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A Beginners Guide to Wireless Frequencies 

Learning about and using wireless equipment can be overwhelming – there are a lot of differences from traditional gear and rather importantly there are strict rules around using radio frequencies that vary from country to country.

How does wireless equipment work?

 

Wired microphones convert sound into an electrical signal. This is sent through the wire to the sound system. Wireless microphones, however, convert sound into radio signals. This signal is then sent from a transmitter to a receiver which sends it to the sound system. The transmitter is a device that converts the audio signal into a radio signal and broadcasts it through an antenna.

Transmitters are small clip-on packs or in the case of handheld wireless microphones, they are built into the design of the handle. All wireless transmitters generally use a 9-volt battery. The receiver is tuned to receive the radio waves from the transmitter and convert it back into an audio signal. This means that the output of the receiver is just like a traditional wired signal. The balanced audio signal from the receiver output is then connected via an XLR to a typical input in a sound system.

There are a few different kinds of antennae on receivers – single and diversity. Single antenna receivers have one receiving antenna and one tuner but these can be prone to dropping out or getting interruptions in the signal. Diversity receivers, however, perform better as they have two separate antennas and two separate tuners. This means the receiver will automatically choose the best of the two signals, sometimes using a blend of both. This reduces the chance of a drop out because the likelihood is high that one antenna will be receiving a clean signal.

What frequency should I use for my equipment?

This is one of the trickiest areas to cover with wireless equipment because it depends on a lot of factors. Some frequency bands work brilliantly for speech but not for music, and some bands are simply too small to fit in lots of audio channels for a larger group. Some are prone to interference due to being license-free, popular bands and it can be a minefield working out where to begin.

When deciding what band to use, firstly it is good to know that each performer/person that is using wireless in the same location needs to be using a different frequency. It’s good practice to set up the receiver with a blank channel in between or a spacing of 0.25Hz increments on the receiver. Secondly, it’s important to know which spectrum band is suitable and legal to use for your venue – this will depend on the number of wireless devices you’re using, where you are in the world, and if you are moving around or touring with the same equipment. Wireless devices include “low power auxiliary station” equipment such as IEMs, wireless audio instrument links, and wireless cueing equipment, which all have the same rules as wireless microphones. Though not fully extensive, a guide to the available frequency rules of most countries can be found at Frequencies for wireless microphones

There are different areas of the radio frequency spectrum that we are allowed to use for wireless equipment but some are more suitable and better than others, and these are constantly changing, which makes it a hot topic for discussion. It’s useful to remember that the frequency spectrum works in the same way as physical space, in that it has a finite amount of room to be shared. The company Shure has strong concerns, particularly about the ever-decreasing UHF band in the Netherlands and has set up a site to raise awareness at www.losingyourvoice.co.uk

 

The UHF band is the preferred spectrum for wireless equipment however this is getting smaller for wireless use all the time. Ultra-high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one-tenth of a metre (one decimetre).

Most places including the UK and the USA have overhauled their UHF frequency ranges in recent years due to the digitisation of television, freeing up the old analogue frequencies. Originally analogue television transmitted in the 400-800MHz range had been separated into 8MHz “channels” and these refer to a particular frequency range.

Channel 38 is the spectrum of 606.5 – 613.5MHz and is a popular choice in the UK. Governing body Ofcom requires customers to purchase a yearly UHF UK Wireless Microphone Licence to use Channel 38. A flexible license means that owners are allowed to use radio microphone systems in any location. Channel 38 is a shared space and is large enough for 12 radio microphone systems, however, the downside is that if wireless equipment is tuned to the alternative Channel 70 it cannot then return to Channel 38.

Channel 70 is the band of 863 – 865MHz and this is free to use for radio microphone equipment in the UK. This spectrum is so small that it can be difficult to fit many systems into this space. Additionally, if other users nearby are also trying to use this space it can cause interference. Another issue with Channel 70 is that there is no “buffer” range at the lower end as 4G transmission lives immediately below 863MHz which can cause interference.

The band of what used to be Channel 69 (833-862MHz) is illegal to use since its’ digital auctioning in 2013 and it was replaced with Channel 38 for wireless equipment. Because of these challenges, Channel 70 may not be the best solution for larger setups requiring more space.

In the USA there are similar changes coming into place courtesy of the FCC which is the US governing body. The latest changes include the bands 617 – 652 and 663 – 698MHz which will be banned from wireless use as of July 13 2020. The move away from the 600MHz band is due to channels 38-51 in this spectrum being auctioned to television stations. This means that after July 2020 the available frequencies for wireless will include some frequencies on TV channels 2-36 below 608MHz, 614 – 616MHz, 653 – 657MHz, and 657 – 663MHz. Though this may seem like a current transition, this has been in progress for some time – the use of band 698 – 806MHz has been prohibited by the FCC since 2010 as this was repurposed for licensed commercial wireless services and public-safety networks.

What other frequency options am I allowed to use if the UHF range isn’t right for me?

Again, the list of available space is specific to each country, license and equipment tuning limitations however utilising either side of the UHF range can work, with the VHF (very high frequency) spectrum often making a good and practical backup solution.

The VHF band is classed as 30 – 300MHz, with a differentiation given between low and high VHF:

“Low-band VHF range of 49 MHz includes transmission of wireless microphones, cordless phones, radio controlled toys and more. A slightly higher VHF range of 54-72 MHz operates television channels 2-4, as well as wireless systems defined as “assistive listening.” VHF frequencies 76-88 MHz operate channels 5 and 6.

Band III is the name of the range of radio frequencies within the very high frequency (VHF) part of the electromagnetic spectrum from 174 to 240 megahertz (MHz). It is primarily used for radio and television broadcasting. It is also called high-band VHF, in contrast to Bands I and II.”

The Shure website explains the pro points of using the high-band VHF range, saying:

“The high-band VHF range is the most widely used for professional applications, and in which quality wireless microphone systems are available at a variety of prices. In the U.S., the high-band VHF range is divided into two bands available to wireless microphone users. The first band, from 169 – 172 MHz, includes eight specific frequencies designated by the FCC for wireless microphone use by the general public. These frequencies are often referred to as “traveling frequencies,” because they can theoretically be used throughout the U.S. without concern for interference from broadcast television. Legal limits of deviation (up to 12 kHz) allow high-quality audio transmission.”

