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So, You Want to Get an Agent?

I have been a sound designer for almost 20 years and just gained representation earlier this year.  A fellow sound designer friend of mine basically just told me that I need to get an agent now that I’m 100% freelance.  I must admit that I was a little skeptical at first.  I’ve made it this long without an agent, why do I need one now?  Skip to almost a year later, and I’m here to say, it’s one of the best career moves I’ve made.  Here are some of the questions (and recently found answers) I encountered along the way.

What exactly does an agent do?

Your agent is the person who interfaces between you and someone who is interested in hiring you (producers, artistic directors, etc.).  They will handle things like contract negotiation, travel preferences, and even gently declining an offer you are unavailable for.  It’s not necessarily your agent’s job to find work for you, but sometimes that is an added perk.  My agent, for example, has long-standing relationships with many producers and directors, and sometimes they will come to her if they are looking for a specific kind of designer or artist.  If the gig seems like it would be a good fit for me, she will connect us.  In the short time that I have been with this agency, I have already gotten a few gigs that way.

How much does an agent charge?

Generally 10%.  My agent doesn’t make me send all of my jobs through her either.  If I’m taking a lower-paying gig, and I know there’s really nothing tricky with the contract, I can just let her know that I’m taking this gig and that I’ll be handling the contract myself.  She’s totally cool with that.  I just don’t make a habit of it, because I know that she gets paid when I get paid.  I always make a point to discuss these instances with her before diving in to make sure that everyone is comfortable with proceeding.

How do you find the right agent?

Talk to other people with agents in your field.  Mine came recommended by a friend, so we now both belong to the same agency.  It’s also important to note here that just because you choose an agent doesn’t mean they choose you.  Before I was officially in, I had a 3-hour long phone call with my agent.  We were just learning about each other and how we would vibe.  This is the person that will make decisions on your behalf, so they want to be aligned with you, your thoughts, your wants, and your process.  In turn, it is very important that you trust your agent to speak on your behalf.  It’s also ok to decide that you should keep looking if you feel it is not the right fit.

All in all, I have been truly grateful for my agent.  Negotiating contracts, contract language, knowing your worth, and speaking up for what you deserve are all really overwhelming things to take on alone.  Having someone to take on those challenges beside you is a great feeling, and knowing that you always have someone there with your best interest in mind is absolutely incredible.  When you are a freelance designer, you are a business.  You want your business to thrive, and to do that, you need to build a great team for your business.  Start with an agent, and watch your business grow.

 

Energy Conservation in Pop Music

I began using the law of conservation of energy to visualize the evolution of Pop music when I was in high school. I was studying higher-level chemistry and music history as part of my International Baccalaureate degree, and while it felt like two unrelated subjects, I was eager to make a connection between them. In general terms, the law of conservation of energy states that energy in a system can’t be created nor destroyed, it just transfers from one form of energy to another. I started visualizing this idea in musical expression while diving into Western European art music and the evolution of Jazz music in America. I noticed how often others recognized these vast musical genres as being more complex than Pop music, primarily because of how they used more intricate harmonies and orchestration. I thought to myself how unfair it was to label the Pop music I was growing up with as simple. I knew it wasn’t any less than the music that came before it, but I couldn’t articulate why. If everything else in the world around me was advancing, then how could music become more basic?

Imagine that Bach’s “Fugue in G minor” and Taylor Swift’s “Out of the Woods” are both their own “isolated systems” with energy, or in this case, musical expression that transfers between different musical elements in each system. In my opinion, both pieces are complex and full of musical expression, and they hold similar amounts of kinetic energy and potential energy. However, the energy is active in different elements of the songs, and for “Out of the Woods,” that element comes from a technological revolution that Bach had no access to. Bach’s fugue holds most of its musical energy in the counterpoint: the melodic composition and modulation drive the expression of the piece. Meanwhile, most of the musical expression in “Out of the Woods” comes from the interesting sonics of the music production, which is true for a lot of Pop music today. Many Pop songs have simplistic chord progressions, which I think is okay because now the energy resides in sound design, music technology, how something is mixed, or how a vocal is processed. I believe that what we’ve experienced as music evolves is a transfer of energy from composition to production because we have the means to do so.

Let’s look at some excerpts of the sheet music from both pieces stated above. Clearly, one melody is more varied and ornamented than the other. Most of Swift’s song is a singular note with little to no melodic contour and a simple I-V-VI-IV chord progression, while Bach’s composition highlights an intricate subject and countermelody with more advanced modulations. Now let’s imagine what the Pro Tools sessions for both songs might look like. Oh right, Bach didn’t have Pro Tools! The earliest known recordings come from the late 19th century, far past his lifetime, so he likely didn’t even consider the kind of microphone he could use or how he could compress the organ with a Teletronix LA-3A or create an entirely new sound on a synthesizer for the fugue. The energy of the piece is most active where Bach’s capabilities and resources exist: his understanding of advanced harmony and his performance technique. Had Taylor Swift been composing at a time when music production wasn’t really a thing, she might have songs with eclectic modulations and contrapuntal bass parts. However, with Jack Antonoff’s exciting vocal arrangement and sound design for electronic drums and synths, there’s already so much energy in the song, that the harmony in this piece doesn’t need to work as hard. Ultimately, I experience both Bach’s fugue and Swift’s single as having the same amount of musical energy, but the energy is utilized in different parts of both systems.

