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Empowering the Next Generation of Women in Audio

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Maud

Location:
Norway

How did you become a producer?
It took me some time to realise that I actually could be in charge of all the creative processes of making my music. I don’t think anyone told me this growing up, at least no one really encouraged me to do this on my own. At some point, I was tired of not finding the «right» producer, as well as not being able to explain how I wanted my music to sound, and that’s when I decided to learn how to produce my own music.

What advice would you give students either going into school or just graduating about getting a job in this industry?
As we all know, the music business is very tough and the competition is hard. The best thing you can do is stop comparing yourself to other artists or producers. Try to only focus on your own path and achievements. It’s easy to get frustrated when things aren’t working out in the beginning, but remember that everything is a part of the process. If a release doesn’t turn out the way you expected, or you don’t get the attention you wanted, that doesn’t mean your whole career is at stake.

What are the major qualities required to be a good sound engineer in your opinion?
As a sound engineer, I think it’s important to respect the vision of the artist you’re working with, while also increasing the quality of the song or product you’re working on. In this case, I’m both the producer and sound engineer, and when I’m creating music I usually produce and mix at the same time. To me, these roles complement each other.

What is your recording/producing philosophy?
Being a producer is not only about knowing the technical stuff, it’s also about knowing your artistic vision and staying true to that all the way.

What producers/engineers inspire/inspired you?
Grimes, Wondagurl, Oklou, Anetha & Smerz

Renee Goust – Re-Sister

A bilingual album by, for, and about women that represents us in Mexican and American folk genres

 

In early 2020, Renee Goust received word that she was selected as a recipient of the New York Foundation for the Arts Women’s Fund. Even before it was announced, Renee and I were already discussing how we were going to record this album – an album of all women. On March 12th, 2020, the news was made public:

If that date looks familiar, it’s because at least in New York City, this was the day where the entire city shut down. The city that never sleeps was in fact going into a deep sleep. What did this mean for us? A complete revamping of what was going to be an album recorded in a completely different way from what she had done in the past. 

The Backstory 

Renee and I met through my husband. They played a gig together, and we became instant friends. Renee being a more techie artist than I’d worked with in the past, we instantly began discussing microphones, techniques, and how we’d work this album once she got the funding. 

We would record this album as live as possible. This meant all musicians together on one day, as isolated as possible, but playing together. If you’ve been reading along with me, you’ll remember that I worked for a long time in live concert recording in classical and jazz. I’ve adapted a lot of that to how I record any genre. I find recording live lends itself to some of the best performances from musicians. The vibe, they feed off each others’ energy and it’s something that is hard to replicate in overdubs. Not to say you can’t get amazing recordings in other ways, as we’ll see, but if I have a choice…

So Renee and I discussed the plan. She and the musicians would rehearse for a couple of weeks, and we would go into the studio and knock out each tune in no time. 

The Best-Laid Plans

When the lockdown started we had no idea how long this would go on, but we knew that she had deliverable deadlines once she got the grant (which were pushed back a couple of times for obvious reasons). So at first, we said, no problem, we’ll do it later. 

Then, two pretty big realizations happened. 

So, we were forced to make new plans. 

We had several pre-production talks. Many of her musicians had fled New York City. This meant not only were we not recording altogether, but we would have to outsource many of the musicians recording in other locations. 2020 was the year of realizing remote recording can and will work. We made a very detailed excel mapping out who needed to record where, dates for those files to get to me, and we chose a week to block out a studio in New York City and record the bulk of everything we needed with a few days sprinkled after to get our main vocals recorded.

Why did we choose to do it all in a week? Because by this time we were in late summer, the city was still heavily shut down, but as each month passed, the closer I was to having a baby. That meant making a schedule to meet protocols for cleaning and sanitizing between musicians coming in to record and not leaving any surprises because anything we missed could mean derailing the deadline. 

We chose October since it left time for Renee to get her charts together, for the musicians to rehearse, but also leave time to do things in post. I would be about 8 months pregnant which felt a little safer in terms of how we would manage risks with the pandemic.

How it All Went Down

The drums for Resister were all recorded at Gamma Studio in Mexico. I personally don’t like to micro-manage other engineers (because I know what it feels like). The only notes I gave was the more mics on the drum kit the better – something I learned from the great Bobby Sanabria, drummer, and educator who mic’d every single bell for a total of 18 tracks on just drums (another story for another time). 

Our marathon week of recording in person was done at The Buddy Project in Astoria, Queens.

 

Aside from it being a super comfortable space, I lived close by, and since the pregnancy was a risk factor, it was very convenient. We tracked bass, all guitars, clarinet, piano, accordion, percussion, and vocals. And guess what, we even had another pregnant musician. (due the exact same day!)

 

 

We left absolutely nothing to chance. We didn’t work overtime. We had lunch.

And we met every deadline. Because we were organized.

