Como ingenieros de audio, tenemos que tomar en cuenta diferentes factores para poder optimizar nuestro trabajo y así enfocarnos en la parte artística cuando hablamos de una mezcla. Si partimos de este principio, hay varios factores sumamente importantes que debemos tener en cuenta antes de un show para llegar a nuestro objetivo con mayor facilidad:
El rider, el cual se deberá realizar con mucho detalle, ya que dependemos de esta información para poder contar con el equipo, así como para cubrir todas nuestras necesidades técnicas específicas como las siguientes:
El input list y lista de Backline, esto nos ayudará a que el personal local (si se requiere), tenga el conocimiento de cuántos canales y cuáles instrumentos utilizaremos durante el show. Si esta lista no es correcta, perderemos tiempo y podemos correr el riesgo de no contar con los instrumentos y/o micrófonos que están previstos a utilizar. Adicionalmente, el input list nos permite configurar las sesiones de la consola de mezcla con anticipación y coherencia de acuerdo a los requerimientos del show.El stage plot. Como sucede con el input list, contar con un stage plot facilitará a todo el personal conocer con exactitud la posición y distribución de todos los músicos e instrumentos en el escenario, permitiendo un flujo de trabajo eficaz durante los montajes y movimientos durante el show.
Tomar en cuenta los puntos anteriores nos asegurará contar con información puntual y concisa, lo que se verá reflejado en una optimización de tiempo, trabajo y fluidez a la hora del montaje.
Usualmente, la persona encargada de FOH (Front Of House) se hace cargo de posicionar los micrófonos correctamente en los instrumentos (previamente corroborado por la persona encargada de monitores).
El o la ingeniero de monitores, en caso de llevar sistemas de monitoreo personal y no contar con personal encargado para hacer una coordinación de radiofrecuencia, deberá hacer esta coordinación de manera precisa, ya que de eso dependerá la tranquilidad de los músicos durante el show y evitará problemas técnicos que generen pérdidas de la señal de audio. En caso de utilizar monitores de piso y/o side fill, la persona encargada de monitores deberá realizar una ecualización por cada zona para evitar posibles retroalimentaciones. A su vez, en el área de FOH también deberá hacerse una ecualización y revisión del sistema de PA completo. (main PA, subwoofers, front fill, out fill, delay, etcétera).
Al término de este trabajo que ambos ingenieros realizan paralelamente, deben coincidir en hacer un line check, en el cual, con ayuda de los técnicos de escenario, revisan cada uno de los inputs en donde se verifica que llegue la señal de audio sin inducción, con una polaridad correcta y de acuerdo al input list.
A continuación se realiza el soundcheck, mismo que tiene como objetivo hacer una prueba de sonido, en el que los músicos tocan algunas canciones, mismas que normalmente tienen dinámicas que ayudan a los ingenieros a escuchar cómo responde el sonido y el sistema de amplificación dentro del recinto. Otra forma de realizar la prueba de sonido es haciendo un soundcheck virtual, que consta en reproducir multitracks previamente grabados de algún otro show y/o ensayo; esto se utiliza normalmente cuando alguno o todos los músicos no puedan presentase físicamente a la prueba de sonido, tomando en cuenta que para llevarlo a cabo se deberá contar con el equipo apropiado.
Otro factor importante al sonorizar shows en vivo es que usualmente no mezclamos en los mismos lugares; esto hace que aunque se trate del mismo grupo musical y se cuente con el mismo el mismo equipo, el show suene diferente, bien sea debido a características acústicas del recinto o a las condiciones atmosféricas del lugar. La humedad, la temperatura, el público y el viento son factores sumamente importantes que afectan directamente al sonido, por lo que se deben contemplar antes de mezclar.
Por ejemplo:
La velocidad del aire cambia cuando hay alguna variación atmosférica de humedad, viento y temperatura, de manera que debemos de tomar en cuenta el clima, así como también la altitud de donde estemos trabajando. Un show que se realiza en un recinto al aire libre será muy diferente a cuando se mezcle el mismo grupo, pero en un lugar cerrado. Esto es por la acústica del teatro, pero por otro lado, en un sitio en exteriores, nos ocasionará muchos más cambios climáticos, aunque evitará posiblemente ondas estacionarias que provocan alteraciones en el sonido. Es por esto que debemos considerar primero varios factores técnicos al hacer nuestra mezcla antes de tomar en cuenta la parte artística.
Si tomamos en cuenta todo lo anterior, deberíamos haber llegado a un punto de seguridad, el cual nos permitirá enfocarnos con mayor claridad y tranquilidad en la parte artística, que es realizar una mezcla clara, precisa y balanceada, sin perder la atención en la parte técnica.
When Music and Science Collide – Darcy Proper
DarcyProper became the first woman engineer to win the GRAMMY for the Best Surround Sound Album category in 2008 for Donald Fagen’s “Morph the Cat” album. Darcy not only achieved these despite being a minority in her field, but she also accomplished these while she lived thousands of miles away from the center of the American music scene. Unlike many engineers based in New York or Hollywood, DarcyProper’s mastering headquarters was located in Belgium and The Netherlands for three of her four Grammy wins. She has just recently returned to the U.S. and is currently based in central New York.
Studies have shown that there are less than 10% of women working in the audio engineering field. With the world of sound encompassing a vastly wide array of disciplines, this could range from working in a commercial studio as a recording engineer, doing post-production for film/TV, to touring with artists as a live sound reinforcement engineer, among others. Not often discussed, however, is this small specialized field called Mastering.
Working within the confines of an acoustically precise studio, fitted with top-of-the-line monitoring speakers ranging from stereo to a 5.1 surround setup (or more), mastering engineers are responsible for the final crucial step in the audio post-production process. Often considered an elusive discipline, mastering is distinctly nuanced in both the technical and creative aspect of sound. With this–coupled with the low women-in-audio statistic–one can say that women in mastering may be deemed as unicorns–a rarity in an already male-dominated career path.
This, however, did not prevent mastering engineer Darcy Proper from winning multiple GRAMMY awards in various engineering categories (3 wins & 9 nominations to be exact). Most notably, Darcy Proper became the first female engineer to win the GRAMMY for the Best Surround Sound Album category in 2008 for Donald Fagen’s “Morph the Cat” album. Darcy not only achieved these despite being a minority in her field, she accomplished these while she lived thousands of miles away from the center of the American music scene. Unlike many engineers who are based in New York or Hollywood, Darcy Proper’s current mastering headquarters is located in the Netherlands at Wisseloord Studios.
One may ask how Darcy Proper ever got into the world of mastering in the first place. Here we take a rare glimpse into the world of mastering engineers as seen through Darcy Proper’s own experiences, from her beginnings to the present day.
