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Changing the World: Audio Engineering Society UK #HeForShe Event

“I wish I wasn’t here tonight. I wish you weren’t. I wish we could talk about the exciting work we do. But we have a lot of work to do on gender equality”.

So said Dr. Mariana Lopez last Thursday night, in her opening for a panel session on Gender Equality and the Audio Industries – the first #HeForShe event hosted by the Audio Engineering Society UK section.

The #HeForShe gender equality campaign was launched by the United Nations in 2014 by actor Emma Watson. It invites people around the world to recognise that gender equality is not just a human rights issue, not just a women’s issue. It also asks “men and boys to help end the persisting inequalities faced by women and girls globally.”

AES UK formally aligned with #HeForShe in April 2017. In a post on their public Facebook page in August 2017, they say “It is our responsibility to make sure we are building a fair industry for all.” Dr. Lopez, who is the first female chair of AES UK, spoke about how important it was for AES UK to formally align themselves with the campaign while admitting that when she announced the alignment, she hid from her colleagues her fear of the inevitable backlash.

The backlash, when it came, actually proved the point that campaigns like #HeForShe are still necessary. The audio industry has a gender inequality issue. Too many people working in the industry fail to recognise this, unintentionally or otherwise.

The answers to the first question put to the panel addressed this lack of awareness: why is there a gender imbalance in the audio industry? Several panel members spoke about the deeply ingrained sociological and cultural biases that we all have to learn to identify and fight against. Examples included everything from teachers telling pre-schoolers that “girls don’t play drums” to the marketing campaigns of educational institutes placing women in supporting roles in photos –  e.g., a female student holding a clipboard behind a male student operating a console.

Imagery is one area where you need to see diversity to send a message of inclusion. If girls associate audio technology, and technology in general, with men and boys, because of the images they see, it will be much harder for them to avoid internalising the message that the audio industry is not for them. In other words – you can’t be what you can’t see.

Even if girls manage to fight against cultural and sociological bias, there are risks to being the only woman, or one of only a few, women in a team, class, or company. As Dr. Liz Dobson said, when there is one person in a space representing a demographic, they feel they cannot make mistakes, for fear this will reflect on the entire demographic.

The panel acknowledged their responsibility as educators to challenge bias, call out bad behaviour and demonstrate your understanding of gender inequality as a teacher. The importance of challenging lexicon, in particular, was raised – for example, questioning gendered terms such as “camera man” and “sound guy.”

One of the most useful aspects of this panel came with the final question: what can we all do? While open, frank discussion of the issues surrounding gender inequality in the audio industry can raise awareness; change cannot happen without action.

So what can you do?

Part of this will be to remove barriers that can prevent women from accepting speaking invitations – for example, having to arrange and fund childcare at short notice. Plan early and provide bursaries or other support to allow women the chance to accept.

Thanks to AES UK, Dr Mariana Lopez and panel members Dr Jude Brereton (Senior Lecturer in Audio and Music Technology, University of York), Kat Young (PhD researcher, University of York), Dr Liz Dobson (Senior Lecturer in Music Technology, University of Huddersfield), Emmanuel Vaas (Senior Lecturer in Professional Studies and Music Business; International Pianist ), Barkley McKay (Touring and Session Musician, Tutor) and all the attendees for an enlightening, thought-provoking, and ultimately, encouraging event.

As #HeForShe says, “no one is whole until we are all wholly equal. Together we’re going to change the world.”

 

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

Anna Frick – Being Fed by the Universe

The Blogs

Systematic Inequality, Part 1: Lessons from Athena

The Art of Asking for Help

Prep for Gigs

Round-Up from the Internet

Diversity in the music industry: ‘We are all part of the solution’

SoundGirls News

SoundGirls Members can receive a complimentary pass for Music Expo Miami – email us for code with your SoundGirls member ID
Music Expo Miami 2018
SAE Institute, 16051 W Dixie Hwy, Ste 200, North Miami Beach, Florida 33160
Saturday, March 24 10:30AM-5PM
What: Over 20 sessions covering songwriting, recording, mixing and mastering, business discussions covering artist branding, revenues, music showcase, beat battle and product demos.
musicexpo.co
Tickets: website: musicexpo.co/tickets
Facebook page: Fb.me/musicexposf
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1760156890981845/
Twitter: twitter.com/musicexposf
Instagram: instagram.com/musicexposf

SoundGirls Winter Newsletter

She Shreds – Seeks Women Audio Engineers and Interns

Detroit SoundGirls Spring Meet & Greet!

