Empowering the Next Generation of Women in Audio

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Career Paths in Film and TV Sound: Stories of Tenacity

This past fall, I took part in a panel put together by SoundGirls, and hosted by Sony Studios, called Career Paths in Film and TV Sound. SoundGirls, if you haven’t heard of them, is an amazing non-profit organization whose mission is to inspire and empower the next generation of women in audio. Furthermore, they strive to create a supportive community for women in audio and music production, providing the tools, knowledge, and support to further their careers. Despite their women-focused mission, SoundGirls is not only for women. In fact, their membership is open to anyone with a desire and drive to succeed in professional audio, and their membership is currently 65% women and 35% men. They put on a lot of really amazing events, so no matter who you are, you should check them out.

Before I tell you all of the awesomeness that happened during this panel, let me get something out of the way. I know that the internet is a dark place where unanswered questions sometimes fester. So, I’m going to tell you all of the things that this panel wasn’t—just so we’re all clear. It wasn’t a gripe-fest about all of the trials and tribulations that we faced while being part of the 5% of the audio workforce which is comprised of women. It wasn’t a “safe space” to get really girly and gab about our kids, boyfriends, or spouses. It absolutely WAS NOT a chance to prop up some ladies who are at the top of their lady game, but not quite cutting it out there in the real world of pro audio.

No, this was a kickass panel with audio professionals from all different backgrounds, with all different backstories and insights, who are at the top of their game. We talked about what drew us to the sound profession in the first place. We talked about working our way up with unerring drive and determination from the machine room, the tape vault, the intern desk. We talked about staying all night to observe mixers and read manuals. This was a panel about tenacity. And it just happened to be led by women.


The Panelists

Let me introduce you to the audio professionals involved.

Onnalee Blank

During the panel, Onnalee told her personal story of being a professional ballerina with the New York City Ballet. She was injured and had to turn to a new career. She brought the same tenacity of spirit that took her to the top of the ballet world to her career in sound. She began assisting Rick Ruben, moved on to work with Johnny Cash and Danny Elfman, and she is currently a re-recording mixer at Formosa. She has mixed Girls, Black Sails, and Game of Thrones. She has won five CAS Awards and four Emmys, not to mention her countless other nominations.

Karol Urban

Karol was legally blind as a child, until the age of five, when she underwent an operation to correct her vision. While her sight was impaired, sound was a huge part of how she identified the world around her. She spoke about being a young sound-focused student in the south, who got her start in front of house. She went on to undergraduate school for post-production sound. Karol is the re-recording mixer for Grey’s Anatomy, New Girl, Scandal, among numerous other television series and films. Shortly after this panel, she was elected as the President of the Cinema Audio Society.

April Tucker

April is truly a “Jill of all trades” as the moderator, Anne Marie Slack, pointed out. She currently works as a supervising sound editor, re-recording mixer, foley mixer, ADR mixer, and music editor. April thought that she wanted to be a classical violinist, but soon realized that she was more passionate when behind the console as a scoring mixer. After receiving her master’s degree, April moved to LA and posted Craig’s List ad to meet other audio professionals, and those connections have brought her contractor work in every facet of the industry of post-production sound. She has worked as the re-recording mixer on The Bachelor, music editor on Transparent, and ADR mixer on Conspiracy.

Kate Finan (me!)

My passions as a student were clarinet, math, and physics. When planning my future, I assumed I would have to choose between my interests. But, then I was inspired by a fellow student who went to college for sound recording technology. As soon as I found out that I could get a bachelor of science degree in sound from within a music conservatory, I was hooked. After college, I moved to LA and never looked back. As you all know, I now own Boom Box Post with Jeff and work as a supervising sound editor and re-recording mixer on several animated television series.


Watch the Panel


Listen to it in Podcast form from Tonebenders

Just in case you’re more of a podcast person, check out the panel on Tonebenders. This edited-down version starts with a special interview with April Tucker who gives context to the conversation by first discussing all of the amazing things that the SoundGirls organization has on its docket.

