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The Soundgirls Podcast is Seeking New Bumper Music

The SoundGirls Podcast is looking for submissions

We are looking for a new music bed for the SoundGirls Podcast!
What we need: A 1:00min fully designed and produced music bed by one of our SoundGirls, for intro and outro music for the SoundGirls podcast.
Be creative!
What you receive: Your music played weekly on the Soundgirls podcast, a mention/shout out for your work on the SoundGirls podcast. A post on the SoundGirls Podcast and SoundGirls social media with links to your work/CV.
Please send all submissions to: soundgirlspod@gmail.com and put “Music Bed Submission” in the subject line. 

 

Sennheiser Latin America Providing Grants for Latin America SoundGirls

Gracias al generoso apoyo de Sennheiser Latin America podemos otorgar 20 becas para la Conferencia Virtual SoundGirls. Estas subvenciones están disponibles para SoundGirls que residen en América Latina.
Aplicar aquí
Si solo necesita asistencia financiera, solicite aquí. Esto asegurará que podamos proporcionar subvenciones y ayuda financiera a todos.
Aplicar aquí

Thanks to the generous support of Sennheiser Latin America we are able to provide 20 grants for The SoundGirls Virtual Conference. These grants are available to SoundGirls residing in Latin America.

We will be filling these on a first come first serve basis Apply here

If you only need financial assistance please apply here. This will make sure we can provide grants and financial aid to all.

Emily Magpie – Mastering Engineer

 

Emily Magpie is a Mastering Engineer and recently launched Emily Magpie Mastering. Emily has been working in audio for the last seven years and attended dBs The Sound & Music Institute where she was tutored by Josh Hills (mastering engineer for Sony, EMI). Based in Bristol, Emily works as a producer + musician and her work has been championed by  BBC 6’s Tom Robinson, The Line of Best Fit, Mahogany, Earmilk and amassed over 90,000 plays on Spotify. Emily is proud to be part of the growing 2% of women working as music producers and care deeply about supporting others in their journey.

Emily has always had an interest in music and audio “I’ve always loved music. I began writing, singing, and playing various instruments and could always hear a world around my songs in my head and wanted to explore creating that through production. I was always determined to keep learning, growing & exploring.” During her teenage years, Emily performed as a vocalist for a jazz orchestra. This experience gave Emily a foundation for arrangement, improvisation, and the joy of music. Emily has been performing and producing her own music experimenting with sounds in her bedroom and learned the music production process from other talented producers and engineers. This encouraged Emily to head back to school and formalize her experiences. She recently graduated from dBS The Sound + Music Institute, where she studied DJ + Electronic Music Production.

 

Career Start

What did you learn with internships and mentoring? 

Clarity + communication at the start saves so much time later!

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

In the early days, a friend of mine Anuj Robin taught me so much about production. The support + kindness of others like that in the industry still makes me feel in awe.

Career Now

What is a typical day like?

Doing some yoga + having coffee, getting back to mastering inquiries + other bits of admin then diving into working on mastering for other artists + producers.

Some days I’ll work on production for my own music too and have band practice some evenings. Every day is different and full of music in all different forms!

How do you stay organized and focused?

I have a paper diary + many to-do lists in my notebook. I write everything down and decide when I’ll work on each job. As a mastering engineer, you can be working on a lot of different projects so organisation is key!

What do you enjoy the most about your job?  

I love hearing such a wide range of music and figuring out how to make it sound its best. It’s really fun hearing the artist + producers’ vision for their tracks and helping them achieve or exceed that. I get a lot of satisfaction from my clients being excited about their final masters.

What do you like least? 

It does mean a lot of time on a computer but I try to balance that with exercise and doing fun things outside when I’m not working!

If you tour, what do you like best? 

I have been lucky enough to play a couple of sold-out socially-distant gigs with my own music over lockdown which have felt really special. I just love connecting with an audience. It’s nice to get up on stage and perform as well as spending time absorbed in musical worlds when producing- I love the balance of spending time in internal + external worlds.

More on Emily

​​https://emilymagpiemastering.co.uk/

emilymakesmusic6@gmail.com

Instagram @emilymagpiemastering

Emily Magpie

Production Audio

 

Before Mean Girls was planning to hit the road again, I got the opportunity to work on the re-start of the Cats tour as the production audio. That was a job I had never considered myself remotely capable of pre-pandemic, but as the world started to open back up, I was itching for a chance to get back into a theatre and more than ready for what I now viewed as a challenge instead of an impossibility.