Other than the UHF and VHF bands, if we look to the higher end of the spectrum the WiFi frequency range at 2.4GHz is another option, however, this also has its limitations due to it being a small shared space and the fact that a lot of WiFi networks in the area can cause interference.

So what does this mean in practical terms to get started?

If you are purchasing new wireless equipment it’s very important to understand its limitations in what frequencies you will be working with at any given venue, and this is multiplied tenfold if you intend to travel with the same equipment. Many modern receivers do not allow the tuning options to change ranges once they have been set – as previously mentioned, the UK channels 38 and 70 cannot be swapped once they have been tuned, and similarly, radio microphones that can tune to Channel 38 will not tune to the “Duplex Gap” of 823 – 832MHz or the shared space of 1785 – 1805MHz. This means that equipment needs have to be very well researched prior to purchasing and that pre-loved second-hand gear will need extra investigation for this reason.

What are the power restrictions for my wireless equipment? 

As a general rule the power must not be in excess of 50 milliwatts when operating in the television bands, and no more than 20 milliwatts when operating in the 600MHz band or the Duplex Gap.

So to recap what questions should I ask first to get setup?

To get started with wireless equipment the key starting questions are:

While it may seem like a lot of questions to ask and elements to consider, most wireless manufacturers will state the capabilities and limitations of their equipment, and keep you up to date with changes that may affect its’ use. With a bit of research and preparation, it’s possible to find wireless equipment to meet a variety of audio needs and budgets, that works within the law and sounds great wherever you may be.

 

AI Composition Technology

 

It feels like technology is developing at an incredible rate with every year that passes, and in the music world, these changes continue to push the boundaries of what is possible for creators as we approach 2020. Several companies specialising in AI music creation have been targeting composers lately, headhunting and recruiting them to develop the technology behind the artificial composition. So who are the AI companies and what do they do?

AIVA

One company called ‘AIVA’ has been the most prevalent that I’ve been aware of this year, and they have reached out to recruit composers stating they are ‘building a platform intended to help composers face the challenges of the creative process’.  Their system is based on preset algorithms, simplified and categorised by genre as a starting point.

I set up an account to experiment and found it to be quite different from the demo on the landing page led me to believe. The demo video demonstrates how the user can choose from a major or minor key, instrumentation, and song length to create a new track, and that is it – the piece is created! The playback of the piece has overtones of the keyboard demos of my youth in its overall vibe however I have to admit I am genuinely impressed with the functionality of the melody, harmony, and rhythms as well as the piano roll midi output that is practical for importing into a DAW – it’s really not bad at all.

The magic happens while watching the rest of the demo and seeing how the composer modifies the melody to make slightly more technical sense and sound more thought-out and playable, they shift the voicing and instrumentation of the harmony and add their own contributions to the AI idea. I have to admit that I have similar methods for composing parts when inspiration is thin on the ground, but my methods are not so fast, slick or lengthy and I can completely see the appeal of AIVA being used as a tool for overcoming writers’ block or getting an initial idea that develops quickly.

On the argument against, I was pretty stunned how little input was required from the user to generate the entire piece, which has fundamentally been created by someone else. The biggest musical stumbling block for me was that the melodies sounded obviously computer-generated and a little atonal, not always moving away from the diatonic in the most pleasing ways and transported me back to my lecturing days marking composition and music theory of those learning the fundamentals.

In generating a piece in each of the genres on offer, I generally liked most of the chord progressions and felt this was a high point that would probably be the most useful to me for working speedily, arranging and re-voicing any unconvincing elements with relative ease. While I’m still not 100% sure where I stand morally on the whole thing, my first impressions are that the service is extremely usable, does what it claims to do, and ultimately has been created by composers for those who need help to compose.

Track 1 – https://soundcloud.com/michelle_s-1/aiva-modern-cinematic-eb-minor-strings-brass-110-bpm

Track 2 – https://soundcloud.com/michelle_s-1/aiva-tango-d-major-small-tango-band-90-bpm

Amper

‘Amper’ music is a different yet interesting AI composition site that assists in the creation of music, and the company states that the technology has been taught music theory and how to recognise which music triggers which emotions. The nerd in me disagrees with this concept profusely (the major key ukulele arrangement of ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’ by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole is just one example of why music is far more complex than key and instrumentation assumptions) however in looking at the target market for Amper, this makes far more sense – they provide a service primarily aimed at non-musicians who are faced with the prospect of trawling through reams of library music as a means to support concept such as a corporate video. In a similar vein to AIVA, Amper creates fully-formed ideas to the brief of set parameters such as timing length and tempo with the addition of incorporating a video to the music creation stage, making this a really practical tool for those looking for supporting music. I loaded a piece from the given options and found it to be very usable and accessible to non-musicians. While the price tag to own and use the pieces seems steep, it’s also reassuring that the composers should have been paid a fair fee.

IBM

Similarly, IBM has created compositional AI they have named ‘Watson Beat’ which its creator Janani Mukundan says has been taught how to compose. The website states:

“To teach the system, we broke the music down into its core elements, such as pitch, rhythm, chord progression and instrumentation. We fed a huge number of data points into the neural network and linked them with information on both emotions and musical genres. As a simple example, a ‘spooky’ piece of music will often use an octatonic scale. The idea was to give the system a set of structural reference points so that we would be able to define the kind of music we wanted to hear in natural-language terms. To use Watson Beat, you simply provide up to ten seconds of MIDI music—maybe by plugging in a keyboard and playing a basic melody or set of chords—and tell the system what kind of mood you want the output to sound like. The neural network understands music theory and how emotions are connected to different musical elements, and then it takes your basic ideas and creates something completely new.”

While this poses the same arguments to me as AIVA and Amper with its pros and cons, it’s clearly advertised as a tool to enhance the skills of composers rather than replace them, which is something I appreciated once again and I am curious to see where IBM takes this technology with their consumers in the coming years.

Humtap

The last piece of software I tried myself was an app downloaded onto my phone called ‘Humtap’ which was a slightly different take on AI for music composition. In a lot of ways, this was the least musical of all the software, yet conversely, it was the only one I tried that required something of a live performance – the app works by singing a melody into the phone and choosing the genre. I hummed a simple two-bar melody and played around with the options of what instrument played it back and where the strong beats should fall in the rhythm. The app then creates a harmonic progression around the melody, a separate B section, and this can all loop indefinitely. It’s really easy to experiment, undo, redo, and intuitively create short tracks of electronic, diatonic sounding music. This app by its nature seems like it’s aimed at young people, and I felt that was pretty positive – if Humtap works as a gateway app in getting youngsters interested in creating music using technology at home, then that’s a win from me.

