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Empowering the Next Generation of Women in Audio

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Line Check! Experience Sound Check a Grammy Nominated R&B/Pop Artist

SoundGirls are invited to Experience Sound Check with a Grammy Nominated R&B/Pop Artist

Who: Young women between the ages of 18-26 who are actively pursuing a career in Live Sound Audio and/or concert production.

The experience will focus on Live Sound Mixing, Production Management, Professionalism Practices, and Life as a Tour crew member.

Please Apply here and then send a resume to linecheck@earshotagency.com.

Selected Candidates will be scheduled for a Skype Interview.

Deadline is to Apply is June 1st.

Cities available

Bands are Like Spiders

When I started mixing bands in-house at university I was terrified: I had so much technical stuff to remember, and then I was faced with a bunch of stony-faced strangers who wouldn’t even come and talk to me! They were going to hate me. If I had known then what I know now about interacting with bands (and event organisers, or any kind of client really) those first gigs would have been so much less stressful. It’s easy to forget that not many people outside of our job really understand what the role entails; it’s a bit of a dark art to them. The technical team can make or break a show, and that can make people a bit nervous about us. Once I realised that bands are like spiders: they are, on the whole, more scared of me than I am of them, I could approach things differently.

First off: don’t expect them to come to you! They may be affecting an air of cool by being standoffish, or they may just be shy, or a bit lost because they’ve just got out of the van after an 8-hour journey and are looking for the facilities… Take a deep breath, smile, and go and introduce yourself. Be ready with a pen and paper to note anything you need to know that wasn’t in the advance. The single best piece of advice I’ve ever got for mixing is to write the band members’ names down! If you’re on monitors, write it on their mixes, on FoH on their vocal or instrument channels. It’s such a simple thing, but using their names during soundcheck makes them feel that you really are paying attention, and if someone yells “I need more of Dan in my wedge!”, halfway through a song with no hand gestures, you stand a fighting chance of knowing who and where Dan is. Communicating with them properly from the start will help them to relax so they can concentrate on having a better show. You’re also inviting them to let you know about problems constructively, instead of giving you the silent treatment then complaining after the fact that it sounded bad.

The same applies to any live event: take the initiative to introduce yourself to the client’s point of contact (or ask the head of the technical team to introduce you if that’s more appropriate) and be confident! I come from a background where modesty and talking down your skills is the norm, and confidence is looked down on as boasting, especially if you’re a woman. It took me far too long to understand that people look to the techs for reassurance that the show’s going to go smoothly. You needn’t be arrogant, just be secure in your abilities. Clients often gauge how well things are going by looking to you; the knock-on effects of you appearing happy or worried are definitely noticeable.

When things go wrong, and they will don’t let the confidence fade. Technical issues happen, it’s how you deal with them that’s important. Take a few seconds to assess whether you can fix the problem quickly. If not, it’s time to swallow your pride and let someone know. If you realise you’ve made a mistake don’t ignore it in the hopes, it’ll go away. The earlier you own up to it, the easier it is to deal with. For example, if you’ve forgotten to bring something from the warehouse, you might be able to get it delivered in time for the show if you mention it at 11 am, but you won’t have a chance at 6 pm. You might get teased or worse for it, but it’s much easier to forgive and forget as long as it’s alright in the end. How you deal with problems gets remembered much more than what the problems were.

As engineers, we often tend to shut out the outside world and think only about the signal path when something goes wrong during soundcheck or the show. While it’s great to be focused, taking a minute or two to tell someone else can actually speed up the problem-solving process, or at least prevent a stressed and angry client because the music has stopped and you’re ignoring them. If there’s another sound person there, tell them what’s happening. Two minds are better than one, and at the very least they can go and smooth things over with the band or event organiser while you get on with troubleshooting. It can be very frustrating when an already patronising colleague steps in and “rescues you,” but in the long run, it’s more important that the show goes well than that you were the one who saved the day.

If you’re the only tech, calmly tell whoever’s in charge what’s going on, and roughly how long it will take to fix. No need to waste time on details unless they ask; saying you have a technical issue but you’re working on it is usually enough. Don’t be tempted to tell even a little white lie! You never know who used to be a sound tech in a previous job, and bluffing to them could do you a lot more harm than good. Clients don’t care that an XLR has broken, all they want to know is whether you can fix it, how long it’ll take, and whether it’s likely to happen again. Remember the Scotty principle: overestimate the time you need by at least 25-50% to allow for unforeseen complications. People are much happier if you’re back up and running in 20 minutes when you said half an hour than if you promised them it’d be done in 10 or 15. Don’t waste time apportioning blame either. It’s impossible to look professional while pointing the finger at someone else, even if it was their fault.

There’ll be times where you might think there’s nothing that sharing the problem will do to help, but you never know. Someone might have a quick and simple solution that just didn’t occur to you because you’re stressed or inexperienced, or the event organisers could open the community fair with the sack race and move your band’s set to, later on, buying you precious time. You won’t know until you discuss it. You might be surprised by how willing people are to help if it ensures the success of the show, and makes life easier for that nice sound engineer who was so welcoming and friendly when they first arrived.

 

 

Attachment and Touring

Why you should avoid getting emotionally involved on tour. And how it’s impossible not to.