 

An Interview with Shawn Holden, CAS

Originally published in the CAS Quarterly Magazine, Fall 2017. Written by Devendra Cleary, CAS.

Shawn Holden, CAS

Shawn Holden, CAS

I was really excited to take on this assignment and speak to Shawn Holden. To do a bio on a heavy-hitting production sound mixer like her is an immense privilege. She is someone I’ve known for a long time and have a great deal of respect for.

We first met when she hired me to boom a short film called In the Morning, in 2005. And for how long I’ve known Shawn and the fact that we interface often, attend the same industry functions, serve on the Board of Directors of Local 695 together, I was embarrassed by how little I really knew about her and her amazing history in this business. I sat down with her at Tart in West Hollywood for a couple of hours. If it wasn’t for the fact that her next appointment for that day was to go buy a SECOND (!) Aaton Cantar X3 (no big deal), I could have chatted her up for several hours more.

Tell me about your roots and early history—before you entered “the biz.”
For the most part, I grew up in Oklahoma. My dad, with his job, we moved around until about the summer before fourth grade. And we landed in a small town of 25,000 people. Then I went to the University of Oklahoma. There were lots and lots of friends, we always had a band, we all played musical instruments. There was a lake nearby. You know, lots of time on the water. And I used to take a lot of pictures. And that’s what I went to school for. I was going to be a set still photographer.

You had that specificity of occupation in your head already?

I did and I knew I wanted to work [as a still photographer] in the movies or TV. I didn’t know what or how but I was really into photography. When I was older, I had a darkroom in my house. And that’s what I wanted to do.

There were a couple of movies that came through our hometown and I’d go and hang out and just watch. On one movie, I drove up to the gate and told them I was with the caterer. It was way out in the country and they were doing this big stunt. So I just hung around and ended up chatting up the really cute stunt guys. They told me how to do different things, [like] using the parking brake to do 180s and all the car stuff. I was already riding horses, riding motorcycles, riding unicycles, water skiing, snow skiing, you know, all the things that I was already doing, they needed. So they said, “Yeah, you gotta come to LA!” But in reality, I knew that was never going to happen. I went to the University of Oklahoma with a motion picture major to be a set still photographer.

About halfway through the curriculum, there was an opportunity to either go radio-TV-film or stay in motion picture. The University of Oklahoma—motion picture major? Yeah, not really well-known for its film school. But it’s become a good journalism school. What I did end up doing—I took a lot of classes in photography, the journalism department, as well as the art school. I went ahead and changed to radio-TV-film because I knew the opportunities were smarter. So I was doing an internship in Oklahoma City at a TV station. And there was a TV show called PM Magazine. It was like one of the first news magazine shows. You get a reel (from San Francisco, which I think was the base) and you had to fill the rest of the time with your local standup people or local stories that you produce. So by the time I left there, I was writing, shooting, producing, editing, and doing sound. It was [just] one of the many things I was doing there.

The head news photographer knew me at the station. They hired me after my internship and I worked about a year-and-a-half and then got laid off with about 10 other people. I decided to move to Dallas because they had built these stages. And it was going to be the third coast and all this stuff was going on. So, of course, I called everybody I knew—which was not many people —when I moved to Dallas. And one of the people was Darrell Barton, a cameraman. And out of the blue one morning, he called me and said, “Get to the airport as fast as you can.” In Mexico City, there had been a big earthquake. “Don’t pack. Don’t do anything. Just get to the airport.” So me being a dumb kid, I did exactly that. He said, “We’re just going to fly down, get there, and then we’re going to come fly back with the tape.” The tape! This is how long ago. “We’ll throw the tape over the fence if we have to.” So we did. Got on a little Learjet and flew to Acapulco where our pilots knew some air traffic control guys that they could bribe to let us into the Mexican airspace. Got to Mexico City—and I was working with Dan Rather! I was a network news sound technician. And that was that.

