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Heather Augustine – Patience, flexibility, and persistence

Heather Augustine’s introduction to theatre sound happened almost by accident.

Now Head of Sound for the US National Tour of Les Misérables, she recalls how in high school, it was initially acting that drew her to theatre, “I loved that idea that in theatre you can break the mold and push boundaries.” It was a surplus of female actors for the annual musical that led to an unexpected introduction to technical operations: “I actually wanted to do lights, but my sister was older, so she got to pick first, and she picked lights. Little did I know that running sound for that musical would set me up for the rest of my career!”

That initial step led to further sound and tech work at high school and at 16, she got a job as an audio operator at the San Antonio SeaWorld park. When it came time to consider college, it seemed a natural step to continue working in technical theatre.

Her “official” introduction to theatre sound design came after meeting Curtis Craig at a Texas Thespian Festival. Craig became her sound design professor at Penn State, where Heather studied for a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatrical Design and Technology, with an emphasis on Sound Design and Costume Technology.

At college, she expanded on the skills she learned in high school and at SeaWorld. “[which] were more “this happens, you push this button” with a little bit of mixing,” and was introduced to all aspects of technical theatre. These aspects included scenic, lighting, costumes and technical direction, with higher-level classes and show assignments in her areas of emphasis.

Heather PSU Tailgate

After graduating, connections and recommendations from Penn State enabled her to get a job with NETworks Presentations. Following college, she started touring as an A2 (Assistant Audio, also called Sound No. 2 in the UK). Aside from some summer festivals and freelance design/mixing work for smaller theatres in Dallas, Texas (where her family is based), she’s toured for the past six years. Over this time she’s worked on six shows, moving up to the A1 (Head Audio, or Sound No. 1) position for the last two shows.

Early on in her career, she felt pressure to be more technically adept than her male counterparts. “I’m quick to pick up a mix, and I can organize and do split and cut tracks faster than most, but I have to get my hands on gear and spend time with it before I really understand it. I can’t rattle off hundreds of model numbers, and it took me a while to be okay with that. You need both sets of skills to make a show work.”

Even so, she says that her real challenge was her mindset, “It took me a bit longer than it should have to make the transition from A2 to A1 because I would let my insecurities get the better of me and convince me that I wasn’t ready to do it on my own. When I finally decided to make the shift, I found out I was fine. There’s always more to learn, and sometimes you have to force yourself to make that leap.”

Heather OZ FOH

In her current role as Head of Sound for the US National Tour of Les Misérables, Heather is responsible for mixing the show, maintaining the overall sound design and managing the logistics of getting the system in and out of the various venues.

Like any major touring production, the national tour of Les Mis travels with everything needed to walk into a bare stage and set up a show from scratch. Set, costumes, electrics, audio and everything else required fits into eleven 53-foot semi-trailers. With a show this size, planning is paramount, and long (and early) hours are part of the job.

Sound get-in at a new theatre starts with an advance rigger/swing tech who leaves the previous city on load-out day (usually Sunday) and works with the local crew in the new theatre on the next day (Monday) for five hours to rig the monitors. The rest of the crew finish the load out from the previous theatre around eight to ten hours after the last show goes down (usually Sunday evening into the early hours of Monday morning), jump on a bus and go to the next city. The full load-in starts at 2 pm on Monday and finishes around 11 pm, with a dinner break. The crew go back in at 8 am the next morning (Tuesday) for another eight hours, with a show on Tuesday night. The rest of the week runs with one evening show on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and two shows on Saturday and Sunday. For a week “sit,” load-out happens after the second show on Sunday, and the process repeats for the next city. Every couple of weeks the show might stay at a theatre for two to three weeks, and the crew will get Mondays off.

Heather PSU Truck Loading

Heather admits that her least favorite part of the job is working between 5 am – 7 am: “I don’t care if we’re loading out and it goes into the morning, or if we start the day with a 6 am call, I’m happiest when I never have to look at a clock during those hours.”

During load-in, as A1 (Head Audio) Heather is responsible for getting the system up and running and tuning and timing it. The current Les Mis system comprises a DiGiCo SD7 at Front of House (FOH), Meyer Leopard arrays, UPJ center cluster and delays truss, UPM front fills, 600HP and 500HP subs. D&B E5s are used for under-balcony delays and onstage monitoring. Meyer Galileo and Callisto systems are used for processing, with two redundant QLab machines for playback. They use a Sennheiser SK-5212 wireless system with DPA 4061 mics.

After the show is in, Heather will mix the majority of the shows, as well as being available for rehearsals (possibly one or two a week), particularly “put-in” rehearsals. These are essentially full runs of a show with full tech elements for swings, understudies or new members of the cast: “People will start leaving for various reasons (contracts end, other jobs come up, etc.), so the cycle continues as you continue to rehearse and put new people into the show.”

