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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

The Power of Using Reference Tracks

When finalising your track, you want it to sound as good as possible. Perhaps you even want it to emulate what you listen to on the radio or like some of your favourite songs. So, here’s a quick way to help you do that – using reference tracks.

A reference track is pretty self-explanatory – it’s a track you use to reference your mix against. For my own work, I tend to use about 2 reference tracks that have the same sort of style and sound that I want to emulate.

There are a couple of different ways that you can use reference tracks, for example, I know of producers that import them into their DAW, volume match the reference track, and then use the reference track to guide them and influence the way they EQ the mix. This is done completely by ear and can really help your critical listening skills.

The other way of doing it is by Match EQ’ing your track against the reference track. This involves analysing the EQ of your final mixing, and then analysing the EQ of your reference track and then matching them together. There a few plugins out there that do this for example Izotope Ozone 6 Equaliser, FabFilter Pro Q 3, and Logic Pro X has an inbuilt plugin called Match EQ.

Overall this tends to be a great way to sonically lift and reshape your track. You can also adjust the parameters after matching the EQ to get your desired sound.

If you’re new to using reference tracks start off by just critically listening to a few songs you like and acknowledging what you hear (does it have a smooth high end? Is the bass really prominent? etc.) Then you can try to add those elements to your own mix. You can then start using Match EQ to emulate a certain sound.

Trust yourself though, if it sounds good to you then you’re probably onto a winner.

 

L-Acoustics Helps SoundGirls Educate and Empower Women in Audio 

 

Carolina Antón, Kim Watson, and El Ashwood each awarded grants for L-Acoustics training courses

 

Continuing to deepen its commitment to education, L-Acoustics recently announced a partnership with SoundGirls, kicking off an annual training grant program to support the organization’s mission to empower women in audio. Following a thorough panel review of numerous applications submitted by SoundGirls members, L-Acoustics is pleased to officially congratulate the three recipients of its 2020 SoundGirls Training Grants: Carolina Antón was awarded the L-ISA Grant, Kim Watson the Advanced Grant, and Eluned “El” Ashwood the Starter Grant.

“We were overwhelmed by the interest and response that we received from the SoundGirls community regarding these training grants,” says Etienne Corteel, L-Acoustics Director of Education and Scientific Outreach, making the announcement. “In addition to supplying their CVs, each candidate submitted two essays on why they were applying for these grants and how they would benefit from them. Although it was a challenge for the SoundGirls board to narrow down only three winners from such a well-qualified and deserving group, Carolina, Kim, and El all clearly demonstrated their drive and zeal for audio excellence and are, in our eyes, inspiring champions for diversity in this industry.”

Carolina Antón of Mexico City has been named as the L-ISA Grant recipient and will participate in a three-day L-ISA training curriculum covering one of two available tracks: System, for systems engineers, or Mixing, for mix engineers. Serving as a FOH and/or monitor engineer on more than 20 tours for artists including Kool & The Gang, Gloria Gaynor, Natalia Lafourcade, MexFutura, Mon Laferte, and Leon Larregui, Antón has passion and experience creating immersive live mixes and system designs.

As a system tech, monitor engineer and FOH engineer for two decades, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK-based Kim Watson is the recipient of the Advanced Grant and will complete the manufacturer’s Level 2 Variable Curvature Line Source (VCLS) and Loudspeaker System Calibration (LSC) modules. Having toured as a monitor engineer for The Subways and system fly tech for Blondie, Watson previously completed four modules from the Level 1 course to prepare her for Level 2 training as she progresses toward earning the K Systems Engineer (KSE) designation, following additional fieldwork.

Recently completing the L-Acoustics Systems Fundamentals online session in July as part of her Starter Grant, Eluned Ashwood of Manchester, UK will soon finish up the Level 1 course and earn the official status of Systems Technician (ST) after attending her choice of two K Series modules (K1, K2, Kara, Kiva II). Ashwood’s resumé includes a broad range of festival tech gigs with SSE Audio Group and Wigwam Acoustics, numerous A2 roles at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre, and stage/PA tech work for Lionel Richie’s UK tour.

