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Empowering the Next Generation of Women in Audio

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Jin, Jiyan, Azadi

Woman is not defined in relation to man.  On this understanding is founded our struggle for freedom.       

Carla Lonzi. Rivolta Femminile – Rome 1970

 

I hope you will forgive my overtly political opening, but we are SoundGirls and have the luxury of being able to stand up for our rights in this patriarchal society without the constant fear of being beaten, arrested, and killed even.  The story is very different in other parts of the world, and I don’t want to forget the bravery of Iranian women at this time.

As this is the last of the current series of blogs, it would seem a fairly obvious step to review my year of anything and everything.  As an activist for human rights, which sounds grand but in reality is a series of small gestures for the oppressed which for me, means: women’s rights, the LGBTQIA+ community, and, most pressingly at the moment, freedom and self-determination for the women of Iran.  I know that there are men alongside the women in Iran but symbolically this is a woman’s struggle:

And because women bring their radicalism to the uprising, it can be said that a government can still hope to get away with it when only men are in the streets, but when women come out en masse, that government is finished.

Rossana Rossanda, from Le altre, Manifestolibri 2021

 

The reason Iran is important to me is that the women of Iran have already given so much in the struggle that they must win.  Their bravery is nothing short of inspirational, and of course, we know that this is important for all the women of this world.  Iran is not about hair, though haircutting is a beautiful symbol of the struggle.  In the final analysis, it’s about one struggle… to achieve one goal: the freedom of self-determination for every woman and gender-fluid person, to be free and equal in, what is at present, a man’s world: Liberty is the pathway to Equality.

As an active feminist and member of the LGBTQIA+ community, these things that are generally seen as outside of the arts are for me fundamental and are expressed through art.  Art that subverts and is often revolutionary; art that represents the struggle and oftentimes becomes a rallying cry or a hymn, seems to be alive and well in Latin America.  By focusing on protest and revolutionary music of Latin America, reminds me that very early on in this cycle of blogs, I championed the virtues of authenticity in art. I don’t have an authoritative definition of what constitutes authenticity in art, but I imagine that it has something to do with the reasons for which it was created and why it exists in an artist’s oeuvre.  Music that is commercial can obviously fit into this paradigm of authenticity: Taylor Swift’s “Folklore” seems a good candidate in this respect.  An example by the Argentinian rapper, Ana Tijoux and Los Chikoz del Maiz found a place in my life today with their protest song and video, the moving images an important part of the song’s message.

This is the song that started me thinking about migration and racism: The Strange Journey by Ana Tijoux and Los Chikoz del Maiz https://youtu.be/3O9PWUvd3y8

Italy now has a fascist government which after a short while in office, is falling into line with its ideology of racism: Italy for the Italians, etc. There has been a standoff between Italy and the rest of Europe over refugees being banned from entry and kept at sea in insanitary conditions.  This is from this morning’s newspaper “La Stampa”:

The headline, “Italy Inhumane” and the byline, “Italy has been most inhumane and its authorities unprofessional in the face of the emergency”

The Bar chart on the right shows the actual numbers of migrants accepted; the last three, Italy, Hungary, and Poland all have far-right governments.

I’ll come back to the question of authenticity in a short while after I recap the timeline that has brought me to this delicious but scary point in my life.  I graduated from the University of East Anglia in 1978 having studied Music and Fine Arts – about 80/20 %.  My specialisms turned out to be – because you never know, they just happen sometimes – Early music and Contemporary music, I have since filled in the missing classical and romantic periods.

In my first blog, I tried to establish a link from my experiences of electroacoustic music of the late seventies to the present, which has taken me a while of experimenting with the sonic possibilities of newer technologies.  So, after a year of experimenting with processing my recorded sounds, having learned to make use of synthesized sounds through the MAX MSP modules and adapting sound samples from the Spitfire Audio library, I still mainly use my own recorded samples.  On a technical note, I use the Zoom H6 Handy recorder and I usually record at 96 kHz 24-bit; 32-bit floating point is not available on this recorder.  Though, as I have said in a previous blog, I also record on my iPhone since it is always with me.  Now I remember talking about ‘dirty recordings’, background noise, wind noise, accidental knocks, etc.  I can honestly say that I treasure my dirty recordings which are processed in Adobe Audition as 96kHz 32-bit wav stereo files; moreover, they remain ‘authentic’ since they represent a time. a place and a sound experience; they are original and individual, and the sound would not exist without the sound artist’s intervention in rescuing it and preserving its memory – thank God (though I am an atheist) for my iPhone.  The two links below demonstrate Zoom’s IQ6 and IQ7 microphones for iPhone or iPad; maybe worth carrying the IQ7 which has some interesting features and captures stereo via its specific software app.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–FVSsSTTeM&t=15s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikWgl2eLwqk

In February, I considered the term ‘Experimental music’ and came across these definitions which hold some truth and possibility:

Experimentalism is entirely separate from any musical form and focuses on discovery and playfulness without an underlying intention.

In other words: Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning, institutionalized compositional, performing, and aesthetic conventions in music.

If I’m honest, I start off with an underlying intention, but the experimentation and failures, and adapting means that the underlying intention for me is much more fluid.  Experimenting is a key element in sound art, including my own works. I suppose that what I do with my recorded samples satisfies most of the criteria cited. However, in my most recent piece, Debris of a Night, I used feedback recorded with my Zoom H6 patched through my interface and recorded onto Reaper, fig 1.  I recorded three tracks, and I got better at controlling the feedback with each take though the chance element was high which gives it its ‘chance’ credentials.  When I recorded the vocal track, I played track 3 at the same time so that I got a noisier version of the feedback alongside my vocal, and then, at the creation and mixing stage, I put both tracks slightly out of sync for an echo effect which is not always noticeable but drifts in and out as other sounds in the mix either mask or reveal.  Tracks in Audition during composition and mix are shown fig 2.  My evolution as a Sound Artist, though this is not the whole story, has been one of getting away from a classically inspired approach on which the narrative thread of each piece gives me a framework on which to hang my vision.  I can exemplify what I mean.

fig 1

 

fig 2

Looking at the works I created this year, Her Blacks Crackle and Drag, based on a work I built around the poet Sylvia Plath (another dream) is almost symphonic in its proportions which is probably due to the narrative structure that underlies it and my still classical ethos.  So, in five movements, lasting 24 minutes, the piece had 63 tracks and two buses and used 98 separate sound files.