 

Every musician was extremely professional

 

Recording Separately

The caveat with recording every instrument separately and receiving files remotely is… THERE. IS. A. TON. OF. EDITING. Like a lot. 

I always prided myself on being a great editor, but after this year I could probably do it with a sandwich in my hand and not even listen to it. (Kidding). Working with a schedule like this meant there wasn’t a whole lot of time to edit between sessions. We did build time in, but as the week wore one, we ran out of time. It was more important to take advantage of beautiful mics and studio space because as much as it would suck on the back end, we could in fact edit later.

 

 

And edit we did. This has nothing to do with musicianship, it’s just when people don’t play together, regardless of a click, they aren’t going to get into the same groove. Even if they’re overdubbing – to some extent – there will be editing involved. Every layer you add on top of something that hasn’t been edited or comped makes even more work.  As in the tune in the photo, we recorded a lot more than we needed and then had to sit down and produce the track, looping, and editing what we needed for certain sections. There is of course beauty in not over-editing, but you really can’t get around it when you record separately.

 

 

Ready to Mix

We got what we needed.  We’re now in December. Countdown to giving birth T – 27 days. Our game plan was to get everything prepped for mixing. All tracks locked, so when I was ready post-birth, I could mix. Renee’s original release date was September 2021, so we had time with the exception of her first single, Diosa, which would release in February. Plenty of time, but there are 8 tracks to prep before the engineer is completely out of commission for at least 6-8 weeks or more. 

So priority number one before Christmas:

Diosa

What Actually Happened

Diosa is the biggest track on the album. 72 tracks. A combination of electronic and acoustic instruments. Real drums with electronic drums, flugabone, trumpets, tuba, congas – 2 features with one recorded in Mexico sliding into home base on December 15th. 

Our original goal was to have this mixed before I had the baby. We were making progress, but it was now Christmas week. We were out of time. I submitted a “working mix” to Renee to give her an idea of where we were. Was that a good idea? Probably not. Sending working mixes tend to backfire because it stresses all parties out. But, at the time, I thought let me give her an idea of where we are. It is much better in some scenarios to explain being late than to submit something incomplete.

So what happened? I got a very nervous voice memo about what we were going to do because she wasn’t happy with the direction we were going. And she was right. It wasn’t even worth giving notes. So at 3:30 am, from the hospital before being admitted for induction, I wrote Renee an email to give me two weeks post-birth to recover a bit, and I promised to take this to the finish line. I will note here that I actually wanted to pass it off because I didn’t think I could do it. I knew the first weeks’ post-birth are a cluster fuck, but my husband encouraged me to finish.

And so, two weeks after giving birth. I did in fact get Diosa to the finish line.

 

 

Perspective

Sometimes a bit of space from the thing you’ve been killing yourself to do is good for you. Renee decided to move up her release date of the album, so we moved our mix dates accordingly. That meant a lot of rushing and rushing doesn’t necessarily yield the results you want. At one point, we hit a wall. And instead of rushing towards that finish line, we had a conversation where we both acknowledged that neither one of us was enjoying this process. We were both trying to meet unrealistic deadlines, and it was time to come to terms with that. We stepped back. I brought in an assistant to help me with 2 tracks (thanks Taylor Pollock).

The two tracks we had left for the end were two of the other big tracks – left for the end due to things beyond our control. Our Anthem, boasting 48 tracks, a featured artist in San Francisco, and a massive amount of guitars, wasn’t gelling. A mix of rock, folk, and surf guitar, this was one of my favorite tracks on the album, and I was so excited to work on it. I desperately wanted it to sound good. But, I was so tired at this point; I couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t working. 

So once we took the time and space to do things right, I took another listen and decided to mix the track in mono. Mono helped me identify the problem spots, the tracks that were conflicting with others. Once I found a place for everything in mono, I popped my A/D into stereo, and everything started to fall into place. We hit our deadline.

The Bigger Picture

Resister was mastered by Margaret Luthar out of 1979 in Nashville and was released on May 29th, 2021. I always say I gave birth twice this year. One to Isabel, and another to Resister. 

The most important thing to me about this album was what the album actually meant. Sure, it was an album of all women and non-binary folks. And yea, it was an album of feminist content uplifting women’s voices. 

But the bigger picture was what happened behind the scenes. It was an album of women SUPPORTING other women. There were so many opportunities for Renee to walk away and complete this album with someone else, but she didn’t. Her engineer got pregnant, and she saw it through until the end. And the only way this business can continue to uplift women is by supporting them no matter what. 

This album will always be special to me because I did it very pregnant and mixed it with a newborn. Did you know that in the ‘60s, labels were hesitant to sign women artists and groups because of the fear that they would get pregnant and not finish out their contracts? 

Look at how far we’ve come. We can, actually, do it all.