When music and science collide
Like many sound engineers, Darcy grew up with a passion for music. Wanting to be surrounded by it as much as she could, Darcy spent her childhood in a small town in upstate New York performing with the church and school choirs in addition to her school’s concert band and jazz ensemble. But unlike many aspiring performers, Darcy didn’t yearn for the spotlight. Instead, she preferred to remain in the background with the ensemble, where her stage fright couldn’t get in the way of her love for performing.
Darcy had the makings of a mastering engineer even in her early childhood years, as she would often go through her parents’ entire record collection just listening to music with her headphones all day. “A quick escape from reality”, Darcy shares.
Furthermore, Darcy has always taken pride in her love for learning. Consistently excelling in academics, she was an avid bookworm with a knack for both math and science. This love for learning and music finally came head-to-head when her school hosted a local fundraising concert featuring student-led rock bands. It was during this fundraising concert at the age of 14 when she encountered her first mixing desk–a 12-channel Soundcraft used to run PA for the show. Darcy found that modest mixing board fascinating and it was the catalyst that prompted her to explore this seemingly uncharted world of “audio engineering”. In short, she was hooked and the rest became history.
The journey begins
Knowing full well that she wanted to pursue audio engineering in college, Darcy narrowed her search down to a choice between two schools: Fredonia State University of New York, or New York University (NYU). Fredonia because it offered one of the oldest Sound Recording Technology programs in the state, and NYU because although it had a younger music technology program compared to Fredonia’s, it was situated right in the heart of Manhattan.
Growing up in a small town outside of New York City, Darcy was attracted to life in the Big Apple, much to the dismay of her parents who forbade her from going there to attend NYU. Though her hometown was only a few hours away, it wasn’t unusual for people living there to have never visited the city. To Darcy’s family, New York City was simply an “other”–a gritty foreign place that’s not suitable for a young college student.
Fortunately for Darcy, she was awarded a generous scholarship to pursue her audio engineering studies at NYU. The scholarship easily outweighed the savings of attending college in Fredonia. Ultimately, this was what allowed her to move to New York City and start studying in NYU’s Music Business & Technology program.
Attending NYU’s Music Technology program
When Darcy began her studies in NYU’s Music Technology program at the age of 17, the program admitted a total of roughly 150 students, with only three of them being women. Despite this large gender gap, Darcy did not feel she was treated any differently.
“It didn’t cross my mind [that I was different]. This was something I wanted to do, it was possible to do it, and so I did it…I had more of an issue with my parents not wanting me to go to NYU just because of where it was located. For me, then, that was a bigger hurdle to overcome.”
Starting out with a blank slate going into the Music Technology program, Darcy absorbed all the information she could get her hands on. At this point, Darcy wasn’t aware of all the possible career paths in sound. Being most familiar with live sound reinforcement, she took on a part-time job as an assistant to a live sound engineer. She would assist in shows held in NYU and around various venues in the New York/New Jersey area. Darcy thought then that live sound would be the career path for her. But it didn’t take long for her to discover other career possibilities in sound that seemed to suit her better.
Entering the real world
Upon leaving the academe, Darcy landed her first job as an Assistant Studio Maintenance Technician for Sound Works on West 54th Street. At this point in her career, it finally dawned on her how there truly were not very many women in the audio engineering workforce. But despite the low numbers, the few women Darcy did meet all seemed to do very well in their field.
Being one of the few female sound engineers at this time, Darcy was fortunate enough to have not faced discrimination on a daily basis. She attributes this to several factors, including:
“The low point of the totem pole doesn’t discriminate.”
To Darcy, we all have to start at the beginning. And while you’re at the low end of this totem pole, you’re simply so busy trying to figure out what you’re doing, there isn’t a lot of time to dwell on grander issues besides doing the job well. Darcy was too determined to do her best and was so focused on making it through the day without doing anything stupid (not always successfully, she adds), that this helped thwart any concern of hers about people’s criticisms.
“I was lucky enough to end up in places where my colleagues and employers didn’t have an issue with [my gender]. I suppose if they had, they wouldn’t have hired me in the first place. In any case, when you’re the “newbie,” it’s important to remember that, for the most part, if someone criticizes your work or asks you to fetch coffee, or clean toilets, or whatever, it’s generally because you’re the newbie – you’re young, inexperienced, have a lot to learn about the job. The fact is, the mundane tasks fall to the low person on the totem pole. Gender discrimination certainly does exist, but when you’re new, it’s important not to confuse constructive criticism and “paying your dues” with gender bias. You’ll waste a lot of energy that could have been better spent learning and enjoying the job.”
Darcy is keen to observe how the music industry seems to be a generally more open-minded community when it comes to gender roles in the workforce. And not just with gender. In fact, Darcy feels that there is tolerance in many respects–from religious affiliation to race to sexual orientation. Truly creative people tend to not be close-minded, and it’s this supportive community that gave Darcy the atmosphere necessary to thrive in a male-dominated workplace.
It wasn’t always a walk in the park, however. Although not too serious, Darcy has encountered her share of unpleasant experiences on the job. In one instance during her early live sound days, a band manager refused to acknowledge her as the “sound man” and demanded to work with “a man” on the day of the show. She took control of the situation by gracefully yet matter-of-factly pointing out that if she left, they wouldn’t have a sound system. And with the band on her side, the gig went smoothly afterward.
There were moments when people were surprised that their assistant or sound engineer was a woman, but it was often an honest surprise reaction with no negative intent. However, on the rare occasions when a client would make a pass at her, she was quick to shut down any advances. Particularly for these delicate situations, Darcy believes in the value of a subtle, graceful exit in the interest of keeping the work atmosphere relaxed and professional.
“I found it important in those situations that you give the guy a way to keep his pride (and ego) intact. I generally used the excuse that I would be fired if I got involved romantically with a client and that I was flattered, but really wanted to keep my job. Receiving this sort of unwanted attention is a fact of life which can be intensified by a studio setting. You kinda have to figure it out how you’re going to handle it [along the way].”
Based on her experience, Darcy feels it was easier to take control of these situations in a studio environment as opposed to being on location. Therefore, she has a tremendous amount of respect for women in live sound who may have to cope with these situations more often in a much more stressful environment. At the end of the day, what’s kept Darcy going is the determination to do a good job every step of the way and to not spend too much time focusing on the difference between herself and her colleagues.
Typical with many mastering engineers in the industry, Darcy didn’t become one overnight. For her, it started with a gradual transition from being a studio maintenance technician in Sound Works to working as a QC (Quality Control) Engineer at Sony Classical in New York. Knowing that Sony Classical was looking for an engineer that could learn Sonic Solutions, she jumped at that opportunity and became adept at operating the DAW. Known mostly for its great crossfading capabilities, Sonic Solutions was the mastering platform of choice for classical music back then.
As part of her QC work in Sony Classical, Darcy relied heavily on her adept listening skills and attention to detail. Her work entailed listening to multiple production copies of a master, many times over, to ensure that no technical errors made it past the final production stage and into the final product.