My next piece, Bamboo: the foolishness of things is shorter at 15 minutes but still made use of 32 tracks and two buses. Although it was based on a short piece of text from The Book of Tea it is less noticeably a story but inhabits a more self-contained sound world. This can be found at the link below.

https://soundcloud.com/francesca-caston/bamboo-the-foolishness-of-things

Debris of a Night, as I have already suggested, was mainly improvised in the sense that the vocal track was improvised in terms of content and timing, by which I mean that I recorded the words to fit into the spaces and general feel of the three feedback tracks.  Not only were these four tracks improvised but so also were the instruments; after some rehearsal, they were recorded along with the voice and feedback.  The percussion track was added last, a midi file in Reaper was improvised alongside the vocal and then exported back to audition for the final balancing mix. This was not any easier technically but was only 11 tracks plus 6 buses since each track can only be sent to one bus in Audition.  This piece has taken me closer to how Sound Art and Electroacoustic music have changed over the years and is also a transitionary step towards working with live electronics and performing musicians.

For this piece, I made use of the new algorithmic reverb plugin from Baby Audio, Crystalline.  It came about since I got some feedback from CMMAS which suggested that I had overdone the reverb (EMT Rev Plate – 140), I had originally added delay to confuse the text, already struggling amongst the feedback tracks and the idea was that I would automate its gradual fade out so that the voice became clearer, bearing in mind that it was recorded, handheld within the feedback sounds so was already uneven.

At this point I have to explain my personal ethic as a sound artist, and here I invoke yet again the concept of authenticity.  This piece is based on a recurring dream I’ve had for years which is probably telling me that I have an anxious attachment style and a fear of abandonment dating back to my childhood, but I know this anyway. So, whilst not trying to create an aural equivalence of the dream, the sounds, and the music suggested confusion at the opening and the heavily processed voice of the original was me, gradually coming out of the oppression of the dream and gaining control over the situation.   However, also recognizing that it is a piece of art that wishes to communicate something, I also have to be aware of my potential audience and the need to create an aesthetic around my means of expression.  In other words, my deepest, most personal, and intimate thoughts and feelings are presented as a thing of beauty, poetry, and metaphor, ready to elicit analogous sensations in those who witness the performance.  In other words, I feel a duty to be clear.

 

While trying to work out a way in which I can represent personal feelings through art but in a way that might be comprehensible to an audience, I sketched out a few ideas in which my metaphorical somnambulism might be represented in a way that does not expose my innermost feelings and yet is interesting enough for an audience to want to listen and try to understand.  Through an analogous process of transliteration, I reinterpret what is hidden within me into a thing of beauty that is ready to be understood. I use the word beauty in the aesthetic sense.

Taking account of these considerations, I took on the technical challenge of wanting reverb on the voice to establish being lost in a wilderness of emptiness and yet also in an edifice that is both physical and an analogue of my mental state.  In the end, I decided to opt for Baby Audio’s algorithmic reverb unit which seemed to have a clean sound and a very user-friendly interface where the fine-tuning controls are presented as realities rather than just numbers; as an experimental composer, I find that twiddling and listening carefully is more natural to me than relying on visual numbers – notwithstanding the usefulness of numbers if I want to find a setting I like.

Now it’s clear to me that reverb can easily get lost among three tracks of feedback and so I listened to the vocal track soloed and also in the company of various other tracks and, as I’m sure you know, what sounds a bit too much solo, can be just right in the mix, and this has been another part of my development after my 40-year absence from electroacoustic music: the bus tracks!  I won’t go into the differences between bussing in Reaper or Audition, just enough to say that I still find Audition clearer for me to work with.  The following sound samples are based on a fragment of the solo percussion track, which was improvised live to complement the voice, though I had to do a small amount of splicing for precise entries.  I’m using the percussion track rather than the voice to exemplify the reverb options I considered since it is easier to distinguish the various phases of dry attack and wet reverb.  You can see from the waveforms how the various reverb units have affected the sound. The Soundcloud link takes you to the sound samples: 1: dry; 2: Audition Surround reverb; 3: Arturia EMT Plate – 140, and 4: Baby Audio – Crystalline.

https://soundcloud.com/francesca-caston/reverb-on-percussion

or if you cannot get access since the link is private the following link will work

https://soundcloud.com/francesca-caston/reverb-on-percussion/s-FskkBr2KGv6?si=e3bc23fb003f405fbc611844c90b6ce4&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

 

The link below takes you to a full explanation of the controls of the reverb unit, so I shan’t overelaborate.  In this example, I used a preset that I created ‘my voice,’ which sounds better on the solo track than the percussion preset.  However, in the mix, I used the ‘percussion’ preset given that it was competing with three tracks of noisy and unpredictable feedback.  This preset highlighted the transients a bit more: shape/transients placed the emphasis on the attack and the clean-up/damping controls highlighted the upper partials by adjusting the low pass filter.  This is the beauty of this plug-in for me, the icons on the controls change shape to represent visually what is being shaped. The left side controls change the nature of the reverb and mimic the size of the space.  The BABY AUDIO button at the top is a by-pass and the center panel has the familiar dry/wet control and a ducker (see the video for an explanation of the latter – I didn’t use it). The controls I found really useful were the start/end allowing me to delay the onset of the reverb for a dry start, giving a cleaner attack and the end control allowed me to adjust the length of the reverb. I had a great time experimenting with these and felt that I could really shape my sounds.  Despite my antipathy for too many numbers, these settings, expressed in milliseconds, were useful, especially if I wanted to repeat a certain setting.  So, in summary, a user-friendly interface made controlling the reverb relatively easy.  If you are interested to know more the video (linked below) is a good introduction.  And of course, the sound is good, although the reverb component can be heard differently according to the nature of the input.  In these examples, the reverb changes from the first burst to the second in respect of the different instruments.

https://youtu.be/FquRvVSInZc

To hear the percussion within the piece Debris of a Night go to just after 5 minutes:

https://soundcloud.com/francesca-caston/debris-of-a-night

At this point, in my artistic development, I am looking forward to my move to Mexico with the main aim of working collaboratively with other artists at the Centro Mexicano para la Música y las Artes Sonoras (CMMAS) in Morelia, Michoacán, México which is just a four-hour train ride from México City where there is a strong presence of Sound girls.org and I have already contacted one of the Sound girls in Mexico City and look forward to getting to know them. There is also a thriving arts scene there.  Mabe Fratti, a young Guatemalan cellist, vocalist, and experimental composer is in that ‘sweet spot’ between experimental musician and contemporary performer.  She has the voice of an angel but can shred through her pedal board and electronics. Here she is with Concepción Huerta in live performance and live electronics in a very homely setting.  Oh, and I forgot to mention the way they look at each other at the end; real collaboration and a ‘did we do OK?’’ maybe.

https://youtu.be/2hqgSxJsdKI

I thought it might be OK to mention two Latin American Sound Artists with whom I hope to collaborate.  Rodrigo Sigal is the director of CMMAS and, as I discovered after reading his paper on the state of electroacoustic music in Latin America, did his Ph.D. with the same professor with whom I had studied in the late seventies.  So apart from the coincidence itself, there might be some similarity in our approaches to sound art since our shared teacher had studied in Paris with members of the French School: Pierre Schaeffer, Pierre Henry, and Bernard Parmegiani, among others; composers who spearheaded the musique concrète movement.  The center has a wealth of talent and materials to share including courses on Tidal Cycles; Super Collider; MAX MSP, as well as hybrid practices ranging from orchestral and instrumental to fully electronic music production.  This piece by Rodrigo, Frictions of things in other places, is typical of a style that inhabits a ‘sound world’ and moves the sound around in a dynamic way.