Whenever anyone asks me what the best piece of advice I can give them about surviving on the road, whether it is as a woman or a man, I immediately say don’t get too emotionally involved with the people you are working for…or, in most cases, with.  It was the first and most important piece of advice my sound engineering mentor gave me before any technical teachings, and it has sat heavy at the heart of all I do for the past 20 years, albeit repeatedly without success. Let’s face it unless you are made of stone it’s virtually impossible advice to follow. However, it’s worth keeping in mind for the sake of your own wellness when embarking upon a life on the road.

I’m not really talking about getting romantically or physically involved. That of course happens, couples hook up all over the touring community with varying levels of good, bad or ugly outcomes but that’s a different blog in itself. Although I would say, it’s fundamentally a bad idea to hook up with your boss…

I’m also not necessarily talking about making friends on tour. We will all make friends for life doing this job, and we all need people who have so much in common; share the upside-down lifestyle; the cash flow or lack thereof; the in-jokes and jargon that no one else will ever understand. The thing is no one has the capacity to find or maintain that connection on every tour, and most people who are your best buddies for months on end on the road, often at best end up as acquaintances with whom you’re ‘friends with on Facebook, or it feels fantastic to share a quick hug within a random muddy field when you haven’t seen a familiar face in six weeks.

Unfortunately, friendships beyond the tour can be especially tricky for women when we are so in the minority. Reaching out to your male co-workers even in the most innocent capacity can raise eyebrows with their or our real-life partners who might not understand the close-knit family vibe of touring. This can make coming home off tour even harder on our mental health than it is for our male counterparts who can go and have a pint with each other no questions asked. It can be a delicate balancing act.

When you’re on tour, it’s hard not to get too close, be ‘family’ and care too much about the artist(s), the band members, the crew, hell even the management. It can confuse the lines between the job and your personal life. Getting too emotionally involved on tour can be really damaging for you and sometimes your career. But when you’ve been away from home for two months solid, and you’ve been through more ups and downs than with any of your ‘real’ friends or real family back home, how on earth is it possible not to feel like family? You’re thrown together 24/7 for weeks, months, or even years at a time, going through the extremes of emotion with the highs and lows of life on the road, the glamour and the not so glamorous, often while negotiating ‘real’ family crises back home. At the very root of it all, life on tour means missing out on a lot of your ‘real friends and family, so you are bound to compensate for this when thrown together in such close proximity to others. The ad-hoc nature of the work can change the way you behave around people, and you can’t help but put your livelihood at the expense of being yourself to fit in and keep the job. This can result in you giving far too much of yourself than is healthy. But the bottom line is that you would have to have a heart of stone to remain emotionally detached and business-like 24/7 in a touring situation and let’s face it, if you somehow managed to, you could get fired for not being enough of a team player.

I often tour one on one with teenage female singer-songwriters. We spend literally hours together solely in each others’ company, driving or flying, eating and drinking every meal together.  You’re not only there to get them from A-B and help them technically through the show, but inevitably to field questions, give advice ultimately often turning into a life coach. In fact, when all is said and done in these situations you often turn in to each others’ life coaches as it ends up working both ways. I worked for many years with an artist over a decade younger than me who I jokingly referred to as ‘the big sister I never had…’ because she was so wise and thoughtful about the various life crises I had from time to time.  It’s such a lovely feeling at the time to have such closeness, and it can feel like being on a big adventure together, but alas, it is ultimately their adventure, and you’re just at work. It’s imperative to keep a healthy outlook and remind yourself that this is just another job otherwise when they turn around and decide they want to work with someone else one, two or ten years later it’s going to feel like getting dumped or divorced, and impossible not to take personally. Unfortunately, this is just another one of the layers of thick skin we need to develop, simultaneously without becoming cold and distant. Impossible? Probably.

So how do you keep a balance, how do you have your own adventure without being left bereft at the end? I have a few ground rules that have helped me over the years. Although I will admit, I have felt pretty lost from time to time when the tour has come to an end, and you wake up in the morning with that feeling of nothing and no one, with no day-sheet to keep you on track or remind you what day it is. I don’t know anyone who tours who hasn’t felt like this at some point, but I will say it gets easier with age. However, that sudden lack of schedule, or familiar faces, even if they annoyed the hell out of you on tour, can unhinge even the most experienced road dogs.

The most useful rule I have made is that major life events aside, you avoid socializing outside of the tour, i.e., once it’s finished and you are based back at home, you simply have to politely make your excuses. This puts a very clear line between the tour relationship, and the ‘real life’ one.

The second piece of advice which is probably the hardest to stick at is that you invest as much energy as possible in your friends and family back home ALL of the time. You might not be around very much; you might have missed every single birthday, wedding, anniversary that there is, but you can still make a maximum effort when you are home. With modern technology: Skype, FaceTime, etc. there is no excuse for not keeping up with everything in each others’  lives when you’re on the road. I also find that when your friends realise that there is this sometimes unhealthy dynamic happening in your work life they often find it easier to relate to you and your haphazardness because it kills that inevitable facade of rock n roll glamour that they once thought you were living in.  I have very been bad at using touring as an excuse to avoid my real-life commitments as it can be like pure escapism, or you can certainly make it that way, but that’s not a route I would recommend. I often want to hide in my house as soon as I come home, but to be honest, socialising and re-rooting yourself into your homeworld once you’re back home is the best kind of decompression you can do.