This might sound like an arduous task to the average person, but Darcy enjoyed it. because it meant the opportunity to listen to the works of many engineers and in a wide variety of genres. The discipline she gained from years of critical listening would continue to benefit her for years to come.
It didn’t take long for her to finally take the mastering seat, beginning with album reissues. Working alongside a producer who, while very technically adept, wasn’t interested in making the leap to digital audio workstations. Darcy stepped in and took on a sort of assistant mastering engineer role. This led to working with other less technical clients on reissues of historic pop standards (Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, to name a few), and several Broadway cast recordings.
Ultimately, Darcy’s engineering credits expanded beyond the classical genre, eventually outgrowing her original mastering toolset that was more equipped for classical music. She decided to make the official jump to joining the ranks of the mastering team at Sony, rather than remaining in the classical department. Darcy continued her ever-growing work on album reissues, while at the same time, learning to expand her workflow to include high resolution surround mastering. Surround sound was slowly becoming part of the music scene. Not minding the extra channels to work with, and loving the surround listening experience, Darcy took on this challenge and mastered it.
In late 2005, Galaxy Studios, a renowned studio in Belgium, was looking for a mastering engineer and was eager to hire Darcy for the coveted position. Being rooted in New York, working anywhere else was something that did not initially occur to Darcy. But due to a personal crisis at the time, the offer to work abroad as a mastering engineer came at an opportune moment. She took the job with the intention of working in Belgium for a few years and then returning back to the US, but so often happens, fate had other plans. Along the way, she met her eventual future husband, renowned Dutch recording & mixing engineer, Ronald Prent, and her stay in Europe was extended.
After five years at Galaxy Studios, Darcy moved to Holland and together with Ronald, they played a crucial role in the rebuilding of Wisseloord Studios in the Netherlands. Darcy has continued to achieve success basing her mastering work there and staking her claim as being one of the leading experts in surround sound mastering.
Demystifying mastering
Guided tour through the new Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum, Holland, The Netherlands with Joey DeMaio (Manowar) on March 12, 2012 Photographer: Klaus Bergmann | imBlickFeld.de for Magic Circle Music
One of the more common misconceptions about mastering is the focus on gear more than the ears, the art of critical listening and the artist’s intention. A crucial part of mastering is maintaining fidelity in one’s signal chain. The more gear you put in your chain, the more you potentially increase the distance between the artist and the listener. Therefore, it’s important to have a specific reason to add a piece of new gear to the mastering chain. Ultimately, the objective to use as many cool tools as possible. The goal is to deliver the artist’s message across to the listener the best way possible. And for that, less is often more.
“I’m not so much a gearhead. I’m fascinated with gear because it gets you from one place to another. But being a serious gearhead shifts your focus. Musicians don’t sit behind their instruments and think about how they play them. They think about the music they want to create, the note they want to play, and through years of long practice and intuition, it just happens. Of course, you want the right instrument to get the sound that you want and you spend the necessary time to maintain the instrument. In my opinion, this is what gear is for an audio engineer. It’s your instrument. Gear is not the focus, but the means to an end. Using your gear to achieve the sound you are looking for becomes as intuitive as a musician playing the desired/right notes on his/her instrument.”
Darcy continues to innovate in the world of mastering. Many of her most recent projects involved mastering work with height channels in various immersive audio formats. Asking her about recent innovations on cloud-based automated mastering services, Darcy believes that although their existence is logical with the current technology, there are nuances that the human element can provide that can’t be replaced with automated services. Music is emotion, and it takes a human being to understand and convey that emotion to the listener.
Though mastering remains one of the less common career paths in the audio engineering world, Darcy remains grateful to have been given the opportunity to work and thrive in this field. As an avid listener, she enjoys the variety of music she gets to work with as a mastering engineer. It changes from one day to the next and it forces her to approach each project with fresh ears and a fresh perspective. And with each fresh perspective, the learning never ends.
“At first, I thought it was my ‘job’ to fix things to a certain extent. I thought that was my purpose. Now, I focus more on what seems unique and special about [the music] and how I can bring it forward. I focus on the positive things and enhancing those naturally minimizes the flaws. This approach allows me to be open and ready for new and unusual kinds of sounds and characters. And when you’re always listening to what’s special about the music you’re working on, that’s a nice place to be.”
We’ve all had it happen. Someone you’re working with is moody or doesn’t seem to like you. You get yelled at for something that’s not your fault. How do you handle it?
The majority of the time if you’re in a professional environment working with a team of professionals everyone can put their differences aside enough to get the job done. It’s the people who don’t put things aside – who continue down the path of drama or difficulty while you’re trying to work – that cause problems. We don’t know if it’s a personality trait if we triggered someone on a touchy subject, or we just caught him/her on a bad day. The problematic thing is at the end of the day it’s not our job to play psychologist – we’re professionals hired to do audio – but sometimes we have to navigate around people issues or their politics to get our actual job done.
The issues
Sometimes people will project their problems onto you. I worked with a producer on a tv show who came for mix reviews only to have me do the same fixes over and over. Then he would give up saying the mix still didn’t “feel right.” After six weeks of that, I questioned if I was a good enough mixer to do what he was asking. I later found out he was miserable on the job and treated others the same way.
Sometimes you’re setup to fail, and there’s no way around it. I engineered a bizarre ADR session where the producer got upset anytime I adjusted the mic pre. It was like trying to live mix and having to ask for permission to move a fader! We were already in session when it happened. The talent was on the clock, and we had a tight deadline, so I left the mic pre where it was. We lost some takes because he didn’t want to lower the gain for screaming lines (clipping the mic pre) or raise it for whispering (resulting in a high noise floor). I thought about stopping the session to have a discussion but decided it was better to lose a few takes than not get the job done.
Sometimes you’re an easy scapegoat (especially as a runner or assistant). When I was an assistant, I had mixers blame me for stuff so they wouldn’t look bad in front of their clients. Early in my career, I worked on a remote recording truck, and the producer blamed me for a tech error that was entirely his fault. I kept my mouth shut because the truck was my ride home! They never hired me again, and I was terrified my reputation would be shot over something that wasn’t my fault. It didn’t affect my career at all (other than the learning experience).
The solutions
Focus on getting the job done knowing sometimes there’s no good solution. At the end of the day, you may look “bad” to some people or your work may suffer in quality or it’s just not a great project, to begin with. Others will understand you were in a no-win scenario. It happens to everyone.
The first thing we often ask is, “is it my fault?” It’s ok to ask to decide what to do next – like, would apologizing help? But if you get your head stuck in analyzing (i.e., “could I have done something differently?” or “Is it because I’m a woman?”) it’s taking a stressful situation and making it harder to think clearly.