I’m sure more than a few people reading this have never heard of production audio before. It’s not a job that’s billed on the front of the playbill like the designer, and they’re only with the show to get it up and running, so you’re not going to see them in the theatre when you go to watch a show. So what do they actually do?

 

So. Very. Much. They’re responsible for the logistics of taking a show from theory to reality. Given paperwork from the designer, they interface with production, design, and the shop to get all the equipment needed and figure out how everything goes together. How will all the gear fit into racks? What cables do you need to connect everything? Do you need infrastructure for MIDI or timecode? Networked computers so you can operate amps, consoles, or programs remotely? Who in the crew will need com and/or video and how does it get to them? Which speakers will need rigging hardware and do you know where they’re going to go or should you bring multiple options?

It’s a parade of endless questions

Which requires an extremely organized person, a good communicator, and a lot of technical knowledge. My pre-COVID hesitation had always been the last part. I knew I was organized and could keep people in the loop, but I know the tech-heavy aspects of sound don’t hold my interest nearly as much as the more artistic side of things, and I’d always assumed that meant I would be a disaster in such a job.

Thankfully, with the tour re-mounting instead of being a brand new production, the system was already built and sitting in a warehouse. That removed the most complicated technical part of the job from my plate, plus I’d worked with the original designer and production team before, so I was familiar with how they built their shows. That was actually why I got the call for the job: I may never have done production before, but I knew how to tour and what I’d be working with.

With that part already taken care of, my job was mostly coordination and improving efficiency. On a new show, the crew has two or three weeks in the shop to get all the gear, rack it up, cable, and test everything. For the remount, we took the existing system back to the shop and we had two weeks to make the changes the designer and production manager had agreed on so the show could load in and out faster. (It was going to a schedule with shorter stops and more frequent moves.) I had a list of items that were getting cut (under-balcony speakers, remote com stations, etc) and substitutions that were being made (drums mics swapping out for an e-kit, the console changing over from an SD7 to an SD10), as well as evaluating anything we could tweak to make the touring crew’s life easier.

The shop crew consisted of me as the production audio, the A1, A2, and a few locals who are audio people that work on or around Broadway. I was in charge of hiring the local crew which was something completely new to me, but I was fortunate to have friends in the NYC area who were veterans of plenty of shop builds and were both available to work and willing to help me navigate a job I had never done before. Pro tip: hire people smarter than you and listen to them. A large portion of the success of the show can be directly attributed to my shop crew. They helped me work through technical questions, pointed out when I’d missed things or might have incorrect information, and offered advice when I needed help or they knew a better solution. With their help, I didn’t have to know all the technical answers and could lean on their expertise.

At the end of the two weeks, we packed everything on a truck, and the A1, A2, and I went to tech. Now I was back in familiar territory, just in a different role. Instead of loading in the show in my usual role as the A1, my job as production was to take care of setting up anything that the road crew shouldn’t have to touch on a normal load in or out: cameras that live in electrics truss, speakers that are mounted to set pieces, setting up for an orchestra rehearsal that would only happen in tech, etc. My goal was to always be one step ahead of everyone else, whether that was having tech tables set up before designers came in, making sure speakers had the correct hardware and were ready for the crew to set up, or ordering supplies to make sure we had everything we’d need.

I liked this part of the production process the best. After almost a decade on tour, I’d tried many ways to streamline shows and I knew what worked, what didn’t, and what could make a project less of a pain. So I rigged up speakers, spiked placement, color-coded cables, and did my level best to make the system as easy as possible to move.

All in all, I consider my first go at production a success. Did I do everything perfectly? Nope, definitely not. But the fact that I was willing to ask for help and advice meant that most of the problems I encountered were minor or the crew knew it was an honest mistake and were willing to give me some grace while I fixed it. Am I going to change my career trajectory now that I know I wouldn’t be an abject failure at production? Again, no. It was empowering to try something new and I truly enjoyed the work, but in the shop I still found myself wishing every once in a while that I was the one building the racks instead of answering endless emails and phone calls, printing labels, and fielding questions. In tech, I occasionally itched to push faders instead of sitting at my tech table placing yet another online order and looking over what seemed like endless lists of projects to do and fixes to make. On the other hand, I wouldn’t automatically turn down the opportunity as I had in the past. It was gratifying to see my to-do list slowly dwindle down as we went through tech and I loved the feeling of accomplishment when I knew I’d made some part of the tour just a little bit easier to load in. Since it was the A2’s first tour, I was also able to give him advice of pitfalls he should avoid and the best ways I’d found to speed up my workflow. Touring is a very odd combination of skills, and it was good to know I could pass on my accumulated knowledge to make someone else’s life easier.