Making sure everyone is aware of your hobbies and interests outside of touring, and remaining invested in them yourself is another way of keeping a slither of separation because if you have a genuine reason not always to be available to people in the downtime and on days off. It also means you have some consistency between home and tour life and something to throw yourself into when you have downtime back home.

Finally, sometimes, you may find that you have to resign yourself to giving a lot emotionally on a given tour because it’s the only way the dynamic in that particular case is going to work. Some artists are all about family to get themselves through a tour and won’t work with people who don’t fit in with that. The trick is to learn to gauge the situation on a case-by-case basis whilst always being mindful of protecting your own emotional health. It’s really not an easy balancing act. Not everyone can fit into every different touring mold, and it is, of course, a line of work that very much attracts square pegs.

I’ve often thought about this subject as something that might invariably affect women more than men. Clichés and stereotypes are ringing away here but we are ‘traditionally’ regarded as more in tune with our emotions, more empathic, and on a fundamental level, we care too much. Often these are the very traits that make us exactly the kind of people that are good and healthy to be around on tour, but it can also inflict a higher burden upon us and cause touring to be even a more unhealthy lifestyle. Each tour is obviously different and all these aspects have to be very much played by ear so its really one of those things you can only learn to manage through experience, and by taking responsibility for your own wellness, both physically and emotionally and remembering that tour life shouldn’t be your whole life-as hard/impossible as that can be.

Bryony October is UK based FOH sound engineer and tour production manager who also dabbles in radio sound production during downtime. She has been touring for over 20 years. Bryony is currently FOH engineer for multi-platinum selling singer Katie Melua and Ward-Thomas. These days she works almost exclusively with female-fronted acts, not at all by design but down to an increasing demand from such artists and their management for more women in the touring party. She feels strongly however that there is a glass ceiling hanging over FOH sound engineering as there are still so few women working in this role.

10 Ways To Make the Most of the Quiet Season

The end of the year will be here before we know it. December-January is often a bit of a quiet season for the sound industry, so for my last blog for 2017, I’ve put together a list of ten highly recommended activities to make the most of it.

Step away from the faders.

Rest. It’s been a busy year; you need it. Start the next year refreshed, not exhausted.

Get some exercise

…that’s not just running cables. If it’s cold on your side of the planet, wrap up appropriately and remind yourself what weather feels like. If it’s warm, sit in the sun and take the fluorescent edge off your studio tan

Be an audience member

Watch a play, see your favourite band, take in a film without trying to analyse the convolution reverb. Take your sound ears off for a bit and remember what it feels like to just enjoy a great piece of art.

Do a career stocktake

Look back at the work you’ve done this year. Which projects took you closer to your career goals? Which ones took you further away from your goals? Which were a side-step? Use this to figure out what kind of work you want to do more and less. Maybe you’ll find it’s time for a brand new set of goals altogether.

Have a bit of a tidy-up

The quiet season is a perfect time to do the tedious but essential maintenance that you put off when you were busy with tours and projects. Software upgrades, backups and archiving, PAT tests, clean-ups, and clear-outs. Start the new year with something resembling a tidy studio/working space and a clean system.

Get educated

Dust off that online course, podcast series or webinar that you never quite got around to watching. Time spent investing in your skills is never time wasted.

Polish up your portfolio

If it’s been a while since you updated your CV or your showreel isn’t showcasing your very best work, you’ll need a refresh. If you’re planning to target a different area of the industry, or a different country, in the new year, make sure you have a portfolio that’s tailored accordingly. Resources for Resumes and Social Media

Say thank you

If you have a mentor, remarkable colleague or someone who’s given you a great opportunity this year, this is a perfect time to say thank you and tell them how much you value their support. It’s simple, it doesn’t have to cost much (or anything), and it will be appreciated.
Indulge in some celebrations

Reflect on your achievements and take a moment to acknowledge what you’ve learned and created. You’ve done good work, and you deserve to celebrate it. Glass of seasonal refreshment is recommended.

On behalf of the UK SoundGirls Chapter, thanks to all our members for being part of our SoundGirls community this year. Cheers to the year to come!

Recommended Reading

Surviving the Slow Season

Live Fast, Stay Young

 

From Stage to FOH – Alice Wilder

Alice Wilder is a Front Of House engineer based out of New York City. She currently works for M.I.A., Wolf Parade, and Austra, and has done FOH for Foxygen, Divine Fits, Tinashe, The Drums, and Diana amongst others, as well as monitors for Third Eye Blind. When she is not on the road, she can be found mixing records in her home studio or working as FOH at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Alice grew up in Muncy, Pennsylvania, where she developed a passion for music in high school.  She went to college to study accounting, but after three years in the program realized she couldn’t see herself working in that field. She dropped out in 2006 and moved across the country to Seattle.

Once on the west coast, she started playing guitar in local bands. Alice realized she didn’t particularly enjoy being on stage and decided to focus on finding a way to be involved in the behind-the-scenes of the music industry. She started interning as a sound engineer in local live sound venues. It didn’t take long for her to get hired on as a monitor engineer at Neumos. Around that time, she had also started working at The Comet Tavern, a barebones, 16-channel analog board small venue where she refined her signal flow skills: “I would go in early, and see how everything worked. I couldn’t see (the signal flow) at Neumos, but at The Comet, I could see how the cables went out into amps and then into monitors, really understand the routing.”