Shawn working hard at the top of the Hotel Artemis which looks a lot like the top of the Rosslyn. Photo: Matt Kennedy

Was that the first time you considered yourself with that title officially?
That was the first time on that level. Darrell and I worked together for a couple of years after that. He’d won ‘National Press Photographer of the Year’ twice. He was very, very good. We were connected then. We were tied together with cable. And I was carrying a deck when we first started. Three-quarter inch. And I was a pack mule more than anything. But I was one of maybe five or six women in the country doing it. At that time, there were very, very few of us because it was very physically demanding. So, because he was who he was, I was very lucky and got to work on some of the best stuff. We traveled around the world. I’ll never forget some of the times with Darrell. He was the kind of guy—he was a Marine in Vietnam—and he always had this cigarette hanging off his lip. You’d be walking through a field and there’d be a giant puddle of mud and if you walked five feet, you could step around the mud. JUST FIVE FEET! No, no!

Was network news sound the main focus then or were you still pursuing other ventures?
Well, when I first moved to Dallas, the photography thing was still going. I was working for a music magazine that’s sort of like LA Weekly. And I did concert photography. It was great. It was Madonna’s first tour and, I mean, I’ll never forget this—that’s the tour where the Beastie Boys opened for her and they got booed off the stage.

Oh, that’s funny! Seems outrageous from my perspective, growing up being such a fan of theirs.
In Dallas, nobody knew who they were.

They were probably thinking: “Who are these clowns?”
Yeah, exactly! But [photography] was something that was still there. I was still sort of doing it. But then this [sound] thing took off and then I was in the union. I was in two unions: IBEW and NABET. And, I’m a union sound technician. So it’s hard to step away from that. I was a kid making bank. I was traveling all over and I think I’ve been in every state but Alaska at this point. I still have my old field mixer, this mixer I still use! I still
have one that I went to Africa with. It went all kinds of places with me. I did that for so long. I did that for over 12 years. I kind of reached the peak of what I could do in that world. I have an Emmy and all kinds of things from doing that. And I met Simone. I met my partner of 22 years.

Doing that news magazine work during that time, that’s when you met her?
Yeah. There was a pilot for a news magazine show that never aired that was shooting outside of Dallas. I was still living in Dallas at the time. And they needed an all-female crew and there was a DP in New York that I’d worked with a lot, Alicia Webber. She was fantastic. And so she came down and a mutual friend of Simone’s had known Alicia and recommended Simone to come and gaff this thing.

Oh wow! I love hearing these stories of the coincidental meeting of people who become such permanent fixtures in our lives.
So anyway, we all met in Dallas. Doing this show.

That is truly amazing.
Yeah, it was, yeah.

Congratulations on 22 years together!
Yeah, it seems to have worked out! I sold my house nine months later and moved out here [Los Angeles]. I always wanted to work in the movies. I’d wanted to transition into doing that. And there were just no openings, really. I could have come out here not knowing anybody I guess. And when I first came out here, I continued to do some of the news stuff—also behind-the-scenes stuff, getting on a few movie sets. I knew Bob Wald. He helped me loads. He’s great. I could call and ask him all the stupid questions that you’re too embarrassed to ask anybody. Like you really don’t know? Just dumb things. He was really, really great.

Would you put Bob Wald in the mentor category?

Absolutely. I would put him and I would put Bill Kaplan in that category. Bill has been so super good to me over the years. He calls and he says, “This is your agent calling.” Yeah, he’s been super, super sweet.

