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Everything I Need To Know About Sound Design, I Learned From Ruth Bader Ginsburg

 

Ok, maybe not EVERYTHING, but what I mean to say is that I can (and do) apply RBG’s wisdom anywhere.  We lost a champion of the people, a defender of equality, and a warrior among women when we lost Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and it’s up to us to make sure that her legacy is carried out for ages to come.  It sounds lofty, I know.  Carrying out her legacy does not mean that we need to be as notable as she was.  It doesn’t mean that we have to decide the fate of millions of people.  It just means that we have to stand up for what is right, and speak up for what we believe in.  We can do this in our own little corners of the world.  From the moment we wake up until the moment we close our eyes, we make decisions.  Some decisions are small, and some decisions hold more weight and can affect more people.  Let’s just take an extra breath and ask ourselves, “What would Ruth Bader Ginsburg Do?”

“It helps sometimes to be a little deaf (in marriage and in) every workplace, including the good job I have now.”

This seems like a strange way to begin a Sound Design blog, but hear me out, it’s impossible to hear the macro when we’re so focused on the micro.  I don’t know if this is what RBG meant by this, but this is how I’m choosing to read it.  It’s hard to see our place in the world when we can only see ourselves.  I once composed an opening sequence for a show I was designing.  It was perfect, I absolutely loved it and was really proud.  During tech, we ran the opening.  During the hold, the director looked at me, scrunched up his face, and said, “I don’t think the opening music is working.”  It was really the last thing I expected him to say, and now I became hyper-focused and aware of that music.  We ran it again, and I listened to the music.  Intently.  I closed my eyes, I moved to the center of the house, and I listened.  The director said, “See what I mean?”  No.  I didn’t.  So we ran it again, and this time I kept my eyes open, and I noticed a costume piece I had not seen before.  It was bright.  The actors in the opening light looked light and cheery.  I wasn’t even listening to the music anymore, I was watching everything on stage, and I realized, my music didn’t match these elements.  I had to be a little deaf to it to realize that.

“My mother told me to be a lady.  And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent.”

This one is easy but still important.  In the entertainment industry at large, we are compared to those that have come before us and even those that work alongside us.  As designers, it is imperative that we have our own voices, thoughts, and ideas.  What value is there in “doing it like the cast recording?”  Stay far away from “this is the way we’ve always done it.”  You don’t need that kind of negativity!  “This is the way we’ve always done it” is not good for design, and it’s not good for growth.  It’s ok to be the one voice that asks to do things differently.

“Women will have achieved true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation.”

This is ever so true for Sound Designers.  We’ve all read the statistics.  Sound Design is a heavily male-dominated field, and it always has been.  What’s important to remember is that it won’t always be that way.  We’re starting to be recognized, we’re starting to be sought after and appreciated, and the next generation will learn from all of these women.  There has never been a lack of talented women in Sound Design.  There has been a lack of belief and trust in those women.  There’s been a lack of support, and now that is starting to change, but there is still work to be done.

“Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”

There should not be one single aspect of your life for which this does not ring true.  It does not matter how big or small the situation, if you care about it-fight for it…thoughtfully.  I think about this when I’m designing if I come to a point where I’m defending an endangered cue.  It’s at the forefront of my mind when advocating for students’ opportunities.  When I’m questioning a policy, I remember these words.  And when I’m being an ally and an accomplice in industry-wide equity, Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s words give me confidence and grace.

Look, the fact of the matter is, I could have written this blog about any job in any industry and still been able to apply RBG wisdom.  The reason why her words are so applicable to every situation is that they are always about the human experience.  Let the small things go, be an individual, assert yourself, equality, equality, equality.  One more little piece of advice from me:  You can have a role model and still be an individual.  If you’re looking for some enlightenment, it doesn’t get much better than Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

 

Identity 

The sun shines through the window and the wind rustles the trees. It’s quiet. A soft melody playing in my head and I take a deep breath. Ah… This has been three chaotic and insane months and finally, I am in a place where I can relax. I can let my shoulders finally fall and loosen my jaw, which has contributed to my headaches. I don’t get headaches! Still, they’ve been present together with the looming anxiety. I am a live sound engineer. Although, I don’t know if that’s me anymore, but saying it out loud gives me hope. Hope that one day, not too far away, I will step into the sound booth and work. I long for it. My whole being longs. Whilst life slowly went back to normal in London, I’ve struggled. If I can’t afford to wait for the industry to resume. Who am I?

