Career Paths in Film and TV – Highlights

“It’s ok to be wherever you are in your career. There’s no “right” way to get to certain jobs.”

SoundGirls recently held an event on Career Paths in Film and TV Sound at Sony Studios in Los Angeles. The main theme of the night was how to get past the early hurdles of a career – whether it’s trying to get started in post-production or how to build a career when you’re not where you want to be yet. The panelists were Karol Urban, Onnalee Blank, Kate Finan, and April Tucker. Anne-Marie Slack moderated the discussion.

Each of the panelists had different experiences and paths how they got to their current day careers. What was interesting is there were a lot of similarities in the lessons they learned along the way and their philosophies about work and the industry.

Onnalee used persistence and creativity to land her job on Game of Thrones.

Karol talked about the power of networking to find work. When Karol came to LA, she met with people she had connected with before she moved. Volunteering with the Cinema Audio Society helped her meet professionals she might not have had access to otherwise.

Kate talked about the importance of having experience at a professional studio for someone in the field today. There’s a lot of opportunities to work on your own (and value to learning on your own), but there are other skills needed in a studio environment. When you’re self-trained, it can be harder to adapt to the technical needs of a studio, to workflows, or even know studio etiquette.

Anne (who co-owned a post-production studio for almost a decade) said it’s good to show job history for an entry level position even if it’s not audio-related. Even if you’ve worked at Starbucks, it shows you have the work ethic and experience of working with a company.

April talked about the importance of taking jobs with good learning opportunities even if it’s not exactly on the path you want to go. April’s first studio job was assistant scheduler which allowed her to work up to machine room operator, ADR & Foley engineer, sound editor, and mixer.

The audience had a lot of questions about specific career choices, but there was a common thread: What can I do to get where I want to go with my career? The panel all talked about the importance of making connections – to get to know people and ask for advice or guidance (versus asking for work). Onnalee suggested looking for companies with a reputation for supporting women. Kate said she started her business in part because she wanted to work with and help support women in the field.

One takeaway we heard from a number of women in attendance was that it’s ok to be wherever you are in your career. There’s no “right” way to get to certain jobs. An audience member asked a great question: “What do you need to do differently now to get started than when you all got in the field?” It’s no longer about working at a prestigious facility or a major studio. You can work on great content or get credit on a show or movie that turns out to be popular or win awards. It’s always in hindsight that you can see the path.

SoundGirls would like to thank our panel:

Anne-Marie Slack, Executive of Organization Services for Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE)

Karol Urban, CAS, MPSE – Re-Recording Mixer

Onnalee Blank, CAS – Re-Recording Mixer, Formosa Group

Kate Finan, MPSE – Supervising sound editor and co-owner, Boom Box Post

April Tucker, CAS – Re-recording Mixer

We’d also like to thank Sony, Tom McCarthy, Timothy Kuzniar, Lane Burch, Gredel Berrios, Steve Urban, Jett Galindo and Jaymes Quirino of the Bakery, Bill Dannevik for filming, and our volunteers.

Five Quick Sound Design Tips from Game Sound Design

In July I attended Develop: Brighton, the UK’s biggest conference for game developers, held in Brighton, England. One day of the conference is dedicated to audio in games, with lectures from audio directors and sound designers covering everything from how to get the best performance from voice actors, to sound effects creation and video game music tropes.

Every year I come away from the lectures with useful tidbits which I’ve found can easily apply to sound design in general. Here are five short and sweet takeaways from this year:

It’s not always about the noise

I know I often fall into the trap of feeling a soundscape has to have a ton of layers to be effective. Shannon Potter (Formosa Interactive), who worked on The Last of Us and Uncharted 4 talked about how sparse sounds can help to enhance a particular emotion, and it was a good reminder that sometimes the most effective sound design for a scene includes a lot of space and silence. In a particular cutscene that she played from The Last of Us, a low drone, the background whistling of winter wind and an intermittent sink drip were all that was needed to create an intense feeling of isolation, which supported the bleak nature of the scene.

To get the best out of voice actors, tell them how to feel, not what to say

Line reads (where you perform the line to the actor and ask them to mimic you) will never give you a truthful performance. Experienced game voice director and actor Stephane Cornicard discussed how helping an actor to understand character location (outside/inside, far away/up close) and intention in a scene (what does the character want?) will produce a far more connected performance than saying “just read it like this.”