https://youtu.be/Uyx43HjuzKA

Ana Maria Romano Gomez is a composer I met online through the Oslo-based arts and technology group at NOTAM.  She is based in Bogotá, Columbia, and has almost single-handedly organized and represented a woman’s movement in contemporary music. I was delighted to discover that she is preparing a course for the center in Morelia and again, we both have a good deal in common from the fact that we are both active feminists to our creative spirit even though we are from different continents. We have been in touch, and I hope that we will find opportunities to collaborate.  Her introduction to the audio-visual work created for the Sound Perspectives 2022 at CMMAS states that:

“Ana María Romano Gomez is a Colombian interdisciplinary composer and sound artist, and her creativity questions the intersection between gender, sexualities, sound, and technology, and is traversed by listening, soundscape, space, body, and political dimensions in its creation.  In all aspects of her life, she considers collective and collaborative work fundamental. Her works have been presented and published in Latin America, North America, Europe, and Asia.  She has been an artist in residence at the Centro Mexicano para la Música y las Artes Sonoras  (CMMAS). In 2019 she was nominated for the Classical Next Award Innovation for the management of the En Tiempo Real Festival in bringing to prominence the work of women artists: I think I followed much of that online.

She has developed in-depth research on the composer Jacqueline Nova, a pioneer of electroacoustic music in Colombia. She currently teaches at the Universidad El Bosque, coordinates the Plataforma Feminista En Tiempo Real, and is a member of the network of Compositoras Latinoamericanas “

In her introduction to the pieces, she suggests listening with headphones.

https://youtu.be/TtBaOe8cIkE

So, I’m counting the days to be in México. My plan is to be in Cuidad de México on 8 March, International women’s day, and then begin thinking as a Méxican sound artist, by which I mean, I will draw my inspiration from the vibe that surrounds me and collaborate with other artists on all kinds of projects: Song Cycle for soprano, rapper, harp, bass clarinet, and live electronics is on my list as well as working with a choreographer, and of course, meet some of the indigenous people, the Purépecha and maybe be inspired by their music.

But in reality, who knows what future awaits me?  I’ll begin by just taking in the air of Michoacán, known as the soul of México, and absorb the musical vibe, and who knows… two quotes from Mexican singer, Natalia LaFourcade which I like. Speaking of a song collection and video she says: Un canto por México es una voz colectiva…  and naturally I would like to be part of that voice.  She also says: viva el trabajo en comunidad… well that just reminds me of one of the main reasons I want to be there.

And, if you like, you can see exactly what she means.  These musicians are a collective voice, they are working as a team but, most importantly, having a whale of a time and making great music.

https://youtu.be/emTLbk7jd8E

So: con tanto amore e sorellanza a tuttə le mie sorelle Soundgirls, 

baci

 

 

The Future is Spatial

You read that title correctly, the future is spatial ( and binaural ) audio. Here’s why!

Back in 2012 everyone was awaiting our Pixar-Disney princess, and despite mixed reviews on how people perceived the movie Brave, one thing was undeniable; Atmos was here. Dolby Atmos had debuted, testing the limits of immersive audio in film. In 2022 you can find the technology displayed in home theatres, gaming consoles such as the Xbox One, certain smartphones, Airpods, and even your car.

Why? Is stereo not enough? What exactly is so enthralling about it?

It’s the feeling of being or doing something you wouldn’t normally be able to do, that magic of watching a film, closing your eyes when listening to a podcast like Ronstadt, and feeling like you are in that space – doing what they are and experiencing what they are. Spatial audio is the experience of space and movement of sound in 360 degrees, in normal demonstrations you might find domes or sphere-like-shaped demonstrations with speakers set up to surround the listener head to toe. Binaural audio is this same experience, only over headphones ( and no – 12D is NOT a thing ).

Abersonics, the DAD system, and Atmos are examples of established companies. Now unless you are Coca-Cola with the trade secret of its recipe, things normally bleed out to the public. This happened when the synthesizers and drum machines were more accessible to the general public – that same thing is happening to spatial audio programs, plugins, and equipment. Enter MaxMSP – why buy a spatializer when you can build one? Max is a programming language for the tech-savvy music makers – maybe in the future I can go more in-depth on building patches and programming on MaxMSP ( and a shout out to Pure Data ) but we can hold off on that. My point on bringing them up is that just with new technology comes new innovation – and it often comes from the small individual rather than the large corporation. What will spatial audio paired with projectionists do for the next generation of theatre makers? Live sound? I would argue that a lot can and will happen regarding this within this decade – I’d bet on it too. As people use this tech to build and create new jobs and avenues that have never existed before will emerge.

Something that has captivated me is the fast-paced progression of projection technology. Over the summer I was lucky to see Between the Lines, the show mainly took place with our protagonist, Delilah, looking and talking to her male counterpart, Prince Oliver. Prince Oliver lives in the world inside of a children’s book, and in order to illustrate that the crew used a combination of set design, lighting, and projection. The latter was unbelievably impressive to me, how the projections surrounded Oliver to make him look and feel 2-dimensional without taking away from the fact that you indeed are looking at an actual person move and act in a certain way. Broadway has been looking into projection design more and more, go to one of your favorite productions and prove me wrong. The current 2022 Les Miserables tour uses projection to create a sense of depth, it’s visual paired with the reverberant orchestra pulls you in. I focus on Broadway here because I think that we as audio engineers and enthusiasts can help to bring in more involved audiences. I’m talking about Immersive theatrical experiences with in-the-round and thrust configurations with full-range projection and spatial audio compositionists. If we look to more productions emulating Sleep No More’s theatrical sass of having audiences become part of the show we may cultivate a blurred line between performer and audience – but is that a bad thing? I say no, I say we welcome this inevitably with open and excited arms.

The future is in immersion, the future is spatial.

Tips For Indie Artists Outside Major Music Cities

I recently moved back to my hometown from Los Angeles to kickstart my music career, which I’m sure sounds counterintuitive. Aren’t you supposed to move to the major music city, not away? Before I left for college, I was so ready to leave my hometown and explore music scenes elsewhere. However, after I quit my full-time job this year to be an independent artist, I decided to go home to save up money and work in a space where my creativity can flourish. If you’re a developing independent artist who either by choice or by chance lives in a small town or outside the likes of Los Angeles, New York, or Nashville, I want to share with you some ideas I have about making the most of your musical environment from my own experience.

Connect with your local music community.