I know this argument all seems convoluted, but this concept has really helped me in my critical listening. When I listen to any recording, I ask myself, “Where has the energy transferred in this piece, where is it being held, and how is it serving the song?” Sometimes the answer is not the same within one genre or even within one artist. If an element in a song feels simple, we can break it down to its core elements to find where the energy is. It can be in the rhythm, the performance, the sampling technique, or the lyricism to name a few. When I write and produce, I approach a new song with this mentality too. Where do I want the energy to be, where can I simplify the song to let that element shine, and how does it work with the narrative of my song?

Tips for Your First Live Sound Gig

So you did it!!

Congratulations, I am so SO so proud of you. You managed to reach out of your bubble and made connections that are all leading up to today, hopefully, it will mark the start of your new career in live sound. You could be working the church PA system for the first time, at a venue or festival, or maybe a wedding. It really doesn’t matter where you are – just that you are putting yourself out there. If no one has given you kudos for that, I am there bud!

My first gig in live sound was the most trial-by-fire you can possibly get. Despite being fresh out of my college Live Sound I class, I decided to help at a music festival. Little did I know I would be the FOH for my own stage…oh boy. I can vividly remember the thought of going there with the thought I would be a stagehand or a runner for the engineers, and the shock I felt as soon as I realized that wasn’t the case.

It felt invigorating and anxiety-inducing all at once, me? Run a stage? Set up the PA? Run the console the whole show? What? At that moment I knew I would either fall into the building panic or rise to the challenge of a lifetime.… Spoiler! I SLAYED!!

Definitely not without some hiccups, so if you find yourself in a trial-by-fire predicament as I did, or it is a little laxer, here are some tips that can help.

Scope Out The Scene

My first experience was at a large music festival, before I went I used Google Maps to see if I could sit at any public parks or coffee shops. If you have some downtime (by this I mean an hour or greater) until the event explore the area you are in. Please always prioritize safety above anything else, if you don’t feel comfortable or safe, taking care of yourself is more important than anything else. Trust your instincts, if something is telling you to leave – do so and find someplace (maybe that’s a deli or pharmacy) where you can go in and cool off.

Pro Tip Value public libraries! They are heated in the winter and cool come summer, open all year round, and are great places to kill time and get work done. I was able to work on a session on my laptop before the gig, essentially freeing two birds with one key.

Scope Out The Venue

Once you have settled into the role you’ve been given, It is time to familiarize yourself with the equipment, stage area, and most importantly – your inputs and stage plots….ugh speaking of
which…

Stage Plots May Vary

You may hit the holy grail of stage plots. The picture is clear and legible – you know where they want to be positioned and how to set up the stage in correspondence with that particular act. Not every stage plot is like that. I’ve had to work with very different bands and artists – Rock alternatives, R&B, Gospel groups, Metal, and one Noah Cyrus/ Alicia Keys cover band. The stage plots were wildly diverse – some were completely non-legible, while others did not bother to submit anything other than their band name and email information. Inputs and stage plots are important for whoever is doing sound – they need to make sure that they have the equipment to accommodate the artist’s set,
and also that they follow guidelines set by the venue. My advice if you get a plot or input list that doesn’t resemble either of the two is to talk to the client(s) – What are they bringing? Is the guitar going directly to the console, or are they going to bring an amp? Do they want to use their own mic, is it dynamic? If you have no way to contact them, talk to your stage manager – their job is to make sure the show goes smoothly, and if you can’t do your job, things are certainly not going smoothly.

Take a Breath

There is a lot more that can be said on the topic, like wearing comfortable plain clothing or the best ways to position monitors – but really you need to learn what to do by doing it. I can solidly say that if someone asked to do that whole experience again, I could with little hesitation. Your head can often get in the way of your capabilities, trust that you can do this. Breath in…. And let
it out.

Was Your Radio Degree Worth It?

Since graduating with my Master’s in 2016, one of the questions I’ve been asked most often is: “Was it worth it?”

It’s a perfectly valid question, and it’s true that the vast majority of people I know working in radio and podcasting didn’t actually ‘study’ it at university. I did, though, and my answer is always the same, without hesitation: “Absolutely. And I’d do it all over again.”

My undergraduate degree was in multimedia, but I always knew I wanted to go down the audio path. I got involved in student radio from day one and loved it. I tried to get some industry work experience during the summer break between my second and third years and naively thought radio stations would throw open their doors to welcome me in. I thought wrong. Most were full and didn’t have space for any more interns for the foreseeable future; others never got back to me. It was then I realised it was going to be much harder to break into radio than I’d originally thought.

Around this time, I also realised there was so much more I wanted to experience. I’d been focusing exclusively on presenting music shows, but my interest in documentary was growing and I wanted to learn the ins and outs of speech radio. I began to think seriously about pursuing postgraduate study in radio and found what looked like the perfect course in the UK: a Master’s in Radio Production at Bournemouth University. What really sold it to me was the opportunity for students to run their own online radio station, which would be a platform for all work produced throughout the year. I applied, had an interview, and luckily was accepted.

My year in Bournemouth was everything I hoped it would be and more. Being an academic qualification, there was of course an element of theory, but this all contributed to my knowledge and understanding of the radio industry. On the practical side, we had 24-hour access to state-of-the-art studios and recording gear. As a small group of just seven students, we had the chance to collaborate closely on creative projects and experiment with different roles within production teams. Our lecturers had years of experience working for some of the most respected broadcasters. I was incredibly fortunate to have a BBC producer as my Master’s project supervisor, and thanks to the many industry speakers who came in to offer advice and wisdom, we made some amazing contacts. It felt like a really tight-knit, supportive community in which everyone’s interests and aspirations were nurtured.

The experience also benefitted me as a person. It gave me confidence, life skills, and friendships that endure to this day. After many years of not considering myself a ‘beach person’, I also discovered that I loved living by the seaside.