Transitions are your friend

Effective audio transitions can help maintain immersion in any media and particularly in VR, where scene transitions between environments can be jarring for the player. Listening to Andrew Quinn’s (Rocksteady) lecture about how he and his team used audio to support the story Batman: Arkham VR, I was reminded how important a seamless transition could be even for non-visual experiences like audio drama. It’s so easy to throw a listener out of the experience with a clumsy transition, and a classic whoosh won’t always cut it.

Get creative with your sources

Philip Eriksson (EA Dice) talked about creating unique audio signatures for the signature power move (weapon attack sound) for characters in Star Wars: Battlefront 2. Baby alligator roars, slinky movements, and kittens all contributed in some way, which certainly demonstrated some out-of-the-box thinking. I was particularly interested in Eriksson’s description of how he used his own vocalisations to capture a rough idea of the pitch and sound envelope, as a starting point for many of the eventual designs.

Make your music meaningful

We know that music should be more than just a background element in any narrative audio medium, be it film/TV, audio drama, or games. Effective use of music can transform the experience for the viewer or player, just as ineffective usage can destroy it. What I hadn’t considered is how the active integration of music within games can lead to a more meaningful experience. Watching composer Oliver Derivative’s examples of how musical elements were placed within the game environment for Get Even, I could clearly see and hear how the tight integration between the music and the gameplay (door knocks and gunshots timed with music, for example) really helped to draw you into the game as a player.

I’ve seen great examples of similar cohesion of music and sound design in film and TV, and it made me consider how the same approach could be applied to audio drama. Sound designers and composers often work quite separately on an audio drama – both liaising with the director about the design and music, but only with each other at the mixing stage. Are audio dramas better served by sound designers and composers working more collaboratively from the start? I’m sure there are several that work in this way already, not to mention the sound designer/composers that perform both roles. It would be an interesting exercise to compare the different styles of working to hear the differences.

I’m a big fan of learning from other disciplines and my day at Develop always inspires me to try new things in my own sound design projects. If you get the chance, go out and listen to experts in a different field speak about their projects. If nothing else, it could make you hear things in a different way – and that’s always worthwhile.

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

September Feature Profile

Cristina Allen Live Sound Engineer and Mother!

The Blogs

Grabación y audio binaural

Recording and Binaural Audio

A Guide to Supporting Women in Sound

SoundGirls News

Career Paths in Film and Television Sound

https://soundgirls.org/event/bringing-the-audience-closer-soundgirls-at-plasa-2018/?instance_id=1321

https://soundgirls.org/event/soundgirls-after-plasa-social/?instance_id=1325

https://soundgirls.org/event/los-angeles-soundgirls-social-2/?instance_id=1327

Hearing Health Seminar

SoundGirls and SoundGym

Shadow Beth O’Leary ME Tech on Kylie Minogue

Shadowing Opportunity w/Guit Tech Claire Murphy

Shadowing Opportunity w/ FOH Engineer Edgardo “Verta” Vertanessian

Shadowing Opportunity w/ FOH Engineer Sean “Sully” Sullivan

Shadowing Opportunity w/ ME Aaron Foye

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

SoundGirls is excited to announce the first recipient of the SoundGirls – Gaston-Bird Travel Fund. To learn more, donate or apply for the funding visit . All donations are tax deductible.

We have awarded Ana Monte travel funds to AES, where she will be speaking on the panel Immersive and Spatial Audio: The Stanford Virtual Heart. Pediatric cardiologists at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford are using immersive virtual reality technology to explain complex congenital heart defects, which are some of the most difficult medical conditions to teach and understand. The Stanford Virtual Heart experience helps families understand their child’s heart conditions. For medical trainees, it provides an immersive and engaging new way to learn about the most common and complex congenital heart anomalies. The panelists will give an insight about the challenges for the sound design with a scientific approach and how it was integrated in Unity. http://www.aes.org/events/145/spatialaudio/?ID=6307

Ana is a graduate of California State University-Chico where she studied Music Industry and Technology with a focus on Recording Arts and the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg, where she studied Film sound and Sound design. For her work as a sound designer, Ana has received diverse sound awards including “Best Sound Design in a Drama series” at the LA Webfest 2015 and a “Best Sound” nomination from the LA Film Review. Her current work focuses on immersive audio production for VR and new realities.