The main challenge I’m facing now that I’m outside of Los Angeles is remote networking. I miss attending my friends’ and colleagues’ performances and connecting with other independent artists who follow a path similar to mine. Even though the music scene in my hometown is different, there are still opportunities to network with other artists. Here, many restaurants and non-profit groups host large community-building events that often have live music, so I can attend these events and meet local musicians this way. Many gigs around me require musicians to play mostly covers for long periods, which can be really exhausting, especially if you are trying to share original music in a non-acoustic genre. Even if this style of gigging isn’t something you want to do, it’s really easy to use the Facebook Events tab, add your location, and find these gigs in your area to attend. I’ve found that supporting other musicians at gigs while I’m working on recording and producing at home keeps me inspired and reminds me of how loved the live music scene is in my hometown. I also feel that bonds with local musicians lead to a unique, lifelong support system.

Set up a remote rig

I think setting up a small home studio no matter the quality is essential, even if you’ve just got a USB microphone, your laptop, a DAW, and some headphones. If you don’t intend on producing, you can still keep track of new ideas you have and you can seamlessly send off recordings or demo tracks to producers or industry professionals to work with remotely. I recommend looking for good beginner bundles on Sweetwater to get you going in the right direction. I’m a firm believer in investing in long-term gear, so I think it’s best to find an affordable starting place and then build on your home setup if you want to. You can isolate your sound for recordings by using closets and blankets to reduce room noise. While I hope to work with mixers in the future, I’m currently a one-woman recording studio with my bedroom setup. I can easily record my vocals, arrange MIDI tracks in my DAW, mix on headphones and speakers, and send off my prints to a mastering engineer. Even though I’m home, I’m still putting out new singles on Spotify and other streaming platforms with my rig.

Get on TikTok

If you’re like me, then the idea of making a video of yourself makes you cringe. I’ve avoided posting myself, video content, and ultimately my music on social media for most of the time I’ve been making music. Something I’ve learned recently is that just like performing in front of a live audience, taking videos of myself for TikTok takes practice to build confidence. Something else I’ve learned in the past year is that confidence isn’t absorbed from others, it’s generated within yourself when you take risks and do the things that scare you. Posting on TikTok scares me, but it is the largest audience for musicians, producers, and artists of all kinds right now. As independent artists, it is vital for us to adapt to the changing industry. So I’ve followed some tips I’ve learned from other friends who post regularly on TikTok and am developing some consistency and some confidence! It’s not every day I can really get myself to make a video, so a few days throughout the week when I’m really grounded, I will make a few videos at a time to have multiple to post for the week. Besides clips of my music, I share insight on my songwriting, recording, and production process, and I like to keep the material as authentic as possible so I can engage with an audience that is similar to me.

When I first moved back home, despite my determination to start putting out music, I was fully expecting to feel isolated from the entire music industry for a while. With an open mind, I feel more akin to the music industry than I expected. I know that being in a small town and shooting for the stars can feel hard when it seems like all the stars are concentrated in a big city or on a different coastline. However, as independent artists, we have the power to use all the incredible resources around us and step into the spotlight.

Designing With Vocals: Part Two

Part One Here

I just released a new song this month called “This Time” and thought it would be a great opportunity to expand on my tips for sound designing with vocals. Similar to my last release, I recorded all the lead vocals and harmonies in Pro Tools with a temporary instrumental track and click track for timing. I used iZotope RX9 and Melodyne to clean up and tune the vocals using AudioSuite and committing Melodyne. I automated the lead vocals and adjusted the balance of the harmonies before exporting the tracks into Ableton. For this session, I exported sums of the harmonies and backing vocals in order to focus on the production elements of the song in Ableton and not obsess over the balance of the vocals. It also makes it easy to manipulate groups of harmonies together since I’m exporting from one DAW to the other.

The main sonic element of the breakdown of my song is a multilayered “ah” vocal that carries throughout the section and sounds like its own synth. I did most of my design work with this sum of vocals, starting with the use of iZotope’s Stutter Edit in the intro of my song. This was my first time using this plug-in, and it was a bit intimidating when I first opened it up. I focused on manipulating the “rate” and “step” parameters under the “stutter” section to get some interesting patterns to combine with an opening low-pass filter as the intro of my song. I followed a helpful YouTube tutorial in order to get started and found a great preset to work off of called Delay Filter Build. In the picture below you can see I kept the parameters simple but found a great effect with it that ties the intro of the song to the breakdown.

 

Further building on the breakdown of “This Time,” I wanted to incorporate the nostalgic feeling I get from 2010’s House music like some of Calvin Harris’s earlier hits for example. I have all the synths and background vocals side-chained to a four-on-the-floor kick to give it this floating effect. Adding the previously mentioned “ah” vocal layer into the sidechain to make it more emotive and flowy was a much faster process for me since I summed those vocals into their own stereo track when I exported out of ProTools. All I had to do to cover this technique was use the default compressor plug-in in Ableton and activate the side chain. I made a separate muted track that followed the kick pattern so I could control when the sidechain was occurring throughout the song and isolate it to that section. I set this as the key to the sidechain for the vocals and synths and adjusted the attack and release times according to to feel. Some people like to find the length of one beat in the particular tempo they are using and set attack and release times based on those calculations. I have tried this before but generally find that it doesn’t always feel the way I want it to, so I just make sure I’m using the same sidechain parameters for all my tracks to keep it clean. In the image below you can see how I use this with an auto filter and a phaser to transition the vocal layers from the last chorus into the breakdown.

 

 

In my last blog on vocal designing, I used Simpler’s classic option to create a sampled melody from one of the lyrics in that song. For this song, I created a sampled vocal melody again with Simpler, but instead, I used the slice option for a more typical EDM-sounding sampled vocal. First, in ProTools, I took a chunk of the lead vocal and processed it with iZotope VocalSynth for autotune and formant shifting effects. I used this processed vocal in the breakdown as is, and I also added it to a MIDI track with Simpler on to create a new melody. With the slice option, I could map out the different notes of the existing melody, so I could control the rhythm and choppiness of those notes. I preferred this method far more than just using the one-shot method in my last song because I actually made a unique melody with it that diverged from the song’s original melody. This technique was also really intuitive to navigate and utilize and (honestly) made me feel like a real producer for maybe the first time…

 

 

I love using vocals to add effects and elements to my productions, and I’ve found that I’m really developing my own skills as a producer as I search for more exciting ways to express my recorded vocals. I hope to share more tips and tricks with my future songs as I discover more.

Mid-Side: The Perfect Microphone Rig for Podcasts & Radio

Podcasts are a booming industry, and there is much room to increase production value even further. Recording the subject is always priority number one. By adding to that priority and recording rich audio, it is likely that you will increase your listenership by having an experience that immerses the listener. For those podcasts that are conducting interviews outside or on location rather than in a studio, there is a sophisticated yet simple recording setup: the mid-side rig!

Think of mid-side recordings as customizable stereo. You record two channels, bring them into your DAW, and work some encoding magic to create a file with adjustable stereo width. From a storytelling perspective, you get your subject, or interviewee, in the center and also an immersive stereo ambience. Long used in music and field recording, there are many opportunities to make podcast production shine with this versatile technique.