Asheville SoundGirls Chapter Launch

Asheville Live Sound Workshop

https://soundgirls.org/event/bay-area-soundgirls-invites-you-to-visit-the-ssl-aws-truck/?instance_id=1171

Houston – Allen & Heath dLive Training

iZotope Workshop at Emerson College

The Studio Side with “JP ‘The Specialist’ Negrete”

Columbus Live Sound Workshop

https://soundgirls.org/event/alberta-soundgirls-chapter-launch-social/?instance_id=1223

 

SoundGirls Resources

Member Benefits

Events

Sexual Harassment

Systematic Inequality, Part 1: Lessons from Athena

Much of Western culture is heavily influenced by the ancient Greeks and Romans. However, we have this way of idealizing the past and forgetting the bad, while still maintaining the negative influences in our culture. It’s as if we managed to throw the bathwater without the baby but completely forgot about the diapers. Greek democracy was not a true democracy. Women, slaves, and even some freemen were not allowed to participate. We don’t get to pick and choose what we inherit from history; it’s up to us to take critical looks at our culture and its influences to weed out the sources of inequality.

Although much of ancient literature was lost with the burning of the library at Alexandria, a surviving Greek tragedy is Aeschylus’ Oresteia. In this trilogy of plays, the Queen of Mycenae, Clytemnestra, kills her husband Agamemnon when he comes back from the Trojan war. To solidify her position, she banishes her young son, Orestes, so that he will not challenge her for the throne. When he is a grown man, Orestes goes back home to avenge his father. Before she is killed, Clytemnestra curses Orestes for matricide and the Furies (ancient goddesses of justice) descend upon him to avenge her. Orestes begs the Gods for assistance, so Athena hosts the first ever trial to decide who is in the right: Orestes for avenging his father, or Clytemnestra/the furies for avenging matricide. A jury of peers vote, and it is a tie, so Athena casts the tie-breaking vote. She says that since she is borne of Zeus and has no mother, mothers have done nothing for her and cast her vote for Orestes. The furies are granted a new place in the pantheon, and Orestes is free to live his life.

I spend a lot of time thinking about Athena choosing Orestes’ side. To me, Clytemnestra’s motivations make sense. She killed her husband in cold blood – but Agamemnon was a horrible husband who sacrificed their daughter for “favorable winds” at sea and then left for ten years to fight a ridiculous war. Meanwhile, Clytemnestra was left to run the kingdom, and by all accounts, she was a great ruler – maybe even better than Agamemnon. She had just spent ten years as close to a free woman as is possible. Clytemnestra was a fierce and strong woman who had a choice to make: kill her husband and continue to rule or return to her subservient position.

From a modern perspective, Athena siding with Orestes doesn’t make sense. However, this play was written by someone who lived in a world where women were second-class citizens. Athena sides with Orestes because she was written by an ancient Greek man who probably didn’t care about the female perspective in his play. Her justifications made sense to the author and the intended audience of the play.

So what do we learn from Clytemnestra and a problematic Athena? It’s easy to dismiss a life you haven’t lived. Although a woman, Athena is a goddess and doesn’t relate to Clytemnestra. She can’t understand Clytemnestra because the people who wrote her couldn’t. If she did, she probably would have sided with the furies. Sometimes I have to remind myself that with my privilege I am like Athena. As a straight, white, middle-class, and educated woman, my experience is very different from other women. I have the ethical imperative to learn from Athena and be better. To remember that just because I can’t always empathize, I can still listen and sympathize. More importantly, I can support my fellow women. We all have people in our lives who we have a difficult time understanding, taking a step back and being conscientious of the fact that we haven’t lived their life is incredibly helpful for understanding and compassion.

We also learn that just like the Oresteia is a product of greek culture, the industry we work in is a product of western culture. It’s important to see these patterns and systems because that is what needs to change. Individual victories are important (and often the beginning of systematic change), but making a productive and positive difference for all happens with systematic cultural change. Everything from altering the language of employee handbooks to be gender neutral, to educating employees about what sexual harassment is, helps to change the culture. Clytemnestra wouldn’t have been driven to kill her husband if she had been given an equal opportunity to rule.