Finding a job after graduation can be a challenge no matter how well-prepared you are. It certainly was for me, but I believe my MA helped me get my foot in the door quicker than I otherwise would have. Not only that: it helped me stay there. When I started working professionally in the industry and applying the skills I’d learned at university on a daily basis, I could see just how important it had all been.

When it comes to having a career in this field, academic qualifications are definitely not a necessity, but they can be a great option. It really depends on your individual situation: whether or not you can afford it, what you think you might gain from it etc. It’s not a route that suits everyone. But for me personally, it was the best year of my life.

Women in the Music Industry Survey

Are you a woman working in the music industry or a student preparing to enter the industry?

Please complete this survey (link below) regarding your experience.
No matter where you are in your career, whether you’re still in school, just getting started, or are a veteran of the industry, your response is important. Sharing your experiences and how you’ve dealt with issues and situations, what worked and what didn’t will help those who may be faced with similar situations and in need of tools for dealing with them.  If you are a student or new to the industry, sharing your challenges, situations that you’ve been in, and what you need most is necessary to bring about positive change.
All responses are collected anonymously and will be kept confidential. Please feel free to share this with other women working in the music industry.
https://www.mixingmusiclive.com/women-survey

CONNECT: Social Mixer Hosted by Coastal Jazz & Producers Lounge

About this event

CONNECT: Producers Lounge x Coastal Jazz

Connect. Community. Celebrate.

Welcome back to another Producers Lounge social mixer. Come connect with your music community in-person again, while at the TD International Vancouver Jazz Festival.

The event is hosted by Jane Aurora (Producers Lounge) and Nina Horvath (Executive Director of Coastal Jazz).

The panel discussion is moderated by DJ Denise Fraser (Host of URP and Queer FM), and features, Alexis Douglas (SoundGirls.org), Mimi Abraham (Production Manager), Caitlin Goulet (Singer/Songwriter & EmergenceBC), Roisin Adams (Pianist & Composer), Manuel Avila (Touring FOH/MON), and Kristina Lao (Entertainment Consultant & Host of Bombshell Brunches).

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Location:

Performance Works on Granville Island

Address:

1218 Cartwright St, Vancouver, BC V6H 3R8

Located on the Unceded Traditional Coast Salish Lands including the Tsleil-Waututh (səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ), Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw) and Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm) Nations, also known as Vancouver, BC.

Time: 7 pm to 10 pm

Eventbrite Link to RVSP:

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/producers-lounge-x-coastal-jazz-summer-social-tickets-355634481307?fbclid=IwAR14ZrdjDyiXRAqvatKsxLvEOcjuSbbJP0aOX0yRYGIkwW2qgnZ12V03JYg

Catering is sponsored by d&b audiotechnik.

Bar sales are a fundraiser for Coastal Jazz.

Let us celebrate!

7:00 PM Doors

7:30 PM Panel

8:00 PM Connect Social

9:30 PM Optional, Afterparty at Ocean Art Works (3 min walk)

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Producers Lounge:

Elevating women, non-binary identifying, and underrepresented music producers and engineers from BC. Supported by Creative BC and the Province of British Columbia.

Coastal Jazz:

Our mission is to connect, transform, inspire and nurture artists and audiences through the joy, passion, and power of jazz.

https://www.coastaljazz.ca/

Hosted by:

Jane Aurora, Producers Lounge

Jane Aurora is a producer, musician, and mix engineer. Jane is the owner of Capsule Studios and co-owner of the music licensing company Arrival Sounds. As creative director of Producers Lounge, a program elevating women and non-binary music producers, Jane has created many opportunities for women and non-binary music producers situated in BC.

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Nina Horvath, Executive Director of Coastal Jazz

https://www.coastaljazz.ca/

Nina Horvath is a pianist, singer, and the new Executive Director of Coastal Jazz. Coastal Jazz is the largest non-profit presenter of music in BC through the annual TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival and is committed to connecting and inspiring through the joy, passion, and power of jazz. Nina has worked in Vancouver, and throughout Canada and the US, as a performer and administrator, with a passion for building communities connected through music and art.

Panel:

DJ Denise Fraser | Moderator

DJ, Sound Tech, Owner of Denzin 8 Productions

and Radio Show Host of the Urban Renewal Project o Co-op Radio & Queer FM

DJ Denise is one of the leading female DJs in Vancouver, Canada. Breaking boundaries for female DJs around the world, producing her own beats, promoting events, recruiting new artists, and most importantly, making bodies sweat on dance floors all over. DJ Denise has performed at all of the major nightclubs in Vancouver and traveled to Ireland, England, the Netherlands, the US, & many provinces across Canada.

When she isn’t opening for Wu-Tang Clan, & The Wailers, DJ Denise enjoys traveling to new cities to discover and connect with other community radio stations. Live Sound. Sound Tech for Live events with bands, solo performers, and conferences is a passion of hers.

DJ Denise is also a seasoned radio show host for two shows in Vancouver.

QueerFM

CITR Radio citr.ca 101.9 FM

Tuesday from 8 am – 10 am

https://www.facebook.com/QueerFMVan

Urban Renewal Project

Vancouver Co-op Radio 100.5 FM

Tuesdays from 10 pm – 12 am

https://www.facebook.com/URPradio

Alexis Douglas

Co-director of SoundGirls Vancouver

Freelance TM/FOH/MON/PM

Alexis Douglas has over 15 years of experience in the music industry. She started at Hipposonic/Mushrooms Studios and CBC Vancouver doing music recordings for rock, pop, and symphonies. Now, she focuses on live sound specializing in music festivals, theatres, and conferences all over Western Canada. She is also a proud member of IATSE 118 the local theatre union. In 2015, she and Swann Barrat founded the local Vancouver SoundGirls chapter. Where we have been supporting aspiring sound engineers with job shadowing, workshops, and gigs.

