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Alexandria Perryman – Audio Engineer for the Astronauts

Alexandria Perryman is a live broadcast engineer and Emmy winner working at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, where one of her jobs is to run audio for the astronauts on the International Space Station. Every “Mission” is different for her. One day she might be working a spacewalk, making sure the astronauts have a clear connection to mission control the next she might be mixing audio for a video that’s going up on the NASA YouTube channel.

Lately, she’s been working to provide Skype links between astronauts and students. The effort is part of NASA’s “Year of Education on Station” – a program where ISS crew members and teacher Ricky Arnold Skypes in via satellite and performs real-time experiments for kids in classrooms around the country.

Alexandria discovered audio when she was in her high school’s marching band and was put in charge of the on-field sound mixer. This is where she started to fall in love with the idea of live audio mixing. She always had a passion for music and sound and as she got older she became intrigued by how music and sound are created. She remembers seeing Blue Man Group perform when she was in elementary school and being in awe with how they used everyday items to create music.  Alexandria would enroll at Full Sail University and study audio engineering and graduate in 2015 with an Associates Degree of Science.  

She got her start in audio volunteering at her church, mixing their online broadcast and working part-time as an AV Tech. Early on she learned how important troubleshooting quickly is and learned how to work in fast-paced and high-stress situations. She says “I made many mistakes in those early gigs but I was in an environment where if I could troubleshoot my mistakes quickly then it was not harmful to my career.”

She has been at NASA working as an Audio Engineer and Chief Engineer and Producer of Podcast for the last 2 ½ years. Alexandria says there is no typical day at NASA.

“The workday starts for me an hour before my first show which sometimes could be at 3 am. Then there is the podcast that I produce weekly and studio shoots. It is common for me to go day by day.”  Staying focused and organized is difficult Alexandria says “I may have a live event then an hour later I am recording a podcast, two different mindsets. Staying focused on the task I am doing at that time is super important.”

Some of Alexandria’s job duties are coordinating Skype signals in space and she is proud that during her time at NASA her team has never lost a Skype signal in space. Mission Planning and Operations works with her team to find optimal windows between satellites and schedule sessions accordingly.

Alexandria also works on archiving and preserving audio for the historical record and the U.S. National Archives. The crew of the ISS rotates every six months and NASA will use this audio for training new crew members and for reference on repeat problems. Alexandria with other engineers monitors the day to day operation recordings and are often the first line of communication between station and NASA. She often works with the astronauts before missions, she is the one mic-ing them up for interviews and trains them on using the audio equipment.

In addition to all of her official duties, Alexandria also serves as the producer of NASA’s official podcast Houston We Have a Podcast.  The podcast talks with and interviews astronauts, scientists, and engineers working on furthering space exploration.

Alexandria says she loves that her job allows her to be part of something bigger than herself, but is not a fan of how politics come into play with what she does as a creative. She is awaiting NASA’s return to the moon and hopes to be able to mix the audio. Her long term goals are to mix audio for the Grammys.

On Challenging Projects

One challenge that sticks out the most was the Space X Demo-1 mission. It was challenging because it was the first time we ever merged our NASA shows with SpaceX. Learning how to coordinate a show between multiple locations and have it flow easily was definitely difficult. The audio setup was new and extremely complicated but as a team, we managed to put out great shows for that mission. It’s also the same mission I won my first Emmy for.

On Failure

For me looking back the biggest failure, I had happened in college. I had become lazy with class and my grades quickly fell, to the point that I was put on academic probation. That was a big wake up call for me, because if I had failed another class I would have failed out of college. In the next couple of months, I kicked it in gear and studied more, went to my instructors during office hours for extra help, and surrounded myself with positive people. I learned from that experience to never slack off and always do my best. Most importantly I learned that even when the odds are against me that I can overcome anything as long as I never stop trying.

What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?

I have been fortunate to not have faced many obstacles or barriers in my career. The only thing that was an obstacle was having such an age gap between my coworkers and them being able to trust that I’m mentally capable of the job regardless of my age.

How have you dealt with them?

Earning trust takes time especially in this industry. I was able to do it by constantly giving them my best work and attitude and showing up in big situations.

Advice you have for other women and young women who wish to enter the field?

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, that’s the only way you can really learn. Some of the biggest mistakes in my career offered me the most valuable lessons.

What is your favorite day off activity? 

While I work in live television and not the music industry, I still love creating music in my free time as a way to express my emotions.

