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PAMA Leads Industry Initiative on Neutral Nomenclature

 

The Professional Audio Manufacturers Alliance (PAMA) is working with its members and industry trade organizations to address outdated language and terminology issues increasingly identified as discouraging a spirit of inclusivity within the professional audio community.

“The goal of this project is to introduce and create normalcy around neutral language in the audio industry,” said PAMA Inclusion Committee member Dawn Birr (Sennheiser). “As we all strive for continuous improvement in our work, personal lives and society, often it’s the small steps that get us to our goals. We hope that by taking these actions we can begin making meaningful change happen over time.”

PAMA circulated a survey throughout PAMA membership companies to gather feedback regarding problematic language (e.g., master/slave in clocking references and eliminating male/female in reference to connector topology) and soliciting input on alternate, neutral terminology. “The intent is for PAMA members to recommend adopting a framework within their organizations for the implementation of unified terminology across the industry, in the spirit of inclusivity and consistency,” explained PAMA Board Chair-Elect and Inclusion Committee member Karam Kaul (Harman). “It comes down to treating each other with respect. PAMA is working in collaboration with Audinate and a few other member organizations, using an Audinate framework as a starting point, with additional added elements such as addressing the replacement of gender identification of connectors with the neutral designations plug/socket.” The result is a list of suggested terms to replace current terminology.

The PAMA document PAMA+Recommendations+for+Neutral+Nomenclature+in+Pro+Audio . This is a living document that will continue to evolve with ongoing input from the industry at large. “PAMA member companies have committed to seeing this initiative through in their individual documentation and communication, thoughtfully applying these guidelines,” said Kaul.

“Shoutout to PAMA for introducing neutral language for the audio industry,” said Karrie Keyes, Executive Director of the women-in-audio advocacy group SoundGirls.org, as well as monitor engineer for Pearl Jam/Eddie Vedder. “This is a tremendous undertaking and is important to continue working toward meaningful changes in our industry.”

Learn more about PAMA at www.pamalliance.org.

About PAMA: 

Founded in 2003, the Professional Audio Manufacturers Alliance (PAMA) is the collective voice and forum for the leading manufacturers of professional audio products and the people who use them. PAMA member companies conduct business worldwide in support of high-quality audio across a wide range of industries – pursuing the state of the art in technology and practice to enable audio professionals to elevate their craft and delight listeners and audiences every day. PAMA’s mission is to promote awareness and appreciation of high-quality professional audio through market leadership, communication and education. Our core customers are pro-audio professionals around the world with an interest in promoting high-quality audio. Learn more at www.pamalliance.org.

 

Review of A Short History of Electronic Music and Its Women Protagonist

 

Built from author Johann Merrich’s blog, A Short History of Electronic Music and Its Women Protagonists, presents the technological and philosophical developments of Electronic Music through the stories of those who created them.  Originally published in 2019 in Italian, the English version was released this past June.  Johann Merrich is an Italian musician and freelance researcher focusing on electronic and experimental music. Her blog, Short Stories focuses on creating an intersectional account of the music she is passionate about.  When I received this book to review I was excited, I cannot get enough of stories from audio history, especially one that highlights diversity as does this book.  Artists, inventors, benefactors, they all have a part to play in the chronology.  Among the names of Leo Theremin, John Cage, and Robert Moog are the names Ciani, Derbyshire, and Carlos.  It doesn’t stop there either:  layers are peeled further to unearth stories hidden from the public eye, until now.  Sisters, wives, and others who had their stories overshadowed by more stereotypical heroes finally receive the spotlight.

 

It reads more like a nonfiction novel than a textbook.  The sections are grouped together by cultural background or by artistic movements.  It allows for each character to be introduced by the one preceding, a stream of consciousness that seamlessly follows the evolution of Electronic Music at each stage.  Be prepared with a notebook nearby, for this text is a deep dive that features many unappreciated musicians and artists that are worth discovering.  It starts with the birth of Experimental and Electronic Music, covering its growth through radio and television before branching off to regional niches such as Japanese, Italian, and even Eastern European.  From there it focuses on the fringe and the mainstream before tying the past with the future:  computers.