 

Resister Credits: 

 

With support from The NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre by the City of New York Mayor’s Office & The New York Foundation for the Arts @madein_ny and @nyfacurrent 🙏🏽

 

Tips for Touring

 

Within the past couple of months, life has started to pick up, and start dates for live events seem more and more like true beginnings and not the “fingers crossed!” of last year. But after a year and a half, the landscape looks a little different. People who had been on the road for decades suddenly had extra time at home and realized that they didn’t want to head back. Others who were on the cusp of starting their careers can finally see opportunities pop up and are ready to hop on the road.

If you’ve never been on tour before, here are some tips and tricks to get you started. (For clarity’s sake, I’ve only toured in the theatre world. I would assume that some of this translates to concerts, but I’m not saying that it absolutely does.)

Most of the tour advice boils down to: don’t be an idiot and don’t be an asshole

If nothing else, remember that. So much of our life is dealing with different personalities, across departments, the touring company at large, and your local crew. If you and the people around you are pleasant to work with, your day gets immediately better. So, keep in mind:

Moving on to the nuts and bolts of touring

When you start a new tour, you’ll have a couple of weeks of shop prep when you head up to the NYC area and get all the gear (speakers, console, com, processing, RF, cables, etc.) and put it all together.

This also applies to cases. If you can, color code labels according to the case’s destination

 

As you start moving the show, another set of organizational skills comes into play. You develop a flexible routine, which sounds like an oxymoron, but the reality is that there will always be a few cities thrown in the mix where things just won’t be able to follow the usual plan. However, the individual tasks in your routine should retain a flow that you follow as much as possible.

Finally, some general housekeeping tips

I’ll say it again: if you follow nothing else on this list, don’t be an idiot and don’t be an asshole. Some common sense and a positive attitude go a long way in an industry that is so much smaller than you think.

Samantha Potter – Audio Empress

Samantha Potter has forged a path in audio by being versatile, having a great attitude, continuously learning, and having a willingness to share her expertise. She has been able to achieve a career working both as a freelance audio engineer and on staff at pro audio companies. In just seven years, Samantha has gone from a freelance tech to a well-respected audio engineer working for ProSoundWeb as a senior contributing editor and co-directing Church Sound University, as well as a podcast host for the Church Sound Podcast. Additionally, she’s part of Allen & Heath USA, as the manager for Commercial and Install Audio, better known as Install Empress. By forging a hybrid career, Samantha has the stability and reach working for a company provides as well as the creative expression and autonomy freelancing provides. She says  “It’s the best of both worlds.”

Growing Up

Samantha’s roots are in classical music. “I grew up playing classical music and jazz. I started on violin but picked up upright bass, cello, and guitar along the way. After seven years of formal training, I decided that while music was fun it was in no way going to give me the future for which I aspired.”

In her teens, she discovered computer and technology programs and sought to blend these two passions as a career path. In high school, she did what any young individual does when looking for the next path: she Googled careers. She soon discovered audio engineering combined her two passions and started studying recording and studio arts. After about two years immersed in audio, she discovered live sound and fell in love, never to look back.  Samantha enrolled in local college programs and has obtained several associate degrees with an emphasis in mathematics but she says, “Those were really just for completion’s sake. I already had an established career in audio by the time I applied for graduation. I have an emphasis in math with the idea that perhaps someday I will return to get a bachelor’s and master’s degree. Currently, though, it’s not worth the price nor the time.”

Career Start

“A metal band I played in at [17] toured a studio and I noticed a book on the owner’s desk. I asked about it, we began talking, and he eventually took me under his wing. I eventually drifted away from studio work to pursue a more adrenaline-pumped path. Soon after leaving the studio that helped launch my education and career, I fell into a position at a large church. This church leased part of its campus to a graduate school. The hiring individual and I had a professor in common so when the job opened up, my name was thrown in. Eventually, that job transformed into the oversight of technology for multi-campus synchronous online classes and producing chapel services and special events. My actual duties in this job ranged from troubleshooting computers to video editing to event producer. I actually stayed at that job for nearly seven years, leaving only after I could no longer expand the position to meet my growing thirst and expertise.”

The Importance of Internships/Mentorship

“My time at the studio really helped me learn some fundamentals. Putting those fundamentals to work didn’t actually ‘click’ until my first few jobs. One of the first internship-style positions I held was as a volunteer broadcast engineer at a megachurch. I got to cut my teeth on a DiGiCo SD9! I learned so much doing that job. I met a ton of people I’m still friends with, and it was a fantastic transition between studio work and live work. If I hadn’t gone to that studio that day, or I hadn’t taken the early jobs that I did, I would not be where I am. They all compounded together to create my career trajectory and my experience. The jobs I hated taught me something, the jobs I loved taught me something. My early internships, the free work I did, and the work that paid me in food all equally pushed me to design my career so that it was Samantha-shaped, hit all my wants and needs, and built on my strengths. Some people go their whole lives without getting that.”