SoundGirls

Our mission is to create a supportive community for women and under-represented groups in audio and music production, providing the tools, knowledge, and support to further their careers. We are inclusive and welcome everyone that has a passion for audio.

https://soundgirls.org/

Women in Live Music Europe – WILM is proud to showcase the professional women working across Europe in the Live Music Industry.

https://womeninlivemusic.eu/

Mimi Abrahams | Technical Director, Production Manager, and Event Designer

Mimi Abrahams is a theatre and live event alchemist, with over 20 years of experience in production management, lighting, and set building for festivals and the performing arts. She is a master of taking the core elements down to their purest form and rearranging them for the best presentation and execution. Deeply rooted in the nitty-gritty of backstage operations, adept at managing multi-layered situations and complexity, with a talent for elegant design-based solutions. She is a caring mentor for countless humans in our performing arts community.

Some of her career highlights:

Production Manager at Indian Summer Festival

Production Manager at The Chutzpah! Festival

Technical Director at the Norman Rothstein Theatre

Caitlin Goulet

R&B Dreampop Artist, Producer, Mother,

and a Mentor at Emergence: Music Mentorship for Women

https://www.caitlingouletmusic.com/

Caitlin Goulet is a multi-talented R&B Dreampop singer, songwriter, and music producer, based in the Unceded Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Territory known as Vancouver, Canada.

Her 2021 album, “Inside Thoughts,” explores the inner world of a sad-girl gone bad girl who’s bossing up and healing. Raw, conversational, and unapologetic lyrics are channeled through a dynamic and magnetic voice. Her alt-pop, dream-pop, and alternative r&b stylings.

Caitlin is of Métis/French/Irish/Scottish/Welsh heritage. She is grateful for the generous support from Amplify BC, Creative BC, The City of Vancouver, and First Peoples’ Cultural Council for funding her album and latest music video Dive Deep. She accomplished all of this while becoming a new mother.

Dive Deep – Cailtin Goulet – Music Video

https://youtu.be/XuBmQRZ5ZCc

Emergence: Music Mentorship for Women

Music Mentorship Workshops for women, female-identifying and non-binary artists, musicians, and singers.

https://www.emergencemusicmentorship.com/

Roisin Adams | Pianist, Improviser, & Composer

https://roisinadams.com/

https://hildegardsghost.com/

Róisín Adams is a composer, pianist, and educator based in Vancouver, Canada, whose work has been praised for its evocative, entrancing, and ethereal qualities. She founded the improvisatory instrumental jazz quartet Hildegard’s Ghost.

Check her out at the TD International Jazz Festival.

July 3 @ 1:30 PM

Roundhouse Performance Centre

Event details:

https://www.coastaljazz.ca/event/beatings-are-in-the-body/

BEATINGS ARE IN THE BODY

Borrowing the project’s name from a work by Canadian poet Meaghan McAneeley, Beatings Are In The Body is a bracingly beautiful collaboration between Montreal’s Erika Angell (Thus Owls) on voice/electronics, Róisín Adams (Hildegard’s Ghost) on piano/wurlitzer/voice, and acclaimed Vancouver cellist Peggy Lee. Together, they artfully explore how memories, pain, and a spectrum of emotions are stored in and continue to be carried by our physical bodies.

BEATINGS ARE IN THE BODY – Music Video

https://youtu.be/2g328VWA_Is

Manuel Avila | Touring TM/FOH/MON/TM

Manuel Avila was born in Mexico City and moved to Canada 22 years ago. He grew up in the show business industry as a part of his family’s production company and graduated with a degree in Communications from the prestigious University Iberoamericana. In 2002, he obtained a Diploma in Commercial Photography from Dawson College in Montreal.

Since the beginning of his career, he has worked for many international productions across North America, including the Summit of the Americas, and large-scale shows for the Mexican government. From corporate events to small and big concerts, Manuel is fully dedicated to projects in the music and show business industry as well as promoting events and supporting the diffusion of Mexican culture in Canada.

For the last 6 years, he was a tour manager for the Mexican rock band EL TRI and is currently working as a production manager for the indigenous cultural organization 2 Rivers Remix Society, producing shows for its summer tour of festivals all over British Columbia. Manuel is now planning a tour in Europe in the fall for a reality TV show presenting Canadian rock talent.

Kristina Lao | Entertainment Consultant

https://www.kristinalao.com/

Kristina (she/her), is an Artist-Advocate with over 15 years working internationally as a creator, connector and curator in film, music and media. She is originally from Hong Kong, now residing on the unceded Traditional Coast Salish Lands including the Tsleil-Waututh (səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ), Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw) and Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm) Nations, also known as Vancouver, BC. Kristina is a working actor, songwriter, narrator and co-founder of Bombshell Brunches. In 2022 she is part of the Storyhive Summer Crew, live-streaming local events around Vancouver. She is concurrently an event curator and career consultant, working with organizations including the Vancouver Asian Film Festival, Renaissance Opera, and Elimin8Hate. She has hosted over 200 events, panels and workshops in the last five years, and helped over 1000 graduates and emerging artists connect to opportunities in film, TV and Music & Media to date. She has participated on multiple Provincial and National Music & Media Industry Boards and Panels. Kristina specializes in developing and championing sustainable career pathways in the creative industries while reducing visible and invisible barriers to entry.