This past 18 months of pandemic gave me a good opportunity to reevaluate my skills and realize that, not only was I capable of more than I thought, but I had a wonderful community around me who wanted to see me succeed and was willing to help make that happen. So, maybe, as the entertainment world comes back to life, try something new. You might find yourself pleasantly surprised!

The SoundGirls Podcast Seeks Volunteers

The SoundGirls Podcast is seeking volunteers to assist our wonderful hosts Katie and Tori with administration duties, which include

This is remote work

Volunteers will receive a thank you package and a letter of recommendation.

Volunteer Here

SoundGirls Virtual Conference All-Access Passes Raffle

We are raffling off 15 All-Access Passes to The SoundGirls Virtual Conference. Donated by our Members and Sponsors.  Thank You!

We want to Thank ADVISIST for providing an additional five All-Access Passes

 

You can enter the raffle here. 

Winners will be notified on November 28th.

View Full Schedule Here

We want to thank all our sponsors for the SoundGirls Virtual Conference. With our sponsor’s generous support we are able to provide financial assistance and grants to attend.

 

Headline Sponsors

Corporate Sponsors

 

 

Event Supporters

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supporters

 

Collaborating With Another Editor

Here are a few things to take into account when you work with another editor on the same project:

Communication Is Key

I know this sounds obvious, but for a successful partnership, there has to be communication. And with sound, it’s essential as well. Usually, you’ll split sections to be covered by each editor, and often, there are elements or builds that are going to overlap or repeat in both sections. Before starting to edit, it’s always good to establish who is covering what and what strength each person has to offer for the project. Without communicating, you can end up doing double the work, or going in totally different directions with the sound palette for the show.

Sharing Your Builds

When you share your sound builds with another editor, it is important to take into account the flexibility of your build. Sometimes the exact same build is not going to work every single time it gets repeated throughout an episode, or throughout the show in general. Therefore, it’s important to have the sections of the build separated when you’re sharing it with another editor, printed down to one track. That way, the other editor will have the flexibility to manipulate the build to adjust for differences in timing or creative changes when repeated.

Here is an example of a shared SFX build.

Here is an example of a shared SFX build

Be Clear In Your Labeling

When sharing your builds and established sound effects, you need to make sure you are being as clear as possible. Proper labeling is key. Those you are collaborating with should be able to reference your sound design builds and effects easily, without having to waste time figuring out which sound matches each element in the picture. Often times we will export a session for a specific build, tracked out, and labeled for easy reference. This makes it easy for me to import the session data whenever the recurring material shows up in my work and is easily shared with other editors for the same purpose. In these sessions, I like to use either markers or empty clip groups above the build, labeling them to indicate their use. It also helps to build these sessions with both the full sound build together, followed by another iteration where the different parts are separated out, so whoever goes into editing the show can easily recognize how the build works and plays.

An example of this would be a laser gun power sequence. This could be a sequence where we hear the gun power-up, shooting, and then impacting the target. I’ll include the original build and timing, followed by individual chunks of design for each action (the power-up, the shots, the impacts) spaced out and labeled for clarity on their use.

Sharing Ambiences And Backgrounds

Established sounds for locations need to stay consistent. It’s very important to keep them the same throughout the episode unless a change is called for by the story. You should talk beforehand with your fellow editor to determine who will cover specific ambiences that may repeat between your work. As you work, if you feel you need to change something or think it’s necessary to add or subtract an element from the ambience, always communicate with all editors on the project.

These are some important examples to take into account when working with another editor to ensure a smooth collaboration and create the best possible soundscape for the project.