“We are so excited to be working with L-Acoustics, recognized as one of the leaders in concert sound, to provide these grants to our members,” shares SoundGirls Co-Founder Karrie Keyes. “L-Acoustics is dedicated to innovation and design excellence and now a leader in helping to diversify the industry.”

“It’s been our privilege to partner with the SoundGirls community by creating this annual grant program and taking an active step in helping fulfill their mission of educating and empowering women in audio,” Corteel adds in closing. “We’re proud of what each of our three new L-Acoustics family members have already accomplished so far, and we look forward to celebrating their achievements as they continue to make names for themselves in this wonderfully evolving business.”

SoundGirls can be found online at www.soundgirls.org. For more details on L-Acoustics training, visit www.l-acoustics.com/en/training/program.

About L-Acoustics

Founded in 1984 near Paris, France, L-Acoustics is the market leader in professional sound reinforcement technologies. With over 550 team members worldwide and offices in Paris, London, Singapore, Los Angeles, and New York, L-Acoustics is present in over 80 countries via our network of Certified Providers. Focused on solutions that elevate the audience experience, more than 20% of L-Acoustics’ talent is devoted to R&D in the areas of acoustics, applications, mechanics, electronics, signal processing, and software development. In recognition of creating innovative professional sound technology, L-Acoustics was named as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2020.

Recognized for pioneering the line source array, L-Acoustics continues to shape the future of the professional audio industry with L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound technology, a multidimensional, object-based approach to designing, mixing, and processing sound that results in extremely natural and intelligible audio, and a more vibrant, authentic connection between artists and their fans. Now also available for exceptional private sound spaces with L-Acoustics Creations designs.

L-Acoustics technologies can be heard in places like the Hollywood Bowl, Dickies Arena, Allianz Arena, home of Bayern Munich, or the Philharmonie de Paris, as well as the world’s top-grossing festivals, and on tour with world-class artists such as Mark Knopfler, Aerosmith, and P!NK.

How to Record a Podcast Remotely And Get It Right The First Time

Remote interviews are a fact of life for every podcaster, and in today’s era of social distancing, more so than ever. Since you rarely get the chance at an interview do-over, nailing down your remote recording workflow is essential. We’ll show you how to prepare for and record a remote interview, so you get it right the first time — with some additional tips along the way to make sure all your bases are covered.

Choose the right remote recording setup for your podcast

The first step is to determine the remote recording setup that best suits the format and content of your podcast and your production and editing workflow.

In most cases, your best solution will involve recording remote interviews on Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts, or a similar online conferencing service. This low-friction setup makes it easy for guests or co-hosts to contribute, but you’ll need to make sure you have the right software to record these interviews.

It’s also wise to make sure you can record phone calls. Phone interviews don’t offer great audio fidelity, but they make a great backup option in case of technical problems or schedule changes. Phone interviews probably won’t be your first choice, but it’s a good idea to be able to record a phone call just in case you need to.

If you’re recording with the same remote co-host on each episode of your podcast, consider a double-ender setup, in which you and your co-host record your own audio tracks locally and combine them in post-production. For most podcasters, this isn’t the most convenient solution, but it does translate into the highest audio fidelity for you and your co-host.

The best way to record an interview is to prepare for it

When it comes to interviewing — especially remote interviewing — a little preparation goes a long way.

Do some research into your guest’s background, expertise, and projects. Who are they? Why is their work notable? What do you (and in turn, your audience) hope to learn from them?

Putting together a rough outline of the questions you’d like to ask will come in very handy. Write down a handful of specific questions and key points, but keep your outline broad and high-level. That’ll allow you to more easily adapt to the flow of conversation.

Maintaining that conversational flow remotely can be substantially trickier than doing so person-to-person. Prime yourself to listen more than you speak — in particular, try not to interrupt your guest. Editing out awkward silences between speakers is much easier than dealing with too much crosstalk!