You can win over some difficult people. As a mixer, I try to find a way to make everyone comfortable in the studio whether they’re in a great or bad mood. I feel out someone’s mood by asking questions about the project or their job. I try to find another topic to talk about by being observant – maybe they brought a newspaper or have an interesting cell phone cover or got a friendly call from their kid. I worked with a producer who used to be extremely picky and somewhat rude when she was in a bad mood. I learned to take a ten-minute break and ask about her other film projects or her hobby. That generally could reset the tone for the rest of the mix.
Some people’s moods or attitudes won’t change but you can still accommodate them. Some clients are so busy they feel they are “losing” a day being at the mix (this is often the case for directors or producers). Some people find audio a chore. One producer told me he’d rather go to the dentist than sit through an audio mix! Sometimes the solution is to work as fast as possible so they can get out of there. That’s one of the first things I try to assess. I’ll cut the chit-chat and get down to business if that’s what’s best for them. Sometimes in those situations, you can work to build trust in working alone so they can do other things (one skill you need as a re-recording mixer is the ability to mix while people talk on the phone behind you!)
There are times when you can and should speak up about someone mistreating you. No one should feel threatened or unsafe on the job. I worked with a producer who out of the blue would yell and berate me about “mistakes” I had made. It scared me, actually. After it happened a couple of times I went to management and refused to be in the studio alone with the guy. It was a risk – in other scenarios I could have been fired but I knew the studio would have my back. We work in an industry that does things in an unconventional way but that doesn’t mean it’s ok to put up with anything and everything.
Erika Earl – Always be yes-sing! (say it out loud)
Someone once said about Erika Earl, “the building could be on fire, and no one would know because all nine sessions would keep going.” She has made more than a few musicians, engineers, and producers feel good about broken gear or a tough situation.
Earl has been working in the professional audio industry for 15 years. She is currently the Director of Hardware Engineering at Slate Digital. She has worked in key positions in the audio industry, from being the Chief Tech at The Village Studios to running live sound at Coachella, to performing quality control and repair for leading audio manufacturers including Drawmer, Focusrite, Tube-Tech, and Daking. Her passion for audio was ignited at the age of 12 when she was introduced to the recording studio. Her mother booked time for her older sister to record a few American standards in Spanish and brought her along. Earl was captivated by the studio environment and the recording process: “Anyone who has ever walked into a professional recording session with talented artists knows she never wants to leave that room. It’s fucking cool to experience the moment of capture!” Earl knew she wanted to be a part of that process and her technical skills came from realizing she needed a reason to be in the control room beyond a simple desire to be there.
Earl’s education has been non-conventional. While she attended public school, her greatest influence came from observing her immigrant mother who in addition to having five kids, established, owned, and operated several sewing factories: “I think growing up in a factory environment informed my understanding of what ‘work’ is: long hours and sometimes under grueling conditions. I thought I better choose a job I like doing if it’s always going to be that hard.” Her audio engineering education has come from mentorships and a willingness to fail. “I have learned the most from just doing it. I have audited audio production and engineering classes at various institutions over the years. I studied math in college. I volunteer a lot, write and record as much as possible, make giant mistakes, and frequently spend late nights studying up and teaching myself. Many of my friends and mentors are serious musicians, engineers, and sound people. They encourage me to be still and listen, which I have discovered is the best way to learn more. I try and make it a point to be the dumbest and least talented person in my friend circle.”
Erika started as a studio intern working for free. Producer and engineer David Nichols gave her a key to his studio and allowed her to observe and participate as much as she was able during sessions. At night she produced live shows with friends. “My cousin and I had a club night series called Lipgloss and Cigarettes. I would book the bands and arrange the sound production while she was in charge of the venue and creative art direction.
Earl finally got a chance to mix live and get paid for it from Randy Lopez who would hire her to run FOH at a venue in Tucson, Arizona called Plush. Erika says, “I was a pest and just started showing up all the time until one day the sound guy didn’t show up, and there I was foaming at the mouth ready to go. I think Randy appreciated my enthusiasm and mentored me until I could fly on my own.” She also interned with Craig Schumacher at Wavelab, while attempting to fix guitar pedals and cables at Bevins Guitar shop. At the same time, she worked at Epic Cafe serving coffee and vegan scones before sunrise. “Sometimes I would work at every place in town on the same day. A band would be touring and buy a cup of coffee from me in the morning, visit the studio in the afternoon, and then I would run their live sound at night. It was a trip.”
Earl says that at every trade show and conference she made a point of introducing herself to as many manufacturers as possible. “I met Jonathan Little of Little Labs at a TapeOp conference, and he hired me after a working interview. I worked there during the day and then recorded at The Distillery at night. If I wasn’t recording, I was running live sound, or stalking rehearsal spaces in LA looking for bands to work with me.”
After a few years working in LA, she got pregnant and quit everything to go home to Arizona and be closer to her family. She knew she wanted to go back to work, but studio hours and a baby seemed like a miserable combination. “I just didn’t think I was ready to commit to that lifestyle again, so I cold called Tony Marra at Thermal Relief Design on a recommendation from Jay Fitzgibbons (DSPdoctor, LLC) and asked Tony for a job. Thermal Relief was the only authorized service center for many brands I respected at the time. Tony did not have a position available, but I somehow managed to impress him into meeting with me. I moved to Las Vegas and started at Thermal Relief as a tech, receptionist, shipping & receiving person and was eventually promoted to Technical Service Manager.”
Village Techs and Ed Cherney
During her time at Thermal Relief, Earl was invited by Brad Lunde (Trans Audio Group) to work as a tech for his Audio Underground Roadshow which is a traveling high-end audio showcase. At one showcase hosted at The Village Studios Earl was introduced to Studio Manager, Tina Morris. One of Earl’s goals was to work in a large classic commercial studio, and The Village was a perfect opportunity to do just that. About a year after their first meeting, Morris was interviewing Earl for the Chief Tech position. Earl accepted the job and moved back to LA. Earl was in charge of the technical staff and all of the electronics in the building at The Village, including the phone system and internet. “The place is three stories and has four commercial recording studios, eight or nine private studios, two NEVE 88Rs, one NEVE 8048, a NEVE 8068, a Digidesign Icon which we upgraded to an AVID S6, an auditorium, a ballroom, and loads and loads of gear. At one point we had an all female tech staff which was pretty radical. Outside of servicing and maintaining the gear, I was responsible for assisting engineers with any technical support they required, training, and developing new processes and systems. I also helped create the forensic archiving department, design a cam lock and distro for live concerts, build two new rooms, and completely re-wire another”.
Erika is now at Slate Digital and is the Director of Hardware Engineering, where she directs teams and engineers in the technical development of hardware products from concept to launch. She also manages manufacturing and supervises logistics and hardware support. “I sort of perform double duty as Product Manager / Director of Hardware Engineering. Prototyping is one of my favorite things to do. I also really enjoy standards testing. I find radiated emissions fascinating. Working at Slate Companies and keeping up with Steven Slate, Fabrice Gabriel (Slate Digital), Alex Simicev, and Sergey Danilov (Slate Media Technology / Steven Slate Drums) is insanely rewarding. Their ideas and skills are what I imagine X-Men are made of. Our teams are working at the edge of technology using critical, complex, and creative strategies to come up with innovative solutions and tools for everyone. Every role at our company is held by a high-level high-output individual, and that makes it so thrilling to be a part of. I love being surrounded by so many gifted and talented people.”