IG: https://www.instagram.com/mykristinalao/

Facebook: https://facebook.com/mykristinalao

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/mykristinalao

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6213091/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristina-lao-54a674197/

Clubhouse: @mykristinalao

Bombshell Brunches

Bombshell Brunches is a community where you can access real people doing big things, making changes in their lives and taking strides in this complex world.

Join us in this space for like-minded people: ambitious, entrepreneurial, and creative, with a commitment to social betterment. A community for all, we get real and we aren’t afraid to disagree. Strong believers in representation, social impact, and internal revolution, we LIVE to highlight, normalize and glamourize the many different ways to live a brave and full life.

https://bombshellbrunches.com/

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Summer Social Afterparty @ Ocean Art Works 9:30 PM

GRANVILLE ISLAND JAZZ

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Ocean Art Works

9:30 PM $10 at the door

Address:

1531 Johnston Street, Granville Island

(3-minute walk from Performance Works)

PETUNIA AND THE VIPERS

Petunia and the Vipers seem to have time-travelled straight from the 1920s. Barnstorming through Western swing to early rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm and blues, theirs is a joyfully anachronistic symphony of picking, yodels, howls, and pure fun.

EMILY ROSE NYBERG

Emily Rose Nyberg learned to play guitar from her father Rodney, who heartily encouraged her unorthodox style. Now that he’s passed, Emily sings gospel, old-time country, and blues-inflected songs she’s road-tested in Southern Appalachia kitchen parties and East Van punk houses alike—bridging them to the heavens through inspired finger-picking on Rodney’s old hollow-body guitar.

For more information:

https://www.coastaljazz.ca/event/petunia-and-the-vipers-emily-rose-nyberg/

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Caridad Espinosa: Creator of Mix Like a Girl

 

Caridad Espinosa is a Quito, Ecuador-based mix engineer and producer as well as founder and lead instructor of Mix Like a Girl and co-founder and coordinator of the Beats by Girlz chapter for the city in which she resides. She earned her degree from Berklee College partner Universidad San Francisco de Quito College of Music in 2021. While there, she was awarded the Audio and Engineering Society AES (2020), API Saul Walker Memorial Scholarship (2020 & 2021), and was honored by Berklee College of Music for her work as a producer, composer, mixing, and recording engineer — while there, she also began the organization Mix Like a Girl.

When COVID hit, she perceived a void in women-centered education in music production and mixing, and set to work creating Mix Like a Girl, an affirming online space for support and mentorship with an impressive roster of audio professionals providing supplementary content for her students. She has been working as the Director of Musical Development of Ecuador since the beginning of 2022, helping artists to make and distribute music both nationally and internationally, and she continues to mix and master on a freelance basis.

Caridad and I spoke via Zoom, as we have since I began taking private mixing lessons from her in September of 2021. Her responses to the following questions have been edited for length and clarity.

Were any audio organizations particularly inspiring to you as you created Mix Like a Girl?

Yes. Actually, SoundGirls! September 2020 we were just [entering] COVID. Everything was weird. And I started looking for resources written by women because I found all of this material – tutorials, blogs, and everything – written by men. [Then] I came across SoundGirls, and I was like, “this is really cool.”

What have been some of the pros and cons of teaching mixing via Zoom?

How much access do students have to gear, programs and plugins, things like that. Because the normal way of teaching, the best way of teaching for me, would be at a studio, where I can show the plugins and we [can] listen together, getting the sound from the same source. That doesn’t happen through Zoom. I might have one kind of speaker and students have another kind. Or I have one kind of headphones, and they don’t even have headphones on sometimes. So that makes it tricky for a teacher trying to adapt, adapt to whatever material and gear the student has. And also, I think that has helped me a lot as an engineer because you shouldn’t get accustomed to being at an amazing studio like I used to have at college, that had, like three different pairs of speakers that I can test my mix on, and amazing headphones, and all of the plugins that I can imagine. Reality isn’t like that. You graduate, you go out [into] the world and try to mix things, and you don’t have a budget to buy all these amazing plugins. You don’t have a budget to be in a studio. So how do you adapt? Professionally, I’ve learned so much teaching through Zoom to students all around the world that have different possibilities and different [levels of] access.

What is the most common misunderstanding your students have about mixing?

That everything can be fixed in the mixing stage. They think that they can come with any kind of recording and it’s fixable. It’s like, the air conditioner was on. The whole recording. “We’ll take it out.” Yeah, sure. Do you have the plugins to do that? “No.” Things like that. They don’t use the proper microphones for vocals, for example. They record the amps with a bunch of noise and they don’t know how to clean that up. You have to take into consideration how important pre-production is, and how important recording is. That’s why I always tell my students the most important thing about the whole production stage — this being pre-production, recording, mixing, and mastering — is the musicians that you have. Because most of my students think that in mixing, you can even fix performance. And that’s impossible. So they get really frustrated when I’m like, “This has to be re-recorded. This has to have a feeling. This has to have the performance that I’m lacking.” [If not,] even if I have the most amazing gear for mixing and for mastering, I’m not going to be able to give that soul to the music.

You’ve mentioned how YouTube tutorials about mixing often contradict each other. What is a specific example of this that surprises or bothers you?

YouTube tutorials are amazing. You can learn a bunch of things. Watch tutorials, try to learn the most out of them, but you have to have some basics. Some tutorials will tell you you should compress first and then EQ. Some others will tell you to EQ first and then compress. My main problem with tutorials is that you can’t ask questions. If you have a problem, if you have a question or doubt or something, you’re going to go to another tutorial to try to [answer] that question that you came up [during] the first tutorial. And with that second tutorial, you’re going to come up with another question. And you’re going to start this snowball of just watching a bunch of things, and maybe [you still] don’t get the answer that you need for your specific project that you’re doing.