No other book intertwines different movements in Electronic Music with the variety of perspectives that A Short History of Electronic Music and Its Women Protagonists accomplishes.  As its title suggests it is a timeline of Electronic Music, focusing on women.  It claims to be a new narrative, inclusive and inquisitive, and it succeeds.  Because of the care put into researching, no one name stands out as unworthy, each story has its place alongside another.  I feel as though I am walking through their studios and concerts, piecing together what is Electronic Music.  What a journey it is.

Ask the Experts – Film & TV Sound Supervisors

What does a Supervising Sound Editor (Film and TV) do?

After filming has wrapped, sound effects have been added, the music recorded or licensed, and all cuts and changes have been approved, a movie enters the production stage called picture lock. That’s when the supervising sound editor begins the painstaking process of fashioning a final soundtrack from a film’s many sonic components. These include production sound (the dialogue and ambient noises captured during shooting), foley (reproduced sounds), ADR (automated dialogue replacement), walla (crowd noises), sound effects, and music.

While supervising sound editors may do a certain amount of editing themselves, their primary job is to oversee the work of a full team of dialogue editors, sound effects editors, and music editors, ensuring that post-production sound stays on schedule.

Once the effects and dialogue are pristine and perfectly situated within the film, the supervising sound editor stitches them together with the composer’s score and the music supervisor’s song selections, creating a complete sound experience to accompany the moving picture. The work is done using a DAW (digital audio workstation), which stores all the sounds in separate files and allows the editor to synchronize each one with particular frames in the film. When the sound editor’s job is finished, the completed soundtrack is sent off to a re-recording mixer to be balanced and mastered, a process for which the supervising sound editor is likely to be present.

Webinar with Katy Wood, Onnalee Blank, Marla McGuire, and Lauren Stephens on July 26 at 11 AM PDT

Moderated By Katie Pagacz

Katie is a sound student, recently getting into the realm of audio post-production for film and television at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario.  She’s heading into her final year of the Honours Bachelor of Film and Television program.

While Katie has gone through dozens of phases and considered many career paths—singer/songwriter, tattoo artist, pastry chef, makeup artist, comedian, anesthesiologist, and so much more!—she is delighted to have been bitten by the audio bug and is determined to follow this whole thing through to the end, hoping to someday be a Supervising Sound Editor on feature films.

A few assignments during her third year of studies had led Katie to interview several women working professionally in audio.  These conversations were so valuable and inspiring to her and they just happened to coincide with the SoundGirls Podcast’s search for new hosts.  Katie daydreamed about landing the gig for weeks and is convinced she manifested this reality.  Being able to continue the trend of speaking with folks working professionally in audio—and now getting to actually share the wealth in these conversations with people through the podcast—is such a worthwhile endeavor.  She feels really blessed and excited to be a part of the SoundGirls community!

Katy Wood

Katy Wood is a freelance sound supervisor and sound editor originally from New  Zealand. Her career in sound for film and television has spanned more than 20  years and four countries. She has worked extensively in the United States, New

Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Katy has covered all aspects of sound production and post-production on projects ranging from large feature films, such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, American Sniper, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Just  Mercy, and Birds Of Prey to compelling documentaries like Disarm, Girl Rising and No Dress Code Required. She has a Masters Degree in Film and Television  Specializing in Sound from the Australian Film Television and Radio School. In addition, Katy has taught courses on sound post-production in Australia, Mexico,  the US, and Chile.

Onnalee Blank, CAS – Re-Recording Mixer, Warners Brothers

Onnalee was a ballet dancer before getting into audio. Since then, Onnalee has won several Emmys and Cinema Audio Society (CAS) awards for her work as dialog and music mixer on Game of Thrones. The Underground Railroad’s Joi McMillon, Onnalee Blank Featured in THR’s ‘Behind the Screen’ Episode

 

Marla McGuire

Marla  has worked as a sound editor and supervising sound editor for over 20 years in television and film and has worked on over 70 feature and episodic titles. As such she has seen the many changes the industry has gone through. From 24- track tape to the various digital workstations battling to become the industry standard, she’s experienced the evolution to where we are today with pro-tools. She started her career working as part of the production sound team on TV movies. This has proven to be invaluable to her career in post sound.