Erika’s long term goals are:
Circumnavigate the Earth on a sailboat.
Work on useful and creative tools and content, related to audio, and new instruments, for Virtual Reality, Augmented, and Mixed Realities.
Write a song worthy of recording.
Contribute as much as possible, as creatively as possible, in my community and through my work.
What do you like best about your job?
You know what people say “behind every great man is a great woman?” For me, that woman is, Jesse Honig. He’s my right-hand man. In fact, he answered this question for me. After having kids, I have become very selective about work. Anyone who knows me understands how much I enjoy motherhood and contributing to my community. If I am going to spend any time away from my kids, then the work better be worth it. And if I am going to spend more time with any other people than my children, they better be worth it. I feel so lucky to be working with some of the most incredible and inspiring human beings on work I believe in. They are what I like best about my job.
What do you like least?
Working across three different time zones is my least favorite thing about work. I thought after my son turned two I would get to sleep through the night. NOPE. We have engineering teams and clients all over the world.
What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?
You’ve seen American Ninja Warrior right? You know the moment in the show where they unveil an obstacle and once the athlete gets through it they are awarded a new obstacle…yeah, I think in many ways, and very much by my own design, I have chosen paths which have led to bigger and badder goals which are inescapably riddled with bigger and harder obstacles.
How have you dealt with them?
Practice, patience, and a relentless desire to succeed. A good sense of humor has saved me on more than one occasion. I think it’s extremely important to acknowledge my feelings and then do my best to let anything that doesn’t serve me or the project go. I try and focus on the next logical move and take small steps until I have overcome or maneuvered past the barrier. I rely heavily on my support team of friends and colleagues. Therapy helps a lot. Meditation helps a lot. Exercise and diet help a lot. At the end of each day, my kids remind me of what really matters.
Advice you have for other women and young women who wish to enter the field?
Oh dear, this will be cheesy and probably echo every inspirational calendar you have ever read, but I mean it: take care of yourself. Don’t believe everything you think. Especially when that inner voice is telling you “you suck!”. Define your boundaries. Stand up for yourself even if that means you might lose the job. There will be others. Be honest. Listen more than you speak. Be thoughtful in everything you do, no matter how big or small the job or task is treat it with the same care. Look to your right, look to your left, and make friends. These are your peers and your future community. I am a big believer in you get what you give, and a goal without a plan is just a dream. Never make excuses.
What side of the glass do you prefer? The creative side or the recording side or tech side?
I feel like this is somewhat of a trick question because that’s assuming that being an artist is non-technical and being an engineer is non-artistic which is not often the case. I am a results oriented person by nature. If that means making everyone in the room feel okay about broken gear to continue the creative process, I am happy to bring relief. If that means staying up all night to fix said broken gear, I will do it. Setting up and getting tones are just as thrilling to me. Want to write a song? Come over! I also think creating intuitive interfaces which expose engaging parameters of more complex systems remains one of the most interesting types of work as far as bridging STEM to humanities and the arts. I believe artists and engineers are more alike than different.
Must have skills?
Attention to detail. A “can do” attitude. Must be kind and willing to listen. Admit your mistakes promptly and without emotion (cry later, problem solve first!)
Favorite gear? APx515, Coles 4038, Hakko 888, Flickinger console, ATR 102, Slate MTi2, VMS One, Snap-on anything, Ampex MM1200, Scully 280, RCA BA-6A, M49, Slate Control, I could go on forever!
How do you juggle being such a bad ass in the industry and being a mom?
Wow, thank you! First thing is maintaining that illusion; kids are a lot of work! I have also worked for some incredibly understanding and flexible employers. I sort of feel like kids are on a suicide mission until they are like ten. They see an outlet as a perfect target for a fork! Being a mother is my favorite job. I don’t know, we all have our lives and responsibilities. I just find ways to do the things I want to do, and I start by believing I am capable of it.
Norway – SoundGirls Presents Sound Reinforcement of Acoustic Instruments
SoundGirls Presents Sound Reinforcement of Acoustic Instruments
Asle Karstad is a well know sound designer and engineer having worked with The Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, and the Norwegian Jazz and Folk Music. Through his work, Karstad has found different ways of micing various acoustic instruments. Karstad will demonstrate different techniques and the results that can be achieved. Karstad will be joined by well-respected musicians (providing an all women string quartet) from The Norwegian Radio Orchestra, to help demonstrate the techniques.
The workshop will be both theory and hands on.
Program:
10 am – 12 pm
Introduction to the work of Asle Karstad
Karstad will discuss resonance issues on the acoustic guitar and how to deal with these.
12:00 to 1:00 PM: Lunch (can be purchased at the venue)
1 pm – 5 pm – Run-though of reinforcement of the brass, cello, violin and the contrabass.
Riding the Roller Coaster of Live Sound – Rena Kozak
Rena Kozak is a FOH engineer and tour manager based out of Calgary, Canada. She has always had an interest in arts and has played in numerous Calgary bands as well as studied painting and drawing at University before becoming a sound engineer.
A talented dancer, Rena was studying ballet at the University of Calgary in 2002 when she injured her foot. Unsure if she would be able to dance again, she considered alternate career paths. A friend of hers, Josh Gwilliam (current chief engineer at OCL Studios in Alberta) suggested she look into the audio recording course at the Academy of Production and Recording Arts in Calgary. By a stroke of luck, Rena’s father had just given her $5,000, a bonus from his job as assistant coach of the Canadian women’s hockey team after they won the 2002 Olympic gold. The audio engineering program cost exactly that amount, and Rena enrolled. After graduating, she began working at a recording studio but found the work of recording commercials to be monotonous.
Instead of pursuing more studio work, Rena interned with an electrical engineer and learned to fix analog equipment. In 2005, this electrical engineer recommended her as FOH for the musical Guys and Dolls. She recounts: “it was an insane opportunity in retrospect, a 24 person cast with a full orchestra… people work for decades to break into that kind of work. It was a crazy stroke of luck. I never thought I would like live sound, it seemed so intimidating, but it was exhilarating to take my knowledge and apply it in the moment to tell a story to an audience.”
After the musical had ended, Rena got a job with a local production company Sound Art, working on shows and maintaining gear in their shop. In 2007, she did a national tour as a monitor engineer for a dance show that featured a live band. Rena felt the road wasn’t for her and found that touring took away her ability to create music or art. She took a house gig in 2008, as house engineer for Mac Ewan Hall.