Microphones & Accessories

The “mid” is a cardioid, hypercardioid, or supercardioid mic, and the “side” is a figure eight mic. (Caveat: there are variations with omni mics as the mid, which generally make for a wider stereo field.) The mid mic captures your subject in your center channel, and the side mic, which is aimed 90 degrees from the source, captures the environment.  Whether you choose a hyper or supercariod mic depends on what you are capturing. A supercardiod mic makes for a wider stereo image when you encode it later. And, despite hypercardiods being more directional, I personally tend to favor the supercardiod pattern for recording people in the field. A subject can afford to be a little more off-axis, ensuring that if the rig is not aimed 100% perfectly, there will still be a good capture of the subject.

The two sides of the figure eight mic are 180 degrees out of phase, so a positive charge on one side of the mic’s diaphragm creates a negative equal charge on the other side. The front of the mic (the plus side), is pointed to the left, while the rear (or negative side) is pointed to the right.  In the past, I have used a Sennheiser MKH 50 for the mid and an MKH 30 for the side. They are sturdy and sound great! In live concert situations, I have seen engineers use AKG 414s with the polar patterns set accordingly. The important thing is to avoid phasing by correctly lining up the mic capsules. In the pictures below, the MKH pair has the mid mic positioned so the top of the grill is behind the bottom of the side’s mic capsule. The mid of the 414 pair is facing “north-south” while the side is positioned “east-west.”

As far as physically rigging it up, I’ve personally used a Rycote pistol grip and blimp specifically made for mid-side recordings with the MKH mics. For interviews in the field, definitely use a pistol grip (or some kind of shock absorption) and wind protection that will fit your setup.

Examples of mid-side setups.

My recorder has a mid-side setting!

Don’t use it. Record each channel straight mono because you will encode the recording later! Leaving the work for your DAW keeps your stereo width customizable, which is the beauty behind mid-side recording. Record each mic to a single track.

Where the Science Happens

All pictures provided are of ProTools, but everything you need to do to master your recordings are basic functions of any DAW. After you import your recordings, make a third track. Copy the audio from the side mic to this track.

Flip the phase of the copied audio. Here, I’ve done it with the Trim plugin.

Pan the original side recording track left, and the copied one right. These two channels now represent what your side mic was hearing.
Your mid-track is your mono-center channel. Bring up the volume of the side channels — you start to introduce a stereo spread! The level of the mid channels affects how wide the stereo image is, which is why I enduringly call mid-side recordings “customizable stereo.” The lower the side channels, the narrower the stereo image. The higher the side channels, the wider the stereo image.

The Listener Benefit

There is a technical benefit to mid-side recordings other than ear candy. On stereo systems such as headphones, listeners will hear stereo ambience. On mono systems (such as a single bluetooth speaker), because the phase on the side copy gets flipped, when the audio gets summed to mono, the original audio cancels the copy out. The recording sums to mono automatically. Changing the phase relationship gives control over how the mix sounds on the distribution side.

Recording with the mid-side technique in the field is a serious consideration because it is an easy way to create immersion for your podcast. Try it on your next interview!

The Sound of “Silence”

 

Did you know that not all silence or room tones are made equal? While I would never advocate listening to things loudly, you do need to make sure you are listening loud enough to hear certain issues in your room tone. This was a mistake I made when I first started. Part of my first job archiving and restoring for the Metropolitan Opera with LongTail Audio (RIP) was to audition (listen to) the tapes as we transferred them. This had several motives. One– to make sure all the music was there (so that means we used a score), and Two– to document any noises or grave issues with the sound (heavy use of markers).

Because I was a newbie at things like this, I was super paranoid about damaging my hearing. I knew I was going to be listening on headphones for 8 hours or more a day, so naturally, I tried to make sure I didn’t overdo it. But, when you first start, everyone is watching your work (as they should be). And one of the main things that I was missing was dropouts. Dropouts happen in analog tape with anything from tape damage to the age of the tapes to how they play back on the machine. This is what they look like if you view the spectral content.

 

By looking at it, you would think it’s impossible that you wouldn’t hear this. (To be fair this picture is probably a digital dropout which means you lose everything even for a few ms). But a lot of times, the dropout doesn’t manifest like a loss of programming. Sometimes it’s a momentary drop of tape hiss. Sometimes it actually sounds like a thud.

 

 

The good thing is there are ways to fix them if you have programs that can interpolate – like Izotope RX’s Spectral Repair or Cedar, etc. But my main point of this blog is that you need to be able to hear them.

The engineer that trained me on this job was someone I really admired and looked up to, I-hua Tseng. She was an amazing engineer who left us too soon, and I’m happy that I had the opportunity to work and learn from her. What she told me was to focus on the hiss. Most artifacts would jump out at you, but if you focus on the hiss, any momentary change or loss of signal will also jump out at you since your ear becomes accustomed to the noise floor. So your ear will detect a change if there is a loss. Your ears are amazing, so make sure you use them to their full capacity!

This brings me to the next important piece of “silence” which is room tone.

Do you know that not all room tone sounds the same? We worked with an entire folder of different room tones to fix things when they were needed. We had mono room tone, stereo room tone, dark room tone, bright room tone, room tone from the 70s, 60s, 30s, 40s, Dolby encoded, not. (Feeling like Bubba Gump here, but you get the idea) Anytime we ran into a good length or room tone, we would cut and export and drop it in the folder for the future.

Why would you need room tone? Because you don’t always go to digital black after something ends. Let’s say you’re in between movements of something or the tape ends and the room tone cuts off abruptly so you just need a little more to create a nice fade out, these are some of the reasons you would need room tone.

As I said, not all room tones are equal. The reason we had folders of room tone is that sometimes the programming wouldn’t contain anything you could work with. In this case, you would find the one that matched the best, and crossfade that into the other. And listen, sometimes you couldn’t find a perfect match, so instead of fading the existing room tone with another not as closely sounding one, you just replace it with the new one. It’s like trying to match navy and black; if you can’t get them to match exactly, you will notice. So just stick with one.

Did you know you also need room tone in podcasting? If you have a reporter who was done a lot of field recording, you also need room tone. Sometimes the interviews are done in less-than-ideal environments, so once that interview is edited, you’ll need room tone so that the noise floor doesn’t drop right away. This may seem tedious sometimes if there is a lot from this interview, but it does wonders when you are listening to a podcast and you don’t have someone’s quote just cut off because there is not a nice smooth fade. You can help your producers by asking them to ALWAYS record room tone any time they are out in the field reporting. This way you’re not scrambling to fake and create things out of nothing.

This may seem like a no-brainer and you’re now questioning why I’m even bothering to write this blog, but you would be surprised how much sloppy room tone I’ve heard and/or received. Creating a nice unnoticeable room tone to the listener is an art – an art many people in this industry take for granted because they think they should be doing more important things. But even something as small as room tone should be done with care.