She has recently served as the supervising sound editor for the long-running series Scandal and How to  Get Away with Murder, as well as the highly acclaimed Showtime limited series Your Honor. Marla has been nominated for two Primetime Emmys for her work on Dead by Sunset and See Jane Run, as well as three MPSE Golden Reel Awards for Jean-Claude  Van Johnson, Prep & Landing, and Commander in  Chief. 

Lauren Stephens

Lauren was the supervising sound editor on Carnival Row. A multiple Emmy-nominee for sound editing on Daredevil, she has also received several Golden Reel Award nominations from her peers. Aside from Daredevil, she’s well known for her work on Punisher, The Bourne Identity, Gladiator and For Love of the Game.

Learn Sound From Women:  Books To Check Out In 2021

Now that we’re getting back into the swing of things, it might be time to brush up on our audio skills.  Lucky for you, I’ve been scoping out some of the best new books—and best of all, they’re all written by women! 

Math Fundamentals for Audio, by Leslie Gaston-Bird

In this easy-to-digest handbook, Leslie Gaston-Bird applies principles from algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and even calculus to concepts such as Ohm’s law, delays, impedance, bandwidth, and decibels. This concise book offers a foundation for connecting mathematics with modern software tools for digital audio.  My favorite part about this book is that the author begins by assuring the reader that math does not have to be scary.   She provides a section on math anxiety, as well as a brush-up review on basic math.  If you’re still not sure if you’re ready for this book, the self-assessment in the introduction will definitely help you make the right decision.  Honestly, I’ve been begging the universe for years for a book like this, and we are all so lucky that Leslie Gaston-Bird came through!

 

Women In Audio, by Leslie Gaston-Bird

Ok, ok, I couldn’t mention one without mentioning the other, so if you’ve already added Math Fundamentals for Audio to your cart, go ahead and throw in this other gem by Gaston-Bird.  This book is packed full of profiles and stories of audio engineers who are women, including a historical view of women and their achievements across various audio professions.  The book also breaks down the discussion of trailblazing women in audio by discipline, including radio; sound for film and television; music recording and electronic music; hardware and software design; acoustics; live sound and sound for theater; education; audio for games, virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality, as well as immersive sound.  Personally, I keep this book in my Pelican Case and am ready to throw it at anyone who tells me they just can’t find women in this audio industry.  10/10 recommend, for real.

Pink Noises, by Tara Rodgers

So, this book, technically, isn’t new, as it was published in 2010, but I just discovered it, so it’s new to me, and I can’t get it out of my head.  In 2000, Tara Rodgers, aka Analog Tara, founded the critically acclaimed website, Pinknoises.com, which was meant to promote women in electronic music and make information about music production more accessible to women and girls.  Tara would post interviews with women artists that would discuss their personal journeys and work practices.  This book became an extension of that incredibly fascinating website and offers new and lengthier interviews, as well as several resources for more exploration into the exciting world of contemporary electronic music.  pinknoises.com now redirects to Tara’s website, analogtara.net, and I super recommend checking her and her music out.  I promise you’ll thank me.

Engineering for Teens:  A Beginner’s Book for Aspiring Engineers, by Pamela McCauley PhD

I’m calling this one “industry adjacent.”  I always get people asking me how they can get their kids or younger students into the field, so I’m always on the hunt for good teaching tools geared toward a younger demographic, and this is definitely a great one.  While the focus isn’t audio, specifically, this engineering book for teens introduces major engineering disciplines and covers areas that could come in handy for future audio engineers and sound designers, such as: electrical engineering, software engineering, computer engineering, and acoustical engineering.  Either way, I really love a good training book for kids, and getting their brains moving in the direction of engineering just can’t be a bad thing.

 

A Composer’s Guide to Game Music, by Winifred Phillips

This book is a must-have for those composers thinking about jumping into video game composition.  During the pandemic, I wasn’t sure when or if I would ever be able to go back to live theatre and/or concerts, so I started researching other ways to utilize my skills and came across this excellent book.  In her books, Winifred Phillips (an award-winning video game composer herself) discusses the very real disconnect between what composers typically learn in school and what necessary creative skills they need to be successful in the video game industry.  This information alone feels like a golden ticket to make the transition from classical musicianship to a successful video game composer.   Phillips also offers detailed coverage of essential topics, including musicianship and composition experience; immersion; musical themes; music and game genres; workflow; working with a development team; linear music; interactive music, both rendered and generative; audio technology, from mixers and preamps to software; and running a business.  My personal feeling is that I need to be as prepared as possible for a full stop in live entertainment employment (now that I know that’s a possibility and could maybe happen again), and this book is definitely an important tool in my arsenal to getting the most out of my music skills.