In 2012, her boyfriend passed away suddenly. After grieving, Rena found that she was in a different place mentally: “I wanted fewer physical attachments. I didn’t know where I wanted to live, I didn’t want possessions, I didn’t want to attempt to have a lifestyle that resembled anything permanent for a while so I approached the boys in Preoccupations – who were called Viet Cong at the time and are long time friends – about using me as their touring FOH.”
Preoccupations agreed to hire her, and Rena found herself thriving as a touring FOH. She has worked as FOH for Operators (Montreal), did a run of festival dates with Holy Ghost! (Brooklyn) and even had the chance to fill in on monitors for Beirut for a couple of shows, which she describes as a career highlight.
Operators
Although she enjoys being on stage, she has realized she likes touring as an engineer more than as a musician. She thrives on mixing the same show every day and enjoys the challenge of having to work in different rooms. Rena notes that touring can be a psychological roller coaster: it is hard to get to know new people and sharing tight spaces like a van or bus can be taxing. To offset the stress, she tries to eat well and do as much hotel room yoga as possible.
Her favourite piece of gear is her old TAC Scorpion recording console, which she is slowly re-soldering and fixing. In a live setting, Rena likes using guitar pedals as live mix effects – on the fall Preoccupations tour, she was running a couple of FX chains for vocals and drums, in the hopes of recreating the album’s sound. She hopes to get other gigs that allow her to be as creative with equipment.
Regarding must-have skills, Rena believes a willingness to do whatever it takes to get the show done is crucial. “This job is mostly problem-solving – whether it’s solving the actual technical problems with the sounds themselves or repairing broken equipment or figuring out how to safely get the gear through a mud puddle into the venue. There is no problem that cannot be solved; you just haven’t found the solution yet.”
It’s also important to have a solid technical understanding. Knowing how the physics of sound works, knowing how your gear functions and why, understanding the equipment and systems in detail – these things are so important to achieving a good product. The more you know about your tools the better you will be at manipulating them. It can be easy to get by without knowing details – a lot of people work for a long time with very little knowledge, but reading up and building a foundation of knowledge is what will set you apart.”
Rena’s long-term goals are to keep touring as a FOH, and to work on her own artistic projects. She has recently finished recording and mixing her first solo record (under the name Child Actress) and is looking forward to writing more music. You can find her on the road with Preoccupations in 2017.
Rena shares some words of advice on the barriers she has faced as a woman in the audio industry, and how to overcome them.
“I’ve been tremendously lucky to have had an exceptional amount of support from so many people I’ve worked with. Of course I’ve faced the obvious challenge of being a girl. While it’s never prevented me from landing good jobs or enjoying my work, more often than not it has absolutely been a factor.
Fortunately, I had a lot of very real support. A lot of dudes who were well respected in the business saw my passion for it and believed I knew what I was doing gave me work and helped me learn and progress. I don’t think most people are as lucky to have as much support as I received.
That being said, it’s been a constant issue. It feels funny answering this question right now because of how I’ve continued to struggle with being female at work even in these last two months. From the guy who wants to carry my case for me (fine, you want to help but it’s my case, it isn’t even heavy, I don’t need you to look after me we are peers here) to the old house sound guy who tries to tell me how to EQ my wedges until I demonstrate to him how my EQ curve was actually cleaner than his, to the TM who makes side comments about not liking “having to listen to a woman”. It isn’t gone. I’ve been at this for nearly 15 years and it’s still there. But, it’s better. There are more of us, and things are changing.
I have always been great at handling the old-school sound guy personality type. I’m great with a quick joke and talking to them like I am their equal. I’m rarely intimidated, and I’m quick to win most of them over with my personality.
I’ve also recently found I’ve needed to deal with my own internalization of systemic sexism. Trying to remain calm and remind myself why I love this work and that I deserve to be here doing it, and trying my best not to react with anger as much as possible. I am very actively working on this right now, trying to be Zen and maintain confidence at all times. I find the best way of thinking about it is to remind myself that I have to COMMAND respect and not DEMAND respect. Don’t get angry, just be confident and execute your work as perfectly as you know-how and this will generate respect from your peers.
Do you have advice for women and other young people who wish to enter the field?
“Do not be intimidated by anyone. You have as much or more right to be there as anyone else.
And for those who are just beginning and feeling intimidated by the equipment or the technical side of it, shake that off and remember that you are capable of comprehending anything technical – and remind yourself of some of the sound guys you’ve met along the way.They aren’t all geniuses, are they? If they can do it even just a little, you can do it epically well.
And call me up! I love to teach; I’m happy to take on any ladies who want to apprentice or just ask questions.”
You can contact Rena and find out more about her upcoming projects through her website
The sound of the Elizabethan era: Sound design for Shakespeare’s Sister
It’s always exciting to work on the first production of a new play. Don’t get me wrong; I’ve loved working on the re-envisioned versions of Shakespeare, Wilde, and others, but there’s something quite special about knowing your production will be the first time anyone has breathed life into this particular story.
So when I accepted the role as the sound designer for ALRA drama school’s production of Shakespeare’s Sister, and I found out that this would be the first full production, I was excited.
Shakespeare’s Sister is a play about the sister of William Shakespeare – nothing to do with the band, in case you were wondering! It follows the fictional character of Judith Shakespeare as a budding playwright when, following an unwanted marriage proposal, she follows in her brother’s footsteps and travels to London to seek a career as a playwright.
From the outset, it was clear to me that music would be an important part of establishing the period and the world of the Elizabethan theatre. In our first sound meeting, the director and I discussed the emotional context for each scene and what we wanted the music to achieve, and I outlined my views on the role of music in the play.
The director, Titania Krimpas, had already researched possible music choices as she wanted the music to be used in rehearsals from the start, particularly in the choreographed scene changes. The tracks she suggested opened up a discussion about how we wanted the music to sound – all period-appropriate pieces or modern tracks with a period feel? Live or recorded? Recordings of Renaissance music played on modern instruments, or on period instruments?
At this point, I looked at the design and lighting design, to give me an idea of their general approach and make sure I was aligning my design with theirs. The set consisted of a raised stage with stairs (quickly named the “raised platform” to avoid confusion with the stage itself) and moveable pieces of furniture and props on the ground in front of it (the “apron”), with action taking place on both levels. The raised platform acted as both the stage of the Rose Theatre in London, the setting for much of the play, and another level for scenes set in Stratford and the Tower of London. Although the design wasn’t intended to be strictly traditionally Elizabethan, it took inspiration from the world that Elizabethan actors would have inhabited: simple, almost stark, in plain neutral colours, with few embellishments except for touches of flamboyance in the costumes, as befitted key characters.
A conversation with the lighting designer, Ben Cowens, revealed his intentions to make the lighting design as naturalistic as possible, supporting the set design, and thus I had a clear direction for the music. I dismissed modern songs and investigated recordings of period compositions on period instruments, which I felt gave a much more raw, natural sound than recordings on modern instruments.