What did you learn interning or on your early gigs?

“Wow, how much time do we have? Haha. Sometimes functioning is better than beautiful. Or, in other words, don’t let good be the enemy of perfection. Sometimes, no matter how much prep we have, things still go wrong. If we are at the very least completing the foundation of our jobs (to amplify and balance audio) then we can call it a win.

“Fake it ‘til you make it. The audacity that some people out there have — it’s unreal. Get used to asking questions, but force yourself to believe that you deserve to be there and are enough. You must believe that, if only for a few minutes at a time. Other people wake up every morning and think about how great they are and that the world owes them something and they’re the second coming of Jesus. Do yourself a favor and take a page from their book. If you work hard and have a good attitude, you will be just fine. Even the people you think are great are not as great as you think. I say this with love in my heart, but there are some real dummies out here making a great living being mediocre. There’s room for all of us.

“Not everything needs to be touched. Have a purpose for everything you do unless you are explicitly experimenting. Touching every single knob or button just to put your magic on a console just because can seem insecure. The proof is in the pudding.

“Network, network, network, network. Knowing the right people is at least 50% of the job. The more people you know, the more people that know you, the better. Reputation and word of mouth are how we function here. Get a leg up. Make meaningful connections with people whose work you enjoy or whose careers you’re interested in or would like to emulate. Conventions, conferences, meetups, and yes, Facebook groups, are all ways we can meet new people and try to make those meaningful connections.”

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

“So many. Elana Goldberg taught me the value of tough love and accepting constructive criticism. Ted Avara showed me creativity. Rob Guy taught me how to over-under. Roger Bevz taught me proper gaffing. And that’s just to name a few from so early on. So many people have poured into me. Literally hundreds. I do my best to thank them and show my appreciation for them any chance I get, but also to pass it on. They didn’t have to show me anything. They chose to. And I am standing on the shoulders of all those people and their own lifetime of achievements. Thank you all, named and unnamed, for the immense value you shared with me in your own ways.”

Career Now

What is a typical day like?

“Which day of which month? haha. It varies quite a bit, but I will try to combine it all into a single day:

“I get up around 6:30 am and go for a 30-minute run. I shower, stretch, make breakfast, start a cup of coffee, and read. I start my workday at about 8 am depending on the workload for the day.

“I walk down to my office and start turning on a lot of equipment. Almost none of my work is local these days, so my office is decked out in an array of different equipment to help me do that. As with most jobs, I first check my email and line up what I need to get done that day. This often includes preparing for and presenting a multitude of different webinars, webcasts, videos, and console demos. At this point, I have a whole studio set up so all I have to do in the way of video equipment is turn lights and cameras on.

“Much of my work also revolves around experimenting with audio techniques, and designing/programming install jobs involving Allen & Heath gear. Additionally, I give tech support to those experiencing very particular errors with some of our gear, like misprogramming their matrix or advanced system configurations. Luckily, we have an amazing tech support team to take care of some of the more common issues (like someone not remembering what their IP address is or helping with a firmware update [Bless you guys, you’re the real MVPs.])

“I also compile feature requests from our users, any bugs we may discover, and help influence the designs, iterations, and updates to our gear. I’m thankful to the Allen & Heath UK crew that allows me to have some ‘ownership’ of the matrices, consoles, peripherals, and other gear. It goes a very long way.

“Some months I pursue interesting projects for press releases. I get to talk nerdy with the project managers and installers and find out what sort of stuff they’re working on and gather info for press.

“Once I take care of my administrative duties, I may write an article for a future issue of Live Sound International or Church Sound Magazine. There’s also quite a bit that goes into editing an entire magazine. Working with contributors, authors, technicians, and engineers to get the best information out to the masses is a labor of love. My work with ProSoundWeb allows for plenty of flexibility which I greatly appreciate since my work is sort of weird, period. Remember how I said my career is Samantha-shaped? Yeah, this is part of that. Editing and writing take two very different parts of one’s brain and requires balance between using my voice and allowing an author to use theirs. It takes a few weeks to get an issue together starting from finding/obtaining writings or asking an author to contribute. We go through several editing processes, a design phase, and a proof phase. Then poof —  printed word. I’m over-simplifying, but trust me, that’s best.

“Part of my daily work also involves booking or preparing for an episode of my podcast which comes out biweekly. I try to always have a backlog of episodes so that I don’t need to be rushing through anything. I write outlines, do research, and prepare myself to have an involved and informed discussion over a given topic.

“I work a lot and it’s a bunch of different kinds of work so making things like recording, slideshows, or press releases as effortless as possible is a must. Preparation is everything!

“I try my darndest to end my workday at 5 pm. On occasion, I have to work late because of a time zone difference or because a project just needs to get finished. I’ve most definitely sat in bed editing a podcast episode at 9 pm before. I don’t love it, but things need to get done. I want my family time, though. If I don’t get brain and body rest I’d inevitably burn out. I love what I do and I do not want burnout to happen.