Round Up From the Internet

SoundGirls Resources

Directory of Women in Professional Audio and Production

This directory provides a listing of women in disciplines industry-wide for networking and hiring. It’s free – add your name, upload your resume, and share with your colleagues across the industry.

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

Grabación y audio binaural

Un poco de historia…

Théâtrophone

Su creador fue Clément Ader, reconocido por ser pionero de la telefonía en Francia, y fue presentado por primera vez en 1881 en París, aunque el término Théâtrophone fue utilizado hasta 1889. Fue la primera forma de difusión cultural recurriendo a una tecnología de comunicación eléctrica, siendo un antecesor de la estereofonía.

En las obras de teatro, conciertos y sobre todo óperas se conectaban una serie de aproximadamente 80 transmisores telefónicos en el frente del escenario, pudiendo así transmitir una señal estéreo.

Primera Guerra Mundial

1914 – 1918. Durante la primera Guerra Mundial se utilizaban dos receptores a varios pies de distancia conectados por tubos de goma a las orejas de un operador para rastrear y localizar aviones.

Oscar

En 1933 AT&T presentó en la Chicago World Fair la primer cabeza binaural llamada “Oscar”, fue utlizada para experimentos realizados por Bell Labs con la ayuda de la Orquesta Sinfónica de Filadelfia.

Dummy Head

En 1972 Neumann expone en Berlín en la Exibición Internacional de Radio y TV la primera generación de Dummy Head (KU-80), diseñada para hacer pruebas acústicas. Posteriormente salieron los modelos KU-81 y KU-100, que es el que se utiliza actualmente.

Cómo funciona?

Las grabaciones binaurales nos permiten crear sensaciones de espacio y perspectiva mucho más reales ya que los seres humanos podemos entender y ubicar o localizar en un espacio tridimensional cualquier fuente sonora gracias a que nuestro cerebro detecta las diferencias de volumen y tiempo que existen entre nuestros oídos, éstas diferencias se ven influenciadas por la obstrucción de la cabeza y la nariz, la forma del pabellón auditivo y las condiciones acústicas del espacio en el que nos encontremos.

Para una grabación binaural se necesita un dummy head, éste tiene en cada oreja un micrófono onmidireccional, de esta forma al escuchar la grabación se pueden localizar los sonidos en cualquier direccion (al frente, atrás, a los lados, arriba, abajo, etc.), a diferencia de una grabación estéreo, en la que solamente podemos distinguir izquierda y derecha.

El dummy head puede colocarse en cualquier lugar dependiendo de la experiencia que se busca generar, sin embargo hay algunas recomendaciones que puedo darte:

Cuando vas a grabar un concierto de música clásica al situarlo a un metro hacia atrás y un metro hacia arriba del director, así lograrás captar mejor la interacción que tienen los instrumentos con el recinto.
En conciertos en donde se utiliza un sistema de P.A. es mejor situarlo en algún lugar del público, solamente a mayor altura para no capturar el ruido que éste produce. O puede utilizarse solamente para capturar el sonido del público.
Para grabaciones en estudio de un solo instrumento te recomiendo colocarlo con una perspectiva de público y no de músico, es decir, de frente al instrumento.
Al grabar coros con un solo cantante puedes hacer varias tomas y en cada una ir cambiando de posición al dummy o puedes pedirle al cantante que vaya cambiando de lado en cada una de las tomas, así tendrás mucho material para usar durante la mezcla. Solamente ten cuidado con el nivel de monitoreo que utiliza el músico, ya que por la sensibilidad del micrófono si se encuentra muy cerca de éste puede escucharse en la grabación.
Cuando trabajas con varios cantantes a la vez puedes jugar más con el espacio, ve alejando y acercando el dummy sin cambiarlos de lugar, esto te ayudará a dar una sensación de estar en un cuarto más grande, así mismo puedes hacer tomas individuales para darle mayor claridad.

: Dummy Head En 1972 Neumann expone en Berlín en la Exibición Internacional de Radio y TV la primera generación de Dummy Head (KU-80), diseñada para hacer pruebas acústicas. Posteriormente salieron los modelos KU-81 y KU-100, que es el que se utiliza actualmente.