Live music was an element that I also considered from early on in the process. I enjoy using live music elements where possible in my sound designs, as I feel they add immediacy and intimacy that is harder to capture with recorded music. In an ideal world, I would have liked to use a live ensemble, but this wasn’t possible given our budget, so instead, we looked at ways of incorporating live music elements at key points. Taking our lead from the references to trumpets and drums in the script, I suggested the use of a bodhrán drum, played by one of the actors as a “player” (the Elizabethan word for an actor). A bodhrán isn’t entirely period-appropriate, but it was much easier to source than a tabor (a type of snare drum used in the period), and I knew the sound was similar enough to work with pre-recorded sounds of trumpets and other drums.
The music component of a sound design is an area where a collaborative relationship with the director is crucial. Music is a subjective discipline, and directors can have definite choices about the music they want for production. Sometimes this feels a bit restrictive for the sound designer as it can mean they have to build their design around the music they didn’t choose. It’s useful to remember that the sound elements of a production, and music in particular, often play a significant role in the rehearsal process. In the case of Shakespeare’s Sister, the choreography of the scene transitions required music and the actor who was playing the bodhrán needed to rehearse with the pre-recorded music which he was to accompany.
As rehearsals continued, I found I was drawn to create the sonic world of the play’s version of Elizabethan London more with music than with sound effects. While I used sound effects and soundscapes to establish location – the crackling of a fire and chickens in the yard for Stratford, wind whistling through cracks, and dripping water for a cell in the Tower of London – I used musical motifs and drums for moments of heightened emotion and physical tension. One of my favourite sound moments in the play was the use of a repetitive drum beat which slowly increased in volume as the scene built to a climax. Rather than keeping the drums at a level that comfortably underscored the actors’ speech, we chose to use the sound to energise the scene and encourage the actors to raise their voices above the drums.
I haven’t spoken much about the speaker positions for this production because these were straightforward. Any production with a limited budget and space restrictions will require a certain amount of compromise, and I worked around fixed speaker positions and speakers that wouldn’t have been my first choice but worked fine for the production and in the space.
Two challenges that I had to overcome were where to position two speakers behind the raised platform and where to put the two subs. I had expected to attach the two speakers on a horizontal bar between wall beams, and the subs under the seating banks, but had neglected to discuss this with the designer or the lighting designer. During the get in I discovered that the designer and lighting designer had planned to install a lighting feature behind the set and the seating banks would be too low to fit subs underneath them, which slightly marred my plans! Thankfully, I was able to re-position all speakers with minimum fuss, and it was a good lesson to maintain the relationship with the creative team right through the rehearsal and production process.
Having designed a baroque opera and an Elizabethan play, it almost feels like my next design should be medieval, but instead, I’ll be concentrating on two banned plays from the 1920s. From courantes to Charlestons, no two plays are the same and my work is more interesting for it.
Vanessa Silberman – Producer, Recording Engineer, Label Owner and Artist
Vanessa and Benjamin Balcom. Minbal in Chicago
What is your specialty in music production?
I’m a good producer and at leading the ship or taking charge when needed but also that answer depends on the project because I wear a lot of hats. These hats can include co-writing &/or pre-production, A&R, engineering, producing or mix engineer. Sometimes I’ll do everything for a project, in this day in age, I think all these ‘specialty hats’ are necessary & important to know.
It’s more important to me than to just be an expert at one. But if I can’t do a great job alone at something I’ll definitely bring in ‘specialty’ help with bigger things depending on the project. For example: setting up / getting drum sounds before recording I might bring in another engineer because there needs to be a lot of focus & attention on that so you make the best recording you can.
Ideally if you have a good budget you can fill all these specialty jobs with experts but more than often that is not the case with most projects these days, unless you’re dealing only with big budget projects. I make it point that I can do all of it if needed. Having done and knowing all these jobs gives you an accurate view of things and being a good assistant is one of the most important.
Are you independent or do you work for a company?
I am independent & also do work under my artist development label A Diamond Heart Production.
Give us a little background on what led you to working in music production?
I always wanted to be a producer and especially loved reading the credits in record art when I was younger. I started by first recording downloads of songs using a microphone and a tape recorder in the 90’s when the Internet first started. You could download rare songs through websites that record companies didn’t know about yet (through dial-up that would take about 12 to 24 hours) I’d then play them back through a speaker & record them through my tape player.
After that I moved onto to recording my own music through cassettes tapes and then later used a 4 track. Early on with my band Diamonds Under Fire I worked with some great producers, mixers & engineers but was never quite able to get the right sound that I wanted, and it was hard for me to verbalize that. Overtime I learned how to describe what I wanted and started self producing or collaborating.
I also came to the realization the first few years of being in a band that I had to learn how to do this myself (because there’s this particular sound I’m hearing that I have to achieve & I need to be able to communicate it). So I became pretty interested in the technical aspect and I taught myself (through trying things or researching) how to record over time until I got opportunities to learn from other recording people.
I always wanted to produce and record other bands as well as do A&R (as much as music) but was told by many that I had to pick one thing. I think doing one thing is not conducive to music in this day and age. I always jumped at any learning opportunities and took on several internships. For me internships turned into jobs and those jobs turned into more jobs. The journey ended where I wanted to be in production and continues to grow. You just have to stick to something if you really want to do it.
How did you get your start?
Photo Credit – Todd Ingalls
I worked in the music business doing various jobs since about 2002 and established my band then. In 2006, I was in between touring, jobs and really wanted to learn more about recording. I went to recording school for about three days and dropped out. I said to myself that I could get a job at a studio. I just felt like the best experience I was going to get was actually from just doing it or being around it.
I got a job at a small studio called Wyman about a month later and worked there for a couple years. It was a small operation and I was doing everything from running websites, art and marketing, to marketing and scouting bands. I was able to assist and of course did food-coffee run. I learned to wear many hats and gained a lot of skills.
After Wyman, I worked at Conway Recording Studio as the front of house, greeting people and answering phone mainly. I thought I’d take a slight demotion for the opportunity to learn things at a big studio with the hopes that I might learn more of the recording process. While at Conway I met Dr. Luke, he offered me a job as his assistant / runner. I worked for him for about 2 1/2 years and learned a lot! He really opened my mind to hip hop & pop production which I love!
About couple years later, I got a very amazing opportunity at a great private studio where a Producer Engineer John Lousteau took me under his wing. John and I were recording some of my bands songs, he knew I had been meeting with different producers and A&Rs for jobs and he asked if I wanted to help him. I became the In-house assistant engineer at Studio 606. He really taught me everything about working on consoles and patching, to understand analog recording, signal flow and routing in big rooms & on large consoles etc. The studio manager and all the artists and bands who recorded there were very supportive and cool to me. I never ever was treated differently of felt disrespected because I was woman.