Interview with Anna-Lee Craig, A2 for Hamilton on Broadway

As I’ve outlined in previous blogs, getting advice and guidance from role models and mentors is a huge part of why I have been able to make a career in theatrical sound thus far. I’ve gotten to develop relationships with a bunch of amazing glass-ceiling crushing women, many of whom are mixing and designing at the highest levels on Broadway and elsewhere. There are other folks in theatre whose work I have simply admired from afar; you might even call me a “superfan” of theirs. And Hamilton A2 Anna-Lee Craig is certainly one of those humans!

ALC, as she is known, is someone I have looked up to for a few years now. Not only is she working on one of the most well-known Broadway shows running right now, but she is doing it as the parent of twin toddlers! And did I mention she designed a new style of mic rig for Hamilton that has now been NAMED after her?! Total badass. In fact, so much badassery that I couldn’t possibly fit it all into one blog!

So, without further ado, I am so pleased to be able to share Part 1 of my profile of ALC in her own words! Check back for Part 2 in early 2022, where we will discuss Hamilton specifically and the challenges of being a parent of young kids with a full-time Broadway gig.

Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Want to learn more about ALC and the sound design of Hamilton? Check out the two episodes of the “Hamilcast” podcast in which she is featured! https://www.thehamilcast.com/anna-lee-craig/ She is also part of the team that was interviewed for the Hamilton episode of the podcast “Twenty Thousand Hertz”: https://www.20k.org/episodes/hamilton. You can find her on Instagram @frecklessly7 and on twitter @craigalc.

What is your theatre sound “origin story”?

I went to school at James Madison University. Originally, I was focused on performance, I had acted in all the school plays in my high school, but I also had an interest in the technical aspects. Fall semester of my freshman year, my first crew assignment was helping the sound designer, a Senior named Jared Singer, strike after a dance concert and we really hit it off. I assisted him on his next sound design and winter break I knew I wanted to change my focus from performance to sound design. I love how sound can transport an audience to a time, a space, or a state of mind. I love how it can be wielded subtly and still have a dramatic impact on a scene.

What was your first professional job in theatre?

I was an A/V Intern at the Santa Fe Opera the summer after my Sophomore Year.

Was there a particular teacher or mentor who encouraged you to pursue a career in sound design?

So many. One professor, Dr. Dennis Beck, I still work with. He taught me the value of deep collaboration or building a narrative in step with a director, and I really think I’ve taken that lesson with me in all aspects of my work.

What jobs or networking opportunities did you avail yourself of in college that helped you prepare to break into the job market in New York?

I attended USITT (http://www.usitt.org/) every year while in college, which definitely helped me get my position at Santa Fe Opera. Many of my subsequent jobs came through word of mouth, recommendations from professionals I worked with either at summer stock or when they were guest designers at JMU. My big break came through KCACTF (Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival – https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/opportunities-for-artists/pre-professional-artist-training/kcactf/) where I competed with one of my sound designs. That won me a stipend to intern at Williamstown Theatre Festival which is ultimately how I met most of my future bosses, including Nevin Steinberg (sound designer of Hamilton).

Sidenote from Becca: I love this answer because it really highlights the importance of networking in our industry, and how the best thing that you can do for yourself is to get into those rooms where people you want to work with/for will be! I too got my first professional job because of attending a USITT conference and can trace many jobs I have gotten since then to the networks I have established by being a part of TSDCA and working at places like Williamstown Theatre Festival. I also want to acknowledge that huge barriers, both systemic and financial, still exist that stop otherwise qualified people from getting into these rooms to compete for these jobs. Attending conferences like USITT in-person can be cost-prohibitive for many people, and college students may not be able to get approval to miss school days to do so. And while the formerly “pay-to-play” internship at Williamstown specifically has been abolished in favor of a paid position called “Second Assistant,” much more work has to be done there and at other summer stock theatres to open these opportunities up to folks who may not be able to take low-wage (or no wage) work, or who do not have theatre sound classes/programs at their schools, or who are not financially able to study theatre at the university level at all. Our workforce will not diversify unless we radically change how we see folks as “qualified” or “having the right experience,” and move towards paying living wages across all 50 states, even at the entry-level. Ok, back to ALC!

Did you move to NYC right after college? Why or why not?

I stayed in Harrisonburg for an extra school year working as the Production Audio Intern at JMU’s performing arts center. It was a steady job, and I was unsure of what I was going to do next, so I took that year to save money and figure my next steps out. I was on the fence about whether to go to grad school or not.

What was your path to joining the union?