When it’s time to record the interview, take a couple final preparatory steps to ensure a clean recording. Close all unnecessary software and set your computer to “Do Not Disturb” mode to make sure unwanted distractions don’t pop up (or worse: end up in the recording).

How to record a Skype call, Zoom interview, or Google Hangout

For most remote recording situations, Zoom, Skype, or Google Hangouts are your platforms of choice. All three are easy to set up, simple for guests to use, and feature audio fidelity good enough for most podcasts.

Both Zoom and Skype offer built-in call recording functionality, but Google Hangouts currently limits this offering to enterprise users. There’s an additional caveat: the file format (.MP4 or .M4A) that each platform outputs may not be what you want, depending on your podcast production and editing workflow.

For maximum control over your final product, you’re better off using third-party apps to record computer system audio directly into the recording software of your choice rather than relying on their recording functionality.

If you’re on a Mac, BlackHole is a great open-source tool that allows you to route audio between apps, which means you can record the audio output from Zoom (or Skype, or Google Hangouts) directly into your preferred recording software. On Windows, Virtual Audio Cable offers similar functionality.

If you’re already using Descript to record, you won’t need to use additional audio routing software. When recording audio into Descript, open the Record panel, choose Add a Track, select your input, and choose “Computer audio.” Click the Record button whenever you’re ready, and audio from Zoom, Skype, or Google Hangouts will be piped into Descript.

No matter which remote recording setup you use, make sure you test it — and test it again — with a friend or colleague before you’re actually recording your podcast. Troubleshooting when you should be interviewing ranks near the top of everyone’s Least Favorite Things To Deal With, so make sure everything is in order before your guest is on the line.

How to record a phone interview with Google Voice

Social distancing means nearly everyone has gotten used to handling calls and meetings on Zoom, Skype, or Google Hangouts. But maybe your podcast guest is really old-school, or their computer is on the fritz, or maybe they’re simply only able to access a phone during your scheduled call time. It’s likely phone interviews will never be your first choice, but being able to record an old-fashioned phone call will come in handy.

Recording phone calls can be tricky, but using Google Voice to make an outgoing phone call from your computer means you can use the same remote recording setup detailed above to record the call.

Follow Google’s instructions to set up Google Voice and then learn how to make an outgoing call. Once everything’s set up, you’ll be able to record phone calls with Google Voice just like you’d record an interview on Zoom or Skype.

Again, make sure to test with a friend and then test again before your interview.

If lossless audio quality is a must, record a “double-ender”

For most remote recording situations, Zoom, Skype, or Google Hangouts are your platforms of choice. All three are easy to set up, simple for guests to use, and feature audio fidelity good enough for most podcasts.

But if you have a remote co-host that regularly appears on your podcast, and you want to maximize the quality of your audio, a “double-ender” is the way to go: Each host or guest records themselves locally, and audio tracks are combined in post-production. For an additional cost, you can use third-party recording platforms that simulate double-enders without each speaker managing their own recording software.

A traditional double-ender sees each speaker recording their own audio track using their recording software of choice (Descript, Audacity, Quicktime, etc.), and then the host or editor combines each speaker’s recording into a finished product. Each speaker should have a decent microphone — if they’re using a laptop microphone to record, you probably won’t hear a substantial advantage with a double-ender over a Zoom, Skype, or Google Hangouts recording.

Alternatively, you can simulate a double-ender by using a platform like SquadCast, Zencastr, or Cleanfeed. These services record lossless audio from each speaker, upload each track to the cloud and combine them automatically. These platforms cost money, but they’re a great alternative to a double-ender when guests or co-hosts don’t have the time or wherewithal to fiddle with recording themselves locally. Again, make sure each speaker has a decent microphone — otherwise, you won’t reap the full benefits of lossless audio.

Make remote recording hassles a thing of the past

Recording your podcast remotely isn’t painless, but once you get the hang of it — and nail down your workflow — it’ll become second nature.

