask). It’s good to hang onto as much as possible in your own work session, either way. If a mixer later asks, “were there any other mics for this spot?” you can easily see how many mic options there were and can listen to the alts (so you can explain why you chose the way you did).
If you’re doing any processing (declicking, etc), it’s really important to keep a copy of the original somewhere accessible. Sometimes it’s muted on the track below or you can make a track labelled “unprocessed” (or something similar) so anyone can get back to the original, if needed. If it’s only a small portion of a region it may not be necessary to separate out. In general, you want to make it as quick and easy as possible for someone to hear the original (whether it’s on another track or pulling out a handle).
Headphones versus studio monitors: This is a personal preference, but I typically prefer headphones unless I’m working in a decent sounding room with monitors that I know and trust. It’s hard to hear rumble on a speaker that only has a 6 inch woofer, for example. If I’m working at a studio, I would rather edit on a mix stage than an edit bay (it’s not always possible but it’s really helpful if you have an option). Even better is to work in the mix room that the final mix will take place. The mic choices that you make in one room may sound very different in another – especially between a small edit room and a mix bay.
Advanced dialog editing
This has been a basic overview of dialog editing. There’s more advanced skills that come up such as:
Who makes a good dialog editor?
Dialog editing is a good fit for people who like to work alone and is generally more independent and less stressful than mixing. You have to be detail-oriented and like problem-solving. It’s rewarding because it’s often a drastic change between where you started and what it sounds like when you’re done. It can be really challenging at times, too. As far as sound editing goes, it’s probably the most important job (because dialog is up front and center – literally).
Despite the fact that we are in a creative business, I have found that a little dash of “corporate” goes a long way.
My mother is an MBA, and a wiz in the corporate world. While I was growing up, she would come home from one networking event or another and would tell me about the discussion topic of the night, who she met, etc. When I was older, she took me along with her to a couple of these events. It is from these experiences that I picked up a few techniques that have served me surprisingly well as a youngin’ coming up in this industry.
The first of which is the use of LinkedIn. You’d be surprised how useful this social media platform has been! It’s fairly simple: you create a profile, post some pictures, fill in your resume, and voila! LinkedIn profile. A lot of the older industry corporate bigwigs are on this platform (which you can find by searching the company they work for), and you now have immediate access to them. Start looking for groups and conversations that they’re creating or commenting on, and start participating in the discussions. The more you talk, the more views your profile will receive, and the more connections you will gain. I myself have connected and chatted with studio owners and assistants, other musicians, and radio DJs. Also found on the site are interesting and fascinating articles regarding the state of various aspects of the music industry, from the SoundCloud changes to the debate on whether record labels are still relevant. Lots of interesting perspectives, and a wealth of knowledge and connections, all at your fingertips.
Secondly, prepare for and learn how to network, and always be in “networking mode.” I always keep a stock of business cards on hand, whether it’s in my wallet, a cardholder, or just my pocket. You never know who you’re going to meet in your day-to-day life! As soon as you do exchange cards with someone, keep in mind that this whole industry is based on connection, so be sure to follow up with them via either email or phone as soon as possible. And definitely FOLLOW UP! It’s a rare thing for people to keep in contact, let alone show up, and just the initiative of sending off that little thank you note for meeting with you says wonders.
The bottom line is this: CONNECTION. Keep meeting with, and talking to, as many people as you can, and build relationships. Every time you meet with someone, don’t necessarily expect to come out of it with a new job or opportunity. Hope to come out of it with a new friendship, mentorship, or connection. Ask them about their life, their career moves, what benefitted them, what didn’t, etc. People love to talk about themselves, and 9 times out of 10 they’ll be happy to answer and help you out.
If you’d like to go more in-depth in your reading about networking tips, I have found this article to be extremely helpful: 20 Tips on Networking in Music Industry
Feinstein’s/54 Below, Broadway’s Supper Club, offers an unforgettable New York nightlife experience, combining performances by Broadway’s best with world class dining in an elegant setting. Steps from Times Square, the club is known as Broadway’s Living Room, a home away from home for Broadway professionals and audiences alike.
Amanda Raymond has invited SoundGirls.Org members visit and tour Feinstein’s/54 Below on the following dates.
If you are interested please RSVP to soundgirls@soundgirls.org with the following information:
Name
Contact -Email
Phone
Date Requested
Second Date Requested
Space is limited.