I worked for a couple of designers while I was freelance in NYC. I had been working as an A2 on Off-Broadway shows for Nevin Steinberg, and in the summer of 2013, he asked me if I was interested in going on the first national tour of Porgy and Bess. That’s the show that got me my ACT Card.

I really feel like getting in the union was when my career really started to ramp up. But also, maybe my “break” was even earlier, maybe it was meeting Nevin as an intern at Williamstown. Ever since then, one job led to another, a little more challenging, and I kept growing as an engineer.

Sidenote from Becca: ACT stands for Associated Craft Technicians and is colloquially known as the “touring local” of IATSE. Unlike the other numbered locals in IATSE, which are based in specific towns/cities (for example, IATSE Local 3 is Pittsburgh stage employees), ACT members are not all geographically based in one place, even though the local office is in New York.  Joining ACT or being offered an ACT card in order to accept work on a union touring show is how many folks in theatre gain membership to IATSE.

Thanks so much to Anna-Lee Craig for taking the time to share her story. Again, check back in January of 2022 for part 2 of this interview!

Also, I am taking requests for what topics you’d like to see blogs about next year. Reach out to me via my website, beccastollsound.com, and have a great end of 2021 y’all!

An Open Letter to Mental Health

Recently I have shifted my mental well-being to the forefront of my brain, whereas my work and education have always been my main focus. I knew that if I did not make this adjustment, my mental health would infringe on my professional life and the goals that I have set for myself.

The current discussion about mental well-being is a growing one, however, when it is combined with work, things fall short. There is an overwhelming amount of toxic work culture within our industry. With my switch to focusing on bettering myself and my mental state, I have questioned if this affects my worth as a designer. Does this make me a less valuable team member if I am not putting 110 percent into everything that I do?

I will answer this question for you – no it does not, and I know that it does not make me less valuable as a professional. Neither does it make me less capable. In fact, I think it makes me a better designer. There is an advantage to being self-aware and in tune with feelings and our experiences because those abilities lend themselves to sound design, music composition, and other creative and artistic endeavors.

Some days I feel as if I do not have any creative energy in me. Or that I no longer enjoy the things I once loved. A void has opened up and swallowed everything that makes me who I am. However, I have to remember that this does not equate to the real me. I may experience these feelings, but the creative and intelligent being I am still exists. My ability to do excellent work as a designer, engineer or teacher still exists.

Fear resides in me that if I cannot separate my working life from everything else, then I am on a one-way train to failure. My professional life must remain anxiety-free and the depression stifled. What we forget to remember is what that initial fear represents; a crack in the facade that we create. This kind of perfectionism is so fragile and dangerous for industry and work where things are changing and adapting every minute.

One of the best abilities I have trained myself in is how to be flexible. How to be adaptable and calm under pressure. It certainly was not easy, but I recognized it would be one of the most serving things I could do for myself. I work with directors, choreographers, artists, producers, and they all have an idea of what they want. Then, there is the actual production team which can vary in size and mind. They all have an idea of what they want. To think things won’t change and adapt is easily the most naive idea you could have. Some people may have an easy time being flexible under pressure, however, as someone with complex anxiety it is something I have had to work hard on.

If you are to remember anything from this article, please take away this statement. You are not your work. You are a valid and beautiful person no matter what work or the amount of work you do. You may feel like you have to do more, but ultimately you have an obligation to yourself and your health. That always takes priority.

I can recognize that this time that we spend on ourselves is what makes us worth so much. The idea that it makes us worthless is a misconception. There is also a lack of understanding of how long that process will take because it varies for each person. Our industry is not at all patient. It took Van Gogh a year to paint his famous Starry Night and that is an excellent example of what can happen when you are patient. You cannot get back the time you spent burning yourself out at your craft and I certainly don’t like thinking back on the person I was then. Hopefully, someday our industry will adopt a more patient outlook, but until then we have to be patient with and for ourselves.

As we come to a close in 2021, with everything going on and all of the uncertainties, I am thankful that I am working on this and that it can be one of the more stable things in my life. I think of it as my foundation and I know it will make me a better individual. We all have goals and dreams and taking care of our mental wellbeing can only help us achieve that for ourselves. I hope you all have a wonderful end of 2021 – you will see me in writing next year.

Special thanks to Quinn Schuster and Tyler Quinn for contributing to this writing.

 

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