Must have skills?

Must be able and willing to be teachable at any level. Also for anything-audio understanding signal flow is key.

Favorite gear?

My favorite gear would have to be my Zoom F8N recorder, it’s perfect for in the fieldwork.

Check out Alexandria on The SoundGirls Podcast

More Profiles on The Five Percent – Profiles of Women in Audio

 

Audio on the 50 Yard Line

The Super Bowl is no doubt one of the biggest watched events across the nation. I’m not a fan of the sport but you betcha I’m there watching at someone’s Super Bowl party for three reasons. The food, spending time with friends and family and the halftime show. No matter who is playing and performing that night, I’ll be there to watch. As a child, I thought it would be the coolest thing ever to be a part of a major production like the Super Bowl. Doing audio, doing some cool stage designing, or calling the shots that go live to all the viewers out there watching.

Now I am working within a venue that gives me the opportunity to be a part of large productions (not as big as the Super Bowl) but each day is something new. One aspect of my job that was very new when I began working within this venue was heading audio in a stadium setting. High school football is a big deal to everyone here in Texas and at one of the biggest stadiums in the state, we like to do things big. College and professional leagues aren’t the only ones putting together big games and housing big crowds.

At Cy-Fair FCU stadium we can house 11,000 people at a time. All the district games and homecomings are showcased here along with the battle of the marching bands and activities like such. Being in the profession of audio can lead you many different ways. I want to share my experience heading audio on the field. There are a lot of challenges that are faced.

One being distance away from the source. We typically run everything audio-related from the 50th-yard line which is center field. In my case that leaves me even further away from the source which causes a very long delay. Our speakers are housed about 80 feet in the air, and about 240 feet away from the 50-yard line. So not only are you experiencing a long delay but depending on where a spectator is setting they can be experiencing an even longer delay.  

When mixing a choir down on the field for a national anthem or a production for homecoming, my best friends are my cans (headphones). This way I get a solid mix out to my house, I then set a proper mix for my choir monitor that lives right in front of them during the performance. This helps keep the focus off the delay that is accruing. Another thing that makes it extremely challenging is wind. If it’s a windy day I have sound flying every which way. Not only is sound being bounced around. I have wind hitting my microphones pretty hard which causes dropouts from time to time. On days like these, I use a gate to try and control when my mic’s open and close to catch the performance only with minimum dropouts and the loud howl of high winds.

Another major part of audio during the games is the Referee microphone. The red is equipped with a headset- countryman-styled mic with a bodypack each game. Connected to his headpiece and the bodypack is an in-line mute switch that allows the Ref to open and close his mic as needed, this takes some of the stress of your back by not having to mute the mic during actual playtime. You still have to pay attention and listen because sometimes a Ref will forget to cut their mic after a call and it’s on you to cut any unwanted chatter into the stadium.

Lastly, running audio from the press box is the most difficult for me. One, I can turn my monitoring system up in the booth, but I don’t know what it sounds like in the stands. Sometimes I have to rely on my camera ops to communicate with me and let me know if we need more or less volume in the house. The other option I have is to use an app to control my audio surface, which is most efficient when time allows.

I know Soundgirls are working in all areas involving audio. But if any of you specifically want to get into sporting events, or have experience within the sporting side of things. I would love to hear how you specifically deal with challenges. I’ve headed audio for the final four basketball events, slam dunk contest, and nothing has challenged me more than audio out on the field. Your challenges might be different than mine, maybe you’ve done gigs outside that weren’t sporting events. I would still love to hear how you deal with different weather conditions. The thing that drew me to this platform is the same thing that keeps me here. Being able to share experiences, learn and grow together. I can’t wait to hear from you all.

 

Anything That Can Go Wrong Will Go Wrong” – Murphy’s Law

 

“Murphy’s Law” is when something bad happens unexpectedly at the worst possible time. (more…)

Broadcast Engineer

Audio engineers and audio techs in the world of broadcast are very different in terminology and context compared to live concert sound, even though they perform similar tasks. Below you will find common television vernacular along with descriptions per position (some may vary).