: Cuando vas a grabar un concierto de música clásica al situarlo a un metro hacia atrás y un metro hacia arriba del director, así lograrás captar mejor la interacción que tienen los instrumentos con el recinto.

: Para grabaciones en estudio de un solo instrumento te recomiendo colocarlo con una perspectiva de público y no de músico, es decir, de frente al instrumento.

Otras aplicaciones actuales del audio binaural.

Grabación y transmisión en vivo de conciertos, óperas y obras de teatro.
Evaluar y monitorear las condiciones acústicas de salas de conciertos y los resultados de un sistema de P.A.
Documentación de sonidos de animales y ambientales.
Documentación de contaminación auditiva.
Evaluación de sistemas de sonido en automóviles.
Medición y análisis de audífonos.

Ana Karen Robles – Originaria de la Ciudad de México. Mostró gran interés por la música desde los 10 años cuando comenzó a tomar clases de violín. Empezó sus estudios de audio en el 2014 y a partir del 2015 trabajó en estudios de grabación como Estudio 19 como asistente de grabación, mezcla y masterización. Actualmente se dedica al área de ventas en la empresa 3BlueHouse.

Recording and Binaural Audio

A little history…

Thé Théâtrophone

Its creator was Clément Ader, recognized as a pioneer of telephony in France, and was first presented in 1881 in Paris, although the term Théâtrophone was used until 1889. It was the first form of cultural diffusion using a communication technology electric, is an ancestor of stereophony. In the plays, concerts and especially operas, a series of approximately 80 telephone transmitters were connected to the front of the stage, thus being able to transmit a stereo signal.

First World War

1914 – 1918. During the First World War, two receivers were used several feet apart connected by rubber tubes to the ears of an operator to track and locate aircraft.

Oscar

In 1933 AT&T presented at the Chicago World Fair the first binaural head called “Oscar,” it was used for experiments performed by Bell Labs with the help of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra.

Dummy Head

In 1972, Neumann exhibited the first generation of Dummy Head (KU-80) in Berlin at the International Radio and TV Show, designed to perform acoustic tests. Later came the KU-81 and KU-100 models, which are currently used.

How does it work?

Binaural recordings allow us to create sensations of space and perspective much more real since human beings can understand and locate or locate in a three-dimensional space any sound source thanks to our brain detecting the volume and time differences between our ears, These differences are influenced by the obstruction of the head and nose, the shape of the auditory pavilion and the acoustic conditions of the space in which we find ourselves. For a binaural recording you need a dummy head, this has an omnidirectional microphone in each ear, so when listening to the recording you can locate the sounds in any direction (front, back, sides, top, bottom, etc.). ), unlike a stereo recording, in which we can only distinguish between left and right.

The dummy head can be placed anywhere depending on the experience that is sought. However, there are some recommendations that I can give you:

When you are going to record a classical music concert by placing it one meter back and one meter up to the director, you will be able to better capture the interaction of the instruments with the venue.
In concerts where a system of P.A. it is better to place it somewhere in the audience, only higher up so as not to capture the noise that it produces. Or it can be used only to capture the sound of the audience.
For studio recordings of a single instrument, I recommend placing it with a public perspective and not a musician, that is, facing the instrument.
When recording choirs with only one singer you can make several shots and in each one change the dummy position or you can ask the singer to change sides in each of the shots, so you will have a lot of material to use during the mix. Just be careful with the level of monitoring used by the musician, because the sensitivity of the microphone, if it is very close to it, can be heard in the recording.
When you work with several singers at the same time, you can play more with space, go away and approach the dummy without changing places; this will help you to give a feeling of being in a bigger room. Likewise, you can make individual shots to give it greater clarity.

: Dummy Head En 1972 Neumann expone en Berlín en la Exibición Internacional de Radio y TV la primera generación de Dummy Head (KU-80), diseñada para hacer pruebas acústicas. Posteriormente salieron los modelos KU-81 y KU-100, que es el que se utiliza actualmente.

: Cuando vas a grabar un concierto de música clásica al situarlo a un metro hacia atrás y un metro hacia arriba del director, así lograrás captar mejor la interacción que tienen los instrumentos con el recinto.

: Para grabaciones en estudio de un solo instrumento te recomiendo colocarlo con una perspectiva de público y no de músico, es decir, de frente al instrumento.

Other current applications of binaural audio.