Dates/Schedule: (Folks can come for the whole day if they want, or any parts and pieces they would be interested in.)
10/4/16:
3pm – 5pm – Sound Check Show 1
7pm – Show 1
10/6/16:
2:30pm – 4pm – Sound Check Show 2
4pm – 5:30pm – Sound Check Show 1
7pm – Show 1
9:30pm – Show 2
11:30pm – Show 3
10/10/16:
3pm – 5pm – Sound Check Show 1
7pm – Show 1
10/11/16:
1pm – 3pm – Sound Check Show 2
3pm – 5pm – Sound Check Show 1
7pm – Show 1
9:30pm – Show 2
10/12/16:
1pm – 3pm – Sound Check Show 2
3pm – 5pm – Sound Check Show 1
7pm – Show 1
9:30pm – Show 2
10/14/16:
11am – 1pm – Sound Check Show 3
1pm – 3pm – Sound Check Show 2
3pm – 5pm – Sound Check Show 1
7pm – Show 1
9:30pm – Show 2
11:30pm – Show 3
10/17/16: 2pm – 5pm – Sound Check Show 1 & 2
7pm – Show 1
9:30pm – Show 2
10/20/16: 2pm – 4pm – Sound Check Show 2
4pm – 5pm – Sound Check Show 1
7pm – Show 1
9:30pm – Show 2
10/21/16: 11am – 1pm – Sound Check Show 3
1pm – 3pm – Sound Check Show 2
7pm – Show 1
9:30pm – Show 2
11:30pm – Show 3
10/25/16: 1pm – 3pm – Sound Check Show 2
3pm – 5pm – Sound Check Show 1
7pm – Show 1
9:30pm – Show 2
10/28/16: 12pm – 2pm – Sound Check Show 3
2pm – 4pm – Sound Check Show 2
7pm – Show 1
9:30pm – Show 2
11:30pm – Show 3
10/29/16: 2pm – 4pm – Sound Check Show 2
4pm – 5pm – Sound Check Show 1
7pm – Show 1
9:30pm – Show 2
As a sound designer, my sound effects library is one of my most significant resources. It is slightly insane how much time I devote to finding the perfect whoosh, drone, hit or random squishy sound for my sound design work. I can demo hundreds of versions of the same type of sound for hours, looking for one that’s got just a bit more HF or is half a second longer or is a touch more organic than electronic.
I’ve built up my sound effects library with love and care over the years and like most designers, I have my favourite places to find new sounds. Here’s a few:
There are two reasons I love ProSoundEffects. One, the single-downloads library is comprehensive, well-organised and the sounds are high-quality. Two, the PSE Hybrid Sound Effects Library is one of the best investments I have ever made as a sound designer and my starting point for creation or inspiration for almost every project. The number of sounds is staggering (tens of thousands), the audio quality is excellent, and it has a good range of more specific sounds not included in a lot of other libraries, underwater, subwoofer, and surround recordings in particular. The Hybrid Library isn’t cheap but you can get a significant discount through the Freelancer Program.
Sonniss is a great place to find more creative sound effects. I mainly use it to source sound design elements like hits, tones and rises and for interesting atmospheric ambiences and textures for gaming demos. You have to purchase sounds by collection, which can be a little annoying if you’re only after one or two files, but the prices are reasonable, and they do regular sales and giveaways.
A Sound Effect offers libraries from independent sound designers, which means their content is always pretty unique, even if it’s not as comprehensive as some of the other larger websites. It’s also great as a central resource for content that’s otherwise scattered across individual websites. Keep an eye on their social media feeds for sales and free stuff, in particular, the free downloads, which are great for discovering new designers and libraries that you can then explore in more detail.
Freesound is a hidden treasure trove of audio recordings and created sounds. Free to join, it describes itself as a “collaborative database” and as such, although the amount of content is vast, the quality is vastly variable. I use Freesound to find the everyday and the exotic, particularly location recordings of various countries. I’ve found great recordings of medieval battles, Antarctic penguin colonies, Japanese markets and African villages all on Freesound. All sounds are available under a Creative Commons License, so be mindful of this when using the sounds and always attribute as required.
Foley It Up!
When you can’t find what you’re looking for, record it yourself! It’s fun, free (once you have the kit) and you’re adding to your own FX library. Some of my favourite sounds are ones I created myself and after hours of robotically demo-ing hundreds of sounds, you’ll probably be glad of the fresh air, or at least the blood flowing back into your legs. I created the sound of a girl drowned in a bath with me, my partner, our bathroom, a Zoom H4 out of splash range and well-rehearsed safety signals. Who says sound design isn’t edgy?