The second person in the sound department, the A2, will mix around two shows a week and runs the “stage sound” – the backstage aspects of the show. This includes managing all radio and onstage mics, troubleshooting and running a show track or teaching this to a local stagehand. Heather jokes that “the A2 is the PR rep for the department because [they are] the one around all the actors and crew while the A1 is out at FOH during the show.”

As well as the responsibility of getting the sound up and running at each new theatre, the A1 has to think ahead to the next stage on the tour.

The system is specified before the tour by the Sound Designer, whose job it is to work with the director and MD (musical director) to create and define the overall sound for the show. This will include choosing the speakers, mics, console, processors and everything else that’s required for the system, tuning it, and sourcing or creating sound effects and soundscapes. The job of the A1/Head Audio is to learn the sound and replicate this in each theatre on the tour. Part of the A1’s role is, therefore, to consider whether the tour has enough speakers to cover the next space and whether it can accommodate their rig.

Does the new venue have any quirks for which they need to plan?

It’s clear that as well as technical expertise, the job of an A1 requires solid organizational skills, flexibility, patience, and persistence. Heather emphasizes these last three as being key when touring: “Things are never going to work out quite the way you want them to, and mistakes are going to happen. [You have] to get right back up and try again.”

She encourages any women and young women who want to work in theatre sound to “Figure out what your thing is and go with it. I hear a lot of people trying to figure out the “right” way to deal with discriminatory situations, but there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Learn from others, but realize that it’s okay to have a different way of dealing with people, and find out what makes you comfortable.”

Heather Phantom FOH

From Heather’s perspective, theatre can be a supportive environment for women. “[There’s] a lot of support. Both from women who are already in the industry, and from a lot of guys who are happy to see more and more women in audio. I can’t count the number of times that someone has told me it’s great to see a woman or an all-female audio team (when my A2’s have been women) come into their theatre.”

As for the future of theatre sound, Heather believes there will be a shift towards using more digital technology. This is particularly in light of the FCC (Federal Communications Commission, the regulatory authority for wire and radio communications in the US) moving to auction off increasing amounts of the RF (radio frequency) spectrum. She also believes departments will become more integrated. Many shows, like Les Mis, already link sound and lighting cues through MIDI, and other elements such as automation and effects can also be linked together.

In terms of her own career, Heather would love to mix on Broadway. She’s also looking towards a time when she has the financial independence to be able to work on smaller or newer projects that feed her passion.

For the moment, Heather appreciates her job for two reasons.

First, the people: “It’s still mind-boggling to me how you can know someone for only a couple weeks, but after you tech, a show, do a couple grueling load-ins and outs, you form a bond, and it feels like you’ve known each other for years.”

And second, “there are times I watch as I’m mixing, and take a moment to appreciate what an amazing show it is, and how incredibly proud I am of it. Those moments make all the days of planning, the long hours working, and (sometimes) the lack of sleep worth it.”

Festival Guide Part 1: Guest Engineer

I have spent over seven years working in-house at nearly every major festival in the UK, and plenty of the smaller ones. Festivals can be some of the most rewarding shows to do, but they come with their own set of challenges. I hope this guide helps you to have a good show.

Step one: Be prepared. You should always have a clear, up-to-date stage plot and channel list (make sure any colour-coding works in black and white. They won’t get printed in colour). Send them, and a show file for the in-house desk if you have one, to the festival in plenty of time. I’m talking weeks, if not months. It’s no good sending your advance in on Friday morning when the gear left the warehouse on Tuesday. Try your best to keep your information accurate for that particular show, too. A lot of festivals will be run on “festival patch”: every band shares channels for similar instruments (e.g., kick drum inside mic is 1, guitars all go in channels 13-16, brass in 25-30, etc.), which means someone will have been tasked with going through everyone’s advances to figure out how to fit everyone in (another reason to send it in early!). If you turn up and tell them you were only touring the 37-piece children’s choir for your headline shows you will have caused a lot of hassle for nothing. It isn’t usually a big problem to add an acoustic guitar, but inviting the mariachi band you made friends at the campsite last night to join you for a few songs might not be possible. Even if the stage is running “1 to 1” (every band is patched according to their channel list), the more accurate your information, the more the stage team will be able to help you in advance.

Step two: Be prepared. Check what the weather is meant to be like, then bring layers and waterproof clothes anyway. Figure out how many socks you’ll need for the duration and pack twice as many. You won’t always have access to running water. A lot of festivals provide alcohol gel instead of taps, and they might not get refilled regularly. Bring your own sanitiser, wet wipes, toilet paper and diarrhea medication. If you have a uterus, bring sanitary products that don’t involve… well, you know. Pack plenty of drinking water and snacks; even though you’re with an artist, you might not be given more than one meal for the time you’re there. If you have any dietary requirements, make that evident as soon as possible and have a contingency plan in case the message doesn’t reach the caterers/runners.