We have to remember to keep the baby, but throw out the bathwater and the diapers. To be conscientious about how we see the past and not idealize it, and to hold ourselves to a higher standard. We need to take critical looks at influences on the industry. Where do we see the past influences of misogyny, patriarchy, and other forms of injustice? How can we remove these injustices so that everyone is given equal opportunity? Where are we Athena, and need to come down to earth and try to understand a life that is different from our own? The Ancients did a lot of good – now we need to make it our own. A place where Clytemnestra can rule, Athena is more understanding, and with hopefully a lot less murder.

As always, work hard, do your best, and make yourself proud.

Tia Azimioara interest in live sound engineering began while studying the clarinet at the Orange County High School of the Arts, where she took a class on music technology. She would go on to double major in Anthropology and Classics at Lawrence University while working as a sound tech. She googled and YouTubed her way through shows and concerts. She fell in love with the fast-paced, trial by fire world of live production. After graduating she began working any live events that she could. After two years she has completely fallen in love with her varied and fast-paced life; today you can find her doing anything from slinging deck at a concert venue in Doc Martens, to working in IT specialist for a corporate event in a suit. She is not sure what the future holds but would like to use her training in anthropology to help make the industry more inclusive for everyone. 

Read Tia’s Blog

The Art of Asking for Help

I think anyone who is reading this can probably agree that asking for help is not always easy. I for sure have had this problem a lot and is something I recently discovered; I need to change. I am quite possessive of my work, I take a lot of pride in what I do, and I often feel like my job is my baby. After all, you have put so much effort into it; it would be mad not to feel this way no?

However, this makes it incredibly hard for me to ask for help and put my trust in somebody else to help. But lately, I’ve realized that the only one missing out on asking for help is me. And I can look back at so many situations where I wish people would’ve just asked me for help.

When I think about it, there is almost a certain arrogance in not asking for help. I had an excellent conversation with a fellow live sound engineer the other day. The topic was people who we had worked with over the years who showed up acting like they knew everything, experienced live sound engineers pretending to know a system when they did not. And rather than asking for help, they spent a lot of valuable time trying to do it all by themselves. If you meet someone that has more experience than you or is hired to be there to help out, then my best advice is to allow for help. Save valuable time and learn in the best possible way: from somebody else! It is impossible to have infinite knowledge of everything. Especially in the world of both analogue and digital!

When you are asking for help, it might make you feel like you are less capable of doing your job. Like you do not know what you are doing. Stop that feeling right there! I do not believe this to be the case at all. It is better to be humble enough to admit that something is out of your knowledge than wasting loads of valuable time, break something or mess something up badly! It causes a lot of stress when you feel like you need to do everything on your own as well. In my case, I often think that it is because I need to prove my own worth.

However, I try to figure things out on my own. When anything goes wrong, I really try every single possible way of solving it. That is a good thing! That is one way of learning! However, sometimes things are perhaps out of your knowledge, and this is when you should definitely ask for help.

The world of audio is massive and infinite. We have invented such fantastic sound systems and ways of transferring audio from point A to point B and it will keep evolving. It will be impossible to know all of it. However, if we all know a little and share what we know with each other than that is when can genuinely create some amazing sounding shows/ recordings. It is when we help each other out we learn and figure things out.

A quick summary of why we should definitely ask for help more often:

-Not asking for help causes extra stress

-If you do not ask for help, you might miss a learning opportunity

– Not asking for help will most definitely burn you out

– It saves you time

– People are happy to help!

 

Columbus Live Sound Workshop

Join our Columbus Chapter for a Live Sound Workshop

This Live Sound Workshop will focus on signal flow, miking and mixing for live sound, and the planning of concerts. The concert at the end of the workshop will provide a hands-on experience for the material learned throughout the day. This is a community workshop and open to anyone that wants to learn more about live sound and the basics of running small concerts.

Register Here

Prep for Gigs

Before an event, I know what equipment I will be using and the bands or musicians I’ll be working with. I usually get the rider first, and I start to prepare. If I will be working with instruments I haven’t worked with before, I do some research; the best mics to use and how to mic it. I research the bands and listen to some of their music.