Recording and live transmission of concerts, operas, and plays.
Evaluate and monitor the acoustic conditions of concert halls and the results of a system of P.A.
Documentation of animal and environmental sounds.
Documentation of auditory contamination.
Evaluation of car sound systems.
Measurement and analysis of hearing aids.

Ana Karen Robles – Originally from Mexico City. She showed great interest in music since she was ten years old when she started taking violin lessons. Ana started her audio studies in 2014, and from 2015 she worked in recording studios like ¨Studio 19¨ as a recording, mixing and mastering assistant. She currently works in the sales area of 3BlueHouse.

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

September Feature Profile

Cristina Allen Live Sound Engineer and Mother!

The Blogs

How is your equipment doing?

A Guide to Supporting Women in Sound

SoundGirls News

https://soundgirls.org/event/bay-area-soundgirls-sept-meeting/?instance_id=1326

https://soundgirls.org/event/orlando-soundgirls-social-3/?instance_id=1328

Career Paths in Film and Television Sound

https://soundgirls.org/event/bringing-the-audience-closer-soundgirls-at-plasa-2018/?instance_id=1321

https://soundgirls.org/event/soundgirls-after-plasa-social/?instance_id=1325

https://soundgirls.org/event/los-angeles-soundgirls-social-2/?instance_id=1327

Hearing Health Seminar

SoundGirls and SoundGym

Shadow Beth O’Leary ME Tech on Kylie Minogue

Shadowing Opportunity w/Guit Tech Claire Murphy

Shadowing Opportunity w/ FOH Engineer Edgardo “Verta” Vertanessian

Shadowing Opportunity w/ FOH Engineer Sean “Sully” Sullivan

Shadowing Opportunity w/ FOH Engineer Kevin Madigan

Shadowing Opportunity w/ ME Aaron Foye

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

SoundGirls is excited to announce the first recipient of the SoundGirls – Gaston-Bird Travel Fund. To learn more, donate or apply for the funding visit . All donations are tax deductible.

Round Up From the Internet

Yes, Lighting Design Has a Diversity Problem

Next generation of live sound: Anne-Lise Coulet, monitors engineer

SoundGirls Resources

Directory of Women in Professional Audio and Production

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

How is your equipment doing?

Whether you work in a studio, venue, or on the road, it is easy to neglect our equipment and not give it the love it deserves. Drinks are spilled, dust gathers around fans, and if singers are using the same microphones, well, a lot of bacteria lives on those SM58 grills!

Here is how I look after our equipment regularly and how I am preparing for the busy festive season that is slowly approaching us!

Day-to-Day cleaning:

It is good to keep things up to scratch on a day-to-day basis just to extend the lifespan on our equipment. I start the day by cleaning and dusting our mixing & lighting desk area. I regularly check the fans on our Yamaha Ql1 desk to make sure it does not fill up with dust. I usually give it a quick clean with our mini hoover to get the dust out! That goes for the XLR in- and also outputs, as the dust tends to want to get in there as well!

Moving onto the stage area, we dust and polish our N3X Avant Grand Digital Piano on a daily basis as it is used every day. We also get it serviced regularly, although it is a digital baby grand when it is played every day the keys occasionally break.

On stage, we have a ‘drinks on the floor’ policy. We want to avoid any spillages on our equipment. It is common sense; we do not want any equipment to get damaged or anyone to be electrocuted. We also do not want our equipment to get sticky.

We keep our cables coiled and labeled to ensure our XLR’s and jack cables lives a long and healthy life. The cables we have off stage are also neatly coiled and tucked away in a cable bag.

Our vocal microphones we clean on a daily basis with a foaming cleaner & deodorizer. Lipstick and bacteria often live on those grills so to make sure the germs do not go from one singer to another we keep them clean, which is only fair for the vocalists coming in using our microphones.

Monthly & Yearly Maintenance:

Our in-house Yamaha Absolute Hybrid Maple drum kit we reskin every 2nd or 3rd month as it is used almost every day. It just sounds a lot better when it is looked after.

We have two club areas with permanent CDJ setups. We have unfortunately had a couple of drink spillages the past year. Luckily, they were saved. Top tip – Turn off your equipment immediately if any spillages occur and do not turn back on again, send it straight away to be repaired. This way the motherboards have a higher chance of being OK and repairable.

We tidy up our DJ booths monthly, give the CDJ’s and mixers a dust and wipe.

