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Maya Finlay – Feet in Two Worlds

Monitors for Rosanne Cash tour, 2019, credit: C. Elliott Photography

Maya Finlay is a sound engineer that works in live sound, as well as in the studio recording, editing, mixing and producing. Maya freelances and works for the SFJAZZ Center as well as Dolby Laboratories and recently has started touring with Rosanne Cash as her Monitor Engineer. She has been working in professional audio for the past 11 years.

Maya has a B.A. in Spanish and Portuguese, Language and Culture, from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Certificates in Sound Recording and Sound Design from City College of San Francisco. She also has completed workshops offered by Women’s Audio Mission and assisted in the build of their first studio.

Maya would start her audio career at City College of San Fransisco and fortunate to study under both Terri Winston, Founder of Women’s Audio Mission, and Dana Jae Labrecque, Co-Director of SoundGirls. After that Maya would start interning at Talking House Studios, which led to an engineering position for VO talent/composer, Mark Keller, at Keller Studios in Sausalito, CA.  Shortly after she also started working at Sound Arts Studio in San Francisco. Her introduction to Live Sound would take place working with local Bay Area promoter Bay Vibes, that produced three shows per week at Yoshi’s Lounge. It was a restaurant recalls Maya,  “so I had to pull all the gear out of a closet and wire everything up from scratch each time.  That was a great learning experience and created a solid foundation. At first, after each show, I would make a note of anything that went wrong. Then the next time before I’d go to work, I’d review my notes to avoid making the same mistake twice. That was a useful method, and it didn’t take long before I stopped needing the notes and things just became second nature.”

WAM studio, 2013

With a combination of referrals and reaching out to larger venues like Boom Boom Room, Elbo Room, and The Independent Maya would have more work than she could handle. Women’s Audio Mission would refer Maya to both SFJAZZ Center and Dolby. She has been at SFJAZZ Center for six years as an Audio Mix Engineer and Dolby for three years working as a Critical Listener.

 

What’s the environment, gear, and typical day at SFJAZZ Center?

SFJAZZ Center has two concert halls: One is Miner Auditorium, which holds 700 seats, and the other is the Joe Henderson Lab (JHL), which holds 100 seats.  We have Meyer Mains (going through Galileo hardware, controlled by Compass software) and L’Acoustic (108p and 112p) Monitors for both rooms.  In Miner Auditorium, we have a 16-speaker Minna line array system for each Main L/R (divided into 4 zones with separate delay times), 5 HP500 cardioid flown Subs, JM1P Side Fills, M1D Front Fills, and UPJ Rear Fills.  We have a VENUE Profile at FOH and an SC48 at “Monitor Beach.”  In JHL we do FOH and Monitors from a Soundcraft Si Impact, and we have 2 UPJ Mains and 1 HP500 flown Sub.  We have an 8-rack patch bay (6 for Audio, 2 for Video) backstage that allows us to route signal all over the building.  We have a 4-way split that, in addition to feeding FOH and Monitors, also sends to the Truck Dock, and a ProTools Suite on the third floor, where we have a Digidesign D-Command and can capture multi-track recordings of our shows into ProTools.  We have a ton of in-house backline – various drum kits, amps, keyboards, percussion, and the stage in Miner can be various sizes/shapes depending on the event needs.  The building is only six years old, so things are still in very good condition and well-organized. 

I’ve been fortunate to work with many fantastic artists there including Esperanza Spalding, Booker T, Robert Townsend, Snarky Puppy, Ravi Coltrane, Anoushka Shankar, Chick Corea, Hermeto Pascoal, and facilitated the touring crews of Van Morrison, Herb Alpert, Sergio Mendes, En Vogue, Kid Koala, Taj Mahal, among many others.  That’s how I met Rosanne Cash.  She was an SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director the past two years, and I did Monitors for her weekends there, which were collaborations with Emmy Lou Harris and Lucinda Williams the first year, and Ry Cooder the second.

A typical day at SFJAZZ Center is a call time in the early afternoon, set up the backline, patch ins/outs, and do a line check.  Then the band comes in, we set up and soundcheck for an hour or two, then dinner, show, and strike.  Shows range from 60-120 minutes, and in JHL we have two shows per night.  We rarely have openers, and we often do 4-night runs of the same artist.  We also have a fair amount of rental companies, individuals, or organizations renting out space for private events, which involve a lot more wireless, and we have two “off-site” rigs (Soundcraft Si Impact consoles and QSC speakers).  We use these for our free outdoor concerts and for our middle school program in which we’re working with local musicians to bring concerts to all middle schools in San Francisco and Oakland, thanks to our awesome Education department.  So a “typical day” there can have a lot of variety in the audio department.