There’s always a discussion to be had around the role of AI in music composition, and I suspect everyone will have a slightly different opinion on where they stand. Some fear the machines will take over and replace humans, others make the argument that this kind of technology will mean everybody will have to work faster because of it, and there are some who fear it will open up the market to less able composers at the mid and lower end of the scale. On the other side, we have to accept that we all crave new, better sounds and sample libraries to work with, and that the development of technology within music has been responsible for much of the good we can all universally agree has happened through the last 5 decades. My lasting impression in researching and experimenting with some of these available AI tools is that they are useful assets to composers but they are simply not capable of the same things as a live composer. To me, emotion cannot be conveyed in the same way because it needs to be felt by the creator and ultimately, music composition is far more complex and meaningful than algorithms and convention.

Troubleshooting Ourselves to Gain Perspective

 

Do you ever notice how now and then, a series of annoyances seem to happen one after another? I’ve had a month where it feels like every day has provided something new to test my patience.

When we have weeks like these, it’s so easy for feelings of fatalism to set in – the philosophical belief that life is predetermined no matter what our actions may be. Stuck in a mental slump borne out of frustration and annoyance, I needed to pick myself back up again.

I remember that sometimes it would be better that some things don’t happen the way you want them to. Although this one is hard because it’s human nature to let ourselves get carried away in our imagination, picturing the things we think we want only to be disappointed when they don’t work out. Often we never get to see how that untraveled alternate path would have panned out, but once in a while, life will give us a glimpse of why this wasn’t the best thing for us.

Last year I was turned down for a gig that I was sure would be fulfilling for me both creatively and financially, and I felt like I’d missed out at the time. Not long after, I was shocked to see in the press that there had been an incident that turned into a politically charged legal and PR nightmare and a very real safety issue for those involved in the gig. It was a disaster. I certainly would have been caught in the middle of the crossfire with potentially long-lasting ties to it if I’d landed the job. It’s been useful to have this rejection in the back of my mind to draw upon when times of frustration come around as they inevitably do, and remember that sometimes things not happening can be a good thing.

The second phase of my fatalistic detox was thinking about perseverance and what it means. The alternative to going after what we truly want in life is accepting defeat and ceasing to try anymore. Surely this feels worse than any setback? Kim Liao’s viral article from 2016 Why you should aim for 100 rejections a year beautifully outlines her outlook on perseverance in the creative world of work. But it really can be applied in any area of life where we are losing our cool. Liao theorises that the more times we fail, the fear of failure itself shrinks and holds infinitely less power over us because the act of persevering has become routine. Additionally, Liao reasons that the more we practice at anything, the better we get, including building our resilience.

Most people tend to feel they need something to aim for to grow. I first became aware of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs during my teacher training, as it is heavily referenced in the British education system. Maslow’s expanded model is a motivational theory of human behaviour, though these needs are interchangeable, and some may even supersede others entirely.

  1. Biological and physiological needs– air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sleep, etc.
  2. Safety needs– protection from elements, security, order, law, stability, etc.
  3. Love and belongingness needs– friendship, intimacy, trust, and acceptance, receiving and giving affection and love. Affiliating, being part of a group (family, friends, work).
  4. Esteem needs– which Maslow classified into two categories: (i) esteem for oneself (dignity, achievement, mastery, independence) and (ii) the desire for reputation or respect from others (e.g., status, prestige).
  5. Cognitive needs– knowledge and understanding, curiosity, exploration, need for meaning, and predictability.
  6. Aesthetic needs– appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.
  7. Self-actualisation needs– realising personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth, and peak experiences.
  8. Transcendence needs– A person is motivated by values that transcend beyond the personal self (e.g., mystical experiences and certain experiences with nature, aesthetic experiences, sexual experiences, service to others, the pursuit of science, religious faith, etc.).

The final part of my troubleshooting process is to mentally file which goals and needs can be met by reassessing my plans and actions accordingly. Henry Ford is quoted as saying, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got,” and I feel like this mantra is so useful when thinking about what we can proactively do to help ourselves.

Over the years, some of our goals and needs will remain the same, while others require tuning into in order to keep their relevance and propel us forward. Even when we are happily travelling down the same road as before, our surroundings or circumstances can change, making our old goals seem outdated. By being rigid, we can close ourselves off to change when it might be helpful to us, and they say that the definition of insanity is repeating the same thing while expecting a different outcome. If we can embrace change, whether in ourselves when it is needed and chosen, or when it feels like it is happening “to” us, we are also building resilience, and whether it feels like just what we need to hear or a philosophical reminder, the only real constant in life is change.

Hearing Health – Hearing Test

What to expect from your hearing test

After seeing several recent articles and social media posts promoting good ear health, I realised that I was long overdue for a hearing test so promptly booked myself in with an audiologist to get a check-up at my local Specsavers hearing centre. The NHS covers hearing tests here in the UK, and so they are funded and available to all who require them. Whilst I am eternally grateful we have this service, I found the process of the test rather unpleasant, baffling in its design, and felt it left me with more questions to research myself than it had answered.

The Hearing Test

The exam started with a series of questions regarding medical history, hearing concerns, work, and lifestyle. I told the audiologist my concerns and was met with a weird scoff and strained line of subsequent questions when I answered my profession, making it an uncomfortable start. Maybe she was having a bad day, or had found musicians and engineers to make difficult patients? I can only wonder. Next, a photograph was taken inside each of my ears, which is called an otoscopy, and then the photos were brought up onto a computer screen to show the ear canal. Once those were out the way with no problems, the headphones went on in the soundproof booth, and the hearing test started.

Pure tone audiometry (PTA) is a test that measures the hearing threshold. Pure tones are played in each ear, and the responses are measured – in this case, by pushing a button each time I could hear a sound. The test starts with one ear: a frequency is played loudly, and then the same frequency is played slightly softer, again and softer again several times. This is then repeated in the same ear with the next tone. PTA measures audibility thresholds and has a “normal” average range but does not identify all hearing loss, and therefore some question its accuracy. The average levels refer to the average of hearing threshold levels of the tones used in the test, which are typically 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz. Headphones are changed during the test from being on the ear as you would normally wear them, to a different set which is placed slightly behind the ear onto the bone of the skull. The process is repeated on the other ear, with the click response being the only interaction from the patient to the audiologist during the test.