The thing that all of these books have in common is their genuine tone of care and thoughtfulness in regard to the reader.  It’s what makes them accessible.  I find that many education-based materials can sound too technical or “lecturey,” and these books are definitely the opposite, which serves a valuable lesson to us all that being an expert and imparting wisdom does not have to look like the inside of an Ivy League lecture hall.  Thanks, ladies, for being straight shooters and still being totally awesome.

SoundGirls Members can borrow audio books from our lending library

 

 

Back That Sh*t Up: Success and Horror Stories


Early audio recordings were first printed and played back on reel-to-reel tape. Then DAT tape made an appearance. Compact discs were the next form of recording and distributing audio. Now, aside from rare exceptions, sound designers and audio engineers are working with digital audio files. Modern lighting and sound consoles also store digital files. The luxury of saving shows to a file empowers us to switch from one band’s settings to another faster than you can say, “Check 1, 2.”

There is a downside to this (not so new) digital landscape. Intangible work can make you forgetful about storing backup copies. I must confess that when I was still very green in my career, digital files seemed safer. I learned my lesson the hard way when I was designing sound for a theater production ten years ago. Someone broke into my friend’s car, where my laptop was and stole my computer with all of the sound files on it! I scraped together all of the files from email attachments with my director, but a lot of effects and music had to be recut. Not my proudest moment. Ever since then, everything gets backed up to a drive while I am working, and that drive gets backed up to a cloud. Like many sound professionals, I operate under the convention that if I have one copy of a file, then the file does not exist.

As my experience above illustrates, developing a file redundancy workflow often happens through the hard lesson of losing work. So I’m here to (hopefully) save some readers later pains.

I asked a few colleagues to exchange stories of lessons in the importance of backing up that they learned the hard way. Here are the lessons they shamelessly shared with me.

“ I was designing sound for a play. My sessions were all synced to Dropbox. I sat down for tech and opened my laptop, which proceeded to make that awful ‘crunching’ sound of end-of-life. I ran to the Apple Store, bought a new laptop, downloaded LogicPro, and had my show sessions up and running within an hour – in time for tech! Now, all of my document files live on DropBox. Projects live on synched drives, but I’ll still push to DropBox as an extra layer, namely if it’s something that would take me more than 5 minutes to redo.”

        — Veronika Vorel, sound designer
   
    “While I was studying Music Production and Technology at the Hartt School of Music, I had a project of recording a band. I asked my musician friends and completed recording the whole song including all instruments and vocals. Then, I tried to back up the work at the end of the day because ‘one file means the file doesn’t exist.’ So I backed it up. BUT, I found out that instead of rewriting from the new one to the old one, I did it opposite… replaced the entire new folder with older folder so I lost all my new work. I even used some programs to mirror the folder and stuff. It wasn’t just dragging and drop. I tried to find a way to save the file but it was all gone… I had to redo all the work the next day. Thank you to all my friends who came back the next day. Ever since then, I have become extra careful about the backup process.”
       
        — Gahyae Ryu, sound designer

“These days, I have gotten into the good habit of backing up projects after every session, both cloud and external. Technology constantly evolves, but technology can also fail, without explanation and at the worst time. But let’s say for example if a theatre director decided that they prefer the sound cue sequence from a previous rehearsal day, I can easily pull that from the archive of multiple backups and save precious production time.

    I save every 5-10 minutes because you never know when you can all of a sudden lose power. A worst-case scenario occurred when building cues for a particularly complex sequence in a play. The computer froze, and upon reboot, the progress was not saved. Then the next thing you know, everyone is waiting on you as you redo the building process all over again. You definitely don’t want to find yourself doing that while working on a play like The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time.”

        — Jess Mandapat, sound designer & composer

    “ I have a weird story where I had a backup of my laptop and console files and had my backpack stolen at a gig with my laptop and my backup hard drive and all my console thumb drives all in the backpack. I literally lost everything in one shot. So I learned the hard way that now I carry a thumb drive that stays with my console, a hard drive at home and I keep my backpack with me everywhere I go! “

        — Beckie Campbell, front-of-house engineer and owner of  B4Media Production.
   