A few weeks ago I met a couple that belongs to my inner circle. They talked about the breaks in the comfort of their own home and not having to commute. We discussed identity and both of them told me they don’t have this feeling. They both have well-paid jobs and are happy doing their Monday to Friday shifts. At the end of their working day, they stop and leave work at work. Or these days, turn off their computers and work phones.

So why are we in the arts identifying ourselves so much with our work? Is it because we followed our dreams and passions? Maybe it’s because we use our identity in our work and they merge into one. A songwriter uses their experience to create a song. A painter expresses their identity in their art. Like I use my experience and love to craft my work. At the beginning of the lock-down I did a personality test and tried to figure out what I should do with “the rest of my life”. Yes, I am a cliché. I don’t care. The point is I did a full circle. Three months later I filled out a form for a career thing and I realised I do not want to do anything else and I will fight tooth and nail to get my work back.

So now I rest. I wander around my mum’s house in the idyllic countryside in Sweden and greet their hens in the chicken coop. I dream of a packed sweaty room where no one is standing still. But for now; this is not too bad either.

 

A Discussion about Foley Webinar

Sunday, October 4; 11am PST/ 2pm EST/ 7pm BST

Moderated by

Jamie Baker (she/her/hers) has been a professional audio engineer for over 20 years. She began her career in NY post in various jingle and post houses, worked as Sound One messenger, a machine room operator and recording engineer at Gun For Hire Post, a Foley recordist/editor/supervisor at C5, Inc., and a sound designer and re-recording mixer for various clients including HBO, MTV, PBS, Food Network, A&E, Discovery, Oxygen, and NBCUniversal. She has Golden Reel Nominations for “Life of Pi,” and “Kappa Mikey,” and is honored to have been on Phil Stockton and Eugene Gearty’s team as a Foley editor, especially when they won the Academy Award for “Hugo” and then were nominated again for “Life of Pi.” She has a mobile Pro Tools studio and is seasoned at working remotely as a re-recording mixer and sound editor.
Currently, Jamie continues to do remote freelance post audio work when she is not busy teaching Foley and Sound for Film and TV classes at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Jamie is an active member of the Audio Engineering Society, on the AES Education Committee, the PNYA Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and has also been a mentor for SPARS and Cutter Connections. She has enjoyed acting as a Judge for the last 6 Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards.

Panelists

Chelsea Body is a freelance audio engineer and sound editor based in Toronto. A classically trained multi-instrumentalist and post-production professional, she lends her skills to a varied selection of creative projects. Currently, she can be found working among the foley team on critically acclaimed productions such as ‘Handmaids Tale’ and ‘Marriage Story’.

Ronni Brown is a foley artist working on independent and blockbuster films, television shows, and video games at Skywalker Sound. She has received two MPSE Golden Reel Awards and won a 2020 Emmy for The Mandalorian. While she is most well known for her contributions to the Star Wars universe (earning the nickname “Princess Layers”), she started her career wearing 6-inch lucite heels for Somewhere, an independent film directed by Sofia Coppola.

Joanna, or Fang as she is known in the studio, is a New York Foley artist based out of Alchemy Post Sound. Fang has performed Foley for countless films, documentaries, television shows, live theater, and experimental media.

An alumna of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Joanna immersed herself in every facet of filmmaking and post-production studying under sound editor Marsha Moore McKeever, cinematographer Gordon Arkenberg, and screenwriter Daniel Stiepleman. She fell in love with sound design and Foley during her time at NYU and after graduating with honors in 2013, started performing and working alongside her mentor Foley artist Leslie Bloome. Through her sounds, she has had the privilege of dancing for Bob Fosse/Gwen Verdon, stalking prey as The Invisible Man, rolling joints for  High Maintenance, and crashing a bus for Ira Glass.

In 2016, she was recognized by the Television Academy as the first openly transgender woman of color to win a Primetime Emmy for her sound work on A&E’s Cartel Land. When she’s not in the pits; Joanna can be found writing poetry and prose, playing with her band, or advocating for transgender rights.

Anna Wright has been working as a highly credited Foley Artist at Boom Post since 2016. Before that, she honed her craft by watching, learning and recording a number of different artists in the day, then spending her nights putting those skills into practice on short films and animations.

With numerous Emmy, MPSE Golden Reel, Music & Sound Award wins and nominations, Anna has worked on such projects as Chernobyl, The Crown, The Aeronauts and Peaky Blinders.

What is a Crossover?