 

Above I said we would look for a good length of room tone when we found and save that. That’s because if you grab less than one second and loop it if there is one tiny little bump, it will look like the above. And anyone will hear that. It sounds like a rattle or even a weird stutter sound effect (which may be cool in your pop track but not here). The fact that someone sent this to me to finalize says to me this person was not listening at a level that you could hear this OR this person only listened on speakers. I know in our field people constantly tell you to listen on speakers and “mixing on headphones is a no-no,” but critical listening really is better on headphones (IMHO). I *always* listen to my work and my mixes with headphones at some point – usually at consistent intervals just for checks and balances.

You do learn to look (listen) out for these things, so nowadays after having done this for 15 years, I can identify them quickly. But it’s important to train your ears. Whether it’s identifying anomalies or learning what 250 hz sounds like, invest in your craft – and by invest I mean your time! Not everything has a price on it. The better you are at hearing things, the better engineer you will be.

This was a great tool when I started: Golden Ears by Moulton Laboratories. They were several CDs (lol CDs) that had exercises to train you to identify different frequencies, EQs, and different processing. (Someone also conveniently uploaded some to Soundcloud here, so get your listen on).

Nowadays there are lots of A.I. ways to create room tone. Izotope RX10 has Ambience Match which generates and matches the noise floor. But make sure you listen to your room tone, don’t settle because you’re in a hurry. Having attention to detail and seamless editing will set you apart from everyone else.

Annlie Huang: Music Editor for Television & Mix Engineer

 

Annlie Huang is a Los Angeles-based music editor for streaming content at Marvel Studios and an independent mix engineer. She began her journey by obtaining a B.F.A. in Performing Arts Technology and a B.S. in Sound Engineering from the University of Michigan, and she has since become a consummate professional with vast experience ranging across the spectrum of film sound production and post-production. Her credits include Mulan, Frozen 2, Avengers: End Game, and most recently Moon Knight and She-Hulk. Even with her film and television work amassing, Annlie still takes on mixing projects for musicians she admires when moved. I first became aware of Annlie’s work and story when she presented at WAMCon LA in 2019 from a soundstage at The Walt Disney Studios, where she worked as a mix tech at the time. Her steady confidence and presence in that space stayed with me. With her newborn baby by her side, Annlie answered the following questions via correspondence just a week ago.

You have previously worked in ADR and re-recording and have most recently served as assistant music editor on many projects, including some of my family’s favorite Marvel shows! How have these past roles prepared you for your current work?

Probably the biggest benefit of having been in different roles is learning the different language & lingo that people use in different departments & crafts (and subsequently understanding what other people know & don’t know). So many of the crafts that go into filmmaking are so highly specialized that effective communication can be a bigger challenge than people realize. Once you’re able to translate between disciplines & departments, you kind of gain a new superpower that opens up a lot of relationships, ideas, and possibilities for better teamwork — and ultimately a cooler product.

Additionally, I think that in any collaborative process or art form, it always helps to know what the views, concerns, and work of other crafts are, and how they fit into the bigger picture. It’s like a sports team: I imagine a center forward might perform better at their role if they’ve tried out playing defense or goalie before and understand what the field looks like from all different positions.

I don’t know of many other art forms that require as much collaboration and as extensive a pipeline of different artisans, technicians & facilitators all coming together than that of film production. Ultimately, all the elements of a movie or TV show have to work together. The sound has to support the picture, the mix has to support the story, the color has to support the mood, etc.  Knowing what goes into other parts of the filmmaking process, and what their challenges, capabilities, limitations, and viewpoints are, makes it possible for me to perform my job in a more supportive & comprehensive way.

To be more specific, for example, it’s extremely helpful to me and my team that I have a deep and detailed understanding of what goes on during the re-recording process since ultimately everything we do in music editing needs to be delivered to the re-recording stage and flows down to them. Of course, you can be a great music editor with very little understanding of what happens after you pass the music off to mixing, but if you know what can be possible in the next step of the process, and how to set up your own work/sessions to make certain ideas possible, it opens up the door for a lot more creative conversation and cool ideas to be entertained.

When you spoke at WAMCon LA in 2019, I was so struck by your story path to a career in audio. I would love to hear a bit about that journey again.

I was classically trained from the age of 3 on violin & piano and performed competitively throughout high school. I didn’t have much of a life outside of school and music performance and by the time I went to college, I had come to really dislike the whole cycle of practice, performing, being judged and critiqued, and the pressure that came with it. So I took a 180º turn and pursued a pre-med track for 2 years before realizing that I still really missed music and being creative. I was lucky that the university I was attending had a Music Technology program, which was still not that common at the time. I thought “This is perfect, I can still work on music but not have to perform!” So I started taking freshman intro classes as a junior, and eventually transferred majors. I realized pretty quickly that I was completely out of my depth when it came to music production since I had had minimal exposure to popular/mainstream music and had no idea how to approach it or talk about it, (for context: I had no idea what the typical instruments of a rock band were or any of the parts of a drum kit. I couldn’t even ID a Beatles song at that point), so I gravitated toward the idea of working on sound for film since it can tend to be much more grounded in everyday life — and, of course, I had watched movies growing up. Unfortunately, my school didn’t have a sound-for-film program or any classes, so by the time I graduated, I still had pretty limited knowledge of how film sound really worked. I moved out to LA and started out in the very typical manner of being an unpaid intern for a small post-production facility (cleaning kitchens, and bathrooms, refilling coffee machines, doing supply runs, answering phones, sorting mail, etc.) before being hired on by them to do a little bit of everything: audio editing, video editing, subtitle timing, DVD authoring QC, ADR loop counts, etc. While working there, I came across a job posting for the international/foreign language department at Disney, which I was eventually offered. While in that department, I worked closely with the head of post-production sound for the studio, who eventually offered to take me on as a trainee in his department, which allowed me a path to join the Motion Picture Editors Guild — the labor union for film post-production — which is how I ended up on the re-recording mixing & ADR stages (still one of my favorite places to be in the world!). Eventually though, due to personal considerations around lifestyle & family planning, I realized that I couldn’t stay on the stage long-term, and looked at moving into audio editing. I settled on music after talking to various amazing colleagues & veterans in both sound (dialogue & sound effects) & music editing, and here I am!

Is there an area of audio you would still love to explore?

I’m currently, I think for the first time in my life, in an area of audio that I think I can stay in for a long time. I love everything about the balance of the role of music editing, and I think it fits my personality and priorities really well. This comes after a LOT of exploration and misfits. As you mentioned above, I’ve tried out a lot of other roles to arrive here: boom op, production sound mixer, ADR, re-recording mixer, dialogue editing, music mix engineer, tracking engineer… Although I have limited to no direct experience in the roles like foley, live sound, or mastering, I know from theory & observation that I’m more than happy leaving those to other experts! I do still absolutely LOVE mixing music & re-recording mixing, but I end up pouring so much heart & passion into those that I like to keep it to select projects that I believe deeply in and am particularly excited about. I guess I should also mention that I’m married to an audio plug-in developer/DSP engineer, so I also get to have a front-row seat in the peanut gallery to the process of creating audio software, which is super fun & interesting!

