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Bitch Boss vs Boss Bitch

Bitch Boss

The first time I was responsible for a big project, I messed up. Big time. I was tired and working two full-time jobs. The crew were volunteers; it was film school. I was a graduate supporting the production as a producer, production manager, catering, transportation, landlord, and a million other things. There was a lot of pressure to make it work. I completely lost it with the cast & crew one day when the mother of a child actor found a fresh roach (not the bug common to Florida) on set. Things were very tense after that, and no one had a positive experience on that shoot. I learned the hard way how to handle situations on set, but the damage was done.

Being called a bitch is hard. I’ve been called that name many times by my mother, by crew members, by supervisors, students, boyfriends, etc. Notable versions include: “stupid white bitch” and “low key bitch,” the latter is still a joke at work. It’s a default (read: lazy) response when a woman behaves in a way that makes someone else uncomfortable.

Self-reflection has led me to better understand my reactions and behavior. Was I making the other person uncomfortable purposefully? Was that comment snarky or rude? Yes, that person might have been a raging dick, but does that mean I need to match that behavior to make a point? The answer is no. Sometimes we lose our cool, I have been there, I will probably be there again. I’m a redhead; I’m feisty, I’m not nice. Does that make me a good supervisor? Absolutely not. We all need to be held accountable for our behavior, especially on the job. We are all pieces of a puzzle; we work together to make a bigger picture. There is not a situation where it is acceptable to be demeaning, patronizing, or harmful to another person. That’s not who we are, and it’s not what we would allow others to behave toward us.

“All people should be treated equitably and respectfully, regardless of their various identities. No matter how acclaimed, revered, or supported one’s art or one’s level of authority is, no one is above being held accountable.” -We Have Voice Collective 

Boss Bitch

I look up to women who take no shit with grace. Confidence and respect are key. A Boss Bitch is confident, respectful, and assertive. This is the crucial difference between bitch boss and boss bitch: respecting others. We do not need to put others down to reach our ambitions. Remember there is a difference between being nice and being respectful. I’m not suggesting that we need to be nice to not be called names. Respect and positivity are the paths to success, empowering yourself and those around you. Easier said than done. This is my personal struggle every day, the choice to use my voice for positivity, to have a goal to be better. As an educator, I strive to be a role model for my students, to show them rather than just tell them what’s right or wrong.

Some people find confident, independent women intimidating. Good. Often women in male-dominated industries have to work harder to get to the same place as their counterparts. Many of my friends are Boss Bitches. They worked hard in their education and career, and they have confidence that I envy.  Their career satisfaction is based on their achievements, not the perception of others.

“Bitch is a derogatory term; we shouldn’t use it at all.” Of course, it is, of course, it is inappropriate. I’m not suggesting that it is acceptable to refer to anyone in such a way. Bullies who patronize and demean others are out there; we may be guilty of it ourselves at times. Feelings of positivity and community are not often part of our industry, as we always seem to be competing against each other. This is detrimental to us as workers, as teammates, and as humans. It’s our responsibility as role models, leaders, educators, to be the better person. To demonstrate how we expect others to behave on the job. We can be tough, knowledgeable, experienced, snarky, and still be great leaders.

“It appears that where #BitchBoss is clearly an indication of frustration #BossBitch is a term of endearment. Isn’t language fun?

It’s like racquetball! For your mouth!” – Chris Traeger, Parks and Recreation

 

Interview with Engineer & Producer Missy Thangs

Missy Thangs is an engineer, producer, songwriter, and keyboardist based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Thangs is currently a house engineer and producer at The Fidelitorium, an amazing and unique studio (complete with guest house!) located in Kernersville, NC, about 90 miles west of Raleigh. Throughout her career, Missy has had the opportunity to work with bands like The Avett Brothers, Ex Hex, Ian McLagan (Small Faces), The Tills, Las Rosas, and Skemäta. Thangs has been a prominent member of the Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill (aka The Triangle) music community since the early 2000s, having performed with The Love Language, Toddlers, No One Mind, and Birds of Avalon. Missy has helped shape the sound coming out of the region not only through her songwriting and musicianship abilities but also from the sound she has crafted in production roles.

What first opened you up to the idea of becoming a recording engineer?