Crossovers are not the most glamorous or talked about gear in live sound, but they are an integral part of the signal chain.  Also known as frequency divider networks, these devices filter and route the signal based on frequency.  Without a crossover, the same signal gets fed to each driver in the system.  Imagine the tweeter, mids, and sub all playing the same song reading the same balance of frequencies.  The poor tweeter’s exerting just as much energy into sound waves exponentially larger than itself as its favorite treble tones, therefore reducing the overall output or worse.  And what about the sub, as graceful as a hippo, muddying the high end?  A crossover, at its core, is a collection of filters based on the needs of the system.  Depending on the scope of the system they can be a simple circuit, or be a highly customizable device.  However, every crossover has to address a crossover point and the frequency responses of the components within the system.

Every crossover contains at least one filter.  These filters determine the range of frequencies each speaker unit reproduces.  A high-pass filter allows high frequencies to be sent to a tweeter, a low-pass filter allows low frequencies, and a band-pass filter allows a range of frequencies.  The customization of the signal is the filter’s selectivity.  When these filters intersect, they have a crossover point.  In an ideal world these filters would be a brick wall, blocking any frequency beyond their cut-off point, the reality is that filters roll-off (a drop in decibels per distance from cut-off).  Depending on the makeup of the filter (how many filter circuits, whether it is passive or active or digital), the slope of the roll-off can be steep or gradual.  The order of the crossover refers to both the slope and the number of filter circuits required.  Most sound reinforcement crossovers are 2nd-order (12dB/octave slope) or 4th-order (24dB/octave).  Higher output systems rely on the steeper roll-off to protect high-frequency drivers from blowing out.

Knowing all of this about your crossover and about the optimal frequency ranges of the drivers or units in your system informs your choice of crossover point.  If you choose cut-off frequencies too close to each other, the crossover frequency will get a gain boost by both speakers, too far and you won’t hear that frequency at all.  If a driver is tasked with too wide of a frequency band, its power output will diminish and the signal might have other inaccuracies.  Manufacturers include recommended crossover frequencies with the signal response of their speakers and drivers to inform optimal performance.  When designing a speaker for studio use, where the system and location is consistent and stationary, this choice can be made permanent.  In Live Sound, tuning is done with each individual load-in, as the acoustics of the room can change the performance of the system.  Although not a rule by any means, these two situations describe the two basic types of crossovers:  passive and active.

Passive crossovers (aka high-level) crossovers are downstream from the power amplifiers in the signal flow.  They are often encountered as built-in circuitry in speaker enclosures, dividing frequencies between tweeters and woofers in full-range speakers.  They are economical, however, the crossover’s quality is key to the performance of the system.  Because of their location in the signal flow, they must have sufficient power handling capabilities, although too much focus on this can result in a bulky device.  Within a passive crossover is a network of resistors, capacitors, and inductors, these are known as “passive” components in electronics.  The more complicated the network, the steeper the roll-off, and the larger the components, the better power handling.  Due to the nature of a passive crossover, they are generally less efficient and not adjustable when compared to active crossovers.

Where passive crossovers are high-level, active crossovers are low-level.  They are implemented into the system at line level before the power amplifiers and are more efficient than passive crossovers.  Variable level controls for each frequency band are often available for active crossovers to compensate for devices further along the signal chain.  This is done with active components (op-amps and transistors) provide voltage gain, and resonant components (resistors, capacitors, and inductors) to select the frequencies.  Many systems use a combination of both passive and active crossovers, and even have an option of bypassing the passive portion for more control capabilities.  When used together the passive network is dedicated to the high-frequency horns and tweeters, and the active crossover covers the rest.

Other crossover styles available are digital or processor-controlled, and mechanical.  Digital crossovers offer greater flexibility than active and greater capability for brick-wall roll-offs.  Mechanical crossovers are more often found in speaker and driver designs in the form of domes, whizzer cones, and cabinet construction.  While they function differently than active or passive, the basic concept of filtering frequencies is similar to the more conventional crossovers.

Reflections On A Pandemic

There’s a quote by an unknown author that states: “Every new chapter in your life will require a new version of yourself.” While new chapters in life are a universal theme for all of us, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought sudden plot twists to so many people’s lives. I’ve encountered stories of grief and loss and seen those who have made huge career changes and personal adaptations in the last six months. There’s little doubt that most of us will have looked at our lives and taken stock, contemplating what the future might hold, while reassessing our paths and goals.