Regarding the equipment, the first thing I always do is to read the mixing console’s manual. Consoles are usually similar to one another, but I find it so helpful to set my session and just to be clear about how the console works. If needed, I watch some tutorials, and if I have any concerns, I consult my teachers. I also read about the PA system and monitors, especially the frequency response graphic (I love them!).

I like to make diagrams using paper and pen, creating an input list including the channels the microphones/DIs, sends to FX, the monitors and how many XLR lines. If it’s going to be recorded, I set up my session in Pro Tools to save some time also. This way, when the day comes, I’m as ready as possible. I always make changes, but that’s part of a live show. These diagrams save me some time and unnecessary surprises.

The day before the show or even the same day in the morning, I prepare all the equipment and get as organized as possible. I care about everything I use. When I begin to set up the stage, I also like set up in a specific order: first, the mixer. From here, I make all the necessary connections. I always have on my mind basic advice from one of my mentors: anytime you feel lost, just remember the path of the signal. And during set up the last thing to turn on is the PA system and monitors and the first thing to turn off after a show is the PA system and monitors.

Brenda Oyola is a sound engineer who was born in Colombia and now living in Spain for the last 12 years.  She studied Audio Production at SAE Institute in Madrid and graduated two years ago. Though she’s happy working in recording and post-production, her true passion is Live Sound.  Brenda has been working around the country as an assistant and technician. She also has a deep interest in acoustics and enjoys listening to music. Though she has a long way in front of her in this spectacular industry, she hopes to keep the same passion that took her into this business and will keep working hard to make herself a great sound engineer.

Read Brenda’s Blog

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

Anna Frick – Being Fed by the Universe

The Blogs

Systematic Inequality, Part 1: Lessons from Athena

The Art of Asking for Help

Prep for Gigs

Round-Up from the Internet

Diversity in the music industry: ‘We are all part of the solution’

SoundGirls News

SoundGirls Members can receive a complimentary pass for Music Expo Miami – email us for code with your SoundGirls member ID
Music Expo Miami 2018
SAE Institute, 16051 W Dixie Hwy, Ste 200, North Miami Beach, Florida 33160
Saturday, March 24 10:30AM-5PM
What: Over 20 sessions covering songwriting, recording, mixing and mastering, business discussions covering artist branding, revenues, music showcase, beat battle and product demos.
musicexpo.co
Tickets: website: musicexpo.co/tickets
Facebook page: Fb.me/musicexposf
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1760156890981845/
Twitter: twitter.com/musicexposf
Instagram: instagram.com/musicexposf

SoundGirls Winter Newsletter

She Shreds – Seeks Women Audio Engineers and Interns

Detroit SoundGirls Spring Meet & Greet!

Asheville SoundGirls Chapter Launch

Asheville Live Sound Workshop

https://soundgirls.org/event/bay-area-soundgirls-invites-you-to-visit-the-ssl-aws-truck/?instance_id=1171

Houston – Allen & Heath dLive Training

iZotope Workshop at Emerson College

The Studio Side with “JP ‘The Specialist’ Negrete”

Columbus Live Sound Workshop

https://soundgirls.org/event/alberta-soundgirls-chapter-launch-social/?instance_id=1223

 

SoundGirls Resources

Member Benefits

Events

Sexual Harassment

Natalia Ramirez – Tuning her way into the music industry

As a young violin player from Medellin, Colombia, Natalia Ramirez never imagined becoming the GRAMMY and Latin Grammy multi-awarded producer’s right hand. Natalia began music lessons at age 6; playing violin and singing got her interested in a variety of music-related activities: she was part of her school’s band for many years and became a member of a recognized young orchestra in Colombia. At some point during high school, her oldest brother moved from Medellin to Bogota to study audio engineering in college.  This is how she heard about audio engineering for the first time. Through her brother’s experiences, Natalia felt she no longer wanted to be a performer but someone involved with the “behind the scenes” of the music creation process. Natalia studied and received a Bachelor of Music with an emphasis in audio engineering at Javeriana University in Bogota. While being a student, she worked as a tutor in the audio department and got involved in several audio projects, initially doing post-production for films.