I grew up around pop music; my dad is a pop music freak. He had thousands of CDs and records and was way into MTV when it first came out. There was always music on, and my dad’s happiness was sort of funneled through music, so it was such a part of growing up. He was my informer. He was playing everything from Weird Al Yankovic, to DEVO, to Bowie, to Melissa Etheridge — non-discriminating. If it was a good song, had a good melody, and sounded good, he was all about it, and I think I got a lot of that from him.

I think on a real deep psychological level I’m trying to recreate that feeling. Hearing and making sounds that are exciting and make you feel really good. Often those sounds are big and colorful or raw; those are the things that stand out in my memory. So, it wasn’t listening to music from the perspective of how it was recorded; it was more the way music made me feel that got me into the recording aspect of it.

I hadn’t considered recording as a career until I was in college. I was studying meteorology and French at UNC Asheville and looking for something more. I came across the Recording Arts Program, and I remember looking at the course catalog and feeling like it resonated with me. I was like, “What have I been doing?” I want to be in music, and I want to record music, and so I just jumped into that program.

What was your program like at school at that time? Were you learning ProTools at all?

The program was really small; I was the only woman in my graduating class of 25. We started out on an old Tascam 24-track tape machine and an ADAT machine; then we got the first ProTools in maybe 2000 or 2001, which was the start of working on DAWs for me. As soon as we got ProTools, I was like, “Great!” I didn’t use tape or ADAT at all after that. I instantly felt familiar with and comfortable on the computer.

At that point, had you recorded at all as a musician in the studio, or did you just dive in once you started school?

No, it wasn’t until after I was in the program that I started meeting a lot of other musicians. I started playing in a band called Piedmont Charisma, and that was when I had my first recording experience as a musician. We recorded at a super small space in downtown Asheville. It wasn’t around for very much longer after we recorded there. This was before Echo Mountain was in town and there wasn’t much in terms of recording studios. In school we went to a CD processing plant, we got to visit Bob Moog before he passed away, and we went to a voice-over recording studio, but I hadn’t seen a real sexy recording environment ever, and I was like, “What am I going to do?”

It makes sense that you decided to pursue music for a while if you didn’t quite have the resources to jump into something immediately.

That’s right. I was self-taught in recording up until college, and I didn’t have a really strong relationship with any of my professors, so I was kind of on my own, trying to figure out how to get good sounds and how to run a session. I had some friends and colleagues I had made along the way to bounce ideas off of, but I wish I had sought a mentor or someone to talk to. The idea never really crossed my mind.

You moved to the Triangle after school and gradually started playing in more and more bands, and as your career took off, you had the opportunity to record in bigger studios. Was there anything that you took away from your time as a musician in the studio at that time that you think about now when you’re engineering?

Definitely. My abilities to empathize with how the musicians feel and how to anticipate their needs are tuned in, and I think that is everything. For example, I can understand the feeling of having a bad headphone mix, an inner-band conflict, or not being able to get the right take. My past experiences inform the way I handle all those things.

I think it’s so important to be a recording engineer and also be on the other side of the glass. Sometimes you forget what it’s like to get that nervous feeling while in the band; everyone’s staring at you from the other room, waiting for you to get the right take. It’s a good reminder of how to be while you’re leading a session and how to treat the people you’re working with.

Making a record with people is such a vulnerable experience. It’s so essential for the vibe to be dialed in and everyone to be as close to the same page as possible.

Yeah, everything about this job is about people and vibe. When you are working with a group of people or one artist you are constantly picking up cues on their mood and working with that information and trying to get the best out of them. That’s so much of our job! From bringing people a cup of tea or telling everybody to take a break. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes, but the musicians don’t need to know that; it’s not what they’re there for.

You work with a lot of bands at the Fidelitorium doing live-tracking sessions, do you think this is due to your experience of the music you listened to growing up or the bands you’ve played in, is it the nature of the studio, or a combination?

The community that I live in and play in is so intermingled. Everyone is in everyone else’s bands and supports each other, and a lot of people in this community are just here playing music because it’s our lives and it’s what we want to do. My network has sort of facilitated my sound in a way. A lot of people that I’m working with I know personally, and we’ve only got three days, and it’s a five-piece band, and they have a small budget, so we have to make it work. What’s happened as a result of it is that I’ve sort of cultivated this sound for fast-moving sessions. It’s like; you’ve got to track live because we don’t have time to do it any other way!