Our lighting trusses are tested yearly to ensure maximum safety, and the lights themselves are being manually shut down every night to ensure they do not get overheated. They occasionally need a bit of dusting as well which is done whenever we have the trusses down for our more significant events.

Relationships with repair companies:

It is incredibly important to build good relationships with the people who repair your equipment. You never know when an accident might happen and you need a quick turnover for an event. Often if you have a good relationship and require their services regularly, when needed, they will prioritise your product or perhaps lend you one of their products as a temporary solution.

It is a win-win situation if they provide a good service you will most likely recommend them, which keeps their business up and running. I praise everyone we work with; they are all indeed the best at what they do, and I make sure they know that we think so!

Overall, a tidy workplace is a happy and long-living workplace. It does not cost you anything to take that little bit of extra time to take care of your equipment. Neglecting it, however, will probably cost you a lot in the end!

Cristina Allen Live Sound Engineer and Mother!

Cristina Allen is a Live Sound Engineer working at the Knitting Factory in Boise, Idaho. She has been working in live sound for over 15 years. She does both FOH and Monitors but prefers mixing monitors.

Cristina grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico and always loved Rock n Roll. For her 15th birthday party, her parents threw her a rock concert, hiring in sound, lights, and staging. She says “it was love at first sight. I can’t explain what came to me but that night I figured out that that’s what I wanted to do, I talked to the sound guy, and he explained a few things to me.”

Shortly after she graduated from high school, she was hanging out with some friends who worked in the industry, and they let her set up microphones and wrap cables. From there she decided to attend a recording school in Barcelona and eventually made her way to Musicians Institute in Los Angeles. She took full advantage of the studio space while in school; booking the recording studio for sessions, finding bands to record, setting up the sessions, micing and mixing, and taking control of the board and pro-tools without an assistant. This taught Cristina to be self sufficient and gave her confidence, and she loved it.

Cristina got a break when she was mixing a friends band at the Avalon, and she was offered a job. She says she worked a few shows for free and got to experience pushing cases and loading trucks. She says it was so hard and she remembers thinking “how come no one is saying that I shouldn’t be doing that cause those cases were too heavy for a girl?” But, I think they were testing me to see how serious I was about working production, and I passed the test. Unfortunately, my work visa was not ready for me to stay, otherwise, I know I would’ve worked there for years, it was perfect for me! I’m so thankful to Don Tartaro, he was great and really wanted to help.

When Cristina graduated from Musicians Institute, she was nominated as the most improved and outstanding student. “It was a big surprise to hear my name and to be recognized at graduation. The graduating class was made up 95% male students; I was excited to know that it didn’t matter if I was a woman, as long as you work hard you have a place in this business. I was also the only one in my class that had a job in audio while going to school. I think part of my success has been because I’m not afraid to take on something new and go for it. Also, asking questions when you don’t know how to do something is critical, you learn as you go if you pay attention and make sure you master that situation. You have to learn to be outspoken and hang with the guys if you’re a woman in this business, you can’t be shy.”

After she graduated and got her work visa in order Cristina mixed bands all over Los Angeles; The Roxy, Troubadour, Whiskey a Go Go, and more. Jason Dacosta, the former production manager at the Roxy and Bobby Crown head of audio at the Troubadour both, believed in her and gave her jobs. Cristina also toured with Klymaxx for three years as FOH and Monitor Engineer. But after five years of incredible experiences and lots of fun, she and her husband moved to Boise, Idaho.

In Idaho, she went to the Knitting Factory and asked for a job. “They gave me a three-day tryout, and I got hired. I’ve been working here at The Knit for eight years. My first show was Fear Factory; Dino Cazares was pleased to see a Mexican Girl running monitors for them. Working here has been great, I’ve made lifelong friends with the other two engineers Cedric Booker and Kris Crowley, great guys that also gave me a chance and taught me so much”.

Cristina loves working in a venue and getting to meet so many different engineers and artists.

“You always have to be on your game, making sure the crew gets what they need and contribute to the show with your mix when they are in need of an engineer, FOH or monitors. I’ve lost count how many bands I’ve had the privilege to work with. Some of them can be very demanding and others intimidating, but we always end the show very happy. I’ve had the pleasure of mixing for Gin Blossoms, Volbeat, Highly suspect, The Breeders, Violent Femmes, Brandi Carlile, Peter Murphy, In this moment, Fear Factory, Lacuna Coil, and hundreds more.”