Questions arising from the test

The strange thing to me about this method is the lack of the element of surprise – the interval time between the diminishing volume tones was quite rhythmic and predictable, creating absurd existential doubt over the tones reality versus expectation. I had gone in with no real memory of my last hearing test and had thought it would be more similar to an eye exam in the way that new pictures and letters are introduced to the eyes for the first time with no way of cheating your way through, and there’s a continuous back and forth interaction with the optometrist. The lack of interaction meant that there was no opportunity to discuss whether there was a different experience in each ear or anything else that might have cropped up during the test. It seemed quite odd not to have any dialogue, and the decision not to randomise the tones in frequency, volume, and ear was the thing that surprised me, rightly or wrongly.

I was brought out of the booth and greeted with fine results, but unfortunately, it was not the cause to celebrate you’d imagine; I was told that my concerns raised back at the very beginning of the test were either:

  1.  not real and were in my head, or
  2.  due to a brain problem.

The audiologist explained to me that her role only studies the signals as far as the ear and that the signals to the brain from the ear are the jurisdiction of another doctor. The test was over, and I wondered how older or more confused patients might be dealt with at this point.

What to do if you are facing hearing loss

Hearing impairment is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a hearing loss with thresholds higher than 25db in one or both ears. Loss at this level at one or more of the previously mentioned frequencies in the PTA test can guide an audiologist to the specific diagnosis and treatment.

If you’re curious to get tested but are unable to arrange an exam in person, there are various online sources with recreations of PTA tests you can do to discover if you are in the “normal” range or have any areas of concern you’d like to understand better. As with most things, though, prevention is better than the cure and looking after your hearing should be a priority. While I’m not working with stadium rock levels of loudness every night, safety measures are so crucial for those working in potentially damaging environments.

Moulded earplugs and IEMs are a big but worthy investment for both prevention and treatment to stop further damage occurring. Whilst I’m not affiliated with any companies myself, I have peers who collaborate with businesses who provide IEMs and earplugs to them in the way of sponsorship deals, which can be a great and mutually beneficial way to help with the cost of necessary ear protection.

Since my hearing test, I’ve been pleasantly surprised in my research to find there are rolling schemes in the UK such as the Musicians’ Hearing Health Scheme which provides access to specialist hearing assessment and bespoke hearing protection, partnership with Help Musicians UK and Musicians Hearing Services. These tests are with musician-specialist audiologists and include regular check-ups and bespoke hearing protection, all at a massively subsidised rate, making hearing health and treatment both accessible and affordable.

Final thoughts

In the last few weeks, I’ve learned that PTA is possibly not the most suitable or in-depth method for testing musicians’ hearing, although it gives a good benchmark to pinpoint severe hearing loss. I’ll definitely be visiting a musician-specialist for my next appointment, for the bedside manner as well as the knowledge. In matters of health, I do sometimes worry that complacency is encouraged, and if possible, my advice would be to visit a specialist and get a second opinion if something feels ‘off.’ There are experts, sponsorships, and schemes actively working to help look after musicians and engineers, and I for one am comforted knowing they’re out there taking musicians’ health seriously.

To find out more about getting specialised hearing assistance in the UK, including tests and ear protection visit:

Musician’s Union

In the United States visit

MusicCares

Musician’s Hearing Solutions

Lifting each other up – Interview with Naomi Larsson

 

Sometimes I forget that England is on a tiny island and the six degrees of separation is a common phenomenon in the UK music scene. A few weeks ago I’d had the pleasure of engineering a lovely band for the second time. As we chatted whilst packing down, we discovered that I admire the work of the lap steel guitarist’s girlfriend Naomi Larsson, writer of the recent Guardian article “You lift with your mind, not with your muscles.”

Not only is Naomi an award-winning humanitarian journalist with a hefty back catalogue of empowering and candid pieces on women in music, she’s an active musician and creator of a female-centred collective titled “Sister Rosetta’s.” Boyfriend Joe Harvey-Whyte kindly makes the introductions and the following week Naomi, and I meet for a chat in a relaxed coffee shop, hidden from the backdrop of a busy London afternoon.

The first thing we talk about is the previous Friday night’s gig – Naomi and Joe put on a sell-out show at Wilton’s Music Hall, which is the oldest surviving Grand Music Hall in the world, recently restored keeping the original features, complementing the theme of the night. The show was an ‘Americana’ live homage to the film Heartworn Highways and featured 13 artists including The Magic Numbers, Zak Hobbs (the grandson of Fairport Convention’s Richard Thompson) and Ren Harvieu from Bella Union. The event was co-promoted by Green Note in Camden, with an afterparty held at The Betsey Trotwood, who provided sound for the night. In order to emulate the vibe of late-night jams, the stage was dressed with barroom tables and chairs for the acts, and the technical setup was captured with condenser mics strategically placed on the tables.

Q: Friday’s show was a huge success, and it’s nice to see that 6 of the 13 performers were women. Was this a conscious decision for you and Joe when organising the project?

A: “It was a conscious thing in part to make sure there was a balance, but also they all are just amazing, so it’s not a token thing. The Magic Numbers played a big part in that as they’re 50/50 and then it just worked out quite organically as something that needed to happen. Heartworn Highways is a music documentary from the 1970s about all these outlaw country artists before they became famous, and the representation in that is awful – there’s only one song sung by a woman that’s a bit of a joke in it! It was important for us to show that’s not the case.”

Nothing about the musical contribution from the women involved in the show could be further from a joke, and while the full live recording of the show is under wraps, for now, I am privy to a gorgeous snippet from one of Naomi’s original songs, Where the Love Goes.

Q: How did you get into music and what hooked you?