    “Never delete a project until you’ve verified it’s backed up to one (if not two) places. I once deleted a session from my laptop because I assumed it was backed up. Turns out, my nightly backup failed, and I didn’t have it on another computer like I thought I did. Luckily it was just a personal project and I only lost a couple of afternoons of work, but that was nearly 10 years ago, and it still bothers me.”

        — April Tucker, re-recording mixer

    “I have a good story about when I blanked a console moments AFTER soundcheck, and someone showed me the history feature and bailed me out!” 

        — Becca Kessin, theatrical sound designer & educator

“There was the time I was designing a play, and the night before tech my FX drive decided to pine for the fjords. No worries…I’ll grab the backup drive. Which…had an empty folder called “FX Backup” where the backup had failed to sync.

    I spent that tech texting categories of effects to a generous friend who would quickly copy that category from his library to his webserver to let me download them as needed.”

        —  Andy Leviss, audio engineer & sound designer

    “ I was backing up a ten-hour day’s work of vocal comping and tuning. Fired up the backup drive to make my safety copy when the power went out, flashed on, back off, and then on again five minutes later. A drunk driver had hit a pole in the neighborhood. The power flashed while my drive was spinning and ended up wiping the main drive. Fortunately, the backup was okay, but I lost the entire day’s work. I called the producer, explained what happened, and told him I was going to have a drink and would re-do my work the following day. Bought an uninterrupted power supply first thing the next morning.”

— Josh Newell, audio engineer

    “My story about not backing up involves recording to only one media rather than not backing up to a laptop or hard drive. A little over 2 years ago, I’d use my Sound Devices MixPre 6 to record sound for smaller jobs. It’s a great little mixer, which can definitely handle 1 boom and 3 lav mics. The downside about this recorder is that it’s only recording to one media (SD Card). On one shoot, we downloaded mid-day. The DIT tells me that there are no files on my SD card, which I thought was strange because I specifically remembered recording the episodes. Somehow when he put the SD card into the computer, it formatted the card. We both panicked a little. Luckily someone had the program that recovers deleted files off of media, which found all of my original files. In this moment, I realized how important it was to record on more than one media. If I use a MixPre then I like to send the audio out to an external recorder.” 

        —  Kally Williams, production sound mixer

“Recently, I had a project I was working on that required multiple different session files that were slightly different from each other. My backup procedure is to usually keep every file I create in at least three separate places: two are stored on hard drives, and the last is a cloud backup (I currently use Backblaze). After a pretty exhausting workday where I put in a lot of time and energy into a particular project, I went to do my standard end-of-the-day backup where I drag the session onto the extra drive. Except, there was apparently another folder with the same name that I had not changed, and since it was a large session, I copied it over, hit okay, and walked away. When I came back a little while later, I realized that I had just completely overwritten the folder I had worked on all day. Not to worry, right? I could just use the backup from my cloud storage. Only, I had forgotten that I had temporarily disabled it a few days prior as I switched hard drives. Long story short, I lost everything- a full days work, and I was on a deadline. Let this be a reminder; always, always check your cloud backup before you start working, and make sure to back up your data, for reasons just like this one.”

        —  Christa Giammettei, freelance post-production audio engineer

I have a few stories where backups have saved the day for me. Console backups have been the most needed – twice because of water damage to the console, one of them the day of event for commencement at UCLA where they ran the sprinklers even though we were assured that they were off. Hollywood Sound arrived with new console 2 hours before the event and we were back up and running in about 20 mins after testing everything. At the Hollywood Bowl during the production of Hair in 2014 that Phil Allen designed, we got rained on at a Saturday show and had to replace the console for the Sunday show (which also rained a little). It was a quick switch out of cables, load the file, test and ready to go.

    So mostly I have had positive experiences with being glad for backups. I do think there is a generational difference in thinking about backups. Maybe it comes from more experience (time) and have seen things go down over different media (tapes, MD’s, CDs, etc., and writing down console settings from an analog desk). But I see many current students who live their lives with no backups whatsoever and when you bring it up they say things like “I would die if I lost my computer right now” yet continue without a backup plan. It’s so easy to backup these days, there really isn’t an excuse. Drives are cheap, dropbox and google drive are also relatively cheap and the software to clone (CCC or SuperDuper) work elegantly and are rock solid for recovery. It is just a state of mind to get into to start.”