Then again, the studio does play into that because The Fidelitorium has a large, wonderful sounding room and you can get easily full band in there. There are also a ton of opportunities for isolation so you can get everybody in the space comfortably. It allows me to work quickly when I need to.

What’s happening to me is that my friends, or friends of friends, are hearing a record I did and are reaching out and saying, “Hey I like what you did with this band, we want that sound.” And the way I got that sound was with a quick turnaround live-tracking session. I’ve dabbled in lots of different genres and recording styles, but that’s sort of what I’m doing right now.

It seems like work has been consistently finding you then, which is a positive thing! Do you ever find yourself having to look for work or grow your network in that way? What is that process like for you?

I’m pretty shy; it’s really a lot of word of mouth. There have been one or two bands that I’ve gone up to and been like, “I want to record your band!” But, word of mouth is really everything. A lot of my clients come to me because they’ve heard really great things about other friends’ experiences, and their friends come to me and take a chance with me. It’s really humbling, and a lot of times I can’t believe it. I’ve been really lucky so far, at some point I think I’m going to have to step out of my comfort zone and figure out how to reach new people!

You are now a house engineer at the Fidelitorium, owned by musician and engineer Mitch Easter (REM, Game Theory, Let’s Active). Are you alone a lot in the studio or do you have opportunities where you’re learning directly from Mitch?     

Mitch has been my one true mentor. He took me in when I was really down on the industry and taught me what he knows and let me go. I go to him often with questions, and he usually Mr. Miyagi’s me, but every once in a while he offers me some direct advice. I want him to tell me all his deepest mixing secrets, but he’s like, “Who cares? Do your thing!”

I like that idea a lot. I read another article with you where you mention something along the lines of, “the bolder the color, the bolder stroke, the better… there’s no rule in the book.” Can you talk about how this philosophy informs your approach in the studio?

I’m always game for chance or making decisions based on how I feel, versus what’s technically correct. I try not to overthink things, and I’m not afraid to mess up. I think that’s the foundation of where I sit. Being fearless. I want to turn a head. I want people to hear the music from these bands I’m working with and be like “WHAT is that?!” And I think part of that is making bold sounds and being dangerous. It’s not always easy to do, but that’s what I’m striving for.

What should we be paying attention to that you’ve just finished working on? What are your goals for the year?

Well, my main goal for this year is to get back into the studio after having a baby!

A pretty big deal, haha.

I’ve got a lot of cool projects on the horizon! There’s a really talented woman named Reese McHenry I’ve been working with; her record will be out in April. I’ve also been working with this band called Pie Face Girls for a few years that are getting ready to return to the studio to finish a record. And another band I’m going to be recording in May. I’m really excited about – just stay tuned for that, haha.

I’ve worked with many groups with all guys over the years, and I’m finally working with more and more women, and I love it; it’s a nice change of pace. I love everybody I’ve worked with, and I try not to think about it either way, but I have noticed this year that I’m working with more women in the studio and it’s been a really good corner to turn!

What advice do you have for any new or up-and-coming engineers?

Get out there, play in bands, go to shows, and immerse yourself in your musical community! Collect as much gear as you can. Get inside of getting sounds, being experimental, and not being afraid to mess up. Hit up your friends and start asking to record people. I feel like that’s basic knowledge, but it’s an important reminder!

Connect with Missy:

 

Pitch Perfect

Using Pitch Shifter in Your Mix

If you’re looking to enhance your mix or simply just want to experiment with some effects, pitch shifter is a great place to start. The effect has been used for many years in dance music although it is slowly creeping into some major pop songs as well.

If you’re new to plugins and effects, a pitch shifter simply does what it says on the tin – it will raise or lower the pitch of your audio signal.

So why might this be of interest to your mix or project?

Well, I believe it can be a simple way to add depth and development to any style of music you’re creating.

The first technique is to add a pitch shifter effect under a main vocal. This can be quite effective for a second verse in a song as it allows the track to develop. This can be done by duplicating the vocal and adding the pitch shifter to this track and then adjusting the effect to the setting you prefer.