What is a Critical Listener?

As a Critical Listener, I participate in various audio tests that provide feedback to Dolby on current and developing audio technology.  Often the tests involve listening to multiple versions of the same audio and either choosing a preferred version or finding a hidden reference.  We go into acoustically tuned listening labs and listen to audio on headphones or over loudspeakers, sometimes with video too, and complete whatever test we have that day.  Basically, they want to know if people with critical hearing and listening skills can distinguish a perceptible difference between raw, uncompressed audio, and audio that has been digitally compressed using specific algorithms.  It’s only a few hours a month, more or less, and it’s very flexible.

What is your set up for Roseanne? Gear, Work Flow: Are you touring with production.  Challenges? How are you dealing with them?

There are two different setups for Rosanne: the Duo with her husband, Guitarist/Producer John Leventhal, and the Band setup, which adds Drum Kit, Bass, Guitar, and Keys to the Duo.  John sets up Downstage Right and gets a single wedge.  Rosanne is always Downstage Center with a mono pair of wedges and wireless IEM.  In the Duo configuration, she has another wedge on her left side, almost a side fill, for just John’s channels.  They both need healthy amounts of their vocals in their wedges, so the first thing I do is ring out their wedges and make the vocals sound as clear as possible with enough headroom before feedback.  After a couple shows on the road, I started doubling Rosanne’s vocal channel so that I could have completely separate control over her vocal channel going to her wedges vs. in-ear.  That’s been helpful.  We carry the wireless IEM unit and a couple of Beta58s for vocals.  In addition to Monitors, I also take care of the tour merchandise.  David Mann is the Tour Manager and FOH Engineer, and there are a couple of other Monitor Engineers they work with based in New York. 

As for challenges, a couple of times, the IEM audio was cutting in and out or sounded “underwater.”  I dealt with it by replacing some parts of the kit like the cable that goes between the earpiece and the belt pack and the desiccant pod that absorbs moisture.  I also started storing her earpiece differently to reduce strain on the connector since doing that it’s been working great.  Once, the earpiece filter got loose and was making clicking sounds only Rosanne could hear.  I now prevent that by making sure it’s tightly pushed in before each soundcheck and show. Another challenge is working on unfamiliar consoles. When I know, that’s the case; I do some prep work before I get to the venue, like watching tutorials and reading manuals, to head off any potential questions or obstacles I anticipate.

In between all of this, Maya still works in the studio and in 2017 released an EP with her band, Gringa called “Letters From A. Broad.”  Maya produced the album and engineered most of it, as well as playing several instruments and writing three of the songs. Maya says it reflects her “style as a Producer, blending organic recordings with sound effects and pop and dub mixing techniques.  It was a labor of love that took several years and involved many different musicians in various studio spaces. It was a challenge making it all come together, and at times, I thought it would never be finished, so it felt great to finally release it.” She is looking forward to putting out more records in 2019.

Bedulu, Bali during the International Body Music Festival, 2015

Give us a little background on what other tours you’ve done and what your position was on them

In July 2016, I spent two weeks in Bali as part of the International Body Music Festival, doing both FOH and Monitors. The annual Festival, led by master body percussionist Keith Terry, takes place in a different country each year and invites participants and artists from all over the world to come together for body percussion workshops and performances in collaboration with local communities.  We stayed in Ubud as our home base and traveled to different places each show day.  The first show was in a theater in Denpasar, but the rest of the time we rented gear from a local sound company and worked with their crew to load in and set up in different villages.  The gear was very basic; a 32-channel Yamaha analog console, a rack of graphic EQs, and passive mains and monitors. Most of the stages were outside, open-air but covered community spaces, and I used a combination of a shotgun, PZM, and overhead mics to get subtle body percussion sounds over motorcycles and other loud street noise.  It was challenging, but I had a blast and got to meet so many wonderful people.

What do you like best about touring?

I love seeing different places and meeting/working with different people. I’m used to being a House Engineer, so it’s been fun to do the opposite and be the Guest Engineer, with all the different challenges and perks that come with it.  I feel more like an asset, not just an expense. I’m also really liking the simplicity of living out of a suitcase.