 Jonathan Burke, sound designer

A recap of all of these lessons:

Take your pick of external hard drives, thumb drives, and cloud services. There are many ways that are not too expensive to store and back up your work. Even if you start with a smaller hard drive, a couple of thumb drives, and a free Google Drive account it is better than nothing. Invest in even a small file storage system now to save hours (and lots of headache and trust issues) later!

All In on Wage Transparency

I’ve spent the week trying to help a coworker try to collect pay rates from venues around town so that we can efficiently argue for a raise at our own. A surprisingly large number of our colleagues declined to share any information about their pay at all. Luckily, one was all for pay transparency, and with his help, we were able to fill in most of the gaps we had.

I know that talking about pay has customarily been frowned on, but that needs to change. We can’t effectively make the case for better pay, whether at an individual venue or across the industry if we don’t know what each other are making. Those of us just starting out are more likely to be taken advantage of or lowballed if we don’t really know how to connect our pay to our experience. And, crucially for members of underrepresented demographics like me who are more likely to be underpaid anyway, we can’t see patterns in pay disparity if we don’t know what each other are making.

 

This Show Must Go Off-Bowery Goes Digital 

 

In this episode, I am excited to share that Bowery Ballroom is now offering the Avid S6L 24D as our new front-of-house audio console. For over a decade we maintained a legendary sound and reputation with our analog Midas Heritage H3000 and racks and stacks of outboard gear. I will talk you through why we made the change, how we chose a desk to lead us into the next era of shows, and how we managed the installation.

When Bowery opened in 1998, then Production manager Matthew Kasha utilized a Yamaha PM3000 and came to define the room with great ears and trusted gear.  At that time the Midas Heritage series had just launched and was quick to become the industry standard for concert touring. Acts like Bon Jovi, AC/DC, Metallica, Alicia Keys, Pearl Jam, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers all utilized the Heritage series desks. It won over our hearts and ears, and in 2010 Kenny Leinhardt swapped it into our front-of-house position. Another decade later and we reflected on how the industry continues to change. Audio engineers are faced with incredibly detailed and competitive choices for gear. Loudspeaker technology allows for pristine sound control and headroom, and wireless systems have revolutionized personal monitoring on stage.

Our sister venue The Teragram Ballroom in LA would also be upgrading their desk, so the console decision was a partnership. For me it needed to sound as good or better than the Heritage; offer more in terms of mixing and processing; tick all the boxes on the artist riders; impress the showcase shows, underplays, and the private events; excite my engineers, and have incredible user support. Ultimately, while I love analog, and love the Midas, I found myself racing to keep up with maintenance, and feeling never quite sure that everything would work as it is intended. The amount of use and abuse the desk took, outweighed the amount of time I had for its upkeep, and trusted touring engineers were getting to the point of needing more signal processing than an analog desk is capable of.

The engineers in LA and myself were on the same page. The top two contenders were DigiCo or Avid. Ultimately, Avid won out for their ease of session formatting, years in the business and engineer familiarity with ProTools recording/Profile consoles, plug-in capabilities, and most important- It would be something new for my engineers. We are lucky enough to have a DiGiCo as a monitor console, and complementing that with an Avid desk allows me to hire and retain amazing engineers that are willing to trade their skill for a little time building show files and getting comfortable with industry-standard desks.

This past month was equal parts fun and terrifying, as I disassembled the Heritage, and reconfigured front of house for a new desk, as well as a new lighting setup, and video control.

With the console weighing 500 lbs, and being over 7ft long, each module of the console needed to be removed, to reduce weight, so the desk could slide onto a forklift. 44 channel strips and 6 banks of faders were removed, and placed into cardboard boxes. From there, my partner and I rotated the desk onto a hand-crank forklift, me pushing off the balcony, and he guiding while standing on a ladder on the other side.