Alice is a self-taught engineer and credits her interning and first gigs in Seattle with showing her the ropes of being a sound technician. She learns best through trial and error and mentions she follows her gut when mixing.

In 2009, she went on her first tour as FOH in Europe for Seattle band Grand Archives.  “I don’t think they wanted to bring me; I think I actually had to persuade them to bring me. My ex-girlfriend was opening for them, and I was in her band, and that was kind of the transition for me: I was opening for (Grand Archives), and then I would go and do sound, and I preferred doing sound. I think that was a determining year for me – I realized I did not want to be on stage anymore, get me off of here, I can’t wait to do sound!”

She worked at Neumos until 2011 when she started touring extensively with Toronto dance-electronic band Austra.  She met the band after working with them at Seattle’s block party, in 2011, and they were so impressed with her skills that they brought her on as their touring FOH. She has since found more clients, by networking at festivals after receiving compliments on her mixes or being referred to other bands through some of her current employer’s management. Her main touring gigs in 2017 are M.I.A. and Wolf Parade.

Alice’s favourite parts of touring are: “seeing/exploring places I wouldn’t normally think to go to or spend money on going to.  Meeting people from different parts of the world and experiencing the food they eat with them is fun.  This is about all the time you have on tour.”  Her least favourite parts of touring are not having enough time to visit a new town or place, not getting enough sleep and shared hotel rooms. On an off day, you’ll find her visiting local cemeteries: “I like to try to do non-touristy type things, as most people do now I think.  My favourite thing to do is visit graveyards.  I know it sounds dark, but really it’s just nice to get the peace and quiet whenever possible on tour, “smell the roses,” if you will.  The Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris is wonderful.”

When she’s not on the road, Alice has gotten into studio mixing. Although she is currently most comfortable in the live sound world, she is working on her engineering skills whenever possible: “anytime I have a day off, I’m on YouTube watching tutorials or buying plugins, or speakers or gear. I’m just trying to learn as much as possible.” She mixed Austra’s latest album, Future Politics, and is currently mixing projects for Petra Glynt and Caveboy.

In live sound, Alice’s favourite pieces of gear are outboard delay units and the Waves C6 multi-band compressor. In the studio, she currently likes Slate plugins and their monthly subscription service, which gives you access to all their products for a flat fee. She describes their plugins as very transparent and is a fan of using their EQ’s and compressors on busses when mixing in her studio.

Regarding her long-term mixing goals, she would love to one-day mix FOH for Beyoncé or Lady Gaga. She has a soft spot for working for female artists and loves helping or assisting women with elevating their music career in a male-dominated industry. She would also love to be on a tour with bigger production, where she would have her choice of mixing consoles & PA. Her long-term studio goals are to get into producing and to mix more records.

When asked about her must-have audio engineering skills, Alice states that knowing signal flow and having a good ear are crucial: “ultimately, you have to have a good ear and know how to mix if you want to have this job. You can’t just go in and start assigning compressors and slam everything. Knowing when to be dynamic, knowing what the band wants to sound like, and knowing how to translate that for them to the audience.”

The biggest barriers she has faced while touring have been “speedy line checks, communication problems and bitter house engineers,” which she has dealt with by “being a composed professional and making stuff happen however I can.” She also recalls this story: “one time, in New Orleans, the sound guy didn’t show up to work, and so the bartender pointed at a closet where he thought all the audio stuff was.  I ended up setting up the entire sound system, including the desk and wired everything together.  That was fun.  Luckily it was on one of my very first tours, so I had the drive to pull it all together. I’ve definitely had to deal with a ton of “mansplaining” too of course.  I take those instances with a grain of salt now and just rise above the silliness. Getting angry only makes you more exhausted and doesn’t help the situation.  I’ve learned how to have fun with it now, but it certainly wasn’t in the beginning.

She offers this advice to young women looking to enter the field: “there are a lot of ups and downs and bumps in the road, but if you stick with it, it’s a very fun career choice. More and more women are entering the scene, so the condescending/belittling attitudes are diminishing, and equality is happening. We need women in this field.  We need the balance, the talent, and the brains.  It’s an awesome job!”

You can find more information about Alice and her current mixing projects on her website alicewildersound.com

Standard Brazilian P.A. Mix for DVD Recording

In our past blog, Live Recording of a DVD of Setanejo, my colleague Karen Avila went through the crazy process of Brazilian DVDs. Although she was specifically referring to the ‘sertanejo’ style, most Brazilian artists record a DVD before going on tour. We only get one day of live recording. Also, some new singles are recorded live on that day, to promote the ‘DVD tour.’

We usually record the sound/light/video check, with cameras in positions that would be impossible to do with the public. Then, we record the show with the public and re-do some songs at the end. It works fine, but we have to mix the P.A. with the recording in mind.

Over the years I’ve been the DVD P.A. mixer, but also the studio mixer and editor. I’ve developed some procedures – some are my own, some that I have learned from more experienced colleagues – in order to have a good P.A. mix without compromising the recording.

Overall volume and alignment of the P.A., front-fill, subwoofer, and delays:

Most DVDs are not recorded in open areas because it is safer concerning weather variations. On the other hand, acoustics are always a problem here. The house mix is usually not centered because it is more important to have open space in the middle for the audience and cameras.