Broadcast Engineer (EIC):
A Broadcast Audio Engineer and Broadcast Engineer, commonly referred to as one and the same, are VERY different. A Broadcast Audio Engineer (A1) mixes the live audio portion of the broadcast to air. A Broadcast Engineer is broader technically and does a little bit of everything. They wire, maintain, and occasionally design hardware (and sometimes software) of a television environment, which may include video, audio, satellite, fiber and transmission. (For more details see www.sbe.org). In the remote broadcast world, we call these super smart people, EICs (Engineers in Charge). EICs have a great deal of technical knowledge about everything related to television. Not all EICs are Broadcast Engineers or vice versa as titles can be different in terminology and job descriptions depending on location (such as set studios, remotes, satellite uplink engineering or in particular unions). Broadcast engineers or EICs perform high ranking, some times high stress and demanding tasks.

Broadcast Audio Engineer, the A1:
The A1 is in charge of a broadcast show’s final mix-to-air and is usually located in the production truck on remotes or an isolated audio booth in a studio setting. The A1 is in charge of the entire audio crew, creates and advances the paperwork (mult sheets), creates signal flow to all cameras, producers and production, patches the truck (or studio), patches/dials in communications (Comms) and, of course, mixes the show live.

Sub-Mix Position:
Sub-Mixer is a mixing engineer who’s sole job is to mix a portion of the show, usually effects (EFX) or in case of a music show, the band. The sub-mix gets the best mix of those elements and typically sends a stereo pair (or sometimes stems) to the A1. The A1 then mixes that stereo pair (or stems) into their show. This takes pressure off the A1 while freeing up valuable real estate on the A1’s mixing console. More often than not, a sub-mix position is needed simply because there are too many elements already being mixed by the A1. Typical shows where one might find a sub-mix position would be NFL (field effects), NASCAR (track effects, pits and in-car radios) or late night shows with live bands such as the Tonight Show or Late Night with David Letterman. On the latter shows, the sub-mix position is called the “Broadcast Music Mixer” and at times the broadcast music mixer has as much pressure as the A1.

A2:
The audio A2 has completely different skill sets from an A1 although the A2 may have a background from a previous mixing world. And though one may think the A2 to A1 progression is a seamless one, the positions couldn’t be more different in functionality. If the A1 wires everything inside the truck or control room and mixes the show, the A2 wires everything OUTSIDE the truck, such as the broadcast booth, the field, the basketball court, etc. The A2 does not mix or have a console (unless they are in a sub-mix position). They are responsible for wiring the broadcast booth, announce mics and headsets, comms, IFBs, and EFX mics leading to the truck, as well as running all the audio cable, etc. Even though there may be a bit more “freedom” during a show once the audio is set (the A2 being able to move around the venue, versus the A1 being inside a production truck), the A2 position is more labor intensive. The A2 must have extensive knowledge of booth and field gear. A short list of gear A2s must know includes announce boxes such as Daltech, Studio Technology, AB100s or others, comms (usually RTS, Reidel and Clear Comm) and belt-packs and IFBs, as well as the above-mentioned announce and EFX specific microphones.

Comms and Comms Tech:
Comms is short for “communications”. Comms is also intermingled with the term “PL”, which is short for “party line” (meaning two or more people communicating). More often than not, you will hear “how many PL drops do we have on this show?”, which translates to how many locations/people do we need on communication headsets. Typically,each headset comes with either a PL box or belt-pack that allows two-way communication between various levels of production. The “cross points”, or the levels of “who can talk to who” (or who is isolated only to their dept), can be simple or extremely complex. A very large show, for example, may have 75+ PL drops, all needing to communicate to only a portion of production or in some cases, to ALL of production (like Producers or Directors). A Comms Tech’s job includes setting up, trouble-shooting, patching cross-points and making certain all personnel on Comms can communicate to the right person/location at all times.

RF Tech:
RF stands for Radio Frequency, and tech of course means technology. In this context, RF refers to wireless mics, wireless in-ear monitors (IEMs), wireless IFBs (Interruptible Fold Back – which are “interruptible” in-ear monitors for the broadcast talent), wireless communications(comms) and anything else related to the show and production that is wireless (musical instruments, for example). An RF Tech’s job, which is sometimes misunderstood and often lumped into the lap of the A2, is NOT the same as an audio A2 who handles RF (an A2 who “fires up” a wireless mic, for example). An RF Tech scans the frequencies, understands the spectrum in and around the venue – including potential problem frequencies – dials in frequencies on the transmitters and receivers, sets up all the antenna systems as well as builds and troubleshoots the entire RF system. That system may include some or all the above – wireless mics, IEMs, communications and IFBs, musical instruments, etc. The RF Tech’s sole responsibility is to make sure the entire RF system is working.

 

Copyright: Jeri Palumbo 2014

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