There’s a great list of suggestions to get your Foley juices flowing here
There are tons of sound effects libraries out there, and I’m sure you have your own favourites to add to this list. Once you start building up a collection, the next step is organisation. It’s not as exciting as the sounds themselves, but just as important if you want to avoid hours of trawling to find a precise sound in your database. Expect a future blog post about my journey into audio asset management, but until then, happy whooshing.
All Seminars are held at
Rat Sound Systems
486 Constitution Ave
Camarillo, CA 93012
Seminars taught by Ivan Ortiz
10 am to 2 pm
Cost per seminar $40
20% discount for two or more seminars
Financial Assistance Available
Dec. 10 – Workshop on Best Practice for Throw and Go FOH and MONs
Seminar will cover:
Venue Limitations (Stage dims, proximity effect, House gear)
Priority in dialing a mix
Foldback mixing
Microphone selection and placement
File Storage
Digital console file management
What size USB, Virus protection
Festival file management for guest engineers (output patching, global, scenes, etc.)
Overview on different consoles – Hands on
Digico
Midas
Avid
Soundcraft
Dec. 17 – Power / Networking – Workshop on Best Practice for Power
Seminar will cover:
3 phase power vs. single phase
Clean power source
Isolating transformers
Battery backups
What you must know
Multi-meter
Dynamic Load
Generator power
Load Balancing
Networking
TCP/IP and the dot whatevers
Audio via Cat5 (Dante, AVB, etc.)
Jan 18th – What skills You Must Have
Seminar will include:
Listening/Mixing
Technical
Bring your many hats
People Skills
Communication
Know your place in a production
Working with Stage Crew
What are Sound Companies looking for in a technician
Qualities
Knowledge
Personality
Jan 14 – Understanding RF
Seminar will include
Transmission
Antennae
Cables and Impedance
FCC regulations
Active / Passive / Helical
Best Practice
Ideal and not so ideal scenarios
What not to do
Having a plan of action
Coordination
US Major cities
Tools / Software
Reality check
Limited Spectrum
Registration – Space is limited
If you would like to register for these seminars – please email soundgirls@soundgirls.org with the following info. We will send you an invoice to pay for the seminars. You will not be registered until payment is made. We will send you confirmation of registration.
Please include
Name:
Phone:
Email:
Seminars you would like to register for:
Dec. 10 – Workshop on Best Practice for Throw and Go FOH and MONs
Dec. 17 – Power / Networking – Workshop on Best Practice for Power
Jan 18 – What skills You Must Have
Jan 14 – Understanding RF
All seminars are $40, there is a 20% discount if you register for two or more seminars.
Financial Aid is available.
Last month we looked at preparing for a monitor gig – all the planning that happens long before we make noise. This month we’ll look at how to run the initial soundcheck and dial the band’s mixes up in an efficient and stress-free style! Good Foundations Part One.
You may have heard the old adage about monitors being 50% technology, 50% psychology. Well, there’s a lot of truth in that, although I’d probably go with thirds each of technology, psychology and good organisation!
So let’s say we’re now in the rehearsal studio or setting up for soundcheck. Everything is neatly labeled and patched in – organisation – and it’s time to get busy with the technology.
My first task is always the RF, and the first part I address is the setting on each unit. I make sure all the sensitivities, hi-pass filters, volume boosts, limiters etc are set to where I want them, then I turn to the RF itself (I highly recommend getting a hand-held scanner). I make sure the frequencies are both clean (no outside interference) and intermodulation-free (not interfering with each other). Once tuned to the chosen frequencies, the easiest way to check this is to have all the transmitters switched on (including mics and guitar packs), then switch off one transmitter at a time and see if the relevant receiver goes ‘quiet’ (displays no RF). If that’s the case, happy days; if not then there’s work to do, which I’ll address in greater detail next month.
When that’s all clear, I send pink noise to each IEM in turn and listen to the packs – left then right so I know they’re patched correctly. I walk the performance space and listen to each pack, to check that there are no drop-outs. Then I follow the same pink noise process with any hardwired packs on stage (again, check any filter switches are where you want them), and then the wedges, including my PFL.