Because of these conditions, I always prefer a digital console, which can be controlled through Wi-Fi. It is better that the P.A. console is not the one being used for recording but, depending on the budget, it will be FOH, monitors, and recording…

FOH not centered – Digital console, Wi-Fi controlled

The volume has to be high enough for the crowd to be excited and reach them even when they are screaming the song. Brazilians usually sing all the lyrics during the whole song, together with the band (I think this is a Latin phenomenon). But it cannot be too high, so it doesn’t mess up the ambience microphones. We want to clearly catch the crowd screaming. It is the same for delays all over the room.

Front-fill is a solution and a problem. I usually only put vocals and solo instruments on the front-fill in this type of mix. And I do not put any effects on the front. The best crowd is always the one near the stage. They need to hear the singers, but we have to be careful in case we have some editing, studio overdub or auto-tuning to do afterward. All high frequencies tend to be reflected back to the stage and mess up the ambience mics. I do not use a lot of hi-hat and overheads, nor high-frequency percussion on the mix.

For the front-fill, I use an HPF. I need it to complete the Main Stereo. It doesn’t have to sound really, really nice. It is usually on an aux send or matrix send

 

I cut the subwoofer at 80Hz because it is easy to cut this out from the crowd in the mix. I use it a lot. It saves me when we don’t have too much volume, but we need the crowd to jump and dance. I only send the instruments that I want to excite the crowd to the subwoofer; like the kick drum, the electronic stuff, and the bass. It is usually on an aux send or matrix send. We must be very careful to have the subwoofer outside the stage, or in an end-fired or cardioid arrangement.

 

I like to duplicate the voice with some parallel compression, to make it powerful but not too high. I need a strong de-esser because of the above-mentioned high-frequency issue in the P.A.

As for effects, unfortunately, I must use very little. For example, I cannot do crazy long effects or delay rides. Usually, I prefer to use a short modulated-delay (in eighth-note), a medium stereo-delay (in quarter-note) instead of reverb. If you don’t put a lot of feedback in them, they will be wonderful esthetic allies. I also use a little overdrive in some of the instruments, but especially in vocals, to add presence, since I don’t have analog gear in general.

 

Basically, this is it. I’m constantly in touch with the recording suite, so they are always giving me feedback about P.A. leak in the recording. If we are always working as a team with artists, monitor/recording/P.A., lights and video, it will come out just fine.

Florencia Saravia-Akamine has over 20 years dedicated exclusively to audio, whether in the studio or live. Today, she centered her activities in the areas of “live sound” and recording, editing, and mixing for broadcasting. (This has changed through the years and will probably keep on changing every day.

More on Florencia Saravia-Akamine at Pro Audio Clube

Riding the Roller Coaster of Live Sound – Rena Kozak

Rena Kozak is a FOH engineer and tour manager based out of Calgary, Canada. She has always had an interest in arts and has played in numerous Calgary bands as well as studied painting and drawing at University before becoming a sound engineer.  

A talented dancer, Rena was studying ballet at the University of Calgary in 2002 when she injured her foot. Unsure if she would be able to dance again, she considered alternate career paths. A friend of hers, Josh Gwilliam (current chief engineer at OCL Studios in Alberta) suggested she look into the audio recording course at the Academy of Production and Recording Arts in Calgary. By a stroke of luck, Rena’s father had just given her $5,000, a bonus from his job as assistant coach of the Canadian women’s hockey team after they won the 2002 Olympic gold. The audio engineering program cost exactly that amount, and Rena enrolled. After graduating, she began working at a recording studio but found the work of recording commercials to be monotonous.

Instead of pursuing more studio work, Rena interned with an electrical engineer and learned to fix analog equipment.  In 2005, this electrical engineer recommended her as FOH for the musical Guys and Dolls. She recounts: “it was an insane opportunity in retrospect, a 24 person cast with a full orchestra… people work for decades to break into that kind of work. It was a crazy stroke of luck. I never thought I would like live sound, it seemed so intimidating, but it was exhilarating to take my knowledge and apply it in the moment to tell a story to an audience.”

After the musical had ended, Rena got a job with a local production company Sound Art, working on shows and maintaining gear in their shop. In 2007, she did a national tour as a monitor engineer for a dance show that featured a live band. Rena felt the road wasn’t for her and found that touring took away her ability to create music or art. She took a house gig in 2008, as house engineer for Mac Ewan Hall.  child_actress

In 2012, her boyfriend passed away suddenly. After grieving, Rena found that she was in a different place mentally: “I wanted fewer physical attachments. I didn’t know where I wanted to live, I didn’t want possessions, I didn’t want to attempt to have a lifestyle that resembled anything permanent for a while so I approached the boys in Preoccupations  – who were called Viet Cong at the time and are long time friends – about using me as their touring FOH.”

Preoccupations agreed to hire her, and Rena found herself thriving as a touring FOH. She has worked as FOH for Operators (Montreal), did a run of festival dates with Holy Ghost! (Brooklyn) and even had the chance to fill in on monitors for Beirut for a couple of shows, which she describes as a career highlight.

Operators

Operators

Although she enjoys being on stage, she has realized she likes touring as an engineer more than as a musician. She thrives on mixing the same show every day and enjoys the challenge of having to work in different rooms.  Rena notes that touring can be a psychological roller coaster: it is hard to get to know new people and sharing tight spaces like a van or bus can be taxing. To offset the stress, she tries to eat well and do as much hotel room yoga as possible.