I guess my one bucket list item in regards to audio right now is to learn to love playing again. I’d love to learn to play a band instrument & just play for fun, which is not something I did before, and I have some unlearning to do, in terms of withholding judgment & just enjoying the process & the music!

What piece of gear or plug-in have you found to be most essential in your work?

This is such a hard question… I have so many pieces of gear & plugins that I love, but I’d have to say I probably place the most value on a good pair or properly set up studio monitors. For mixing, we have the ATC SCM50s, which are an absolute game-changer. I really love critically listening to music & mixes on those (in addition to working on them). For music editing, I’m on a pair of Klein & Hummel O300s (now owned by Neumann), which are super smooth & pleasing. I love working on those since they’re less fatiguing when I’m mostly making content choices and not critical listening/mix decisions for that work.

When you have the time to take on an independent project, what are you most drawn to?

My love & passion for working in music/film is because I think it’s an extremely powerful medium. It has the power to make people feel and experience situations and emotions they otherwise wouldn’t have exposure to or be able to: from fantastical made-up universes that setup the subtext of parallel issues in our own lives, to gripping documentaries that brutally shed light on realities of our world, to feel-good comedies that help people get by from one week to another or bring people closer together. There are certain albums that have gotten me through the highest and lowest times in my life or made me feel deeply connected to someone radically different from me. Storytelling is such an important and essential part of communication and human connection, and I love the form it takes through the craft of music & film. So when it comes to taking on independent projects, I go absolutely bonkers over the artists and works that say something that I think the world should hear — whether the message is beautiful & gentle, loud & brash, heartbreaking, or uplifting. There are so many people with such interesting & unique things to say, that if I can help focus or enhance that message and shepherd it as acutely and potently as possible into the world through great, compelling, sound, that’s what I get really excited about.

Tell us about your audio community.

As I mentioned above, I’m quite lucky to be married to an audio badass. My husband is an all-around guru about most things audio and has encouraged and supported me aggressively as I found my own path. We talk about audio all day, from new gear and what studio upgrades we want, to new & old technologies, listening to old and new music together — both casually & critically — new plug-in features, differences between film audio & the music industry, room acoustics… etc. I rely on him for brutally honest mix feedback, fresh ears on music edit options I put together, and a second opinion on generally everything, while he asks me to beta test their company plug-ins and listen to his mastering revisions. Outside of that, I have a few select veteran colleagues in the film industry that have taught me basically everything I know. I’m forever indebted and grateful to them and they’ve also become dear friends. Lastly, there’s the amazing & wonderful world of women in sound! Through organizations like Omni Sound Project, Women’s Audio Mission, and Soundgirls, I’ve been able to connect with so many amazing and rad individuals who love audio & sound as much as I do! I absolutely love how supportive and positive the entire community is, and I’m proud to be able to say I’m an active member!

I remember a workshop of yours in which you showed back-to-back clips of the brontosaurus scene in Jurassic Park with and without the score. It’s amazing what a difference the music makes! Do you have any other favorite examples of the score making this kind of impact? Something you’ve seen or something you’ve worked on?

Oh, man… I’m woefully indecisive and so, so bad at picking favorites. There are so many film & tv moments that totally just deflate if you take the music out, whether subtle or dramatic… music can really set the tone & emotion, so much, of anything!!!

With all that you have achieved, what dreams remain for you?

Well, I just started my own little family (last week!), which while not an easy task in any context, has its particular challenges in this industry. I’m so lucky that the team that I’m on is very supportive, but I really hope there’s a future where women don’t feel so much like they need to decide between career and family. Aside from that, I just look forward to working with great teams and inspiring individuals on projects that move people!

You can find her on Instagram as @shigwastudio and see her credits listed on IMDB.

Thank you, Annlie!

Kylie Grace Snyder – Forging her Own Path

Kylie Grace Snyder is a reformed singer-turned-audio and media engineer working on staff at the University of Michigan’s Duderstadt Center as Technical Lead for Media & Studio Arts. She loves building complex integrations between analog and digital systems, primarily in studios, and talking about her experiences as a trans woman.

Kylie got her start in audio at age 13 participating in choir and band and by the time she got to college, it was the only path she wished to pursue. She received a bachelor’s degree from Ball State University in Gender Studies, with minors in Digital media and English, and a nearly-complete degree in Music Engineering Technology from Ball State University, and a Master’s Degree in Science in Music Technology from Indiana University. She is also a classically trained vocalist.

Career Start

How did you get your start?

Primarily doing freelance work throughout the midwest. I managed to land a 9-5 not long after graduating college (luck) where I was helping run a major audio website at the time. So thankfully my writing experience came in super handy. After a number of years doing that while freelancing I decided to get my master’s degree, as I was very interested in working at a university (turns out it was for the safety :), and that eventually led me to where I am now.

What did you learn interning or on your early gigs?

To not overreach with perceived knowledge. You’re not going to know everything, but despite how it may feel, you’re not supposed to. Not knowing something is wildly acceptable so long as you ask for help.

Career Now:

What is a typical day like?

These days they’re relatively chaotic, though nothing like my days of running shows, but in general, most days are relative chaos. I spend a handful of hours in various meetings depending on the day (production meetings, admin, IT, etc.) and completing various related tasks (expense reports, demographics data, purchasing, etc.). The best days are those where I’ve been pulled into the studios to help with a challenging issue (PSU blowing up, network abnormality, or even just QC that doesn’t make sense) as I feel most directly connected to the job. In essence,  I do my best to support my team through the various technical challenges they may face.

How do you stay organized and focused?

I promise to let you know when I figure it out 🙂 Realistically, for me, it’s my calendar which I live and die by. Over the years I’ve found that to be the best mechanism for coping with my ADHD as lists, etc. are wildly nebulous and don’t provide the accountability I need. For me, it’s all google calendar.

What do you enjoy the most about your job?

Learning new things and solving unusual problems. Once the technology is working I’m wildly disinterested and would prefer to hand the task off to staff. Finding the problem, however, is a supreme joy for me as my brain finds troubleshooting to be an endlessly fun game of logic puzzles.

What do you like least?

Meetings and paperwork. They’re absolutely terrible. However, the studios don’t keep running just through enjoyable gigs, so it’s helpful to remember that even the most mundane administrative task can have a material impact on facility operations.

What is your favorite day off activity? 

Relaxing with loved ones, hiking, and playing video games.

What are your long-term goals?

Oh, that’s a good one… I often toy with the notion of getting a Ph.D. but I also muse a lot about getting an MSW and trying to help people. What I’ll surely wind up doing, as it tends to be my pattern, is keep learning new things and expanding my skill set.