The tagline “the new normal” has been a grating one; none of this is normal, and we need to remember that, both in our interactions with others and with ourselves. Acting with kindness is needed now more than ever to get through these times. It’s easy to feel low and disheartened when the collective worries of safety, careers, and the future hang in the balance of such uncertainty. So many in the creative industries around the world have been through hardships, and have had to find alternative work and lifestyle routines around the pandemic. Some have been shielding, others have had to take on full-time carer roles, and some headed out to work on the front line as key workers.

Oprah once said: “Do what you have to do until you can do what you want to do.” As we ponder where we are, and where we hope to be after the pandemic, it’s useful to remember that this chapter won’t last forever. Too many people are beating themselves up, worrying that they haven’t ‘got it all together’. Even during the best of times, the human condition can be a challenge, and when we are restricted by circumstances out of our control, we can’t hold our expectations up to our normal standards. Working in the creative industries in the pre-COVID world already came with its struggles, many of which have been illuminated by the pandemic. Campaigns such as #WeMakeEvents have shone a light on where live entertainment can improve, though when better days might come is still unknown. The emphasis on doing what you ‘have’ to do is strong, as we are quite literally in survival mode right now – there’s no template, no ‘one size fits all’ solution or ‘right way’ to maneuver through this chapter. But it is a chapter, and it will end.

I recently read about a phenomenon called “TIL Smile Mask Syndrome” where “depression and physical illness is a result of prolonged, unnatural smiling”. Discovered in Japan during the 1980s, it is thought that the result of this condition is due to a disparity between the sufferer’s actions and their emotional state. When these aren’t aligned, it seems natural that discomfort will arise, and that putting a brave face on things, or ‘faking it till we make it’ can sometimes do more harm than good. While mindfulness and gratitude are useful practices when faced with tough times, there is a balancing act to be had with the many layers of the current climate, and it’s ok to acknowledge when times are hard and we aren’t doing so well. Perhaps the best way to philosophise is by looking at Reinhold Nieburh, who said: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

None of us will look back on this chapter in our lives as a golden era, but we can reflect on what and who is truly important to us and try our best to find pleasure in the little things in life for the time being. While we collectively do what we have to do until things improve, kindness is key to wellness, good mental health and as a means of keeping community spirit alive and lending a hand to those hit hardest. We are living through a unique time, unlike anything that’s come before and ultimately it is deeply unsettling. This chapter has been sudden and has brought pain to so many. I cling to the knowledge that all things must pass, and live in the hope that we will see out this chapter and start a new, better one soon.

Editors Note: Taking care of your mental health during this time is important. Don’t be afraid to reach out. We recently hosted a webinar with Handling Trauma from COVID with therapist Kaprece Stallings.

Confronting Bad Behavior

Let’s face it: it can be hard to stand up for yourself.

As women, we are socialized to be friendly, nice, helpful, informative – this works against us. We make up a tiny portion of the audio industry, which makes us more susceptible to disrespect and often means we are on our own (or at least, it feels that way). And in my case, the person I am confronting is practically guaranteed to be physically bigger than me, and probably older too.

I have been asked if I know anything about sound, aggressively quizzed on my resume and technical knowledge, told that I do not belong and have even been flat-out ignored countless times. More often than not, these situations come out of ignorance rather than an intent to harm. After I explain why I am upset they understand, and we are able to move on. But it is still extremely frustrating.

Below are some strategies that I have developed for setting boundaries and confronting these types of behavior head-on. Personally, I like to word my reaction so that the uncomfortableness I am feeling is reflected back onto the other person, but the sharpness of my response varies greatly depending on what was said and whether they are open to listening. Theoretically, you should only have to explain why a situation is not OK once.

Option #1: Play dumb and ask “why”

This strategy works best with offensive jokes and similar lines of questioning. Pretend that everything is a simple misunderstanding on your part and continue asking for more explanation as to their motivations for asking or telling you something. Repeat as many times as necessary.

Option #2: Shut it down

Word your response strongly and matter-of-factly. I like to use a polite but stern voice while making it clear that I’m upset. Ideally, the conversation will end there; if the person keeps pushing, I make it clear that I am done talking about the subject by changing the subject back to work (and sometimes explicitly stating so).

Option #3: Ignore it

Sometimes the potential consequences outweigh speaking up, or it just doesn’t feel like a battle worth fighting. Dealing with these situations can be exhausting, especially if they’re ongoing or recurring – there’s no shame in simply not feeling like fighting.