Her favourite piece of gear is her old TAC Scorpion recording console, which she is slowly re-soldering and fixing. In a live setting, Rena likes using guitar pedals as live mix effects – on the fall Preoccupations tour, she was running a couple of FX chains for vocals and drums, in the hopes of recreating the album’s sound. She hopes to get other gigs that allow her to be as creative with equipment.

Regarding must-have skills, Rena believes a willingness to do whatever it takes to get the show done is crucial.  “This job is mostly problem-solving – whether it’s solving the actual technical problems with the sounds themselves or repairing broken equipment or figuring out how to safely get the gear through a mud puddle into the venue. There is no problem that cannot be solved; you just haven’t found the solution yet.”

It’s also important to have a solid technical understanding. Knowing how the physics of sound works, knowing how your gear functions and why, understanding the equipment and systems in detail – these things are so important to achieving a good product. The more you know about your tools the better you will be at manipulating them. It can be easy to get by without knowing details – a lot of people work for a long time with very little knowledge, but reading up and building a foundation of knowledge is what will set you apart.”

rena_bass-with-shematomas

Rena’s long-term goals are to keep touring as a FOH, and to work on her own artistic projects. She has recently finished recording and mixing her first solo record (under the name Child Actress) and is looking forward to writing more music.  You can find her on the road with Preoccupations in 2017.

Rena shares some words of advice on the barriers she has faced as a woman in the audio industry, and how to overcome them.

“I’ve been tremendously lucky to have had an exceptional amount of support from so many people I’ve worked with. Of course I’ve faced the obvious challenge of being a girl. While it’s never prevented me from landing good jobs or enjoying my work, more often than not it has absolutely been a factor.

Fortunately, I had a lot of very real support. A lot of dudes who were well respected in the business saw my passion for it and believed I knew what I was doing gave me work and helped me learn and progress. I don’t think most people are as lucky to have as much support as I received.

That being said, it’s been a constant issue. It feels funny answering this question right now because of how I’ve continued to struggle with being female at work even in these last two months. From the guy who wants to carry my case for me (fine, you want to help but it’s my case, it isn’t even heavy, I don’t need you to look after me we are peers here) to the old house sound guy who tries to tell me how to EQ my wedges until I demonstrate to him how my EQ curve was actually cleaner than his, to the TM who makes side comments about not liking “having to listen to a woman”. It isn’t gone. I’ve been at this for nearly 15 years and it’s still there. But, it’s better. There are more of us, and things are changing.

I have always been great at handling the old-school sound guy personality type. I’m great with a quick joke and talking to them like I am their equal. I’m rarely intimidated, and I’m quick to win most of them over with my personality.

I’ve also recently found I’ve needed to deal with my own internalization of systemic sexism. Trying to remain calm and remind myself why I love this work and that I deserve to be here doing it, and trying my best not to react with anger as much as possible. I am very actively working on this right now, trying to be Zen and maintain confidence at all times. I find the best way of thinking about it is to remind myself that I have to COMMAND respect and not DEMAND respect. Don’t get angry, just be confident and execute your work as perfectly as you know-how and this will generate respect from your peers.

Do you have advice for women and other young people who wish to enter the field?

“Do not be intimidated by anyone. You have as much or more right to be there as anyone else.

And for those who are just beginning and feeling intimidated by the equipment or the technical side of it, shake that off and remember that you are capable of comprehending anything technical – and remind yourself of some of the sound guys you’ve met along the way.They aren’t all geniuses, are they? If they can do it even just a little, you can do it epically well. 

And call me up! I love to teach; I’m happy to take on any ladies who want to apprentice or just ask questions.”

You can contact Rena and find out more about her upcoming projects through her website

From the Mosh Pits of Orange County – Whitney Olpin

hdotd2015Whitney Olpin has been working in Live Sound for the last six years, working as an Independent monitor engineer and stage manager. She has spent the last year touring with Fitz and the Tantrums. Based in Los Angeles, when she is not on the road she picks up local work through Live Nation.

Whitney grew up in Utah and took part in church and school choirs as well as the internationally recognized Salt Lake Children’s Choir. She would teach herself piano at age 12. Whitney says she was always interested in music but growing up in Salt Lake her exposure to music was limited. “In middle school, my family moved from Salt Lake City to California, and I suffered complete culture shock. I went from being a Mormon raised, Mariah Carey listening kid to living in mosh pit loving Orange County, CA”.

Whitney remembers during the early 2000s when she was in high school that Orange County had the best alternative music scene –

“It consumed my life, all music — all the time. We’d pile into cars and drive to shows all over Southern California. Sometimes we didn’t even know who was playing. This was before smartphones or iPads; there was no Googling the set times or previewing bands on Spotify first. That wasn’t what it was about. It was about the scene, the music, and the experience. I’d be in the crowd waiting for the next band to start just watching all the techs setting up and checking microphones, etc. I’d see them outside loading the van, talking about where they were going and where they’d been. I made a lot of friends that played in bands locally. I think the first ‘gig’ I ever had might have been loading their drum kits into their trucks or carrying a guitar or two. I just wanted to be part of the action. If it hadn’t been for that music scene, I wouldn’t have all these tattoos, and I’d probably have been a lawyer by now. Sorry, Mom”.whitneyleigh

After high school, Whitney would go on to attend college in Orange County. She enrolled as a music major and took a few basic electronics and tech classes for fun. She realized quickly that tech was more her speed and transferred to an audio engineering program in Massachusetts. During this time, she would strike up a friendship with someone who worked at a local theatre, he would recommend her to the local sound company, where she would start working and interning. She also worked as a bartender, a runner, and stage-hand, and sold merch in the local punk/metal scene.