Step three: On the day. Be prepared. Set off as early as possible. Traffic can be absolutely awful getting into a festival. Leave literally hours earlier than you would normally. Make sure you know which gate you need to head to, which may not be signposted. Allow for a long wait to get your passes at the gate. Bands have missed their set because they only got to the site for the time they were meant to be setting up. Being five minutes’ walk away from the stage is by no means the same as being five minutes from the stage!

When you get through security, head straight over and talk to the in-house team. Don’t be surprised if they don’t have your up-to-date spec, even if you sent it ages ago (but thanks for trying)! There are so many different layers of organisation and management involved with a festival; information sometimes falls through the cracks despite people’s best intentions. Keep a few printed copies with you, and have your show file on at least two USB sticks. I guarantee you, you will leave one in a desk somewhere and not notice until the next day, and you might be in a different country by then.

Check with the stage manager whether there’s space to unload and set up your gear. The earlier you get ready, the more time you’ll have to line check and fix any problems. It’s tempting to reward yourself with a few beers in the dressing room after the painful journey onto the site, but that might delay the running of the stage, and you’re risking wasting precious set time fault-finding. Get everything ready and check when your line check slot is (either just before your set or often during the changeover before yours if they’re using a rolling riser and double desk system). If you haven’t used the in-house desk before, you can ask whether there’s any time to play with it before your set. If they’re running two desks at each end, you should have at least the set before yours to get used to the layout. If not, it’s no big deal, because you checked out the offline editor for it beforehand, right? Because you’re so prepared?

Arrive back for your set in plenty of time. If possible, smuggling some cakey treats out from artist catering for the stage crew will win you major brownie points (especially if they are brownies). If you’re still unsure how to use the desk, or anything else, there’s no shame in asking the in-house engineers for help. It’s what they’re there for! No-one’s used every desk out there, no matter how experienced they are. Your host should be more than happy to help, and even show you some of their favourite tips and tricks if there’s time. It’s also very common for engineers to cover for each other over festival season, so it might be your first show with this band, and that’s fine. These experienced engineers can spot a bluffer a mile away, and if you’re too proud to let them help, they’re well within their rights to step back and watch you crash and burn. No-one wants you to have a bad gig though, so make friends with them early (hint: brownies)! If you’re mixing FoH from a tent or tower, walk outside of it at least once. It can sound completely different in the crowd compared to by the desk, even with reference monitors, so don’t just mix for yourself in your little bubble.

Once you’ve finished the show of your life because you were so on it because you were so prepared, all you have to do is grab your USB stick and headphones (don’t forget to bring your headphones by the way. Seriously), pack your gear away and celebrate! Please don’t skip straight to celebrating; there are lots of other bands to get on and off the stage, and there isn’t space to leave your gear set up until you feel like taking it away. So after a grueling 20-minute loadout and thanking the crew, you can kick back and enjoy those well-deserved beers (or soft drinks if you’re the driver) before heading to another field to do it all over again.

More info on working festivals

Festival Guide Part Two

Working Coachella and Surviving Festival Season: How Two Monitor Engineers Approach Festival Season

Coachella Music and Arts Festival: Two Companies that Did!

Rat Sound Answers Your Questions about Coachella

 

Systematic Inequality, Part 1: Lessons from Athena

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read Tia’s Blog

The Art of Asking for Help

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-Not asking for help causes extra stress

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

– Not asking for help will most definitely burn you out

– It saves you time

– People are happy to help!

 

Columbus Live Sound Workshop

Join our Columbus Chapter for a Live Sound Workshop

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

Register Here

Prep for Gigs

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

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

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

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

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

Read Brenda’s Blog

Never Too Late or Too Great to Shadow

When was the last time you shadowed someone on the job? I thought that I was too old or too far along into my career to shadow someone while they were at a gig. I thought that’s something someone just starting out or in school does right?  Wrong! We all should continue to learn at any age through ongoing education and shadowing opportunities.

I recently had an excellent opportunity to shadow someone at a National Sports arena, so I decided to jump on it. The individual I shadowed regularly works in this arena, and this night was working a National Hockey League game. Their role at the event was not sound specific, but it still offered an excellent opportunity to get an inside look at the technical capabilities of a large sports arena.  I was able to observe the staffing and teamwork it takes to make each game look and sound great on both the screens in the arena and for the televised international broadcast. It had been a long time since I had shadowed someone on the job. It felt a little strange, but it was worth it!

Shadowing isn’t just for those getting started in their career. It’s a great opportunity to be exposed to something new, especially if you are trying to grow or change your career path. Shadowing someone on the job could provide exposure to a specific specialty you’d like to learn more about or even an entirely different field in which you might want to consider on your career journey.