In some cases, it’s not even remotely clear what action would be useful. When the man you’re hoping will hire you goes on a 15-minute semi-incoherent rant about how racism doesn’t exist, where do you even begin? It’s been over a year since that happened, and I still have no idea what could have been said that wouldn’t have just extended it. In fact, sometimes ignoring a behavior is arguably the best way to go about things. (I’m thinking of the sound engineers who whistled at me like a dog and blinked their flashlights on and off at me whenever they wanted my attention, respectively).

Option #4: Involve more people

If addressing the matter isn’t working privately, sometimes calling the behavior out with others within earshot is enough to end it. Of course, that depends a lot on the attitudes of the people around you, and whether the perpetrator of the behavior has any shame.

If you aren’t having success, ask someone else to help you. Tell your coworkers what is going on and ask them to back you up or keep an eye out for you. Ask someone with more authority (or perceived authority) to help.

In extreme cases, you might have to find ways to physically deter the person from reaching you. I have kept security next to me to ward off a DJ who repeatedly came into the booth, took my decibel reader, made a reading, and refused to leave until I had turned it up to the unreasonably loud level he wanted. You do not have to handle things by yourself.

Option #5: Accept defeat

So you’ve shouted into the tour manager’s ear five times that you are not compressing the DJ mixes, the DJs themselves are triggering the speakers’ compression because their gain is so high. You’ve even shown him that you don’t even have the soundboard’s compressor enabled. But he’s still explaining to you that it’s your fault. At this point, it’s time to get a coworker to come over and repeat the exact same thing because repeating yourself into oblivion is an extremely inefficient way to get things done and irritating on all sides.

Unfortunately, sometimes it becomes clear that you will not get anywhere with a specific person. Whether they won’t let you get a word in, won’t listen to the words you are telling them, or act like you don’t exist, nothing is going to give. In this case, I find it useful to find a third person (at least older than me, usually male) to let my communication flow through, which is annoying is necessary to get things done first try. Obviously, this is my least favorite option, but it’s important to know when to cut your losses.

 

Time to Listen

Clearing out the loft, the garage and every cupboard and drawer of my parents’ house has had its perks in the form of vinyl, tapes, VHS cassettes, mixtapes, CDs and DVDs. There is a chance they have collections to be envied. They have albums they didn’t even know they owned with unknown handwriting, original covers/cases, and some labels as ‘Class 3 or Class 7’, coming most certainly from ‘show and tell’ lessons at school in the 60s.

This has filled time when trying not to watch too much TV and avoiding screens after working from the phone via a laptop all day. We’ve listened to everything from Carole King to Fleetwood Mac, to more recent purchases of Jake Bugg and Harry Styles. Other vinyls include Van Morrison, Frank Sinatra, Jane Fonda (lol), Eric Clapton, Steely Dan, and The Four Seasons.

DVD wise I constantly have a long list of films I plan to watch, but often opt for podcasts or shorter 30 minute TV sitcoms such as Miranda, Outnumbered, or more recently The Stranger and Sherlock on Netflix. Writing this has certainly made me realise the amount of media I have consumed over the past few weeks! I have ticked off Rendition and Pride and Prejudice from my list finally, with Pulp Fiction and Harry Potter 3 still to go (bizarrely managed to miss the worldwide Harry Potter hype back in the day and have still only seen the first two). Managed to find a DVD named ‘Alexandra’s videos’ which will not play on any device we own, so eagerly awaiting a time when I can ask a friend to try it on their TV/laptops.

Back to the music, we have huge collections of Elton John, The Police, The Beatles, and David Cassidy. I have been taking the posters out of the vinyl covers and plastering them on my wall, although never a real fan, my childhood bedroom walls are now sporting ginormous Toto and Wings Over America, Paul McCartney posters.

Finally, onto VHS’, many of which I remember watching as a child, I loved Riverdance and definitely imagined myself as a future dancer. My mum and I re-watched Carole King’s live set the other day and had a great dance party. The Neil Diamond film too is a favourite of my Dad’s. We still have Bruce Springstein, Eurythmics, Carly Simon, and Dire Straits to go. We are probably one of the only households that can easily play tapes, VHS, and vinyl but struggle with a DVD or Spotify playlist!

We did manage to set up a Bluetooth speaker this week that I bought my brother for Xmas, he clearly left it behind as he has a fancier one of his own, but my mum persevered and finally got Johnny Hates Jazz on the speaker via YouTube on her phone. So tech. The irony that a lot of my work revolves around social media is quite hilarious.