The venues were full of vintage analog gear that would break all the time, and this taught Whitney to be incredibly resourceful. She also learned how small the touring world is, seeing a lot of the same engineers coming through over and over. This allowed her to make some strong connections and friends, a few that she remains in touch with and hits up often for their “Ninja Skills.”

whitfohAfter college, Whitney would move back to Los Angeles and start working at various local venues including the House of Blues Sunset and Saint Rocke. This is where she would learn digital boards and spend a lot of time mixing house and monitors. She was also introduced to mixing new genres Pop, Reggae, Jazz, Country, Hip Hop, Gospel and Acoustic acts. “The House of Blues Sunset was notorious for doing underplays, so I got the opportunity to mix for a lot of big-name artists. It was challenging and exciting”. At Saint Rocke, she would meet sound engineer Grace Royse. A few months later Grace would call asking her to fill in on a gig with Fitz and the Tantrums.

melodygardotpiano

Melody Gardot Piano

Whitney would hit the road for the first time in the fall of 2015, as a monitor engineer for blues and jazz musician Melody Gardot. “Melody insisted on picking up a different piano in each city for her to play on that night. We never knew what style we would get, and with so many live instruments on stage, that tour kicked my butt. Every place we went, I would sit down and play, move mics, phase reverse, eq, etc. until the piano sounded as natural in the monitors as possible. I can mic that instrument like nobody’s business now! But most importantly, I learned the subtle art of annoying the FOH engineer to death with Journey piano covers. Epic”.

She would move from that tour to Sublime with Rome, where she would work with Grace Royse at FOH. “Switching from jazz to punk was a whirlwind in the best way. I grew up in punk and metal clubs, so this tour felt a lot more like home. The bond between the band and crew is family strong; in fact, I still think that camp is one of the best around”. (Meet the Women Running Sound for Sublime for Rome)

Since then it has been a whirlwind of shows and tours for Whitney. She has done local and fly dates with Dirty Heads as TM/ME, FOH for SWR, and ME for Toni Braxton. She also has mixed monitors for Ms. Lauryn Hill. Whitney’s favorite thing about touring is Learning. “Every time I go out on the road I come face to face with all the technical things I have and haven’t mastered yet. You just can’t get it all from working in a club. I enjoy learning from other engineers on tour and asking their opinions”.

She also loves traveling and finds waking up in a different city invigorating. At the same time, she dislikes the lack of sleep, eating mystery food every day and being away from loved ones. On days off she likes to find a local hiking spot or drops in on a fitness class.

“When I first got started I remember hearing a lot of warnings from other people, like get out of this industry while you still can’ and stories of smelly 15-hour plane rides, sweaty summer tours, overnight load-ins, etc. So I think it’s important to for me write about what keeps the fire burning when the gig gets tough”.

Warped Tour 2011

Warped Tour 2011

“I remember one of the first shows I mixed monitors for; it was on Warped Tour, on a local stage in Boston, MA. It started pouring rain, and all the other stages shut down, but our stage was totally covered with tarps, so the singer looked at me like, ‘fuck it, I’m gonna keep going.’ So I ran out, flipped all the wedges over, and they kept playing. Since all the other stages were closed, all the fans started following the music to our stage. Suddenly this little no-name hardcore band had hundreds of spectators and kids moshing in the mud. I still think back to that moment– this band did it with no monitors in the pouring rain because they love this shit”.

“Sometimes shows don’t go perfectly; mistakes happen, it rains, whatever. I make it a point during every show to breathe and take a minute to take it all in. I take a look out at the crowd and see these fans just losing their minds. I was just like them. I’m still just like them. When times get tough, I remind myself that I got into this for a reason and I’ll keep going for that same reason. Never lose sight”.

Whitney keeps her skills up to date by attending trainings and seminars completing training for Midas, SSL, Soundcraft and Rational Acoustics. She also reads audio books when she has time. She is fascinated by how large-scale events are produced and feels it important to understand it from the production side and touring side. Her future goals include moving into bigger tours with larger productions. She wants to learn more about audio systems, and as much as she loves mixing, she would like to move into system teching.

What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?

For me, the biggest obstacle has been juggling multiple jobs while building my career. It was scary to walk away from a steady bartending job of eight years, a job I relied upon almost my entire adult life. I used to say it supported my audio addiction.

How have you dealt with them?

In 2014 I quit my bartending job. I was beginning to get more sound gigs and just couldn’t handle the scheduling nightmare anymore. Plus the more audio I did, the more I realized I had outgrown bartending. I didn’t realize it then, but all the years I spent behind the bar would actually make me a better engineer. It taught me fundamental skills like multitasking, maintaining a sense of urgency, speed, and communication.

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

I don’t really look at myself as a ‘female audio engineer.’ I just think of myself as an engineer. However, I can’t ignore the blaring fact that  women make up just a small fraction of this industry both on and off stage. With advances in technology and social media, I think the general public is becoming more aware of live sound engineers. When I get fans asking to take a photo of me at the monitor console after the show because ‘they never see women mixing’ then I know there’s a problem. I’ve straight up had a male engineer tell me thinks girls can’t mix and we can’t hang. I still laugh thinking about it. Haters, unfortunately, are a part of life. I just think of it as fuel for the fire.