If you want to add more bass to a track, this is an excellent way of doing just that. By pitch-shifting the vocals down and playing around with the volume and panning, you can get quite a nice bass sound without doing very much at all.

You can also add pitch shifter to your instrument track. This is a great way of experimenting around with your instrument in a mix and who knows you might find the perfect sound that blends well with the music you’re creating!

You can chop and change this effect to benefit your mix in whatever way you find necessary. The great thing about pitch shifter is it is an easy way to change the sound of a track without really putting in much effort. So, if you’re looking for a way to spruce up a mix you have lying about perhaps add in a pitch shifter to a few of the tracks.

 

 

Missed this Week’s Top Stories? Read our Quick Round-up!

It’s easy to miss the SoundGirls news and blogs, so we have put together a round-up of the blogs, articles, and news from the past week. You can keep up to date and read more at SoundGirls.org

February Feature Profile

https://soundgirls.org/shannon-deane-post-production-engineer-and-stunt-car-driver/

The Blogs

Editing SoundGirls into Wikipedia

Knowing your Limitations

Persistence is Key

Internet Round-Up

The Grammys Celebrated Women. So, What’s Next?

A day in the life of Emily Lazar, Grammy-winning mastering engineer

We Need Women To Break Through The Glass Ceiling In Music Production To EQ The Gender Imbalance

Cinema Audio Society Elects Karol Urban As President

SoundGirls Jett Galindo and April Tucker interviewed about SoundGirls and The Recording Academy’s Diversity and Inclusion Initiative.

“Part of what Sound Girls is trying to do is just show that, ‘Hey there’s other women out here doing what we’re doing. We exist and we’re doing the job well,’” Tucker said.

“It’s a matter of representation,” Jett Galindo said. “Just seeing themselves on these websites, on the Academy Awards, on the Grammys, succeeding…it reminds them that it’s doable.”

SoundGirls News

https://soundgirls.org/event/orlando-soundgirls-social-5/?instance_id=1457

https://soundgirls.org/event/melbourne-soundgirls-meet-and-greet-beth-oleary/?instance_id=1462

https://soundgirls.org/event/houston-soundgirls-social/?instance_id=1459

https://soundgirls.org/event/bay-area-chapter-1st-mondays-meetings/?instance_id=1451

https://soundgirls.org/event/pittsburgh-soundgirls-at-calu/?instance_id=1463

The Studio Side – An Evening with Bob Horn

Viva La Muxer – SoundGirls Volunteers

SoundGirls and SoundGym

Music Expo – Miami – Representation on Panels –

Austin One World Theater – Demo & Tour

SoundGirls Launches Initiative for Members Working in Production Sound

Shadowing/Mentoring/Internship Opportunities

https://soundgirls.org/shadow-foh-ld-on-amanda-palmer-tour/

Shadow TM Erika Duffee – Canada

https://soundgirls.org/soundgirls-mentoring/

SoundGirls Resources

Spotify and SoundGirls Team Up – EQL Directory

SoundGirls – Gaston-Bird Travel Fund

Letter for Trades and Manufacturers

Women-Owned Businesses

A More Inclusive Industry

Events

Sexual Harassment

https://soundgirls.org/about-us/soundgirls-chapters/

Jobs and Internships

Women in the Professional Audio

Member Benefits

Missed this Week’s Top Stories? Read our Quick Round-up!

It’s easy to miss the SoundGirls news and blogs, so we have put together a round-up of the blogs, articles, and news from the past week. You can keep up to date and read more at SoundGirls.org

February Feature Profile

https://soundgirls.org/shannon-deane-post-production-engineer-and-stunt-car-driver/

The Blogs

A GOLDEN AGE

What’s Your Rate?

Take the Note and Move On

Internet Round-Up

SoundGirls Jett Galindo and April Tucker interviewed about SoundGirls and The Recording Academy’s Diversity and Inclusion Initiative.

“Part of what Sound Girls is trying to do is just show that, ‘Hey there’s other women out here doing what we’re doing. We exist and we’re doing the job well,’” Tucker said.

“It’s a matter of representation,” Jett Galindo said. “Just seeing themselves on these websites, on the Academy Awards, on the Grammys, succeeding…it reminds them that it’s doable.”