What obstacles or barriers have you faced?

We’ve reached a few challenging questions. My early career was spent as someone who presented as masculine and I didn’t have any issues. I’ve experienced some harassment at work now that I’m out, however, in general, I have a really safe workplace. The real barriers have been global – dealing with bigotry and the politicization of who I am as a human. That really sucks and wears thin some days but I try to be brave.

How have you dealt with them?

The issues I’ve experienced have occurred at 9-5 jobs so I followed the appropriate channels to address them through HR.

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

That’s a really difficult question as I only started transitioning in 2021 which was long after I had an established career. That said, I think the most universal advice I can give is to be authentically yourself. Not everyone is going to like that person, however, nothing good comes from being what another person wants. Also, stand up for yourself and others when things are wrong / feel bad even if it’s scary. Nothing changes if people aren’t told how they’ve misstepped.

Must have skills?

Knowledge of IP networking and the ability to troubleshoot

Favorite gear?

I have a handheld Sencore SP395 and a DSO Shell handheld oscilloscope that are still my first go-to’s for mobile testing. They aren’t terribly exciting but they’ve gotten me out of more jams than I can remember.

 

 

Things I learned During My First Semester of Teaching

This semester I taught my first class. The topic? Theatrical Sound Design. I learned a lot from teaching this class. Some were surprises and others were more reaffirming than new knowledge. As a way to reflect on some of these observations, I would like to share them with my readers.

How each student is different

This might seem like an obvious fact, but it still came with some surprises. At the beginning of the semester I sent out a survey that included the question “how do you like to learn/learn best?” This took some time when researching the varying learning styles. I wanted to include as many varieties as I could find. What I learned about my students is that most of them do not like to learn through a linguistic approach, such as reading. Whereas I do. Most of us shared a desire for a kinaesthetic approach. This pushed me to incorporate as much hands-on learning as I could. I found that tailoring my teaching style to the class made me feel more confident and challenged me as a teacher.

There were also several facts that became even more cemented in my mind. A student’s reception to being taught and absorbing information is a sliding, varying scale. Some students are not receptive to being taught. Trying to teach someone who does not want to be taught is the equivalent of trying to teach a brick wall. This feels like a disappointment to me and difficult to not take personally. If you are anything like me, finding ways to challenge this intrusive thought is important as an educator as well as an individual. Remind yourself of the students who are open to you and want to learn. This doesn’t even have to be exclusive to your students. It could be a friend or peer you are imparting knowledge to.

Remember, each student is going to be different. They bring their own motivations into the classroom.

Teaching taught me how to break bad habits

I am naturally a very empathetic person and it serves me well as an educator. However, I can often have very high expectations. Not just for myself, but for others I work with. This can sound like a decent characteristic to have. Most people desire quality. However, it is very easy for me to project expectations onto people without discussing them. This is where things can get difficult. Teaching new students has taught me how to challenge this bad habit. Most of my students are first-years or students from outside the department, so expectations need to be flexible. The goal is to strengthen the creative mind with a focus on sound design. I have noticed that this flexibility and understanding has allowed me to enjoy my work more.

Teaching this class has given me the opportunity to enjoy what these students bring to the table while also having healthy expectations for them. This is something I need to practice and strengthen for myself when working with peers and colleagues. So not only has this been good for the relationship I have with myself but also when working with others. Any creative mind can think like a sound designer…As I mentioned before, my class is not exclusively for audio students. I have several students from the school of music, Lighting, and Scenic designers, and a whole row of Stage Management students. Every single one of them is capable of being a sound designer and hopefully, this class has proven that to them. Yes, there is a lot of learning beyond this statement that comes with being a sound designer, but
at its core has a sense of creativity and willingness to question possibilities. This idea wasn’t a big surprise to me, but more of a surprise to some of the students. I remind students that stretching the creative process and considering how other design elements work with yours can only strengthen you and your design. And for many individuals that have already been reflected in their work.

How often my students surprise me

And this leads me to how often I am impressed by these hard-working individuals. Reading design statements from Lighting students that consider every emotive shift and how sound can enhance that. Stage Managers detail each sound cue in their cue sheet. Listening to students answer questions and apply their understanding to discussions with their peers. These are moments I appreciate and carry throughout my busy week. They still come as a little surprise and hope that doesn’t go away.

How difficult it is to teach the mechanics and physics of sound

Teaching others felt like an opportunity to relearn and strengthen preexisting knowledge. This is especially true for topics I struggled with during my first year as a sound student. It can be really challenging to teach a topic that you don’t enjoy or don’t feel confident in. However, I looked at this as an opportunity for me. Any videos, articles, and demonstrations I found for lectures were also learning material for myself. I think a lot of people will agree that the physics behind sound is not their first choice when picking a topic to be excited about. What I learned from teaching it myself was that I had a far more successful lecture if it had hands-on elements. This wasn’t a lecture I could rely on to read from slides and have them take notes. What this meant was there was a lot of drawing on whiteboards, recap/what do we know quizzes, and lots of what-if experiments that I demonstrate within a DAW. This included hearing/sine sweep tests, summation, and cancellation of sine waves, the doppler effect, as well as how the Haas effect works. I found that having a recap at the start of each class period really helped me know what I needed to resolidify in my teaching. I also did a brief quiz at the end of each lecture. It wasn’t worth more than 10 points and had a max of five questions. I used these quizzes as a way to evaluate what I am teaching well and what needs to be gone back over. This felt like a great use of quizzes because it wouldn’t ruin the student’s grades if they didn’t do well. It was easy points for them and a great way for me to check my teaching as an educator.

Always wait a slightly uncomfortable amount of time until a student speaks with thoughts/observations/or questions. Someone will always break the silence and it often leads to a bigger group discussion or someone has the same question. I learned this trick from several professors during my undergrad. It was something I told my students on the first day of class. I consider this engagement with lectures and discussions to be crucial for the learning process. And oftentimes it will lead to a larger group discussion with like and differing opinions. It is a way of sharing information that goes beyond me lecturing the information to students in front of me. Most first-year students have a very busy schedule. So this was also an opportunity for them to get to know their peers. Our department is small and knowing like-minded people to work and learn with can be pivotal for some students. I think that is why a momentary uncomfortable silence for students can actually be really helpful for their overall learning experience. Maybe slightly cruel and
uncomfortable, but worth it.

As we move into the last few weeks of this semester, my students know to expect awkward pauses and will speak their thoughts more openly. This characteristic was taught to me early on in my education and it’s gratifying to see it being instilled in others. I can see its positive effects on students who regularly engage and ask questions. Teaching this class was the highlight of my semester and will be bittersweet to finish out the class in December. It reaffirmed my love for teaching and being a big nerd about audio and sound design. I don’t think this will be the last audio class that I teach, but it was an excellent first experience.

To my students, thank you for such a lovely and laugh-filled semester

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