Now I know that my outputs are good, I turn to the vocals. I set the gains, then dial them into the relevant IEM packs along with a touch of reverb.
Then it’s time to EQ the wedges. Using the main vocal mic, I first reduce any frequencies that just don’t sound good; then I see how far I can push my send before feedback, and pull out anything troublesome on the output EQ. I copy that EQ to all the wedges as my baseline. For the wedges with a vocal mic in front of them, I like to have a good 6dB of spare headroom on my send so that I have someplace to go, and I’ll often make that change on the mic input EQ.
If you have a singer who uses both IEMs and wedges (I don’t encourage it, but sometimes people are set in their ways), then it’s a great idea to split the vocal mic across 2 channels – one for the IEM, one for the wedges – so you can have different EQs.
The final stage of tech-checks is the inputs – it’s time to get the backline techs and FOH engineer involved for a line check. Good communication speeds this up – make sure you and FOH can hear each other, and if you’re in a big space then put both your shout mics through the wedges, or give the techs an IEM pack each so they can hear you too.
Finally, you’re ready for the band – and the psychology! A common mistake amongst new engineers is to have the band all pile in and play at once. This is a bad move because you won’t have time to set your gains and dial mixes in before they all start telling you what they can’t hear! One at a time is the golden rule. Have the drummer hit each drum individually – around 30 secs per drum should be sufficient to gain it and set a rough EQ – you can fine-tune later. When you’re fairly happy with each drum, bring that up in the drummer’s mix and move on to the next. Then have them play sometime, so they can tell you what they need more or less of.
Next up is bass. Set the gain and then have bass and drums play together. When the rhythm section is happy, I dial a rough drum and bass mix, minus overheads, into the other IEM packs (but I don’t do this if the band are on wedges, because they’ll get a lot of what they need acoustically).
Then I have guitars, keys, and any remaining musicians play one at a time, set each gain and bring them up in their own mix. Now they can each hear themself and the rhythm section.
Next, I ask them all to play together (no hard drive tracks at this stage, just a jam) and dial whatever else they need to hear for their ‘starting point’ mixes.
I then add hard drives if they’re being used, and finally, I hear the vocals.
It’s time to run a song and see how it’s all sitting. You’ll still need to tweak as you go along, but this process gets you to a really good place with the minimum of fuss.
Newer bands, in particular, will sometimes do two things which you, as the monitor engineer, should take charge of. Firstly, they often get excited and all want to play at once when they get behind their instruments. Make sure they can hear you, explain that you’ll build their mixes methodically and ask them to play one at a time. Secondly, they’ll start apologising every time they ask for a change (although this may be because I’m English and we apologise for everything!) You need to offer reassurance that you are there for them, so they can ask for what they need without worrying about it.
There are different ways of working, and you’ll develop your own over time, but this is a process that has never let me down. It leads to a happy band. And a happy band equals a happy monitor engineer!
After all, our purpose is to give the band the best audio environment possible, so they can get on with their job – giving the audience a truly kick-ass performance!
If you’ve been in this business for more than a week, you know how important training your ears can be. Training keeps your senses sharp and out of any ruts. Our hearing is very sensitive and in addition to protecting it, you need to keep it in shape.
An important ability for sound mixers of all kinds is the ability to focus your hearing onto individual sounds within a larger mix. This allows you to do a sort of zoom-in, analyze, and zoom back out, and analyze again. Another way to think about this is selecting “solo” on your console, without all the show-stopping awkwardness of actually solo-ing the channel in the middle of an event. It takes some practice but once you get it down, you should exercise it frequently. Your goal is to be able to focus in on something to make slight adjustments and then re-add them into the mix to finish making adjustments. This assures that you’re able to find issues deep in the mix, while still mixing the entire image. Another metaphor for this would be a magnifying glass to a painting; the smaller details matter, but we mustn’t forget the larger picture. Being able to focus your hearing will also let you hear whether not every instrument is audible. One of my top 3 mixing must-have’s is being able to hear every single instrument. A good training for this would be to listen to some of your favorite songs to try and find the quietest instrumental part. Focus on that and be sure you are able to recognize what rhythm they are performing to truly know that you have focused in on them. When you start to get comfortable, try going in and out of that instrument as quickly as you can.