In 2012, I started recording non-stop and simultaneously booking shows and playing music. I started developing bands and from there started my own artist development label. I do everything from Production, Recording, Indie A&R, Art and booking.
I am so grateful and thankful to all the people who have given me opportunities. I feel very blessed to have had some of the experiences I have.
What are your long term goals?
To Continue building A Diamond Heart. Keep growing it with more recordings and producing more bands. Maybe A Diamond Heart studio or mobile studio. To continue building A Diamond Heart. Keep growing it with more recordings and producing more bands. I’d love to do some recording projects and partner up with studios and labels in Asia and Europe. Ultimately I really just want to continue to help the world through music & reach as many people as possible. If I inspire one girl to become a recording engineer I would be so happy!
What are your current projects?
I went to South Africa last year and worked on a collaboration producing and label project with Bop Recording Studio and their old label Tshukudu. I found a Motswako hip hop group there in Mafikeng called Hashone and recorded a single with (we are currently finishing mixing it). I can’t wait until people can hear it! That project is pretty close to my heart.
I have been working with a pop duo Bria & Crissy and we have been collaborating with a Atlanta producer Jon Nguyen. I am also really excited for this young punk rock Chicago band The Magnifers. I produced, recorded and mixed their new EP that’ll be coming out in the near future.
What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?
I think choices mostly. This career path is like no other, so ‘risky’, unknown, with no guarantee…it’s so particular. If I wanted to do it and really make an impact I knew I would have to make very hard sacrifices. Choices on how and what I spend my time doing or even risking it all to do what your heart says. It can be so hard, but my love of music and the chance for changing the world and people in a positive way. Music saved me growing up. Bands changed my life. So whether I am producing, recording, helping another band or playing a song as an artist myself it doesn’t matter, it’s a vehicle that speaks to people in great volumes. Music helps people and changes the world. I made the right choice.
Advice you have for other women and young women who wish to enter the field?
Go for it and don’t be afraid! Take risks and try stuff that is completely different. My advice in general is that music is the thing that connects us whether young or old. Take the time to make whatever you are working on the best it can be, while staying on deadline. Race or gender doesn’t determine skill. I worked around men for years and still do but sexism never ever really affected me. I have been supported and encouraged by all men I have worked with. I have toured the US (3 times this year) and have run into at least 15 female sound engineers. We’re out there.
Must have skills?
When you are producing or engineering make sure the artist is as comfortable as possible, so they can be completely open and give their best performance. Don’t try and change people but instead embrace what they do and who they are. Learn a few business skills. It will help! Trust me
Favorite gear?
Vanessa at Minbal
Been using RE20’s on a lot of vocals. But if there’s time I’ll test out a few really different vocal mics to see what fits best on someone’s vocals. 1176 on vocals. Love Neumann mics! Satellite Amps, Epiphones and C414. Any weird old or really nice vintage mics often are cool on vocals.
Training Your Ears
If you’ve been in this business for more than a week, you know how important training your ears can be. Training keeps your senses sharp and out of any ruts. Our hearing is very sensitive and in addition to protecting it, you need to keep it in shape.
Focus
An important ability for sound mixers of all kinds is the ability to focus your hearing onto individual sounds within a larger mix. This allows you to do a sort of zoom-in, analyze, and zoom back out, and analyze again. Another way to think about this is selecting “solo” on your console, without all the show-stopping awkwardness of actually solo-ing the channel in the middle of an event. It takes some practice but once you get it down, you should exercise it frequently. Your goal is to be able to focus in on something to make slight adjustments and then re-add them into the mix to finish making adjustments. This assures that you’re able to find issues deep in the mix, while still mixing the entire image. Another metaphor for this would be a magnifying glass to a painting; the smaller details matter, but we mustn’t forget the larger picture. Being able to focus your hearing will also let you hear whether not every instrument is audible. One of my top 3 mixing must-have’s is being able to hear every single instrument. A good training for this would be to listen to some of your favorite songs to try and find the quietest instrumental part. Focus on that and be sure you are able to recognize what rhythm they are performing to truly know that you have focused in on them. When you start to get comfortable, try going in and out of that instrument as quickly as you can.
EQ
Knowing your frequency ranges, and where common instruments fall on it, is a necessity. You should always know where to start when something going through your board needs to be EQed. You should also be able to identify at least the octave an issue is occurring in and the octave on either side. This gives you a 3 octave variance to find an issue. That’s significantly smaller than the entire spectrum. Then you don’t have to try to wildly sweep around and attack the problem. This can expedite the sound check process, as well as the process we as engineers go through in the heat of an error mid-show.
There are a few different ways you can go about training your ears for EQ
Pick out one of your favorite songs that you won’t mind listening to 300 more times. Import it into your favorite recording software or play it through your desk console. Apply a graphic EQ and set a 10dB or 15dB attenuation starting at 20hz. Bypass the EQ and listen to the song as it normally is, then turn the EQ back on. Listen carefully. Toggle between the bypass of the EQ and see if you can hear the difference. Then double the frequency on the band to go up an octave and do the same thing. Begin to learn what each one sounds like. Try to find identifying characteristics about each octave. Be sure to take frequent breaks to keep your ears fresh. When you don’t rest up, your ears get fatigued and try to enter into homeostasis. If homeostasis occurs, the differences will be skewed and all of the sudden you aren’t hearing any differences at all. If you start to get really good at hearing differences in a 15dB attenuation, make it 5dB, or even increase octaves of frequencies. When that gets boring, I recommend trying a program called Golden Ears. It’s a quality program that can blindly quiz you to really stretch you to the limits. Another great option that I tell my interns to use is SoundGym. It’s a free website that gives some great training on not only EQ, but sound quality, dynamics, and even sound location. It’s going to be tiring and it’s going to take some time, but doesn’t all training?
Recovery
For all those in training, for as hard as you go in practice, there needs to be a recovery period where your body can repair the damage to build muscle. The same thing goes for hearing training. Protect your ears and like I mentioned before, you need to rest. I also recommend not overthinking. If you let your mind get clouded or distracted, you won’t be able to focus, or to train. There are times when I need to stop multitasking, close my eyes, and focus on 1 event, and 1 event only. I should also take a moment to remind all of you reading this that you need to protect your hearing. That rock band does not need to be 120dB. Get some molds for custom ear plugs and protect your most valuable asset. Consider it insurance.
So if you’re brand new to the field, or you’ve had 15 years behind the board, you should really keep your ears as fresh as possible, and as sharp as possible. Come up with brand new training to push yourself. If you care about your career, you’ll want to be great at it as possible. Training breeds greatness. Go, train.
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El stage plot. Como sucede con el input list, contar con un stage plot facilitará a todo el personal conocer con exactitud la posición y distribución de todos los músicos e instrumentos en el escenario, permitiendo un flujo de trabajo eficaz durante los montajes y movimientos durante el show.