I talk to Amanda Beggs often and I know he’s pretty good buds with her and she says a lot of the same things about him. Such a good guy and a huge help. Yeah, he’s been really good with her, too. And he’s that way. He’s just awesome. He’d always have me come do second units and just getting that exposure that’s needed, you know. And I’ll never forget this … It was many years ago. Somebody had called him about this movie in New Mexico and he wasn’t able to do it and he said he was going to give them my name. So he called and asked me about my availability. And I said okay, great. I’d love to go out and do it. Twenty minutes go by. He calls me back and he says I had no idea you being a woman was such a big deal. Well, when Bill Kaplan recommends you for something, people tend to listen. But I never heard a peep, not a peep from them. Well, as I said to Bill, welcome to my world. I mean, welcome to our world.

Second unit additional photography for The Greatest Showman.

Second unit additional photography for The Greatest Showman.

It’s so much better now. So much better because so many women—Amanda [Beggs], great example. There are so many women coming up and doing it and doing great work. And in many cases, even better, more meticulous and because when I first started, the few women that were doing it, you couldn’t say no to anything. Whatever you were doing, you had to wear that flak jacket and sneak up with the rest of everybody. You couldn’t complain about anything. You just had to do it or you better, by God, be good at it because if you’re not—I mean talk about the scrutiny. That was always in the back of your mind. We all had to step up. You had to really get it right. It’s bad enough sitting there with Mike Wallace, but to screw up, no, no, no. It wasn’t an option. It was an option, but you’d never ever be back. You’d never work again for those people, that company, because it was very easy for them not to want a girl.

You have an impressive list of feature film credits. Do you have a favorite movie title that you mixed that sticks out in your memory that you want to talk about?

There are two off the top of my head: Gods and Monstersway back when. It was such a great group of people and the acting was amazing and to be able to watch that happening with those actors was really amazing.

And then Nightcrawler. You know, we busted our asses on that movie and it was not easy. It was probably one of the hardest I’ve ever done. But I was proud of what we got in the end. I was proud of our work and that really, it paid off.

This movie I just finished, Hotel Artemis, I’m curious about how it’s going to turn out. Sometimes you really know when you’re there in the moment. There are a lot of visual effects that are going to be added and I just don’t know. But it was a really interesting movie with a great cast.

You’ve been in this industry for so long, starting in the news-gathering side and successfully transitioning to narrative-style production. So, as far as our equipment and our techniques go, and reflecting on how much it’s changed and where you are now, where do you see the future going? How do you think we’re going to expand further?

I’m saddened by the fact that it has gotten to where it is. And it started with television and multi-camera, not [necessarily] multi-camera shows, but “single-camera” shows that really have two and three cameras. Wides- and-tights at the same time. And so you’re expected to wire everybody on set no matter what. Sound used to have life. It, you know—breathed. You felt that if you see somebody across the room, you didn’t hear them speaking like they’re sitting next to you at this table. Perspective is out the window. And we do what we can. We try very hard. I was grateful on The Grinder, a TV show that I was doing, that number one on the call sheet refused to wear a wire. So when we were on stage, we didn’t use wires, but rarely. We used them like they’re supposed to be used, instead of how they expect you to use them now.

I have done more features in my career than television. But it’s bleeding into the feature world, as well. And it’s just … it’s devastating. I remember at that CAS [Awards] we were talking about Doc Kane, and he had called out The Grinder and about how it sounded. He thought it sounded great and it was amazing. And this is a man whose received a CAS Career Achievement Award! He should know. And that’s because we boomed the crap out of that show. I’m a sound mixer and it starts to become where you’re just a recordist. I do understand that with the amount of tracks that we’re being asked to do and the improv style of many of today’s shows, it becomes impossible to record it any other way, though.

Who are some of your crew that you’d want to give a shout-out to now?

A Euro Cart and a Cantar make process trailer work so much easier!

A Euro Cart and a Cantar make process trailer work so much easier!

Well, Tom Hartig did The Grinder with Yvette Marxer. They’re both wonderful. We had a great time on that. Doug Shamburger—Doug is amazing. And I had Doug and Michelle Guasto on my last movie. Fantastic. Those are two amazing, amazing people. I’ve had the great opportunity to work with some of the most wonderful boom ops and utilities in the business. I’d also love to give a shout-out to Randy Johnson, Bob Jackson, Anthony Ortiz, Peggy Names, as well as Ross Levy, just to name a few. On an upcoming pilot, Rebecca Chan is going to be my utility. We’ve never worked together but I’m thrilled she’s going to come. I understand she’s phenomenal.