An experience like this provides the opportunity for people to learn and expand their skills.  Entering a new environment allows you to see how a different organization operates.  During my shadowing experience, I took notice of the technology being used, compared their policies and procedures to what I have experienced, and gained exposure to different kinds and brands of equipment.

My host provided some fascinating information about how the venue has changed over time.  I learned about the arena’s technology legacy as well as how things have been upgraded over time and the benefits of those changes.  I found the experience and knowledge shared with me to be beneficial, and I will apply that knowledge to my environment whenever it applies.

Entering a new environment also means you will meet new people along the way as well.  This shadowing experience allowed me to continue to build my network and connections in the industry.  My host introduced me to everyone and explained their roles and how everyone functioned as a team throughout the event.  I enjoy building relationships and meeting other people within the industry, and you never know when or how this will benefit you in the future. This industry often runs on past experiences, but often future experiences occur based on the people you know and what they know about you.  I’ve always felt that networking is essential and each opportunity I get to expand my network is valuable.  Taking advantage of this shadowing opportunity was a great way to gain experience, skills, and develop my network. Hopefully, you’ll consider shadowing someone in the future too.

VIVA LA MUXER – Volunteers Needed

VIVA LA MUXER 2018 will take place on March 10 at Plaza de la Raza, Los Angeles, CA.  SoundGirls has been invited to be involved – all positions are volunteer only. This is a great way to obtain work experience. Upon successful completion, SoundGirls will provide you a letter of recommendation.

If you would like to be involved – please email soundgirls@soundgirls.org and provide a cover letter, resume, and position you would like to apply. We look forward to working with VIVA LA MUXER to make this Festival a success.

4th Annual Viva La Muxer
A Benefit Event Presented by Las Fotos Project
March 10, 2018, 5-11 PM
Plaza de la Raza, Los Angeles, CA

Viva La Muxer is an annual International Women’s Day celebration uniting and empowering women artists, entrepreneurs, and changemakers from across Los Angeles. Presented by Las Fotos Project, the 4th annual arts and music benefit event features live performances, 100+ curated arts exhibits, family-friendly workshops, and more!

100% of Viva La Muxer proceeds will support Las Fotos Project, a nonprofit organization and brave space for teenage girls to collaborate, learn and inspire.

SoundGirls Launches SoundGirls Productions

SoundGirls was formed in 2013. Veteran live sound engineers, Karrie Keyes (Monitor engineer for Pearl Jam) and Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato (FOH engineer Gwen Stefani, Melissa Etheridge, amongst others) participated in a six women AES panel called “The Women of Professional Concert Sound”. Keyes remembers being amazed that in 2013 the industry was still hosting “Women” panels instead of simply showing the diverse talent that our industry has.

That being said, the panel was incredibly powerful for the panelists. “We had all been in the business for 20 years or more, yet most of us had never met before that day. Within minutes we bonded like long lost sisters. We were struck by how similar our experiences, work ethics, and passions were and wondered how our careers would have been if our paths had crossed earlier and we had been there to support each other throughout the years. Each of us had been asked hundreds of times during our careers: Are there other women doing sound? How did you get into sound? How would a young woman go about getting into sound?” related Keyes.

Thus was the first step in creating SoundGirls. “We set up SoundGirls as an online community for primarily women, but we are not exclusive, welcoming all to come and share their experiences, ask questions and find a supportive community. Since that time SoundGirls has grown and moved in directions we could not have envisioned when we started. The support of our industry has been overwhelming, from both the level of the various manufacturer’s and other sound companies, through industry engineers and enthusiasts. Currently we have over 4,000 members worldwide with a member base of approximately 65% women and 35% men. SoundGirls features monthly engineer profiles, publishes weekly blogs, educational workshops and seminars for rookies and veterans alike of all genders. We offer scholarships, internships and mentors for those working in music production.”

“One of SoundGirls long-term goals has been to provide career advancement, real world training, and jobs for our members by establishing an intern program.” continued Keyes. “Daniella Peters a long term friend, colleague, and SoundGirls supporter was aware of our desire to start such a program and had herself produced a music production workshop for the at risk teen girls of “ Step Up Women’s Network.” She has been working in professional audio for over 17 years with Rat Sound Systems and had, in her spare time, been providing sound systems and engineers for fundraisers and charity benefits in the Los Angeles area. She thought maybe there was a way to enable the women and girls at SoundGirls to intern at these gigs bringing her two passions of women and audio production together. Thus SoundGirls Productions was born.”

The overall vision of SoundGirls Productions is to inspire and empower the young people starting their careers in the world of professional audio and music production. With a range of gear available for rent and a roster of experienced engineers, for every production we send out a professional audio engineer and, upon the client’s approval, a mentee will provide on-the-job support to the professional. This has a dual purpose of providing the opportunity to have hands-on training while offering invaluable support to the mentor on a real life show.”

For more information: SoundGirlsProductions.com

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