A: “I started learning classical guitar when I was six but I was a way better guitarist when I was little than I am now!  A few years later, when I was a teenager, I played the electric guitar and bass a bit and then started playing chords on acoustic guitar more. When I was at Uni I wrote some songs and played a little bit and probably sang more than played, then in the last few years I’ve been slowly doing it again, and now I write and play way more which is really cool.  My sister is a couple of years older than me, and I was kind of copying her, and we’d write songs together, so she’s probably why I started playing and singing. I also fell in love with Laura Marling, and I guess when she started, she was very much singing and guitar, and it felt like there weren’t that many successful people around my age who were doing it at the time, so she was quite a big inspiration.  Then I gradually got more interested in country music, and now that’s more like what I play of my own stuff.”

Describing her sound as ‘blending new British folk with classic American country from the 50s and 60s’, Naomi plays as a solo singer/songwriter as well as front-woman of the house band at Jambalaya’s Honky Tonk Thursdays, which is one of the regular nights from the event management project she and Joe organise. With a full diary for the foreseeable, Naomi plans to record her solo material next year between all the events that keep her busy which “diversify life” and get her “away from the computer screen.”

Q: As a gigging musician, you decided to set up the female-centred collective “Sister Rosetta’s” which has both an online community and live events, creating a safe space for women to come and perform. What sparked the idea in you, and what is Sister Rosetta’s about?

A: “The more you think about it, the more you realise how embedded it all is, that culture and people just aren’t aware of it, and women too feel like we shouldn’t be in these spaces or we’re not the kind of people who should be playing this instrument. I was thinking about the general imbalance and where it all might stem from, and I guess it just came to me that it was such an everyday thing across all levels and ages. In guitar-based music, 90% of the artists are men, a gig at your local pub when you’re little is more than likely going to be men, so I get that you don’t think that’s going to be an option for you. The reason I started playing guitar was because my dad forced me to – it wasn’t a choice. I think that he had always wanted to play the guitar and then forced it on me and my sister; otherwise, I don’t think either of us would have taken it up because it didn’t seem like something that was for women. It’s the same with the guitar shops when you’re a girl and wanting to buy your first guitar; it’s scary going into a place where it’s mostly blokes there that are gonna patronise you. I had this connection with the Betsey Trotwood venue because that’s where we used to do “The Honky Tonks” (the previously mentioned country music night) and already knew that they were a really friendly pub. I knew I could use that link for something positive because I just got really bored going to nights, especially singer/songwriter nights, and it was just a load of white men who all sounded the same.

I think diversity brings more interest in music, and what you can do on more of an individual or grassroots level is open some spaces to make little changes, so you can make sure you buy music made by women and support them, go and see women playing gigs in your area, or you can put on event in your area if you’re able to that promotes women and gives them these spaces because I think that’s what’s fundamentally lacking on a non-professional or more amateur level getting into it and starting. When you feel like that space isn’t for you, if you make that space, it gives women the confidence and ability to do it in a safe environment which I think is really important.  It’s partly a confidence thing, and it’s also a safety thing in the Sister Rosetta’s stuff and what is so nice about it is that it’s always such a respectful audience – people listened, and they appreciated the music, and there was a special vibe there.” Naomi laughs and clarifies, “People have said that! I’m saying that objectively, there was a nice vibe!

Interestingly, the one time there was an issue was from a guy who works in music, he was there in the audience, very wasted, and he shouted a few times over a young woman who was playing, asking if she was single and was being very drunk and lairy. I said to him that if he was going to behave like that then get out, because that’s not what that is for, and I didn’t want to create an environment where people thought that was an alright thing to do. While he responded and behaved better after that, it made me really upset because you just can’t get away from it at all. On the Sister Rosetta’s team, we always had a female sound engineer, and my friend she designed the poster, it was very much a package of ‘we can do this.’ I also hoped that from doing it, people would get more work and it could be used as a sort of larger thing.”

The Sister Rosetta’s online community and newsletter are open and available while the live events will be starting back again in the new year after a short break.

As well as the active events Naomi runs and performs, she does a lot for the cause of women in her journalism. While there have been recent studies and conversations on the frequent imbalance of superstar festival headliners, Naomi felt strongly about the everyday interactions at smaller venues and so decided to research and write a story for The Guardian whereby she found all of the gig listings for one day across the UK and counted how many men and women performers there were listed: 69% of all acts were made up entirely of men, 9% were female-only, and half of those were solo artists. “I kind of expected it, but it’s still a bit bonkers!  I felt that I wanted to do something about that but in a more tangible way, because I think writing is really important, but it is kind of true that people just read stuff and it might have some traction for a day, but then people move onto the next thing”.

While I tell Naomi that I disagree and feel the power of her writing has the ability to stay with people, I also admire how she was able to channel her feelings into something practical in both her writing and Sister Rosetta’s. We discuss the aim to normalise groups such as these so that it gets to the point where they’re not needed anymore, so that representation and safety is much more accepted in the mainstream at all levels. Naomi tells me that since the article, she’s aware of more pockets of groups in the area with the same ethos springing up all the time: “There’s a really great organisation group called Soul Stripped Sessions, and it’s not exclusively a BAME events collective, but they’re well represented, and that’s really cool, there’s another one called Herd which started a little after I started mine that is really good, so there are little microcosms of people with the same aims trying to do this, which is really positive and nice to see.”

Q: The recent Guardian feature you wrote about women sound engineers went down a storm in audio and music circles and the SoundGirls community! So many of your articles that centre around women’s rights and women in music resonate deeply with your readers. What inspires you to write about the topics that you do?

A:  “I’m really glad to hear that it had some traction, that’s really great.  The Women in Engineering article was part of a supplement that they were doing about engineering in general, and so I pitched the idea about sound engineers and then did the case study. I think it’s really wonderful to be in the position to write what you care about and I’m lucky that I can do that.  I think once you have a skill or a craft, it’s really worth it to use that to some kind of benefit and to give a platform to these issues as well. I think there should be more stuff done on not only the face of the music, and would really love to do a podcast in the future. It’s really interesting to write about it, though I wouldn’t call myself a music writer because I’ve never done reviews or anything like that, but these kinds of issues of representation or gender imbalance are the things that I really care about, and I think that by writing about it you can create conversations which is important.”