So that’s why, for me, it’s so important to have someone that knows a little bit more than you do, that has been in the music industry a little bit longer than you, [to] be your guide. If you even speak to two different engineers, you’re going to get different answers concerning EQ, for example. Or compression. Or any mixing topic.

You need to start developing your sense of what your sound is going to be, and what seasoning of yours you’re going to put into music. If you go into YouTube [for] “How to EQ a Snare,” a bunch of videos [for] “How to EQ a Snare” are going to pop up. You pick the first one, and maybe that snare is bigger than yours. And that snare was recorded with a much better microphone. And your microphone wasn’t that good, so you would have to tweak a lot more. And then, as a newbie, you get frustrated because it’s like, “I’m doing exactly what the video says, and it’s not sounding the same.” So, go into tutorials. Watch a bunch of them. But you have to be able to discriminate: What are you going to take from those tutorials? What is going to help you grow as an engineer, and what [can you] go without? Do it your way.

Tell us a bit about your experience with the music scene where you live. Is it inclusive?

The music scene where I live is almost non-existent. One of the main problems is that we have these couple of studios that manage all of the artists that most are like, “This is my friend. This is the friend of my friend. And if you are not in the inner circle, then [you have to] build your circle and try to figure out how to do [things].” Or, “If you have a bunch of money to come to record in my studio, come record in my studio,” and this [happens] with recordings, with concerts, with festivals, with a bunch of things. And as I’m from Ecuador, sadly, we are a bunch of years behind the US, Canada, and Europe. So being a woman in the music industry here, it’s hard. Men have these comments like, “Oh, you made it in the music industry, because you think like a man.” Or, “You act like a man.” And it’s like, “No, this is me.” I’m not neurotic, I don’t have an attitude. I’m just doing my job. And those things here are still kind of misunderstood and misconceived. And you still see just a bunch of men doing the job. So yeah, concerning how inclusive it is, I would say that we have a long, long, long way to go.

Which mentor has made the greatest impression on you, and how did you meet?

My first audio engineering teacher, his name is Gabriel Ferreyra. I was actually [majoring] in performance, and I took [his] engineering class just because I needed one extra class. And the way that he talks about music, the way that he does his job — teaching and being like, “Okay, you want this? You’re going to get this. You’re going to learn about this, and you’re going to be good at it—” he has been just amazing. He has helped me with Mix Like a Girl, he has [taught] for [the] Mix Like a Girl summer program, the film scoring and post production program. He knows that he has been my biggest mentor, and I hope that he continues to be. Everything that he has taught me has given me the tools to build everything that I’m doing right now with Mix Like a Girl or with my personal projects. In every single way he has been involved, in any way possible. Small or big, he has been there. I’m really, really grateful for him and for my school. USFQ has one of the best programs in Latin America, and I just know that if it wasn’t [for] all of my teachers, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I wouldn’t [have] come up with this project because they opened my mind to things. It’s amazing because right now, most of them are really, really close friends. We keep working together. For me, that’s so important, and I’m really, really grateful for that.

Who are some fellow audio professionals doing work that you admire right now?

Lu Garibay, she’s actually another teacher [from] Mix Like a Girl, and we’ve been working on the book together. She’s amazing. She just does it all. She does vocal production recording and her work ethic… it’s just on point. She’s so easy to work with. If I need any help in any kind of way, she’ll be there. I’m trying to be the same way with her.

And I would have to say, most of my students are doing amazing work right now. They are really getting into music production. And these students — that maybe were with me, like, two years ago — now they are like, “Hey, can you check my mix? Hey, can you master this?” And I’m like, “Sure! Let’s do it.” And it’s so fun to watch them. They were beginners, they knew nothing about this. And now [to] start working with them, being part of their projects, is amazing. I love it, I’m so proud.

What are you most excited about for the future of Mix Like a Girl?

This is something that I have been thinking about a lot this week because I was working for the Ministry of Culture here, and everything went downhill last week. And I was getting really scared. Like, “What am I going to work on? I just lost my job.” And I was like, “No, this is a great opportunity to work on Mix Like a Girl. This can be huge.”

The thing that I’m most excited about is the book that I’m planning on releasing [in] December. I just have one chapter left to write, and then we’re going to work on graphics, distribution, and everything. So, hopefully, [by] December 2022 the book is going to be out. Right now that’s what my main goal is: working on the book and giving people — giving my students, giving anyone who wants to get into the music industry — a tool to work with. Don’t watch 1,000 tutorials. Read a book!

Maybe it’s going to make more sense. That is basically everything that I would have needed when I was a student. Things are explained in easy terms, just like if you were talking to a friend, a friend who maybe has a little bit more experience than you. I want this book to be kind of your mentor, to help you through this, and [to] help you pick the people that you’re going to be working with — that’s the most important thing ever. You can have all the money in the world, you can have the most amazing studio, but if you don’t have a good team to work with, it’s going to be hard. Money comes, the projects come, but I have been working on building this group of people that I can trust and that I can work with. I want Mix Like a Girl to be that: just a bunch of people — not just girls — a bunch of people with the same goal [of] making music better, making music that touches you, that really matters.

Thank you, Caridad.