“My days vary a lot and include quite a bit of travel to help commission systems, teach courses, give training, and things like conventions and conferences. Those days are completely different from everything I just described. It all depends! I love my days varying about 70% with about 30% staying consistent. I’m a particular lady.”

How do you stay organized and focused?

“I’m always having to work towards better organization and better focus. I’m a work in progress, as we all are. I live and die by my calendar(s). I keep them up to date at all times and reference them frequently. My random thoughts and things I need to check in on live on sticky notes sprinkled at the base of my computer monitor. My desk looks like my brain: a scattering of projects and topics that interest me. A sort of organized chaos, if you will. Every couple of weeks I do a sticky note binge and make sure I’ve taken care of the things I need to. Is it best? God, no. But it makes a lot of sense to my brain.

“When it comes to focus, I try not to focus on any particular project or task for more than 2-3 hours at a time. I take frequent breaks to walk around the house or around the neighborhood, drink plenty of water, and listen to music as much as possible. Sometimes I just need silence, but mostly I like to put on my wireless headphones and laser focus.”

What do you enjoy the most about your job?

“Helping to further the industry. In my own way, I get to teach other engineers and techs how to be better and I get to have a say in how technology is adopted and changed. It’s quite magical, actually. Educating others and sharing knowledge help make all this work worth it.”

What do you like least?

“I must say, I do occasionally tire of having to show someone the bare minimum of something because they couldn’t be bothered with reading or trying it out for themselves. I don’t always dislike it, but I have my days where I really wish someone would’ve simply poked around, or watched one of the 500 videos available, or done a Google search. I don’t mind helping people and walking them through things. I love it, in fact. But you can tell when someone only opened their computer long enough to write an email.”

What is your favorite day off activity? 

“Relaxing, playing my Nintendo Switch, or visiting family. I limit my interaction with technology on my days off because so much of my life is dripping in tech. If I had to pick one activity, I would pick visiting the lake. There’s something about boating around to different restaurants and bars, swimming for hours, grilling, and just forgetting normal life for a little while that creates a sense of serenity.”

What are your long-term goals?

“My long-term goal is to grow my reach, my personal brand, and the brands of the two companies I have dedicated so much to. If I want to help as many people as possible, I have to keep moving. Between ProSoundWeb and Allen & Heath, I can create real change in the industry. I suppose my other long-term goal would be to always continue growing and learning. I never want to stop.”

What, if any, obstacles or barriers have you faced?

“My age still gets in the way periodically. Luckily, it gets a tiny bit easier every year. I’ve had a few run-ins having to do with being a woman, but almost always the age ‘thing’ is the overwhelming contributing factor; so much so that it dwarfs or at least gives explanation to the female prejudice.

“The other obstacle is myself. Imposter Syndrome really hits sometimes. No matter what ‘accomplishments’ I may achieve, some days just feel like it’s all a lie and someone will find out I’m a fake and I actually know nothing. That can be a whole battle on its own.”

How have you dealt with them?

“By working hard, always learning, and trying thrice as hard as the men. I’ve met quite a bit of under-performance in my time as an audio engineer, and they are often quite higher in their career than one would think. I use it as a motivating factor: if the likes of them can make it this far, what’s stopping me from going further? The bar is lower than you think it is.

“My imposter syndrome… I’m still working on it. I have an excellent group of friends that also work in this field who can help ground me when I start spiraling. I have a wonderful wife who’s always willing to support me when I need a hand. Also, therapy. We could all do with some therapy.”

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

“It’s going to suck at times, but you have to keep dreaming big. So big it scares you. We all have to do things we don’t like, but we get to pick what things we want to put up with. It’s easy to want a glamorous lifestyle, but not everyone can make it through what it takes to have a career in pro audio. There’s also plenty of jobs in this field that you don’t even know exist. Think wide, try out everything, find what you like and what you’re good at.

“Part of paying your dues in the industry is doing grunt work or putting up with attitude or boring tasks. You will also need to do this, but there’s a big difference between paying dues and being abused. You have the right to your own space, your safety, your peace of mind, and your body. Do not let anyone try to convince you otherwise. And don’t try to make yourself smaller to please someone else. It took me far too long to realize I was even doing it.”

Must-have skills?

“Patience, good communication, a willingness to learn, a problem-solving mindset, and people skills. You must have all of these if you want to be really successful.”

Favorite gear?

“Hmm… tough. It’s always changing.

“A hard drive full of various multitrack, a roll of artist’s tape, and an iPad. Tried and true gear to always have with me.

“Other misc. gear I love Rational Acoustics Smaart, the AHM-64, Scarlett interface, Sony WH-XB900N wireless noise-canceling headphones.”