I argue that Naomi is a music writer and is way too humble on the importance of what she contributes; her Huff Post article on catcalling won an award this year. She counters, “I need to do more. I did say to myself that I was going to do more, but I haven’t.  Also it’s kind of difficult to sell these stories as I’m freelance, so whilst you might want to write about something, you’re pitching to editors who maybe don’t have the space, money or interest to commission pieces like that, so that’s a bit trickier, which I’m sure loads of freelancers have experienced, where you want to write about something. I’m on a bit of a mission to focus on Women in Music, and I guess I did pursue that by doing the Sister Rosetta’s but just didn’t do it in so much of a writing way, because much as I would have liked to have done more articles, I put more energy into doing the gigs, but there’s always time in the future to do more about it. It’s not going away.”

Q: What advice would you give to any young women and girls wanting to do any of the things that you’re doing, whether in the music or writing world?

A: “Find someone that you respect and like their work and get in touch with them and see if they want to go for a coffee or something, cause I think that most people do, most people want to help someone else. That can be really important to get some good advice from them and not feel so alone. In terms of music, just keep at it and find a special place where you can feel safe and confident to do the music that you wanna do. Again, find other women doing the same thing.”

It’s been a real pleasure spending the afternoon sharing stories and hearing all about this fascinating woman’s work. I could happily stay and chat with Naomi for the entire evening, but for now we must part ways and run across town to our respective gigs; Naomi is playing at a craft beer festival, and I’m off to work, curious about where and when the six degrees to women making an impact will strike again.

You can catch Naomi next playing at Green Note on 10th September, tickets at www.greennote.co.uk

 

 

Drop the Beat – Analysis of Katy Perry’s Copyright Lawsuit

 

July 2019 has seen a “guilty” verdict passed on the latest high profile copyright case in music: Katy Perry’s entire musical team were ordered to pay damages to Christian rapper Flame for copying his 2008 track “Joyful Noise” in her US No one hit “Dark Horse.” The most interesting thing to me, in this case, is that the musical elements in question are not part of a complex or distinctive melody, a musical progression or harmonic sequence, but a 4 bar beat that includes an eight-note synthesiser ostinato loop. The notes in question and the nature of them under any kind of musical scrutiny highlight a few potentially significant implications for the future of music.

There is no “magic number” of notes or hard and fast, black and white rule of what copyright infringement is in a purely general sense, so each case is always a unique comparison to be argued. When a copyright case is brought to court, the comparing of lead sheets (consisting of melody, chord progression, and lyrics) is the general method of analysing whether a song has been copied for legal purposes. Musicologists are often called in to explain in layman’s terms how these line up and compare, and it is common for both sides to bring instruments into court to practically demonstrate points to the jury in context.

Analysing the lead sheets, in this case, is interesting because of the section this case is looking at – the beat. The drumbeat in both tracks is traditional where the main kicks and snares fall, although Flame’s kick has more variations and additions on extra off-beats than Perry, and he also shifts from claps to snares in the voicing. As such, Joyful Noise is the more complex beat musically.

Looking at the synthesiser ostinato melody is more realistic in where the similarities lie. The instrumentation is vastly different – Joyful Noise uses a sawtooth wave sound with a heavy glide or portamento at the start of each pitch change, while Dark Horse uses an airy artificial vocal sound, giving them completely distinct tones and timbres. Charlie Harding’s transcription of the sheet music shows the real song keys used, however, if we mentally transpose either track one semitone to look at them both in the same key, we can see obvious duplication. The first four notes are the same, and the pattern of intervals then falls one semitone for the notes 6 and 7. The 8th note lines up again only on the second repetition of the eight-note phrase. This is a typical descending minor scale pattern as shown in Adam Neely’s transcription, which he has transposed for clarity.

While the similarities in the synth parts are apparent, the reality of them musically must be emphasised – what Perry’s team and most musicians would argue in this case is that they are excerpts of a minor scale. Rhythmically it is difficult to factor in an argument as every note falls on the beat. While nobody can deny that the two synth parts are similar, it needs to be understood that the reason they are similar is the simplicity and genericity of the line, found in nursery rhymes, esteemed classical works, folk songs, and instructional book 1 of almost every pitched instrument the world over. The literary equivalent would be something such as “I would like a glass of water” – a phrase so necessary and well-used that it could not possibly be assigned as being an original creation of the 21st century.

Perry’s lawyer Christine Lepera argued the prosecution was “trying to own basic building blocks of music, the alphabet of music that should be available to everyone.” If we are not careful, we run the risk of copyrighting musical necessities, the letters of the musical alphabet Lepera references, most likely not understood by the non-musicians who ruled in this case, which raises the question of whether a musically illiterate jury should be involved in the decision making process?

Of course, there’s likely an element of PR dumbing down for media purposes with the umbrella phrasing of “the beat” being found at fault in this case, yet my analytical side is deeply dissatisfied with it. Looking at the argument from Flame’s expert; however, it makes a little more sense. The prosecution’s musicologist Todd Decker stated the ostinatos had “five or six points of similarity including pitch, rhythm, texture, pattern of repetition, melodic shape and timbre. The descending melodies of both ostinatos are unique. I have not seen another piece that descends in the way these two do.” He also said, “the synthesised sounds create a pingy, artificial sound in the beat.” If the entire “beat” (and all of the rhythms, variations, and scales this includes as previously mentioned) is now copyrighted by Flame, what does this mean for music, other than us all running home to spice up our drum tracks?

Another worrying part of this ruling is the fact that all six songwriters and the four corporations involved in the release were found liable, making this an extreme verdict, no matter how removed from “the beat” or synth line the individual or company may have been.

It feels like there have been significant copyright cases every few years in recent times, and while intentional plagiarism is, of course, a wrong to be avoided, it’s worth remembering that we are all the product of what has come before us, whether unconsciously, through education, or out of love or rebellion. Under real musical analysis, it feels quite wrong in principle to be marred with the label of stealing someone’s “vibe” (see the much-discussed Pharrell & Robin Thicke case) or for obeying the long-standing rules and traditions of Western music, as is my view on the Perry case. Hopefully, creativity will continue to thrive among all of us sharing this somewhat limited 12 note system, and terms such as influence, tradition, and vibe will evolve to their more logical meanings rather than being worrying words within the industry.

Engineering Ourselves and Rewiring the Brain

I recently came across a news article about people who chose to drastically change large areas of their lives, which included changing their internal narrative and concept of ‘self’ entirely. My interest was piqued and led me to investigate the science behind this concept — the ability to rewire the brain.

What is neuroplasticity?