Knowing your frequency ranges, and where common instruments fall on it, is a necessity. You should always know where to start when something going through your board needs to be EQed. You should also be able to identify at least the octave an issue is occurring in and the octave on either side. This gives you a 3 octave variance to find an issue. That’s significantly smaller than the entire spectrum. Then you don’t have to try to wildly sweep around and attack the problem. This can expedite the sound check process, as well as the process we as engineers go through in the heat of an error mid-show.
There are a few different ways you can go about training your ears for EQ
Pick out one of your favorite songs that you won’t mind listening to 300 more times. Import it into your favorite recording software or play it through your desk console. Apply a graphic EQ and set a 10dB or 15dB attenuation starting at 20hz. Bypass the EQ and listen to the song as it normally is, then turn the EQ back on. Listen carefully. Toggle between the bypass of the EQ and see if you can hear the difference. Then double the frequency on the band to go up an octave and do the same thing. Begin to learn what each one sounds like. Try to find identifying characteristics about each octave. Be sure to take frequent breaks to keep your ears fresh. When you don’t rest up, your ears get fatigued and try to enter into homeostasis. If homeostasis occurs, the differences will be skewed and all of the sudden you aren’t hearing any differences at all. If you start to get really good at hearing differences in a 15dB attenuation, make it 5dB, or even increase octaves of frequencies. When that gets boring, I recommend trying a program called Golden Ears. It’s a quality program that can blindly quiz you to really stretch you to the limits. Another great option that I tell my interns to use is SoundGym. It’s a free website that gives some great training on not only EQ, but sound quality, dynamics, and even sound location. It’s going to be tiring and it’s going to take some time, but doesn’t all training?
For all those in training, for as hard as you go in practice, there needs to be a recovery period where your body can repair the damage to build muscle. The same thing goes for hearing training. Protect your ears and like I mentioned before, you need to rest. I also recommend not overthinking. If you let your mind get clouded or distracted, you won’t be able to focus, or to train. There are times when I need to stop multitasking, close my eyes, and focus on 1 event, and 1 event only. I should also take a moment to remind all of you reading this that you need to protect your hearing. That rock band does not need to be 120dB. Get some molds for custom ear plugs and protect your most valuable asset. Consider it insurance.
So if you’re brand new to the field, or you’ve had 15 years behind the board, you should really keep your ears as fresh as possible, and as sharp as possible. Come up with brand new training to push yourself. If you care about your career, you’ll want to be great at it as possible. Training breeds greatness. Go, train.
Kirsty Gillmore is a London-based sound designer, sound engineer, voice demo producer, and voice actor. She started working as a sound engineer in 2000 in her home country of New Zealand. She has had a diverse career since that start, working across a variety of fields including music, post-production, broadcasting, theatre, opera, and live sound.
Musical since the age of five Kirsty was always part of the choir and orchestras at school. As she grew up, she played around with recording technology using cassette players and her mum’s record player. One of her favourite toys was a Casio PT-1 Synth and Kirsty credit’s this with an endearing love of vintage synths! After secondary school, she applied to study for two degrees in music and arts at the University of Auckland in New Zealand because it seemed like the logical choice. At this time. Kirsty wasn’t aware that studying sound engineering was an option until the second year of her degrees.
While playing viola in an outdoor production of Macbeth she struck up a conversation with the composer about a gig they had both been to and how it could have been improved by changing the mix. It was the first time she had thought about what went into making that music and sound happen, and it grabbed her. It was around this time that Kirsty decided that she didn’t have the talent to make it as a solo musician and the only other career option that seemed to have a clear path for music graduates was teaching. Kirsty was already teaching and didn’t consider this to be a lifelong career at this stage of her life. Being a sound engineer gave her an entirely different career path and a way of using her musical training without being a musician.
After that conversation in the mid-1990s, Kirsty spoke to a lot of sound techs and sound engineers, all had learned on the job by attaching themselves to particular bands. At the time, it was a pretty closed shop, exclusively male, and Kirsty couldn’t see a way in. She started looking into courses when her composer friend suggested a course that a friend of his had done. In the ’90s in New Zealand, there were only two institutions that offered sound engineering courses, so Kirsty applied to the one with the best reputation, the Music and Audio Institution of New Zealand. She almost had to decide on studying stage management and technical theatre, as she had been involved with theatre all the way through university, but the only technical theatre course in the country was brand new and didn’t cover sound. She spent two years training as a sound engineer, mostly in music production and also synthesis, live sound, post-production, radio sound, electronics, and sequencing. In her second year, Kirsty did a placement at a post-production studio and was offered a trainee role, which then led to a freelance position.