Talking about being the right person at the right time and the right place, in 2011 Natalia gets selected to participate as assistant engineer for a recording session with Julio Reyes Copello, Colombia’s most important songwriter and producer. The album recorded in that session, “Kany García” by Puerto Rican artist Kany García, received two nominations for the 2013 Latin Grammy Awards, “Best Singer-Songwriter Album” and “Best Engineered Album,” taking the Grammy under the “Engineered” category. During that session, Julio quickly picked up on Natalia’s incredible organizational skills as well as her precise musical ear and trusted her to tune vocals for a song right after. Natalia became obsessed with this process. She used her musical skills and audio techniques to make them sound as if no software had ever intervened with the original recording. Julio Reyes liked the result so much he immediately picked Natalia as a vocal post-production engineer.

After graduation in 2013, Natalia remained in Colombia working as a personal assistant and vocal post-production engineer for Julio Reyes’ projects. In 2015, Natalia moved to Miami to pursue a Master’s Degree in Arts Presenting and Live Entertainment Management at the University of Miami and then joined Julio Reyes Copello as studio coordinator and vocal post-production engineer at his personal studio, the Art House Studios, after graduating in 2017. As an engineer, Natalia has been nominated for three Latin Grammy and one GRAMMY award. Furthermore, she successfully earned the nickname “Nati-Tuner,” in honor of her outstanding proficiency as a vocal engineer. She has participated in more than 130 songs, by artists such as JLo, Marc Anthony, Ricky Martin, among many others alike. Her dedication, passion, and excellent technique for vocal production has been recognized by the Florida Chapter of the Recording Academy as Natalia was invited to feature her work at the 2017 In The Mix® Listening Session held at Marcella Araica’s studio.

What are your long-term goals?

I want to become an expert in treating vocals manually. Nowadays, everything is digital, and there are so many different plug-in options for tuning and aligning vocals, but I’ve noticed most of the times they are set to perform as an automatic response for certain key/rhythm. Most people don’t realize this damages the waveform, making the tuning sound very evident and bumpy and changing the natural frequencies that were captured. It can be aesthetic sometimes, but that doesn’t work in every genre. I feel getting hands on every single word, and vocal track individually makes a big difference on the final result. When you hear an artist sing, you remember why they struck a chord with so many listeners. If you start mangling with their voice carelessly and don’t take care of their identity, it undoes all the magic that they worked so hard to manifest.

What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?

This is an industry dominated by men, so being a young woman in the industry hasn’t been easy. I’ve faced many comments like “they hired her because she’s pretty” and things alike, so it’s been a huge undertaking for me to create a reputation for myself based on my work while others claim it belongs to the fact that I wear a dress. I believe that as a woman it is important to embrace the qualities that make us women instead of watering it down to “blend in.” We are all creators and members of a community that celebrates individual identities and personalities so why should I be shy to show mine.

Must have skills?

Definitely, the confidence to face rejection, that’s the only way you will ever grow. Then it’s the clarity to acknowledge that even though you may be doing well that there is still more efficiency and expertise in other skills, you should be honing.

What other jobs have you held?

Another passion that I have is managing events. I got a master in Live Entertainment Management, so aside from being an audio engineer throughout these years, I’ve also been a studio coordinator for a variety of albums and a production manager for multiple live events. I love organizing and multitasking.

Advice you have for young women starting out?

Do you ever feel pressure to be more technical or anything else than your male counterparts?

At first yes, but then I remember that I bring something to the table that most of them don’t have, and that is my abilities I’ve developed as a classical musician (my ear) combined with my strength to multitask and obsession with detail

Natalia on treating vocals manually

I usually ask for the instrumental and all the vocal tracks in one session. I prefer they don’t send me any files consolidated so that I can handle the original audio clips. I like to work with all the vocals dry, no EQs or reverb so that I can hear the natural color of the sound captured by the mic and the tails of the notes. This allows me to hear the little details in the voice (air, tone, sharpness, etc.)  I also ask for any additional takes that were not used in the final comp. I use these as a resource to make the transitions smoother, especially replacing “s’s.” I find it very helpful because during tuning even if you don’t change the pitch of an S I feel there is still something going on while it is passing through those plugins. If you can find a way to replace that effect on notes that have no tuning (S’s and T’s), then the final result will be much better.