I’ve been so lucky. I’ve been able to work with a lot of different people that are just really, really great. I wish I could keep them with me all the time and just go from one thing, to the next thing, to the next thing. We’re only as good as our crew. The difference between having that mic on and not is something. I know you feel the same way. Even with your utility. If I have to do their job, forget it. I can’t do that.

Absolutely right. Well, in conclusion, is there a solution that you think could start to remedy the conundrum of how our craft has changed?

I think it’s the reality and we just have to get really good at it and help educate. Because a lot of these people that are in positions of making decisions like that, aren’t educated [fully on sound]. And to some level, when you work with those people that get it, it’s just such a dream come true. They understand how important it is to the entire chain, the entire process. When you have something that sounds real and awesome, and you don’t have to fix it later, you don’t have to tweak the hell out of it. Because you start fixing too much and then it really starts to degrade what we’ve done.

People have gotten used to that sound, too, which is weird. You go back and you watch old movies—or even not [very] old movies. Just—where it breathes. It’s part of the life of the film. It has feeling to it. And now people are just so used to it just being right “here” all the time. It’s a buried “voiceover booth” sound with clothing noise. And so it’s just kind of a bummer. I mean it happens. We all often have to wire everybody all the time. You just have to. Environments and whatever it is. We all have to grow and adapt and learn. “Old dogs, new tricks.” But there is an artistry there that we can’t lose.

Republished with permission by the Cinema Audio Society. Thank you to Shawn Holden, Devendra Clearly, and Karol Urban for their assistance.

Karol Urban – Sound and Storytelling

Finishing the Mix

Karol Urban CAS MPSE (Grey’s Anatomy, New Girl, Station 19, Band Aid, Breaking 2, #Realityhigh) re-recording mixer, has built a diverse list of mix credits spanning work on feature films, TV series (scripted and unscripted), TV movies, and documentaries over the last 18 years. Describing herself as “part tech geek and creative film nerd” she enjoys using her language skills to work in both English and Spanish.

Karol holds a BS from James Madison University in Audio Post Production from the School of Media Arts and Design, is on the Board of Directors for the Cinema Audio Society (CAS), is co-editor of the CAS Quarterly Magazine, and serves on the Governor’s Peer Group for Audio Mixing for the Television Academy.

While she is incredibly passionate about telling stories through sound, technology, and the art of the craft, her favorite aspect of her position is “the team sport of filmmaking and television production.”

Her enthusiasm and energy for the job help her retain a high work ethic. She is known for being a hard worker in and out of the studio.

What was your path getting into sound?

I was sight impaired as a child and benefited greatly from surgery. I still, however, have problems with depth perception and naturally gravitate toward sound as my primary sense of distance and spatial location.

I studied dance, piano, and voice as a child and went to the Governor’s School for the Performing Arts for high school. It is a public, county-supported, audition-based high school with a focused curriculum on the arts.  I was fortunate to compose and record in my first recording studio there for the first time at the age of 13. I have been hanging out at one studio or another ever since.

Truthfully, I never wanted to perform. But sound and storytelling always fascinated me and held my attention steadfast.  And I have always obsessed over the movies and loved narrative television. When I discovered you could work in sound, not necessarily music, and in sound for picture, I knew what I was going to do with my life.  Every big move in my life I have made since has been to earn the next opportunity to tell a story through sound for picture.

I graduated high school a year early and went on to Virginia Tech at 17 where I took a lot of audio engineering classes. I transferred to James Madison University and majored in the School of Media Arts and Design with an audio concentration and minored in the music industry.  I left school with the clear goal of becoming a re-recording mixer.