Her first job after graduating from the Music and Audio Institution of New Zealand was as a freelance ADR & Dubbing Engineer at Native Audio in Auckland, New Zealand. One of Kirsty’s jobs as a dubbing engineer was for a series of English-speaking children’s programmes that were dubbed into Maori. At the time in New Zealand, there weren’t many opportunities to work in sound and in 2002 Kirsty made the decision to move to London, UK. She threw herself into the local scene and applied for any audio job she could find and surprised herself by getting a job within the first month as an audio archivist at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
For the next eight years, Kirsty built her experience working in various roles at the BBC where she learned about sound for speech-based radio, TV and online. By 2010 her job had somehow become entirely administrative, and she was pretty unhappy, so when the opportunity for a redundancy came along, Kirsty took it and went back into freelance work.
By the end of 2010, Kirsty had set up her company, Sounds Wilde and spent the next year doing various freelance sound jobs in post-production, live sound and theatre before deciding to focus on theatre, voice acting, and voice production. Currently, Kirsty is looking to expand into sound design for games, which works well alongside voice acting work and directing for voice acting. She is also interested in more composition work.
Kirsty is a big believer and advocate of educating yourself both formally and with ongoing training. Her initial formal training gave her a solid understanding of the basic concepts and a common language for sound, but she finds that since she has been working in sound, she has consolidated these concepts, and it’s allowed her to build and expand her knowledge. Kirsty says there are topics she covered in her formal training which she only now really understands. In the past few years, Kirsty has done short courses on mixing for musicals, radio production and various aspects of theatre sound.
Through the early years of Kirsty’s career, she didn’t have much support, in fact, asking for support was actively discouraged in the jobs she held in the first five or so years of her career. Kirsty found that everyone was just expected to get on with their jobs and learn through mistakes. While Kirsty never had a mentor, (though she would have really loved one) there were people whose work she admired like Nigel Godrich, an English record producer, recording engineer and musician best known for his work with Radiohead, Butch Vig, an American musician and record producer, who is the drummer and co-producer of Garbage and also Sylvia Massy who, at the time was the only female producer, mixer and engineer Kirsty knew of. Massy is recognized for her work on Los Angeles’s alternative metal band Tool. When Kirsty started to specialise in post-production, she found she definitely admired the work and career of Leslie Ann Jones.
In her studio, Kirsty has Focal CMS50s as monitors, (which she loves). Kirsty does all her mixing in the box and in doing it this way – she doesn’t need a console. Her main go-to mic for voice-overs currently is an AKGC414 and for software, she uses ProTools for most of the recording and mixing she does, Ableton is used for looping and Qlab and Ableton are used for the theatre sound design work. For theatre sound, Kirsty prefers DiGiCo desks (with the theatre sound “T” software) and definitely DPA mics!
Kirsty has had her share of discrimination and is a prime example of self-belief and determination to come out the other side. Discussing how she has been accepted in a male-dominated field, Kirsty will tell you she has been discriminated against too many times to count.
Thankfully, the more experienced Kirsty became, the discrimination issues seem to be fewer. She is not sure if the climate is changing or if her body of work speaks for itself but says it’s nice not to have to deal with it as frequently.
Looking at what’s ahead for Kirsty seems pretty exciting. In her studio, Kirsty is looking to invest in more mics. She is interested in what Advanced Audio can offer as alternatives to the Neumann U47 and U87. She is also looking at replacing her soundcard soon and is hoping to trial a Focusrite Claret with Thunderbolt, and the equivalent from Apogee as well.
Hopefully, there will be more international opportunities. After years of working in London Kirsty is looking forward to working at least a few months next year in her home country of New Zealand both as a sound designer and sound design tutor. She would also like to expand into game sound design and develop a composition portfolio, as well as taking on more voice-over directing opportunities.
Kirsty’s message is about being consistent, persistent, and open to opportunities. She says “It’s great to have your heart set on a particular career in sound but don’t be put off if that doesn’t pan out at first. Once you know the fundamentals of sound, you can apply them to lots of different career paths as long as you’re willing to learn and take the time to meet people and build relationships. Technical skills are obviously imperative, but it’s your people skills that will get you the job. You’ve got to be prepared to hustle and find the opportunities; the jobs won’t come to you. Don’t be afraid to sell yourself, be proud of your achievements and confident in your skills while being open to learning from others”.
By Toni Venditti