The Recording Academy Task Force on Inclusion and Diversity is announcing the first ever industry-wide Producer and Engineering Inclusion Initiative. Together with prominent producers, labels, artists, agencies, management companies, and other stakeholders we’re making strides to create industry-wide change.

The Initiative asks that at least two women are identified and therefore considered as part of the selection process every time a music producer or engineer is hired. It also asks working producers to agree to take issues of gender diversity within music’s technical fields into account when deciding who to mentor and hire for further development. You can find women to hire on The EQL Directory

SoundGirls News

https://soundgirls.org/event/soundgirls-mentoring-session-at-expoacustica-2019/?instance_id=1460

https://soundgirls.org/event/orlando-soundgirls-social-5/?instance_id=1457

https://soundgirls.org/event/houston-soundgirls-social/?instance_id=1459

https://soundgirls.org/event/bay-area-chapter-1st-mondays-meetings/?instance_id=1451

https://soundgirls.org/event/an-evening-with-bob-horn/?instance_id=1456

Viva La Muxer – SoundGirls Volunteers

SoundGirls and SoundGym

Music Expo – Miami – Representation on Panels –

DiGiCo Training for Melbourne SoundGirls

Austin One World Theater – Demo & Tour

SoundGirls Launches Initiative for Members Working in Production Sound

Shadowing/Mentoring/Internship Opportunities

https://soundgirls.org/shadow-foh-ld-on-amanda-palmer-tour/

Shadow TM Erika Duffee – Canada

https://soundgirls.org/soundgirls-mentoring/

SoundGirls Resources

Spotify and SoundGirls Team Up – EQL Directory

SoundGirls – Gaston-Bird Travel Fund

Letter for Trades and Manufacturers

Women-Owned Businesses

SoundGirls Scholarships 2021 Now Open

Events

Sexual Harassment

https://soundgirls.org/about-us/soundgirls-chapters/

Jobs and Internships

Women in the Professional Audio

Member Benefits

A GOLDEN AGE

Women and the Grammy for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical

The first person to win a Grammy for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical was Ted Keep for “The Chipmunk Song” in 1959, the year of the inaugural ceremony.

Sound engineering has come a long way since the days when creative usage of variable tape speed was a cutting-edge production technique. The audio engineer, in turn, has become more than just a technician. The quality of production can—and often does—make or break a record. For that reason, the Grammy for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical is a coveted and prestigious award.

Though audio has made many advancements, women’s representation is still playing at a low volume: Out of 415 nominations in this category, only ten women have ever been counted as nominees.

When we shuffle through the history of recorded music, it’s impossible not to notice that female engineers are mostly unaccounted for. Stories of Delia Derbyshire, Ethel Gabriel, and Cordell Jackson occasionally glimmer through to the surface, but they’re few and far between. Seeing as women have been systematically gatekept from STEM fields, this makes historical sense. Even so, it’s a bit shocking that there was a total absence of women in the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical category for 40 years until Trina Shoemaker was nominated for and won the first award in 1999.

Women only comprise about 3% of studio engineers today. Breaking into and advancing in the studio environment continues to be challenging for women, especially as the competition to get into the room is fierce even among men.

The good news is that our numbers are going up. The past decade has seen more female engineers receiving Grammy nominations than ever before. Women have been consistently represented in Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical for the past four years in a row. In 2019, three of the five projects up for the award have featured female tracking, mixing, and/or mastering engineers. Efforts are being made towards inclusivity; the Recording Academy launched a Diversity Task Force and hosted open forums in multiple cities, and a growing number of producers and studio owners have pledged to focus on diversifying their staff.

How’s that for a “step up?”

“BEST ENGINEERED ALBUM, NON-CLASSICAL”

Female Nominees / Winners Timeline

1959

No women nominated.

1960

No women nominated.

1961

No women nominated.

1962

No women nominated.

1963

No women nominated.

1964

No women nominated.

1965

No women nominated.

1966

No women nominated.

1967

No women nominated.

1968

No women nominated.

1969

No women nominated.

1970

No women nominated.

1971

No women nominated.

1972

No women nominated.

1973

No women nominated.

1974

No women nominated.