The next day we dismantled the patch bays. 25 years of cabling, 2 desks, and 3 managers’ worth of modifications, there were plenty of rats’ nests to dig through, and cables to cut out. Once organized, the cables added about another 100 pounds of weight. With the console gone, we moved to take apart lighting control. The whole booth would be reconfigured to create more space and improved workflow. The racks that housed all of the outboard gear needed to be physically cut out of the space and the table platform was sawed down to add depth inside the booth. The prized pieces of outboard gear will be kept and patched in as hardware inserts

A week later, the Avid desk was brought up to our balcony booth in sections. The engine, stage box, and waves server could be managed by a couple of engineers and were all racked at front of house. Both the stage box and the engine needed to be modified with additional cards. The control surface used 3 of us to tip it, move it upstairs and get down into our recessed booth.

Cabling and activation were another day’s project. Avid’s redundant ring system of shielded Cat6e cable made that part relatively painless. Avid rep Robert Miller was brought in to check all components were properly registered, working as they should, and give my staff an overview of the desk. Throughout the process, Avid has been a great ally. Making sure we have everything we need to get going, and talking us through their support channels, should we ever have a need to contact them during a show. Our vendor was a long-time friend, and an important part of Bowery’s history Jeff DelBello of dbAudio. FOH friends Harley Zinker and Scott Adamson also provided much-needed support and guidance through the whole process. Harley worked hand in hand with Robert to show practical knowledge and provided a session file we could all talk through. Session playback through ProTools really highlighted the desks’ features and was a nice treat for our room which was used to system adjustments using 2-track recorded media.

From here on out we will be working to build a house start show file, and template to share with visiting engineers. We will be moving to drive our speaker amplifiers via AES, rather than analog, and working with D&B on any room tuning adjustments.

My engineers are encouraged to come in and build their own files and get comfortable with the desk, and I am sure I will be doing the same.

The response has been positive from staff, engineers, artists, and managers alike, and I am excited for the opportunity to mix a show on our new setup.

Tune in for the next episode for a look at our rigging upgrades. We will dive into adding a motorized truss in the ballroom and redesigning our lighting plot.

 

Los Angeles – Monitor System Prep Internship

SoundGirls can apply to intern assisting with monitor system prep with Karrie Keyes

You will be assisting in the prep of the stage and monitor system for  upcoming Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder shows.  Be prepared to work hard and get dirty. You will gain experience in the prep and wiring of a large-scale monitor system.

If you are interested in interning please send an email to soundgirls@soungirls.org

Please include a brief reason for why you are interested and a resume. Please let us know what dates you can intern.

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Overview of Career Opportunities at Clair Global

Clair Global’s history in the live events and permanent installation industries influences a culture of incredibly hard-working professionals ready to solve the next impossible problem.

Clair strives to exceed expectations through integrity, innovation, attention to detail, and unyielding customer service worldwide. Extraordinary employees are our differentiator. Our employees’ creativity, talents, problem-solving skills and commitment to service set us apart. You don’t join the Clair team to just work, you join the Clair team to realize your life’s work. Every event, every product, every promise has our team imprint on it. Put simply, we care.

Join us for a webinar on the Career Opportunities at Clair Global and the skills needed. This is your opportunity to get your questions answered about working at Clair Global with Dave Lester and moderated by Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato. Women leaders at Clair Global will be joining us.

July 21 at 11 AM PDT – Register and Post Questions Here

Moderated Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato

Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato began working in live sound in the late 1980s and has spent most of the past 30 years as a full time touring FOH Engineer for major label artists including Elvis Costello, Gwen Stefani, Janet Jackson, Goo Goo Dolls, Melissa Etheridge, Jewel, Kesha, Styx, Mr Big and many more.   Michelle has extensive experience mixing in venues of all shapes and sizes, from clubs to stadiums, as well as major music festivals from Download to Coachella.  She has also supervised and mixed live performances on a wide variety of television from SNL to the Grammys.

Michelle is co-founder of Soundgirls, a Full Sail University Hall of Fame inductee, and creator of MixingMusicLive.com where she teaches an intro to live sound and mixing.  She is an active mentor and coach to those seeking a career in Live Sound and Music Production and is frequently sought out as a panelist and guest speaker for industry conferences and universities.

Dave Lester – Director Education & Safety Clair Global

Dave recruits and hires new employees and develops and manages educational material/content for Clair Global’s formal training program reflecting current audio technology trends, company proprietary equipment, general audio knowledge requirements, and safety.  Dave educates new hires employees to raise their skill set and knowledge to meet company and client expectations.

 

 

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