More On Samantha

Find More Profiles on The Five Percent

Profiles of Women in Audio

 

SoundGirls Seeks Presenters for Virtual Conference

SoundGirls Virtual Conference – December 4-5, 2021

SoundGirls is seeking presenters for our first annual virtual conference to be held on December 4-5, 2021. The conference will feature tracks in all audio disciplines, career development, manufacturer demos, as well as mentoring and networking.

What we are looking for

Our goal is to provide longer in-depth sessions that you typically would not receive at conferences.  Sessions will be longer 90 minutes to 2 hours, with Q&A afterward. We will host some panel discussions, but wish for our content to be focused on a topic or training.

With presentations from subject matter experts that reflect the challenges, successes, and innovations around the professions in audio, the conference will bring together engineers, industry leaders, students, and others for two full days of professional development and networking.

Presenters

Open to all humans working in audio.

Presenters should be well versed and working in the field they are presenting.

Presenters can adapt programs they currently teach or run.

Presenters will be allowed to offer their services and educational programs, as well as provide further information on the topic.

Compensation

SoundGirls will be paying presenters a small fee TBD based on profit.

Presenters also have the option of donating their fees to our 2022 Scholarship program.

Presenters will receive All Access passes to the conference and the video archive of all the tracks and sessions.

Tracks

We are hosting tracks that do not overlap through the day, All sessions will be recorded and available for presenters. Tracks we will be running currently Post-Production Audio, Film & TV Sound (including Production Sound), Live Sound, Broadcast Sound, Recording Arts, Theatre Sound Design, Career Development, Sessions in Spanish, and Misc. If you do not see a track for your audio discipline that’s okay, submit a proposal and we will add the track or find a place for it.

Submit Proposals Here

The deadline to submit proposals is September 1, 2021

Questions

Email us at soundgirls@soundgirls.org with your questions

L&L: Less is More: A Lesson in Avoiding Over-Cutting

Over-cutting in your SFX editorial is a really easy mistake to make, and one that can be a real headache for your mixer. Today we’ll go over a quick tip to help you avoid adding too much to your FX builds.

When searching your library for interesting layers to add to a build, it’s very tempting to add every sound you hear that you think is appropriate and cool. But this can lead to bloated builds that make mixing pretty tricky. This is especially true if this build continues in a scene for a while, or dare I mention needs to be cut to perspective.

If you find yourself doing this, try out this tip to help thin out your sound without taking away from the quality. Once you’ve cut in all of the elements you want for your build, mute each layer. Then, one by one, unmute a layer and listen through. If any of the sounds don’t add something significant to your build, get rid of it! If it’s not cutting through in your editorial session, it certainly won’t cut through the mix once dialogue and music are added.

 

Here’s an example of over-cutting leading to cluttered layers that are counterintuitive to mix.

Here’s an example of over-cutting leading to cluttered layers that are counterintuitive to mix.

Additionally, it helps to keep frequency and texture in mind when creating your builds. Try and choose layers that are distinct from one another and serve a purpose within those categories. For instance, if you’re building an explosion, you’ll want to fill out the frequency spectrum with an LFE element, a mid-range boom, and maybe something like a firework whistle to round out the high-end. Then for texture, maybe you’ll want some rock debris or a big wooden crack at the beginning. It doesn’t make sense to just add layer upon layer of mid-range booming explosions because you can get a similar sound by just raising the gain on one well-selected mid-range file. Thinking about frequency and texture in your builds will help avoid adding unnecessary layers and also make your editorial a bit more interesting.

Eating Healthy on Tour

A few years ago when I started working out more seriously (more than a run for the bus type thing), I started looking at what I ate and how it affected me. I was vegetarian and vegan on and off for a few years and can now say I am fully plant-based. Yes, it’s the buzzword of the moment, but if that means there will be wider access to plant-based foods around the world, then I’ll take it!

Don’t get me wrong, there was a time when I would have two steaks a week at home and my favourite thing to do on tour was finding the best steak restaurant and order a fillet with an expensive glass of red wine (I thank the Raveonettes for introducing me to the finer side of wining and dining.. oh I miss those days!) I digress. These days it’s coffee and avocado toast. No animals were harmed and it fuels me after my workouts.

I find the hardest thing on tour is eating well. There will no doubt be pizza after the show on the bus. There will be wine flowing. There will be late nights. Trying to abstain from these indulgences is one of the hardest things for me. You want to be social, but if you stay up, you want to eat that pizza! I can tell myself I’m not doing my body any favours by eating it but the devil on the shoulder shouts louder. I think this is where moderation comes into play and setting yourself up for success by taking yourself out of the situation where you might succumb. If you’re serious about eating well and performing at your absolute best (clean foods, very limited alcohol, and good sleep) then you need to prioritise these things and send yourself off to bed after maybe making a nighttime tea, or having a bowl of oatmeal or a banana and nut butter. Doesn’t sound as exciting as a pepperoni pizza does it? Trust me, I know. but I also know how much better I feel when I don’t eat processed, salty food. It really all comes down to how you want to treat your body. You only have one, you need to look after it.