The discovery of neuroplasticity is a relatively newly accepted one, only becoming appreciated and understood in the last 20 years. Science previously believed the brain to be ‘hardwired’ to function in predetermined ways. However, we now know it is ‘softwired’ by experience.  It turns out that we are changing all the time and that our brains are like flexible plastic and can be rewired.

Neuroplasticity is the ‘muscle building’ part of the brain. Dr. John B. Arden, author of “Rewire Your Brain,” summarises the principles of neuroplasticity with the phrases “Use it or lose it” and “Cells that fire together wire together.”  He explains that our brains reorganise when we have new experiences, and the connections the brain makes when performing a skill are strengthened with use.

Conversely, if the skill lies dormant, the connections are weakened, just as any muscles in the body will weaken without exercise. The more repetition we engage in, the more neurons will fire together, strengthening and increasing in power until it becomes automatic to us. This means that we become what we think and do.

We are the engineers

When we find a bad connection when engineering, we understand that we must re-route our signal and find another way. In life, when we see an inner “connection” in us that we deem to be undesirable, we must engineer ourselves.

In the initial news article that piqued my interest, not all of the subjects were able to undertake such drastic rewiring in themselves. While some successfully overhauled and maintained all areas of their lives and “selves” completely, some were unwilling or unable to believe anything other than their familiar inner narrative about who they were and their capabilities. This duality of neuroplasticity is outlined as “The plastic paradox” in Mike Sheerin’s documentary “The brain that changes itself”:

“The same plasticity that allows us to change our brains and produce more flexible behaviours is also the source of many of our most rigid ones. All people start with plastic potential. Some of us as we grow and develop, enhance that flexibility. For others, the spontaneity, creativity, and unpredictability of childhood give way to a routinized existence that repeats the same behaviour and turns us into rigid caricatures of ourselves. Anything that involves unvaried repetition; our careers, cultural activities, skills repeated, and neuroses can lead to rigidity.”

The connections we engineer 

For those wishing to roll up their metaphorical sleeves and embark on some mental cable coiling and re-routing, the good news is our behaviour is not rigidly determined. The brain forms connections and pathways – major pathways are like highways that are frequently used, but we can also take the dormant backroads and over time and use, build them up to be the new highways.

Through stimulation and exercise, we can change the brain at a physiological level. Arden explains that we can even turn genes on or off with our behaviour and can rewire the parts of the brain that are out of balance with the others.

Musicians have been studied at length to understand neural connections associated with skilled repetition. Arden outlines research that has found not only behaviour (in this case instrumental practice) changes the structure of the brain through neuroplasticity, but just thinking about or imagining particular behaviours can change brain structure as well, meaning that mental practice contributes to the rewiring of the brain.

“Neurons communicate something new. The brain would not be able to record anything new if it were hardwired. Remembering something new is, therefore, rewiring the brain. By making connections between ideas or images, you also make connections between the neurons that encode those ideas and images. “

What this means

When we repeat an action, a thought, or emotion, we reinforce a neural pathway. We, as engineers then must take care with what is going into our input, that is, what ideas and images we are allowing into our brains that will make subsequent connections.

The discovery of “mirror neurons” has been an interesting one, and Professor Ramachandran has been an advocate of their importance. He explains mirror neurons are motor command neurons that fire and orchestrate a sequence of muscle twitches to allow a physical action such as pulling a lever. A subset of these neurons also fire when watching another person do precisely the same action – the neurons are performing a virtual reality simulation of the brain.

Ramachandran goes onto explain that when we feel pain, cells respond in the anterior cingulate area of the brain. Again, when we watch someone in pain, a subset of anterior cingulate neurons will also fire. This has led Ramachandran to believe the mirror neurons are involved in the basis of all empathy. The broader implication of this means that our brains take on and feel that which is around us, and what we “feed” into it.

We are changing all the time with everything we think and experience. Knowing that plasticity is an inherent part of the brain, we need to learn enough so we can guide the changes, keep our input signals clean, and be content with our own ability to wire and rewire ourselves.

Consoles, Consoles, Consoles

Part of the fun of working in live music is the variety and unpredictability it inevitably brings. Great as that may be, my bosses recently set up a training day for my colleagues and myself,  using some of the consoles likely to be installed on future client contracts. We spent the day getting our geek on, and these were my top three.

# 3 Allen & Heath SQ5

The SQ5 is an attractive desk – the digital display looks slick and modern, while the touch screen features are precise and impressive. On first appearance, it feels sturdy, which I later find out is something the company prides itself on – they rigorously test the materials for resilience and longevity of moving parts. With 48 processing channels, 16 faders, and a 96kHz mix core, the desk can handle plenty before I need to worry.

I found the main setup to be a little time-consuming at first but well worth it in the end. Once the balance was struck (or learned) between using the touch screen and the controls, life was good! The copy and paste function is sure to be a timesaver, and the soft controls are presented in a logical way, also making life easier.

The detailed level of control and precision available (I stopped counting all the EQs on offer) plus the easy personalisation all seemed very intuitive. The final plus for me was the ability to save the settings onto USB, ensuring your setup stays just how you like it.

#2  Yamaha QL1

Nobody had a bad word to say about the QL1. It comes with 16 inputs, 8 outputs, and 16 faders, and has 33 mono and 8 stereo mix channels, and 16 mix and 8 matrix busses. Almost certainly the most foolproof of all the desks (if there is such a thing), there’s an effortless feel and ease of locating everything on it. The visuals and functions are all clear and easy to use, and GEQ, soft controls, and DCAs are all quick and obliging. The desk equivalent of a comfortable pair of shoes.

# 1 Midas Pro 2c

I was struck by how at home I felt with the 2c, owing to it perhaps to the feeling of 90s nostalgia from the screen and mouse functions. For me, it was the most visual of the desks, and at times felt more like using a DAW, which I rather liked. For a desk with 156 inputs, 166 outputs, and 64 simultaneous input processing channels, it’s very approachable, which is another plus.

Although some of the controls and buttons can look and feel quite old school, they are just a rouse to impress you all the more when you discover the touch response feature – a light tap to the faders will display your current level without moving, and when done to the knobs will select that setting control on-screen. I really liked this for being so clever, but mostly for being incredibly useful and practical.

The GEQ function works great overall, and as standard, the desk can save lots of scenes and shows as presets, with the necessary option of saving to USB for future work and clarity. The desk feels great to use, makes sense, and has plenty of great features that add a little extra.