1975

No women nominated.

1976

No women nominated.

1977

No women nominated.

1978

No women nominated.

1979

No women nominated.

1980

No women nominated.

1981

No women nominated.

1982

No women nominated.

1983

No women nominated.

1984

No women nominated.

1985

No women nominated.

1986

No women nominated.

1987

No women nominated.

1988

No women nominated.

1989

No women nominated.

1990

No women nominated.

1991

No women nominated.

1992

No women nominated.

1993

No women nominated.

1994

No women nominated.

1995

No women nominated.

1996

No women nominated.

1997

No women nominated.

1998

No women nominated.

1999

The Globe Sessions (Sheryl Crow) – Andy Wallace, Tchad Blake & Trina Shoemaker, engineers

***WINNER

2000

No women nominated.

2001

No women nominated.

2002

No women nominated.

2003

C’mon, C’mon (Sheryl Crow) — Trina Shoemaker & Eric Tew, engineers

2004

No women nominated.

2005

No women nominated.

2006

No women nominated.

2007

No women nominated.

2008

No women nominated.

2009

No women nominated.

2010

Ellipse (Imogen Heap) – Imogen Heap
***WINNER

2011

No women nominated.

2012

No women nominated.

2013

No women nominated.

2014

The Blue Room (Madeleine Peyroux) — Helik Hadar & Leslie Ann Jones, engineers; Bernie Grundman, mastering engineer

The Moorings (Andrew Duhon) — Trina Shoemaker, engineer; Eric Conn, mastering engineer

2015

No women nominated.

2016  

Recreational Love (The Bird and the Bee) — Greg Kurstin & Alex Pasco, engineers; Emily Lazar, mastering engineer

2017

Dig in Deep (Bonnie Raitt) — Ryan Freeland, engineer; Kim Rosen, mastering engineer

Undercurrent (Sarah Jarosz) — Shani Gandhi & Gary Paczosa, engineers; Paul Blakemore, mastering engineer

2018

Every Where Is Some Where (K. Flay) — Brent Arrowood, Miles Comaskey, JT Daly, Tommy English, Kristine Flaherty, Adam Hawkins, Chad Howat & Tony Maserati, engineers; Joe LaPorta, mastering engineer

No Shape (Perfume Genius) — Shawn Everett & Joseph Lorge, engineers; Patricia Sullivan, mastering engineer

2019

All The Things That I Did And All The Things That I Didn’t Do (The Milk Carton Kids) – Ryan Freeland & Kenneth Pattengale engineers); Kim Rosen (mastering engineer)

Colors (Beck) – Julian Burg, Serban Ghenea, David Greenbaum, John Hanes, Beck Hansen, Greg Kurstin, Florian Lagatta, Cole M.G.N., Alex Pasco, Jesse Shatkin, Darrell Thorp & Cassidy Turbin (engineers); Chris Bellman, Tom Coyne, Emily Lazar & Randy Merrill (mastering engineers)

Head Over Heels (Chromeo) – Nathaniel Alford, Jason Evigan, Chris Galland, Tom Gardner, Patrick “P-Thugg” Gemayel, Serban Ghenea, John Hanes, Tony Hoffer, Derek Keota, Ian Kirkpatrick, David Macklovitch, Amber Mark, Manny Marroquin, Vaughn Oliver, Chris “TEK” O’Ryan, Morgan Taylor Reid & Gian Stone (engineers); Chris Gehringer & Michelle Mancini (mastering engineers)

* When I was compiling data for this article, scrolling through the years where no women were nominated had a profound impact on me. I felt it was important to include them here. – AE

ROUNDUP:
Trina Shoemaker (Winner)

Imogen Heap (Winner)

Leslie Ann Jones

Emily Lazar

Shani Gandhi

Kim Rosen

Patricia Sullivan

Kristine Flaherty

Michelle Mancini

Amber Mark

Missed this Week’s Top Stories? Read our Quick Round-up!