If you’re in your twenties, I’m not going to tell you to not go and party, but I can’t even imagine where I would be if I was living like I am now back when I was 23!

Give some healthy eating a go, you might like it and you might be surprised how good you feel!

Here is a good list of healthy foods to add to the bus stock list that will get you through breakfast, lunch, or nighttime snacks:

5 Important Things a Sound Engineer Must Keep in Mind

Being a sound engineer is difficult sometimes. You have a lot of things to consider when you are planning a live event and you will be the one that takes all the blame if the event is not a success. Sound mixing can be an enjoyable experience, but only if you are prepared to take care of all of the tasks that are required of you during a live event.

There are many skills that a sound engineer must have in their toolbox and you need to have all of them if you want to be a successful sound engineer during a live event. There are some important things that you will need to know how to do if you want to be a big success when you are the sound engineer at a live event.

If you are ready to learn the things a sound engineer must know and keep in mind, you should read on!

Important Things a Sound Engineer Must Keep in Mind

Know the Plan

The plan of a live event is an important part of the things that you need to know to make sure that you are able to mix the sound perfectly for the entire event. You have to know which kinds of sound will be going on during which parts of the event to be sure that you are ready to mix the sound correctly.

If there are going to be talking portions of the event as well as musical portions, you need to know this when you start planning how to mix sound. This is just as important as controlling the lights for the event. You have to know what the plan is to be able to generate the best sound mixing possible after the fact.

Know the Acoustics

Acoustics can impact your jobs as a sound engineer greatly. You will need to be aware of the acoustics of the venue in question so that you can make sure that your sound mixing is correct. You can make broad assumptions about the kind of space that you are mixing sound in, but without sound checks and knowledge about the acoustics of the venue, you will have a hard time making sure that the sound is great.

Acoustics can make a huge difference in the overall sound mixing that is needed for each location that you need to be the sound engineer at. You will need to know this information to do the best job possible mixing sound in these locations.

Work With the Event Team

When working on live events, you really must work with the event team to make sure that you know what the highs and lows of the live event need to be. You will need to understand the theatrics of the proposed events on stage so that you can make sure that sound mixes correctly for these expectations.

Working with the event team closely will allow you to be sure that all the right moments are emphasized throughout the event. The crescendos of a live event are often the most important portions of the action to highlight, but you need to be sure that you are aware of when these moments are supposed to take place.

Know Your Equipment

You might be aware of how all of the necessary equipment works, but the combination of unique technology that you are working with for a live show can cause issues you did not foresee. If you have been working with the same show for a long time, this might not be a big issue, but locations can still add challenges to your overall sound mixing plans.

Make sure that you check all of the acoustics related to each of your amps as well as the arrangement of singers and other performers on stage. You want to be sure that you know how to balance the sounds that are going on during the performance with reliability to be able to mix the sound correctly when the event is live.

 

Use Quality Mics

You need to make sure that you have quality mics on every one that is onstage. This might include the instruments as well as the singers. You should know how each mic style works and how to best mix and manage the sound from each of these mic types. Cheap mics will never sound as good as quality mics and you will find that you will have the best luck with a good quality mic.

While you may not be in charge of the decisions that are made with regards to the mics that are used for the production in question, you should make it clear that low-quality mics will affect the overall quality of your mix. You need to be sure that you have access to the technology that you need to ensure a good mix at the end of the event. Cheating yourself on good mics and equipment can lead to frustrations over the mix quality later.

Sound Engineers Need to Know a Vast Array of Information

There are many things that a sound engineer needs to know. From the complexities of mixing sound during and after a live event, to the process of sound checking and balancing the sound in unique event locations, this is a complicated job that requires a lot of skill.

Always make sure that you are working with the right equipment that will generate the best sound and be sure that you are aware of the acoustics of your location. Know the plan for the event and be sure that you are in the loop about any changes that have been made to the scheduling of the events on stage.

Sound engineers have a lot of skills and tricks of the trade but the most essential tools come from planning ahead and being connected to the plans that are governing the event you are mixing for.

Mixing a New Musical

 

Getting any show up and running is hard. Layers upon layers of new information are being added to the piece once the actors move from the rehearsal space to the performance venue, and it’s all happening very quickly. As a show’s A1, I am hard at work preparing my script, generating paperwork, programming the console, and in some cases also working as a hand on the shop build and/or load-in. Design elements are coming together throughout the tech process. Ideas are tried, then retooled, and tried again. However, one thing that usually isn’t changing is the actual script of the show. Not so on new work!