Her story – Interview with Dr Helen Reddington

On a rainy Friday night, I’m drinking tea under the glow of fairy lights in the crowd that’s gathered to catch Helen McCookerybook on the Midlands leg of her solo tour. Dr. Helen Reddington’s pseudonym helps to distinguish the multi-faceted nature of her work, spanning from musician in the British Punk movement to academic and teacher, to solo musician, author, and filmmaker. Helen is an ambassador for telling women’s stories, and she kindly squeezes in time for a coffee with me the morning after the gig to tell me hers.

It’s like chatting with an old friend as we recall our highlights from the previous evening, compare notes on overcoming musician’s injuries, and discuss the similarities between knitting and sequencing, and the nonsensical myth that women’s brains aren’t conducive to working in these patterned methods. As we talk about her colourful life, I wonder how we will cover everything in time for the screening of Helen’s documentary “Stories From The She Punks” that afternoon. The film has been a natural progression following the publication of Dr. Reddington’s book “The Lost Women of Rock Music: Female Musicians of the Punk Era.” Created by Helen and fellow Punk musician Gina Birch, the film came about after Gina was interviewed for the book and suggested they make a film about it together.

Q: Women are frequently omitted and written out of history, and you address that in so much of your work, particularly in this film.

“It still shocks me how much it gets covered up, because it was so important, that period of time. I think we interviewed 20 women for the film; there was easily another 20 we could have found. The women are people, people first. This is where feminism works, when it makes women into people, rather than the second sex or whatever, and they’re people’s stories. I think you can tell everyone’s quite proud of what they’ve done, but without trumpeting it, it’s just like actually we did this thing! We did it, you know? When you’re a creative person, there isn’t a point where you sit, and you say ‘oh yeah I’ve done it’ because you’re always looking at the next thing, and I think that’s what the film did for the people that we interviewed.”

The film focuses on the stories of women instrumentalists including Palmolive & Viv Albertine from The Slits, Enid Williams from Girlschool and Shanne Bradley from The Nipple Erectors. Helen tells me she’s trying to encourage Shanne in particular to write her biography.

“She auditioned Shane McGowan from The Pogues for his first ever band, The Nipple Erectors with Shanne, and she was there right at the beginning. She knows so many people and did so many things, and she appears in Punk Histories, there’ll be a photograph of her, and it’ll say ’unknown woman.’ You can’t be an unknown woman; you’ve got to write your story!”

Q: You’re currently editing your next book on the topic of women engineers and producers. Can you tell us about that?

“It came about through the experience of working with producers and never getting the vocal sound that I wanted, and also working in Higher Education and always seeing the guys in that environment. In 2002 I did an academic study and found the guys already learn at school and get a head start on music tech. I ran parallel classes; one for guys and one for girls. During one session, a girl came to the guy’s class by mistake, and within 10 minutes a guy had borrowed a pen from her, and someone else had borrowed her bag to lean on, so she was put into this position of being a supplier. It was really interesting psychology, and the girls loved the class. I started finding women to interview while touring – I decided every place I went to. I would find a female engineer or producer because the spread of activity under that umbrella is really wide.”

Helen tells me about some of the 30 women she worked with for the book; they range in age from 22-70 across genres, all took different routes into the industry and all experienced different levels of acceptance. Additionally, they all had different attitudes and ideas about what production actually is.

“I interviewed Yvonne Shelton, a Gospel Choir producer in Manchester, which is quite a niche, as was another producer who programmes cheerleader music and mashups. I worked with Janet Beat, one of the first electronic music composers, as well as reggae, analogue and grime producers.” Dr. Reddington tells me about interviewing Susan Rogers, sound engineer to Prince.

“She came into it through repairing equipment, and that is such an interesting route into it. She was told when she was learning that there was no way that she was ever gonna be able to engineer, so she might as well learn how to fix studio gear. And she was actually fixing the gear for Prince’s studio, and then one day he just said ‘put the tape on’ and she said, you know, ‘I can’t do this, cause this is your engineer’s job,’ and he just said ‘that’s you.’ He’d kind of got to see how much she knew, and because of the way that he worked he actually wanted somebody who knew that side of things, cause he knew everything else, but that’s how come she started doing that.”

“The book has the working title of ‘Gender Ventriloquism’ because it’s that thing where a male producer, contextualised in a kind of history for example Nile Rodgers saying stuff like ‘I could make your secretary a star’ and like feeding Sister Sledge a line at a time, not allowing them to listen to a whole song, so that he’s completely in control of what’s happening, which for singers is completely disempowering. Dance producers just sampling female voices and taking them away from a body or any sort of agency, so it’s this idea, I call it Gender Ventriloquism. I’ve written something academic for the International Association of the Study of Popular Music where a male producer takes a female voice and makes them sound like men want to hear, rather than what the woman wants to sound like. What really freaked me out is being brought up on girl group music which is actually even written by men, and it’s all like the girls want to have sex with the men, sung by teenage girls, and that was my instruction on how I should be as a teenager – by men! And it’s so wrong, and it’s still happening. I got the article through by talking about instances where women produced men because that does happen, so I balanced it up, and I think that made it a bit less kind of controversial. But there’s not any punches pulled in the actual book, because it’s a historic. And all I’m doing is pulling out what’s actually happened in history and putting it all together in one place.”

Q: You’ve said how happy you are with your choice to take a break from music while you raised your daughters, and how pleased you are to be back again on the live scene now.

“There wasn’t any support from anybody, even the male musicians I knew, it was like ‘oh no, you’re a mother’ so if I’d have done it then I wouldn’t have felt confident. I’m really glad that I put the girls first. I take inspiration from blues ladies like Rosetta Thorpe and Etta Baker if they could do it so can I. I’ve seen how life could have gone, and that’s not an option. Whatever piles up, I’ll carry it, and it’ll make me stronger. Playing live is the closest you can get to flying.”

Q: What advice would you give to women and girls in the industry?

“The most important thing to me is that people actually write their own stories. Everybody, it’s really important. Keep a diary of what you’re doing, because by doing that you put yourself into some sort of history, and when you’re feeling ignored, you look at your diary and you push it out there, and you say look what I’ve done.”

You can find more from Dr. Helen Reddington at www.mccookerybook.com

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