Jett Jenkins on Music and Grief

I never really felt understood by my family or my friends. I grieved differently than my mother and sister. I dealt with things differently than my friends and always took things to heart. I’ve communicated and spoken up about my feelings and opinions because I always needed everyone to get my story straight. I needed everyone to know how I felt about their actions or how I felt in a situation. I wrote a story about my life, in the first person, from my view, inside my head, and through my eyes. Because my eyes are different, they see things in a different way than others, they see what others might not, and they might blind themselves from details, so as to protect myself. So I made my own music.

I made music because I found music as an escape. I created a playlist that perfectly envelops how music makes me feel. The playlist I created includes songs I grew up listening to, songs that emotionally connect with me and also destroy me. A few songs on this playlist I put only on solely for specific lines that linked to me. The lines “we spent what was left of our serotonin/ to chew on our cheeks and stare at the moon/ said she knows she’ll live through it to get to this moment” from Graceland Too by Phoebe Bridgers or “People you’ve been before/that you don’t want around anymore/that push and shove and won’t bend to your will” from Between the Bars by Elliot Smith. Just for Today by Clairo impacted me before it was even released. Claire Cotrill posted a small clip of the song months before her album was released or even announced and later deleted the video. The clip she posted included the line “It’s getting late since when did taking time take all my life?/ Mommy, I’m afraid I’ve been talking to the hotline again” which has always stuck with me. Other songs I added just because they make me feel good, it’s straight serotonin, like Heart of Gold by Neil Young and King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1 by Neutral Milk Hotel. I knew I had to add a Queen song, no matter what. One of the first songs I remember listening to growing up was Killer Queen. My mom has an extensive record collection that includes every single Queen vinyl. Killer Queen brings nostalgia and tears of excitement when I hear the lyrics. Pearly-Dewdrops Drop by Cocteau Twins is a song I found from one of my favorite films, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, even though I already loved Cocteau Twins I never heard that song. I always think of that film when I hear that song and I can feel the blood rush in my veins. Sleep to Dream by Fiona Apple and Hard Wad Body by Christian Leave are songs that I could go on and on about how they impact me but instead, I’ll include one line from Hard Wad Body “If I’m so small inside/ Then why would I accept the pride you place on me?/ Too much pressure killed the kid/ And now I’m forced to walk around with his body”. Last but definitely not least, I added Just a Girl by No Doubt because well the song encapsulates everything I feel as a girl in society.

I went through my fair share of pain and grief during my continuous adolescence. Music is what helped me get through this paternal grief. I listened, and still listen, to music all the time. Music is cathartic and wonderful and magical and destructive. I cried to and from songs like “Svefn -g- englar” by Sigur Ros to “Sex on Fire” by Kings of Leon. Ultimately listening to music was not enough to completely alter my pain and release it. The release for this pain was found in songwriting and creating my own music. I write out my emotions, whether in a run-on sentence or an incomplete one. All my songs are written by myself and I continue to write all the time. I worked with a family friend to produce and create the tracks for my first five songs. However, the song “Joyride” was originally produced by me on Logic Pro on my computer one night. After sending the demo of the track we worked to create it into something more. I drove out to Denton, Texas and recorded these five in September, and released them as an EP “Through My Eyes”.

Playlist Link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0bNwopzMwhtEXWIj3I1j1Z?si=56eb73e3e97d4146

Jett Jenkins is a Texas-based indie-pop artist who layers dreamy, colorful production behind heavy lyricism. With stylings residing somewhere between Billie Eilish and Blondie, this poignant singer-songwriter leaned into her passions after having an inspirational experience at a Clairo concert. Years of playing the guitar and performing in musical theater prepared this emerging artist to dive into her music career; her debut E.P. is described as relatable, emotional, and delivering “lyrics beyond her years.” Alongside her debut in music, Jenkins is preparing to make the transition into young adulthood as she anticipates the move from home to college. This promising powerhouse makes a show-stopping introduction in her first single, “City In Anger,” in which she captivates listeners with passionate vocals, invigorating instrumentation, and lyrics steeped in melancholy. Jett Jenkins, with her spellbinding charisma, is on track to find a home on the playlist of indie-pop lovers for years to come.

Aislamiento o acondicionamiento Acústico

¿Qué es lo que en realidad necesita mi habitación?

A la hora de seleccionar nuestros instrumentos musicales, amplificadores, rack de efectos, monitores, interfaces de audio etc… generalmente somos en extremo selectivos. ya que para alguno de nosotros seria inaceptable poner en riesgo la calidad de nuestro sonido. Pero ¿Cómo es que muchas veces aun teniendo el equipo mas ideal nos encontramos con un resultado no tan optimo? De inmediato comenzamos a juzgar nuestra compra, o peor aun a nuestros oídos o habilidades. Cuando esa respuesta podría estar frente a nosotros… a los lados y detrás, Así es. La Acústica de nuestra Habitación.

 

Tenemos que recordar antes que todo, que el sonido es la interpretación que hace nuestro cerebro por medio de los oídos de un conjunto de vibraciones (ondas sonoras) propagándose en un medio adecuado, en nuestro caso mas común el aire.  Y la acústica es la respuesta de esas vibraciones a un determinado recinto. Entonces, hablemos sobre estas ondas sonoras.