Cristina toured for a few years and found that she liked working with different people and building a show in a new venue, but she prefers working in town, finishing a show and getting to go home. Now that she is a mother this a bonus. Cristina has a four-year-old son and one year daughter. She says that you can do both and not to be discouraged “you’ll need time off when after your baby is born; but you can always resume your job when it feels right. I’ve never felt like that was the end for me, it’s also thanks to a very supportive husband, who happens to be a musician and studio engineer as well.

What is your educational or training background?

CRASH Instituto Audiovisual in Manresa Barcelona 2001

Musicians Institute; RIT 2004

What are your long-term goals?

To never quit this career! I love it! I want to continue to get better and better; there’s always room for improvement.

What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?

My teacher in Spain that said I had two significant disadvantages; one is that I’m Mexican and number two is that I’m a woman. But I think I’ve been fortunate to work with great people. I get a large number of rotating engineers that I have to assist, set up the whole stage for them, or mix the show; we always communicate without any problems.

Maybe one or two men have been a little sexist, but I try to forget them. Even when I worked at eight months pregnant (twice), I try to not make this job any different than anything else I could be doing. In fact, I don’t even see myself doing anything else but being an audio engineer. I feel fortunate that I did not have to choose between my dream job and having a family.

How have you dealt with them?

When I run into someone rude, I just do my job. I’m not intimidated by them. It’s usually their issues, as long as I know what I’m doing, nothing should make me feel less or not worthy of being part of this business.

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

Love what you do, work hard, be professional, take notes, pay attention to details; people love to see a well organized and meticulous process before, during and after the show.

Must have skills?

Excellent listening skills, a thick skin, and don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Favorite gear?

I’m loving our MIDAS pro2, & the D6 on floor toms

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

August Feature Profile

Karol Urban – Sound and Storytelling

The Blogs

Teaching the Next Generation of Audio Engineers

A Guide to Supporting Women in Sound

Live digital audio in plain English part 2

SoundGirls News

Seeking SoundGirls For Music Expo – Nashville

Career Paths in Film and Television Sound

https://soundgirls.org/event/bringing-the-audience-closer-soundgirls-at-plasa-2018/?instance_id=1321

https://soundgirls.org/event/soundgirls-after-plasa-social/?instance_id=1325

Hearing Health Seminar

SoundGirls and SoundGym

Shadow Beth O’Leary ME Tech on Kylie Minogue

Shadowing Opportunity w/Guit Tech Claire Murphy

Shadowing Opportunity w/ FOH Engineer Edgardo “Verta” Vertanessian

Shadowing Opportunity w/ FOH Engineer Sean “Sully” Sullivan

Shadowing Opportunity w/ FOH Engineer Kevin Madigan

Shadowing Opportunity w/ ME Aaron Foye

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

https://soundgirls.org/event/bay-area-soundgirls-sept-meeting/?instance_id=1317

Round Up From the Internet

SoundGirls Resources

Directory of Women in Professional Audio and Production

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

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Search

Empowering the Next Generation of Women in Audio

Career Paths in Film and TV – Highlights

“It’s ok to be wherever you are in your career. There’s no “right” way to get to certain jobs.”

Five Quick Sound Design Tips from Game Sound Design

It’s not always about the noise

To get the best out of voice actors, tell them how to feel, not what to say

Transitions are your friend

Get creative with your sources

Make your music meaningful

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

September Feature Profile

The Blogs

SoundGirls News

Round Up From the Internet

SoundGirls Resources

Directory of Women in Professional Audio and Production

Grabación y audio binaural

Un poco de historia…

Recording and Binaural Audio

A little history…

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

September Feature Profile

The Blogs

SoundGirls News

Round Up From the Internet

Next generation of live sound: Anne-Lise Coulet, monitors engineer

SoundGirls Resources

Directory of Women in Professional Audio and Production

How is your equipment doing?

Day-to-Day cleaning:

Monthly & Yearly Maintenance:

Relationships with repair companies:

Cristina Allen Live Sound Engineer and Mother!

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

August Feature Profile

The Blogs

SoundGirls News

Round Up From the Internet

SoundGirls Resources

Directory of Women in Professional Audio and Production