My tool has always been Auto-Tune. I know that the latest version of Melodyne is excellent, but I believe the tools are only tools, so as long as you accomplish the results you want with your tool, then you have achieved what really matters. For this same reason, I prefer to tune without the key of the song set in my software. This might be unusual for most people, but to me, it makes a lot of sense as it helps me with the slides and drifts between notes to sound more natural. People tend to want to keep everything locked in the notes of the key, but like anything in music if you keep everything exactly on the grid you remove the magic in the music.

Pitch is not always perfect. When you tune an instrument, and you start playing, it eventually loses that “perfect” pitch. This happens in recording sessions as well, where the pitch can slightly vary throughout the session. That is why I tune my vocals making sure they follow that unstable pitch. You’d be surprised how many times I see someone send me something that is already “tuned” and “perfect” by the algorithm but sounds sharp or flat because the music isn’t always perfect.

Lastly, I like using post-production shortcuts to synchronize the chunks of background vocals instead of using automatic responses found in plug-ins like VocALign. It takes more time, but after trying so many methods out, I can say it makes all the difference in the world to go manual. Those plugins are incredible however when you’re stretching audio you are changing the actual waveform, so you create artifacts, lose textures (especially in the high end) and even cause phase issues. Doing it manually sounds more natural, and you’d be surprised at the difference this makes when you’re stacking 40 vocals.

Feature Profile by Maria Elisa Ayerbe Barona. Maria grew up in Colombia and is a recording and mixing engineer, sound designer, and audio educator. Maria has worked as an audio engineer on Grammy and Latin Grammy-nominated albums, Laura Pausini’s album Similares and Paula Arenas and Mau y Ricky for Best New Artists Latin Grammy’s. Maria worked as a recording and mix engineer at Art House Studios, founded by multi-award Grammy and Latin producer Julio Reyes Copello.

Maria currently resides in Miami with over ten years of experience in recording, mixing, music production, and post-production. Maria works as an independent audio engineer and has worked with a variety of artists, producers, and studios. Including Juanes, Kronos Quartet, Nashville Symphony, Bogata Philharmonic, Fiona Records and more. In 2016, Maria created the independent label South Mountain Music, as a platform to develop and produce fresh music for upcoming artists. Since 2007, Maria has worked as a university professor teaching audio related courses in Colombia, Tennessee, and Florida

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How Can I Get Started?

Music. How can I start being involved in music? I’ve been asked this in some form or another from time to time.

There are lots of things books don’t (or can’t) cover, which is what I’ve tried to talk about in this blog post. But still, it’s worth mentioning that there are tons of books that cover the topics of how to start a band, music business know-how, how to write songs, and how to engineer and mix for records and live settings. Read these books! Take classes on this stuff! Here are some books and courses that made a significant impact on me (you can find these online and at most community colleges):

But listen. There are no books or classes that are going to give you a clear idea of your path. Only YOU can know your path and the only way you can get to know it is to start following it. There will always be more paths to follow, I promise. So, perhaps the real question is, how can I start following my path? Well, here’s what I wish someone had told me. (Or maybe they did, and I was too busy to stop and listen…)

Step 1: Be Obsessed. I got started the way that a lot of musicians do, which is that I was totally enamored. Music. The people making it. The instruments and machines used to make it. Listening intently with my head next to my boombox. Reading every millimeter of CD inserts. Memorizing every word of every interview I could get my hands on.

I never for a moment worried that I would become sick of music. (There are bits and pieces of the industry that drive me nuts, but nothing that doesn’t all go back to issues with capitalism and the patriarchy.)

If music were your job, would you get sick of it?

Step 2: Commit. At some point, you commit to learning more. I picked up the viola in the 4th-grade orchestra. I learned my keys and scales and how to read music. Eventually, I picked up the guitar.

Then you make a commitment to practice. I committed myself to learn to use the guitar in all the ways I wanted to: as a songwriting tool, as an accompaniment to my voice, as an instrument for playing the work of prolific composers, as an essential part of pop and rock music. Practice in all of your free time. Do more of what you love.