 

Estas., se encuentran dando un recorrido por toda la habitación, antes de llegar a nuestros oídos, chocando en todas las superficies y absorbiendo muchos elementos del ambiente. Es por esa razón que siempre escuchamos con características distintas, aunque sea la misma fuente de sonido, por ejemplo., la diferencia que podemos encontrar al escuchar nuestro violín en un auditorio a como lo haríamos en nuestra habitación. O el sonido de nuestra voz en un aula de clase, a diferencia de como se escucha en un baño, otro ejemplo., seria cuando escuchamos la misma fuente sonora en la misma habitación antes y después de una mudanza (osea sin los muebles y luego con todos ellos) pero, la acústica no solamente nos habla al respecto de lo que sucede dentro de una habitación, también de como el exterior puede influir en nuestra fuente de sonido y viceversa. Por ejemplo., si nuestra habitación tiene una ventana que da hacia la calle, toda la filtración de sonido externo influye. De igual forma, si nuestro caso fuera que la habitación que estamos tomando como referencia se encuentra dentro de una casa pequeña, y nuestra fuente de sonido afecta a los demás ambientes que colindan con ella

 

al prestar atención a estos detalles, podemos darnos cuenta de que el audio como resultado final depende de muchos factores. Y prestarles atención a todos ellos es de suma importancia para que nuestro resultado final sea el deseado.  Entonces, volvemos a nuestra pregunta inicial ¿Qué es lo que realmente necesito? para dar una respuesta mas concreta a esto, tenemos antes que definir la diferencia entre los conceptos de aislamiento y acondicionamiento acústico. Así que veamos.,

Acondicionamiento Acústico

Cuando hablamos del acondicionamiento acústico, nos referimos a todo lo relacionado con tratamientos, técnicas, herramientas o cualquier tipo de sistema que nos permita controlar, mejorar o modificar el interior del recinto con el que deseamos interactuar, siempre con el fin de que nuestra fuente de sonido a capturar o captar sea lo mas cercana al sonido natural o deseado.

 

Aislamiento Acústico

Este básicamente se podría conceptuar, en controlar lo que sale y entra de ruido/ sonido a nuestro recinto. Mediante materiales, tratamientos, técnicas y cualquier tipo de sistema que permita el control y/o absorción.

En otras palabras, el aislamiento acústico vendría siendo el nivel de atenuación sonora que existe entre el recinto y el exterior.

 

Teniendo estas definiciones nos acercamos de una manera mas clara a nuestra respuesta, podemos abordar con mayor conocimiento los problemas que siempre han rodeado nuestro recinto. Atacando puntos claves como, por ejemplo., si hablamos de un acondicionamiento acústicos nuestros objetivos serian., controlar los tiempos de reverberación presentes en el espacio, (estos pueden variar, dependiendo del tipo de trabajo a realizar o del recinto que estemos acondicionando, pero en general son tiempos cortos que buscan la homogeneidad en las frecuencias)

También uno de nuestros objetivos dentro del acondicionamiento acústico, seria., atacar esas frecuencias problemáticas. Es especial las frecuencias graves, estas tienden a acentuarse en las esquinas de la habitación. y nos generan una imagen sonora realmente distorsionada de como las frecuencias bajas están sonando a través de nuestros monitores (esta es una de esas razones por las cuales muchas veces escuchamos tan diferente nuestra mezcla de sonido en casa y luego al reproducirla en algún dispositivo. no podemos engañar mas a nuestros oídos), es por esto ultimo que quisiera mencionar un objetivo mas dentro de este articulo, acerca del acondicionamiento acústico, este habla sobre., la difusión de la reverberación. Esta nos apoya de tal forma que podamos escuchar de una manera muy clara el sonido directo de nuestros monitores y que la reverberación resultante de estos no interfiera de manera contraproducente en el resto de la habitación.

 

Desarrollar este tema a detalle se vuelve una tarea amplia, y muy interesante ya que dentro del acondicionamiento acústico vamos a encontrar, pues. En fin, todo lo que sucede dentro de un recinto, Hablando de acústica.

 

Pero., ¿que pasa si nuestro problema esta fuera de el? Ahí es donde entran los objetivos a atacar relacionados al aislamiento acústico.

Este busca que ninguno de los sonidos externos interfiera en el trabajo que se realiza dentro del recinto, pues digamos que estamos creando una especie de ¨hermetismo¨, así mismo cuidamos que sonidos no deseados tampoco salgan de nuestra habitación al exterior.

Para lograr esto algunas veces se necesitan de modificaciones estructurales, ya que influyen muchas cosas como., de que material están hecha las paredes de nuestro recinto, si tenemos ventanas, si nuestras ventanas están selladas o no, el material de nuestra puerta, etc… para lograr conseguir el punto deseado de aislamiento.

 

Esta es una misión realmente retadora, pero con esto no quiero decir que esta fuera de nuestro alcance, podemos intentar con distintos tratamientos y materiales, siempre y cuando sean y estén colocados en los lugares correctos, e ir poco a poco logrando avances significativos.

Ahora que tenemos una vista mas amplia, podemos definir de una manera un poco mas clara que sucede en nuestra habitación, y así llegar a una conclusión sobre ¿Qué es lo mi habitación necesita?, Esto no quiere decir que ambos no puedan ser combinados, a veces la salida puede ser un hibrido entre ambas soluciones acústicas. Lo mas importante es conocer la diferencia para saber como y de que manera atacar los puntos clave y poder obtener la fuente sonora mas natural, optima o deseada.

Escrito por: María Fernanda Medina es de Tegucigalpa Honduras. Tiene una licenciatura en Tecnología Acústica y Sonido Digital de la Universidad Galileo en la Ciudad de Guatemala. María Fernanda ha trabajado principalmente en el campo del audio en vivo como freelance, y con empresas de alquiler de audio. Desarrollándose en el Backline, Stage manager y Producción. Tanto conciertos internacionales como festivales nacionales. “Actualmente, mi pasión es por el audio y el compromiso social que siento con mi país, que me ha guiado en la difusión y educación. Estoy disfrutando de esta faceta de mi vida que puedo explorar más cada día.
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