My advice for women is the same as it would be for men. Be prepared to work hard and from the bottom up. Get a job at a local venue or studio and be persistent about wanting to move up the ladder. Learn everything you can from everyone you can. Also, “Fake it ‘til you make it” never worked for me. Don’t let your pride get in the way of asking dumb questions. That’s how you learn. It’s amazing how far, “Hey, your mix sounds great. What are you doing on that vocal effect?” goes over. We’re all nerds at heart, and from my experience, we all love to geek out about it; use that to your advantage.

When the time comes, don’t be afraid to accept or reach for gigs that intimidate you. I’m not going to pretend I wasn’t apprehensive about some of the shows I’ve mixed, but some of them led to more significant opportunities. I’m still trying to master the art of not psyching myself out. I’ve been in multiple situations where an engineer couldn’t make the show, and I got to mix, which in turn led to future gigs. Don’t let self-doubt hold you back.

Must have skills?

Signal flow, signal flow, signal flow. Cable management. Maintaining composure. Attention to detail. A strong sense of self-awareness. People skills. A sense of humor. Integrity. As a monitor engineer specifically, having the ability to gain and maintain an artist’s trust is paramount.

Favorite gear?

I’ve admittedly never been much of a gear head. I learned on the basis of ‘make it work with what you have,’ but there are a few pieces I really can’t live without. One is RF coordination software (currently I use Vantage and Shure Wireless Workbench) and a good spectrum analyzer (I tour with an RF Venue Rackpro and a handheld RF Explorer). No kidding, there have been shows I couldn’t have gotten through without them. Also my JH Roxanne In-Ear Monitors. They have an adjustable bass feature and sound better than any other IEMs I’ve tried. The cables are also easy to repair on the fly if need be.

Parting Advice:

Whitney’s offers this advice to those wanting to go into audio I knew early on that I wanted to go to school for music technology but had trouble finding a good fit, program wise. I think society imposes this idea that you need to get a degree, so I shied away from anything that didn’t offer one. In retrospect, I wish I hadn’t. When anyone asks me what I think of audio schools I tell them what one of my engineer friends said to me once, “ You could’ve bought a console with that money!” That has always stuck. He’s right. Look, I’m not saying school isn’t important. Just be wise in what you choose. Maybe take a workshop and see if it really interests you before you jump in. I believe strongly in music performance and electronics degrees, but audio engineering can be learned on the job. I got book smart in school and street smart at the venue. There’s no reason you can’t do both economically”

Everyone’s journey in audio is different, and opportunities arise when you least expect them. My best advice is whatever path you choose, make sure you live every moment. Get the most out of every relationship and connection you make along the way. I’ve been doing audio for only six years now, but not once has someone looked at my resume. I would be ignorant to say I’ve gotten to where I am all on my own. I’ve always gotten gigs by endorsement from someone I know who has a little faith in me. Trust me when I say it counts to call and check in with the people who were there from the beginning. The ones that make you re-wrap all your cables because you do it wrong, or call you out because your mix sucks. Embrace the tough love. It might sting in the moment, but they are preparing you for the battles ahead. There are a few of these engineers in my life that I will always look up to. They are constantly setting the bar higher and higher. Surround yourself with people that inspire you, and you can do great things.

We caught up with Whitney in August of 2019:

Since talking about her touring in the original interview, she continued to tour with other acts like Sofi Tukker, X Ambassadors and Walk the Moon. She currently mixes monitors at the iHeartRadio Theater in Burbank and production manages for Live Nation Clubs & Theaters in Los Angeles.

SoundGirls.Org Supports City of Terrace Girls Empowerment Initiative with Live Sound Workshop

SoundGirls.Org is honored to support the City of Terrace Library’s Girl Empowerment initiative to inspire girls and young women and ensure that all young people reach their full potential.

SoundGirls.org presents a concert production workshop for teens. Attendants will participate in a variety of roles in concert preparation and even mix music for a live band. CALICO the band has volunteered their time to come help us.

The workshop will take place on

SoundGirls members that would like to volunteer to work the event – please contact us at soundgirls@soundgirls.org

unspecifiedCALICO the band is Kirsten Proffit and Manda Mosher. Kirsten & Manda came from individual singer/songwriter careers until Calico brought them together. As powerful as each is individually, an undeniable magic occurs when their writing and voices come together. It’s at the heart of their debut album, Rancho California, which is replete with singularly strong songwriting chops, rich harmonies, and a pervasive Americana passion. Like the expansive spirit of Laurel Canyon that spawned so many famous bands and artists, now comes this new spirit, rooted in the vast valleys and canyons of L.A.

Calico stands for California country, and also for the cat that appeared at Manda’s door one dark night, and a ghost town about halfway between L.A. and Vegas. It’s in the gentle mystery of that cat, and in that dusty stretch of desert that their music starts, haunted by Western ghosts of the past, but gentle with modern spirits, too, all blown together like tumbleweeds towards the big city. Calico is about that eternal place where the big city meets that lonely desert, where the freeways converge at the ocean. It’s about timeless roots music; it’s about voices singing in harmony.

 

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