Then you make a commitment to expand your knowledge and apply what skills you have. Pick up another instrument, go to music school, play in someone else’s band, intern at a studio, intern at a label, try producing beats and recording your friends, try making your own records and performing them and self-releasing them…

You plant a lot of seeds, and you want all of them to grow up to be big strong trees. But in life, there is always ebb and flow, and sometimes change flows through you without you realizing that it was coming at all. For example, I always wanted to be in a band, and I always thought I would be in a band. It took quite a bit of work, and practice, for me to understand what it means to be a solo artist and how much it truly suits my work style and personality and communication styles. Early on, I tried to have bands. But I didn’t really understand what it meant to be in a band and a bandleader, either! When things didn’t work out, I’d eventually find myself in another situation where I was trying to start a band. Long story short, I had to let go of that seed because it wasn’t really rooting. But another seed was starting to root, and I had to give it a chance at getting strong. I was initially lukewarm about the solo seed, but now I am happy to say I am currently nurturing my solo artist seedling, and it’s beginning to look like a tree!

In summary: Just start. Try harder than you think you can. Learn new stuff. Keep moving.

Step 3: Figure out what matters to you. In the same way, one plants lots of seeds with band configurations and playing instruments, one will do that with their relationship to record making. This stage of musicianship can really irk people. It can be very confusing to have spent most of your life honing your craft as a songwriter, or guitar player, or in a band with your friends, only to leave your first recording session with the feeling that none of your actual ideas got captured. Some version of them got recorded, but now it’s this whole other thing, it doesn’t sound like how we sound when we practice so what now? How do we get the sound that we want? And why do we need a recording anyway? What are we going to do with it again?

Making recordings is as complex as making music, and there are as many styles and applications as there are types of people. (Pair this with the process of marketing yourself, and you have a brain explosion of exponential proportions. Be prepared!)

Even musicians that loathe the recording process often end up making recordings, to help get gigs or just to share with their family and friends. Other musicians love the process but don’t care to become exceptionally good at it, and love experimenting with their growth and evolution as musicians through the medium of recording. Others make artistic statements, others tell stories, others play with sound and stylistic trends and shift cultural boundaries with their work that makes massive ripples. The level of engagement you want to have in your record-making process is totally and completely up to you! If you are interested in the whole process and want to be as involved as possible, you will also need to practice some patience–it’s going to take years to become a skilled expert at every aspect, and patience will help you get there gracefully. Again, do some reading and take some classes. But more importantly, try and learn from people that are already doing it! Watch YouTube videos by the pros, reach out to a recording studio or venue near you, see if you can intern or shadow someone. Be yourself. Be respectful. Be grateful. Stay in touch with people who make you better and treat you well.

Also, you don’t need to be “in the spotlight” if you don’t want to. There are tons of ways to be a musician and/or involved in music that doesn’t require you to be in the spotlight! Studio engineer, front of house engineer, producer, songwriter, instrumentalist, lyricist, arranger, artist manager, live production manager, label staff, A&R for brands.

Step 4: Fail. It’s essential to fail. Through failure, we learn almost everything we were unable to learn in the process of trying. Failure is a test of strength and quality. There is never one way to make your statement as an artist; there is never one way to produce a record, there is never one way to prepare a space for live sound, there is never one way to make something work. Through failure, you will learn everything you (unwittingly) refused to learn the easy way. It’s okay to be wrong. It’s okay to try something another way. It’s okay to admit that it wasn’t your best effort. Even when you have “succeeded” you will fail again, though hopefully with more grace than the first couple times.

Failure is like heartbreak: nothing but time can ease the pain. I’m sorry. Someone had to tell you, and it might as well be me.

Step 5: Return to Step 1

It’s okay to try again! Horseback riders know that when a horse bucks them off that it is imperative that they get back on immediately. They know that if they think too much about the scary feeling of getting bucked off, they will never get back on. Be a horseback rider.

Closing Statement:

Ultimately, to be a musician means bringing music into your life in some way. If you want it to be how you make your living, then it’s going to occupy most of your life. So do yourself a favor and put in some real effort, because you’re the person that’s going to have to deal with you later on! Practice, ask questions, try, embarrass yourself, get better, ALWAYS understand that you can grow and get better, pay your dues, treat other people with respect, keep moving no matter what. As a very wise friend always says to his students: “You get good at what you do.”

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