If you had to pick your favorite type of content, role or project what would it be and why?

Personal Sound Assistant Sync

The collaborative aspect of what we do is to me the most precious, as a result, I love to be a part of larger teams as the dialog and music re-recording mixer. While it can be fun to do a single-person mix, especially if you have a very creative and collaborative producer or director, I am truly in heaven when I have a creative team behind me.  Bring in the party. I love to craft the story as a collective.

I don’t really have a favorite genre. I love action and sci-fi, and I adore thrillers. Police procedurals are fun. But comedy and drama can be amazing too. I really enjoy the diversity of genres. It widens my toolset. Basically whatever genre I haven’t mixed in a while is my current favorite. I really do love it all.

The creative problem solving and technical aspect of cleaning and repairing dialogue is enjoyable, but I also love the subtle use of dynamics, reflections, and frequency details in dialogue mixing which can help you feel as if you are eavesdropping on a secret or hearing someone lose their composure. It is sneaky in that good dialogue mixing is rarely noticed while it is being most effective.

I also studied classical piano, voice, and composition for many years. I love music. Being able to craft the music into the final mix is a real honor and joy.

That’s why the dialogue/music re-recording chair feels like home.

A lot of people in post-production sound specialize in a single role (like dialog mixer, sound designer, etc.). How has it helped your career to not focus on one particular niche? Or, do you think there is an expectation now to be versatile?

I began my career in the mid-Atlantic region of the East Coast.  There are people who work in post sound are often asked to perform all the roles (Foley recording, narration/ADR recording, Foley/ADR cueing, dialogue editorial, sfx editorial, and re-recording mix).  Even if you were not working on a project as a single person, you and your team would often change roles to suit the schedule or client preferences. It is a different market for sure.

But, when I first got to Los Angeles, folks would advise that being a jack of all trades does not make you qualified to be a master of anyone. When I looked inside myself, I found that I was truly a dialogue-centered individual and macro thinker. I am an extrovert.  I also love the subjective discussions and explorations that occur on the dub stage. All these aspects helped me excel as a dialogue and music re-recording mixer.

But, over the last eight years, I’ve noticed that the ability to diversify is becoming more valued in LA. In this way, I may have chosen the perfect time to come to LA, with a clear, specific goal on what I prefer to center my focus on, but enough diverse experience and knowledge in multiple fields of post sound to be usefully skilled. I gladly switch roles when needed; a change is often good for perspective.

Can you talk about transitioning from working in DC to Los Angeles? Since you didn’t have a job lined up in LA, how did you decide it was time to move?

I am a true believer in the concept that knowledge is power. I had reached a point in DC where I was feeling a little stagnant.  I wasn’t learning as much, wasn’t experimenting as much, and wasn’t challenged enough. I was struggling to find opportunities where I could make myself wonderfully uncomfortable with a challenge. I was searching for mentors.

I found a short, small contract in LA and left a job of 10 years with crazy benefits, paid vacation, and a very decent salary to seek out the challenge. Finding a gig, even one as short as a 3-month contract, while on the other side of the country seemed like a sign.

At the time I was frightened that I wouldn’t be capable of competing in such a large and complex market.  But I knew I would never stop wondering “what if.” Once a few months passed, and I took a couple of professional punches to the face, I recognized I had learned a ton and began noticing a difference in my work. I got excited. There is no other option other than success. Moving to LA has proven to be the most wonderful adventure I have ever had in my life. I love it here. I love the market, the challenges, and the ever-changing, seemingly endless possibilities. There is so much to learn and grow from here. I am grateful.

Can you walk us through an average work week for you? How many hours are you working, spending outside the studio on other work-related demands, etc.?

The amount I actually mix depends on the projects I am on. Sometimes it is 16 hour days and six-day weeks other times it might be two days a week for 9 hours a day. Production schedules move erratically and the day is not over when it is scheduled to end or when you are done… it is over when the client feels whole, and they are done.  My life is a continual game of scheduling Jenga. The terrain is insane. It is awesome and exhausting.