 

Building a Library From Home

A COLLABORATIVE POST BY TESS FOURNIER – SUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR, BOOM BOX POST

As a sound editor, having a well-rounded library is very important. Some of you might be lucky enough to have a library provided to you by your company and others might be wondering where the heck you even start. There are plenty of great libraries out there on the web that you can purchase or download for free with no effort of recording at all but there are also going to be things that you will need to record yourself. A good place to start is by recording small handheld props. Recently we came across needing these types of recordings for a new series. Check out some helpful tips below!

For this blog, I’d like to specifically use the veggies/fruits I recorded as our focus. The main benefit of recording food is being able to snack while you’re doing it. Am I right?

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You can’t tell me that picture doesn’t make you a little hungry! Alright, let’s break these recordings down into four primary points:

Recording Quality

There are many things to take into consideration when recording sound effects such as your meters, how far you are from the microphone, the noises happening in the room you are recording, etc. To get an in-depth look on some tips for recording, please check out this blog Jacob did! In my case, it was really hot the day I recorded these veggies, but I turned my A/C off for the sake of the recording! I also unplugged my refrigerator because it was making too much noise. Maybe sweating while recording will make you feel like you are working harder too!

Variety

Make sure you have a good amount of variety with whatever you’re recording. You don’t want to get to the editing stage of the records and wish that you had more variations and have to go back to step one and record again. For these veggie records, not only did I get a lot of different foods to prep, I also tried to make sure how I cut them was varied; short, long, sawing motion, ripping, etc.

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Save the Extras

I didn’t intend on recording and labeling knife-downs and carrots dropping, but they were a by-product of my main recording. Rather than just deleting them, I cleaned and labeled those as well because you never know when they’ll come in handy!

Clean and Properly Label

Lucky for you, Jacob loves to write blogs about recording sound effects! So, check out this blog he did to see how to edit these files. If you are too lazy to click the link, I will give you a short rundown:

Clean up the recordings as best you can by getting rid of background noise/etc. Cut out any excess you don’t need (like me picking up a new potato to record or coughing, etc between takes). Put like sounds together (sawing cuts should be one file, ripping, another, etc). Label properly – for these I labeled them with the type of food, how they were handled/cut (cut, rip, saw, etc).

Recording sound effects can be both fun and stressful at times. My best advice is to make sure you are having a good time and come into it prepared. Start brainstorming ideas and make a list of things to record and then get at them all at once! I’d say it is better to record too much than not enough. Make sure to record PLENTY of food….so you won’t be hungry for the other recordings.

You can read the original blog and more from Boom Box Post Here

 

Mixing Webinar with Rosana Cabán

Join SoundGirls & Female Frequency for a Mixing Webinar with Rosana Cabán. Moderated by Vanessa Silberman.

Learn helpful tips about mixing, plugins, panning, automation and preparation of files for mastering.

Monday, September 28th
6 pm-8 pm EST

Register Here

Rosana Cabán is a Puerto Rican-born, Brooklyn-based artist and music producer. As the drummer of the band Psychic Twin, she toured and performed in over 80 rock venues across the US and Canada opening for STRFKR, LadyHawke, the Generationals. Her production and mixing work has been released through Polyvinyl, Shore Dive, and DEATH BY SHEEP records and heard on podcasts and voice-overs for New York Times-reviewed theater. She was a Marble House Project artist in residency in 2018 and an Ace Hotel AIR in 2017. Rosana is an active member of Tom Tom Magazine’s Braintrust and is a graduate of Columbia University’s Sound Art MFA program. She works out of her recording studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. rosanacaban.com

Vanessa Silberman is an international touring singer, guitarist and songwriter from Brooklyn, NY (via Los Angeles, CA). She is also a record producer, engineer, an independent A&R and runs an artist development Label called A Diamond Heart Production.

Vanessa’s live shows and music has been compared to the raw bare bones rock ‘n roll of Nirvana along with the appeal of Liz Phair and Chrissie Hynde, the authenticity of classic artists such as Patti Smith and Neil Young mixed with the pop sensibilities of commercial radio artists such as Green Day and Metric.

Widely known for having a very strong DIY ethic and wearing many different hats in the music business —Vanessa has worked for heavy hitter’s in the music business such as Producer / Songwriter Dr.Luke as well as for many companies and places ranging from the Foo Fighter’s Studio 606 to Epitaph Records.
vanessasilbermanofficial.com
adiamondheartproduction.com

Female Frequency
Female Frequency is a community dedicated to empowering female, transgender & non-binary artists through the creation of music that is entirely female generated.

The first Female Frequency EP made entirely by women is available here–>
femalefrequency.bandcamp.com
femalefrequency.com

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