It’s easy to miss the SoundGirls news and blogs, so we have put together a round-up of the blogs, articles, and news from the past week. You can keep up to date and read more at SoundGirls.org

February Feature Profile

https://soundgirls.org/shannon-deane-post-production-engineer-and-stunt-car-driver/

The Blogs

Behind the Board

Designing Signature Sounds

Basic Aspects of a Live Sound Mix

Aspectos básicos sobre una mezcla de sonido en vivo

Internet Round-Up

The Recording Academy Task Force on Inclusion and Diversity is announcing the first ever industry-wide Producer and Engineering Inclusion Initiative. Together with prominent producers, labels, artists, agencies, management companies, and other stakeholders we’re making strides to create industry-wide change.

The Initiative asks that at least two women are identified and therefore considered as part of the selection process every time a music producer or engineer is hired. It also asks working producers to agree to take issues of gender diversity within music’s technical fields into account when deciding who to mentor and hire for further development

In November 2018, Marta Salogni and Lauren Deakin-Davies emerged victorious at the Pro Sound Awards, winning the Studio Engineer and Breakthrough Studio Engineer awards respectively. Now, in a PSNEurope first, Daniel Gumble sits in on a conversation between the two as they interview each other on their fascinating careers to date

 

 

 

 

SoundGirls News

https://soundgirls.org/event/bay-area-chapter-1st-mondays-meetings/?instance_id=1450

SoundGirls and SoundGym

Music Expo – Miami – Representation on Panels –

DiGiCo Training for Melbourne SoundGirls

Austin One World Theater – Demo & Tour

https://soundgirls.org/the-studio-side-an-evening-with-bob-horn/

SoundGirls Launches Initiative for Members Working in Production Sound

Shadowing/Mentoring/Internship Opportunities

https://soundgirls.org/shadow-foh-ld-on-amanda-palmer-tour/

Shadow TM Erika Duffee – Canada

https://soundgirls.org/soundgirls-mentoring/

SoundGirls Resources

Spotify and SoundGirls Team Up – EQL Directory

SoundGirls – Gaston-Bird Travel Fund

Letter for Trades and Manufacturers

Women-Owned Businesses

A More Inclusive Industry

Events

Sexual Harassment

https://soundgirls.org/about-us/soundgirls-chapters/

Jobs and Internships

Women in the Professional Audio

Member Benefits

Designing Signature Sounds

The Project

I recently had the pleasure of creating signature elements for a new animated series which will likely air near the end of 2019.  We were brought into the process at a very early stage, the first animatic, which was incredibly exciting. If you aren’t already aware, in animation, an animatic is essentially a video of storyboard panels timed to work with the recorded dialogue and then exported as a video.  An animatic is a very thorough blueprint for the animation studio to follow. Adding sound design to an animatic can do a number of things: it can bring the animatic to life for the animation studio which allows them to better understand how to animate important moments. It can help executives to better understand the action when reviewing the animatic for approval. And it can establish signature elements early on so that the sound can help to inform the animators’ creative concept for the series.  Having clients who appreciate the importance of bringing the sound team into the mix (pun intended!) early on is a wonderful thing for us here at Boom Box Post! So cheer to all of our amazing clients!

The Process

Step 1: Brainstorm about an Overall Aesthetic

The key elements of the series are birds and babies (sorry to be cryptic about the premise, but it’s too early to share too much about this project!). My mind immediately started churning about how to incorporate these in a way that would be nuanced and special.  When designing sounds for a new project, it’s also important to consider the audience. This series is geared toward preschool-aged children. So I also wanted to create a soundscape that would be friendly and familiar to viewers in that age group.

First, I decided to make all of the items in this animated world sound like they are made out of materials familiar to preschool kids.  This would involve recording a ton of children’s toys to really let these textures shine through in the mix. The set locations look high tech and designing in that aesthetic is always fun. But isn’t it much more fun to design a baby’s take on tech?  Now that would be a challenge.  Second, I decided to incorporate the bird aspect of the series by creating new sci-fi sound effects for all of the tech elements by processing bird calls.  I didn’t want the bird calls to be in your face. After all, it doesn’t take much creativity to just throw a bunch of hawk calls on everything. But, folding them into my tech builds sounded like a fun challenge that would result in a truly unique signature sound aesthetic for the entire series.

Step 2: Decide which elements should be stand-out signature designs.