When I am not in the chair mixing, I am still working. Mixing is only part of the job.  I try to be a resource for others as much as possible. I give back to my community through volunteer service in the MPSE, CAS, & TV Academy, edit the CAS Quarterly publication, meet with industry folks new to town, and of course, establish new relationships in the community.  It is a rare day off when I don’t meet up with someone, watch a tutorial on new technology, or volunteer on a project. I keep an ear open for any industry positions available and try to recommend people in my network that I know can tackle the duties and forward their careers.  It is all-encompassing, but I love what I do and I simply never tire of the hustle. Don’t get me wrong, there are days or weeks where I am truly exhausted, but I never dream of doing anything else. I want to be the best I can be, and I feel like I have incredible joy ahead of me in that I have much more growing to do. I am not even close to done.

What are the differences between mixing documentary/reality and scripted?

Depends on your project and your client.

There are certainly workflow and logistical differences, and there also tends to generally be a larger expectation of detail and desire for the school of perspective mixing in scripted media. But the core of what I do is really only made different by the client’s desires and the needs of the film/project.

I certainly will repair, clean, and fit the spec. But the true value in having a re-recording mixer is that you have a professional who is a life-listener and skilled craftsperson. We study and develop sound as a storytelling tool that can steer the minds of the viewers. I certainly have had projects of all genres that demand and expect narrative storytelling in their mix.  I have also had many projects of all genres that look to me for technical audio triage and to emulate their temp track. It is less genre-specific than project-specific.

Can you explain how a 2-person mix works?

 

Karol and Steve Urban on the movie BFFs

There are many ways to work. It depends on the team, the technology, and the project’s scheduled mix time. In the end, however, the goal is to make sound decisions and become four hands and two minds working with the singular focus of intensifying the story through sound. It really is a wonderful way to work.

On a 2-person mix, what are the challenges of working with a mixer you haven’t mixed with before?

Sometimes you don’t know the perspective or tastes of your partner when you are newly paired or the tempo at which they need to work. You have to learn the sensibility of your partner as soon as possible.  Luckily most folks who mix in multiple-seat dub stages are very collaborative and have the ability to morph to the style that works with the team and serves the director or producer. I have certainly been made aware of other ways of looking at things that ended up being the right choice for the project and client at the end of the day.  This difference of perspective can be a complexity and/or a gift.

You’ve mixed over 100 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy. What are the challenges?

We suffer from a lot of set noise as there is a lot of busy scenes with lots of background action…IV stands, gurneys, and of course, paper medical gowns.

You have a reputation for having an incredible work ethic, drive, and energy level. How do you maintain that level of focus? How do you not burn out?

Wow.  That’s a crazy question.  It blows me away that I have a reputation at all. I just keep swimming.

I have had a very specific and pointed goal for a very long time to be a re-recording mixer. It started as soon as I knew the job existed. I knew it was what I was supposed to do. I never took a lot of electives in school or tried a lot of different things professionally because this goal was what I knew I wanted specifically.  I knew it was competitive and I knew I wouldn’t generally look like or come from the same places that a lot of my peers would. I grew up in a town that simply doesn’t have a substantial market for this craft. I knew it was a different world and I was going to have to break in.

Practically every extracurricular activity, club, or group I have participated in has been focused on trying to be in this world. Sound makes sense to me and communicating by putting people in sound spaces is pretty amazing and evocative. I am always trying to make myself worthy and valuable to the opportunity in front of me.

What skills are necessary to do your job?

You have to be at least mildly obsessed with detail, technology, and storytelling. Our jobs are not sprints; they are marathons. You will watch a reel or episode over and over and over again for days, sometimes weeks.  You must remain present and have the ability to fall back into the perspective of a first-time viewer but also switch quickly to the mind of a mixer. You have to be able to see (and feel and hear) the effect of what you are doing while also seeing possibilities.