New pieces, and especially new musicals, come with their own set of unique challenges. Sometimes members of the writing team are present throughout the rehearsal process, making rewrites and changes to the piece as it gets staged. Rehearsal reports sent out by the stage manager will include new script pages and/or change logs, all of which can make it harder to get familiar with a show in advance of tech and previews. Songs may be moved around in the script, new scenes or characters might be added, entire sections may get cut. The entire product is constantly evolving!

Personally, new musicals are my favorite kind of shows to work on, despite all these added challenges. In fact, part of why I love them so much is precisely because of these added challenges! It’s really special to be part of a work that is being shown in its full form for the first time, and it really does keep me extra engaged when I’m in the tech and preview process. The audience has no preconceived notions of what the show is going to look or sound like, and as the mixer, my role in facilitating the storytelling is even more crucial, because no one has ever heard it before!

So, how should one approach the preparation process when mixing a new musical? In general, the process is the same as with existing work, just with a few added hurdles.

Do your homework as per usual

Familiarize yourself with the material in advance as best you can, whether it’s through demo recordings or by watching run-throughs in the rehearsal hall. The new musical I am currently mixing was meant to be produced in 2020, but due to the pandemic, it was adapted into a radio play and released on audible, with the fully staged production postponed to this summer. So, since a new musical likely won’t have a cast album yet, I was able to use that audible recording to do my “homework” of getting to know the general feel of the scenes and songs, even though I knew that the show would likely change a lot in the year that passed between when the radio play was recorded and this summer when we would finally get to do the show for an audience.

Prepare for new pages

This is probably the most labor-intensive part of the prep process on a new musical. As the script changes, whoever is tracking those changes (usually someone from the writing team or stage management) will bring you new replacement pages to insert into your book, or a change sheet with lines that you should write in on your own (some shows do one or the other, on my current show, Row, they do both). This means you’ll be doing quite a bit of transferring your notes from old pages to new ones. For that reason, it’s all the more important to develop a shorthand for yourself that you like, so that you can do all this rewriting as quickly as possible. For example, I will abbreviate my Band Master fader as “B” and my Vocal reverb fader as “V”, then I use musical crescendo/decrescendo markings for my dynamic moves. Writing “B < -5” is a lot faster than having to transfer the full words over and over again every time a new page comes in! Other little symbols I like to use are up and down arrows for pickups, slashes for when characters’ lines overlap, and my favorite, a little glasses symbol for when you should look at something specific for a cue (this is a common practice among musicians to remind themselves when they should watch the conductor).

Don’t get rid of your old pages!

As Gibbs’ Rule #11 teaches us, “Everything is subject to un-change.” A new scene might not work, and you might go back to the old scene. Keep all your change logs and cut pages handy in case you need to re-insert them or reference them for any reason. Fun fact: I once did a new musical whereby the end of the run, my stack of cut pages was basically the size of the finished script!

My current stack of old pages for Row.

 

Practice but don’t memorize yet

As you mix a show more and more times, you will naturally begin to develop muscle memory for making your pickups and fader moves. However, on new work, it’s important to not let habits set in too soon in case things keep changing. I have on occasion caught myself making errors because my hands got too used to doing a scene a certain way and then the scene was re-written. Pay extra attention to any lines that you use as cues for yourself in case they change!

Consult all your sources

Since we’re talking specifically about musicals, it is likely that songs will change in addition to book scenes as the show develops. Make sure that you are getting updates from the music department in addition to the ones you get from writing/stage management. Sometimes the piano/vocal will have more current information than the libretto! Also, even if you don’t read music, it can be super helpful to have access to the piano/vocal score to consult as you figure out the timings of band moves and console scenes.

Try to program flexibly

As a general rule, it’s good to leave yourself “buffer” console scenes/snapshots as you program in case you decide you need to add things or adjust DCA assignments. This is even more true on a new musical. For example, the console on Row is a Yamaha CL5, which can accommodate up to 300 console scenes. When I laid out my DCA tracking prior to programming the show, it looked like I would need about 60 scenes to do the whole show. So rather than start at Scene #1 and go sequentially, the first song is scene #10, the second song is scene #15, etc. That way I have room to add more scenes internally without having to renumber every subsequent scene. To save time and hassle, also try to program in a more minimalist way than you might on an existing show so that you can adapt to changes more easily. Inevitably you will find yourself having to go through 10 separate console scenes to make a single change to all of them because of a script/song change, but the fewer times you have to do this the better. ☺

My console scene tracking sheet for Row. Notice the skips between numbers!

 

The thing to remember most of all on a new musical is that while rolling with the punches as things change can be stressful, it’s all in service of the art. I once worked with a choreographer who when he needed to adjust something would say on his god mic “I’m making a change” and the whole company would reply “Change is GOOD!” I’ve made that quote my new musical motto. The reward of knowing that all of the work that the creatives are putting in (and you alongside them) is truly helping to tell the story better will make it worth it when the show finally gets “frozen” (this means no more changes are allowed) and makes its world premiere in front of its first-ever audience!

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