I consider anything that will clearly appear in a series again and again to be signature.  And so, even if it’s a mundane item, to me it’s an opportunity to add a little special flavor.  You might think it’s a waste of time to create special door open sound effects or record all-new hand grabs. But creating a new palette from scratch for all reusable elements can ensure not just stand-out sound design moments but an overall signature aesthetic for an entire series.

For this series, I decided that the sounds for all of the things in the main location should be signature: all doors, all grabs of items and furniture, all mechanical elements, etc.  Basically, anything that will clearly be seen again and again needed to be custom.

Step 3: Create a Custom Recording List

When I’m creating a recording list, I like to brainstorm things to record which might add to the overall aesthetic I’m trying to achieve while keeping in mind what I need to cover.  Sometimes, if you map out exactly what to record for each signature element, you close off your brain to considering other options during the process. Think about the general aesthetic you would like to achieve and come up with items that you think may help to achieve that aesthetic–whether you think you’ll use them now or they may just be handy to have in the future.

Here was my list.  Notice that I’m focusing on what I want to hear and not marrying myself to specific items just yet:

  1. Toy ratchet
  2. Toy click into place
  3. Different plastic items for grabs
  4. Toy rolling
  5. A toy which “pops” or “thunks”

Step 4: Browse for Items to Record

I took this list to a local children’s consignment store and roamed the aisles looking for interesting items and listening to how they sounded.  I chose a consignment store because it was cheaper, but also because the toys were not in their original packaging, so I was free to test them out.  Often browsing for things to record is best done in your own home or a friend’s closet for this very reason. Keep in mind that the best recordings are made from items which are different from what you actually see on screen. You want to achieve a certain texture, a certain sound, a certain feel. You don’t want to just record the exact thing you see in the picture.  Think about how an old loose doorknob is often used for gun foley or a piece of celery is broken for a good bone crunch. When choosing items to record, shut off the visual part of your brain that’s telling you to go for the obvious, and start listening to everyday items with your creative hat on. Evaluate each item solely on its ability to give you the sound properties you’ve already brainstormed in the above list.

Step 5: Record new sounds

Step 6: Edit your recordings to work with the picture.

Once you’ve recorded all of your new (or old) props, bring everything into your DAW and start playing.  Often I find that elements I recorded in hopes of covering a certain signature element actually work best for something else.  Don’t be afraid to play around and try new things. Use the clean recordings, process them to the point that they are unrecognizable, or mix them together with sounds from your library.  In this step, you are the sonic painter. Give yourself the creative freedom to use your full palette and don’t be afraid to make a mess. That’s how the best discoveries are made!

Step 7: Collaborate with your clients.

Sound is never a job that’s pursued in a vacuum.  We’re part of a larger project team, and most often that project is the creative property of someone else.  Once you’ve come up with your most alluring signature sounds, share them with your clients and let the collaboration ensue.  It’s incredibly important to realize that the creative process doesn’t end with you: it’s easy to think that your signature sounds are the best they can be when you’ve finished designing.  In fact, I find that they often get even better when I present them to the clients and they offer tiny tweaks and new creative insights. Sometimes muting one element or incorporating something else that you never even considered is the key ingredient to the perfect sound.

The Sounds

Here are a few of the original recordings I made with the help of our intern, Sam, and the signature elements that I designed using those recordings.  The recordings and designs may sound simple, but remember that signature sounds compound with each other in order to create an often nuanced and distinguishable scape for the series as a whole.  It’s the totality of all of your creative ideas that form an overall new and exciting aural aesthetic.

 

Shadow TM Erika Duffee – Canada

Erika Duffee has invited SoundGirls Members who are interested in learning about Tour Managing and Production Managing to shadow her on the upcoming Scott Hellman Tour across Canada.

Erika has over 20 years experience in international touring and production management working with a wide variety of talent ranging from Canadian platinum-selling artists, Scott Helman and Walk Off The Earth to Italian pianist/composer, Ludovico Einaudi to Brazilian music royalty, Bebel Gilberto. She began her career as a volunteer radio programmer in New Orleans, worked in day to day management and spent 10 years at  Concord Music Group in Los Angeles doing artist development and producing showcases and special events for the label.

Things you need to know

You must apply – Apply Here

Start Time around 3 pm each show.

You will be responsible for your own dinner

Please note you must be 18 years of age to apply for this opportunity.

Shows available

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