It is also very helpful to like people and have no ego. It can be hard sometimes because you have to emotionally experience something in order to create and having that emotional response rejected can feel personal. But in the end, you are completing the vision of your director or producer and creating their film/show. You should understand that a person may be inspired by your suggestion at times but may also feel something completely different. Notes are not criticism. They are opportunities.

What are your favorite plugins?

I am loving the Pro Fabfilter Q2 and De-esser right now.  I also love my McDSP SA-2 and NF575. I am still a sucker for Audio Ease’s Speakerphone, and PhoenixVerb is pretty amazing.

What technology are you excited about right now?

I love the new immersive formats. I really feel a naturalness when I hear an environment in Atmos.  And I love the panning precision and full-range reproduction.

What have been the challenges for you as a woman in the field?

It is getting so much better. I have definitely found myself in moments of overt creepiness and absolute inappropriateness. But as the years have gone on whether it be because we as a society are becoming more progressive, other women have paved the way, or because I have become more established, it has gotten much, much better. I just keep forging ahead. I don’t give that crazy a lot of focus. The best thing I can do for equality is to be successful as a woman and be a force for equality by treating everyone around me the way I would want to be treated.  I try to lift others up who share the love of what we do, and I take no mind in their gender, race, or creed.

I still have to discuss my gender as an anomaly from time to time, almost always on a new job and have to occasionally educate people on my knowledge and fandom of a diverse range of genres such as action, horror, and sci-fi. Because as a woman I am often thought of as a strictly romantic comedy or drama person.

But I do have to take care to go out of my way to get to know my co-workers and let them know they can be comfortable around me and that they can be confident that I am an assertive individual. People don’t walk on eggshells around me because I will let someone know if I am uncomfortable or disagree. I hold no grudges and pull no punches. I have been set straight once or twice in my life when I have said something I thought was harmless that had no presumptions behind it that accidentally affected someone in a negative way. We all need to be open to learning from one another without fear or pride. I do believe most people are intrinsically good.

It is paramount to respect your coworkers (male and female alike). While I am aware of situations through the years where I have not been hired because I am a woman or where criticism has been very blatantly gender-biased, I know I am also here in my dream job because of all the wonderful folks, the majority of whom are male, who have given me a shot, had confidence in my abilities and welcomed me into the fold.

It is a weird landscape, ladies.

What advice would you give women in our field?

Be assertive, persistent, and consistent. Respect the contributions of everyone around you from the valet service to reception to account management to your engineer. Show respect and act respectfully. Expect the same in return.  Be humble but also speak and act with confidence and kindness. Some folks really do not recognize what they are saying. Some are uncomfortable or culturally insensitive without knowledge of their actions. Ignorance does still exist. Some folks lack perspective and understanding without intending ill will.  Many people who are considered notoriously challenging that I have worked with were not an issue with me at all because if I had an issue, I stated the issue, explained my issue, asked for a change in behavior, and then dropped it from my memory and became a friend and advocate to them. And while I am not so ignorant or smug as to say it doesn’t matter what others think or do (There is real malice in the world.), I do believe social transformation happens individual by individual. We can be seeds of change by keeping our decisions untarnished by the poor actions of a few and giving each new individual in our world the opportunity to be wonderful.

I believe in equality.  I can’t wait to work in a world where we don’t have to support each other as minorities but we can just support competent, talented artists and craft people and diversity will naturally take place.

If you were to guide someone trying to get into post-production today what advice would you give? What would you advise to find work and build a career?

Don’t wait for someone to give you permission to do what you want to do.  Even if it is for little or no money, get in there. Until you have a professional-level skill to offer, you need to be doing what you can to acquire it. Participate in your community, seek mentors, seek other folks coming up, collaborate, create, rise, and lift up others. Remain open to life lessons. The universe has a lot more opportunities to reward you with when you put yourself out there and participate.

 

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