This Originally appeared on Descript.com

The Best First Impression

Taking the time to evaluate and critique your resume is vital to putting your best foot forward, and as we’re all at a pause, there’s no better time to do that than now. That piece of paper (or pdf file) becomes your first impression to designers, production managers, and other employers. But all too often, even starting to write your resume can feel like an impossible task. Even more so because there’s very little standardization of what they should look like for theatre. Sifting through websites with tips and helpful hints for a traditional, corporate-based structure can range from confusing to downright frustrating when you’re trying to apply it to a completely different world.

At its heart, your resume is telling a story. Where did you come from? What have you done? How have you progressed over your career? You’re just telling it in bullet points instead of prose. Anyone looking at your resume is trying to do a couple of things: they want to know what skills you have and what shows you’ve worked on, or people you’ve worked with, but they’re also looking for information about who you are and if you’d be a good fit for a team they’re building. Your resume gives them small indications of that based on its presentation: did you slap together a slipshod line of things you’ve worked on with your name pasted at the top? Or does it look like you took some time and pride in presenting yourself to potential employers?

Over the course of your career, you’ll end up with a couple different versions of your resume. When you’re first starting out and have less experience, you may include some details about what your jobs entailed, but once you’re established in your career, your resume neatens up and becomes a list of the shows you’ve worked on and what your role was. Even then, you still may have a couple versions to focus on different skills or shows: if you’re looking for design work as opposed to mixing work as opposed to production work.

For example, when I left college, I broke my experience in a few categories: Touring, A1, A2, Corporate, and Other Experience. It was busier than it needed to be and didn’t have much organization other than dividing up my experience. After working for a few years, my resume shifted to two categories: Touring and A1. That simplified things by getting rid of my college experience, starting to use sound designers instead of directors for shows, and formulating a better narrative. Instead of throwing every show, I’d done in the mix, I used my touring experience to highlight my progression from an A2 to A1, and selected certain shows I’d mixed off of tour to show that I’d worked at the same festival multiple years in a row (i.e. people wanted to work with me again).

Looking forward, if my goals shift to getting off the road in (likely to find a mixing-focused job where I could stay in one location), I would make a new resume that focuses on my A1 experience (including touring, sit-downs, festivals, one-offs, etc), and pushes my A2 work on the road into a less prominent category.

When you start writing your resume, it helps to break it down into manageable chunks. In my experience, most resumes have four general categories: Identifier, Experience, Skills/Education, and References.

 

Typically the hardest part of a resume to write is the Experience category. While your name, contact info, education, and skills are cut and dry lists, here you have to look through your jobs and sort out which ones you want to use.  To help, start by asking yourself what story you want to tell:

Once you know what you’re going to put in your resume, here are some overall notes to keep in mind:

Finally, references. This can be the most important category of your resume. A first-hand account of your abilities and work ethic from a trusted source has more influence than any words on a page. This is another area where you can choose to personalize your resume on a job-by-job basis if you have mutual acquaintances with the reader.

When picking a reference, it depends on your job. If you’re a designer, you want to choose directors or other designers you’ve worked with. As an A1 or A2, use designers, associates, or production colleagues. (I’ll use resident directors or music directors as well, but it’s better to prioritize other sound people first.) A2s can also use their A1s.

Always ask for permission before you include someone as a reference. It’s the polite and professional thing to do as well as letting them know if you’re sending out resumes, especially if they might get a call. In the age of telemarketers and spam phone calls, all of us default to ignoring unknown numbers.

You should always include your references. There are a couple of exceptions to this: if you’re sending resume-blasts out to a variety of potential jobs, or if you’re posting your resume online in a public forum where your reference might not want their personal contact information displayed.

So, let’s take a look at a not-so-great resume:

 

And if we make some edits:

And this is what my actual resume looks like. “Other Experience” is simplified down to a list, and it’s simple, concise, and easy to skim:

Once you have a resume written, always double-check for typos, inconsistencies, etc. (Then have a friend check, or two or three to be on the safe side.) This is something you’ll constantly add to and change as you progress in your career. After doing research for this post, I went back and made several tweaks, and that was a resume I’ve used for several years. Eventually, your reputation may proceed you enough that you don’t use your resume as much, but until then, make sure you make the best first impression you can.

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