What do you like least?

Flying and spending time in airports.  Not being able to cook my own meals.

What is your favorite day off activity?

On tour – Sleeping in.

At home – Writing, playing, and producing music.

What do you like best about the Studio?

I love the creative possibilities in the studio.  There’s more time to play around and come up with unique sounds and effects and to use panning and mic positioning that I can’t necessarily do in live sound.  I’m fortunate that live sound is my bread-and-butter, so any studio stuff I do is on my terms and for pleasure. 

What do you like better Live or Studio?

That’s a really tough question and probably changes from day-to-day.  I enjoy the immediacy and social aspects of Live, as well as being part of an event that brings joy or release for others.  However, I also love being able to experiment in the Studio and being part of the magic that will be immortalized on a record.  In the long run, I’d like to get back to doing more Studio work, and in particular trading, out some of the grunt work, I do in live sound for more creative studio work.

What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?

Although initially, I loved the lack of routine, over the years, I’ve experienced how hard it is on the body to work inconsistent hours and to eat and sleep at irregular times.  My circadian rhythm is all off, and my health and social life have suffered for it.

Also, I wanna be real about the fact that the industry is still primarily a (White) Boys Club. As a woman, I’ve experienced microaggressions, objectification, and everyday sexism all throughout my career (such as being told to smile while I work, getting patted on the head for doing a good job, being asked to wear a skirt at a job interview, overhearing musicians ask “Where’s the Sound Guy?” while I’m on stage doing my job…I could go on).  I hesitate to call it an obstacle because it never really held me back. In fact, it probably propelled me forward in some ways. But it’s annoying at best, and exhausting over time. I do see that women, non-binary folks, and people of color have to work much harder for the same recognition and advancement opportunities as white men.

How have you dealt with them?

In terms of my health, I started prioritizing jobs that didn’t end so late, in an attempt to sleep regular hours each night.  I still don’t, but it’s less erratic than before. I also started cooking more on my days off and meal planning, so I could bring healthier food to work and not skip meals.  I’ve had to develop a discipline around resisting free booze and junk food, which is a work-in-progress.

As for the Boys Club, I’ve had to just ignore a lot of shit, figure out who my true allies are and which battles are worth fighting, and ultimately prove myself in my work.  I have learned to find the joy in smashing stereotypes and the humor in witnessing that my existence cause squirming or heads exploding. I enjoy poking holes in the patriarchy every time I go to work, and I try to stay involved in networks like WAM and SoundGirls, where we can share experiences, knowledge, and resources.

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

Don’t let your insecurities limit you.  Take as many opportunities to learn and gain experience as you can.  If you’re unsure of the equipment, you’re using or the type of gig you’re doing, do some homework.  Read some manuals, watch some tutorials, get yourself prepared, and then jump in.

Don’t let others intimidate you out of it.  It may seem like there’s a way you’re supposed to look and act, but that’s because the job has been portrayed a certain way for so long.

Embrace your skills and what makes you unique.

Have a sense of humor, drop the ego, be professional, humble, and kind.  There’s nothing more refreshing than a friendly engineer and a crew that’s having fun.  There are plenty of grumpy sound people out there…don’t be one of them!

Must have skills?

I think the best sound engineers have a trifecta of interpersonal, technical, and musical skills: I treat it like a customer service job.  I’m there to serve the needs of the Artist, the audience, and the venue, not my ego. I do my best to communicate well and try to make everyone happy.  It’s important to be able to adapt quickly to new technology and have strong attention-to-detail. It helps to have a musical background, to be able to relate to musicians and know musical terms and genres and to have an ear for music.

Favorite gear?

To be honest, I’m not really a “gear head.”  On tour, I request an Avid SC48 or Profile console, because I’m quickest on those.  I love my vintage Telefunken 421 and UA 710 Twinfinity preamp that I have in my home studio.  But ultimately I’d say my ears are my favorite gear. They’re more important than anything I could buy, and it’s been a process learning to trust them and understand them better.

Visit Maya’s website

 

Recording a Four Piece Band – Vocals

For this month’s blog, we are going to finish recording our awesome 4-piece band, with vocals! I love recording vocals. Probably because I am a singer first before anything else, I find it interesting how there are so many ways you can make a vocal sound.

Let’s say the song we’ve been tracking with our band is a pop/rock song. I’ll go over what I’d do differently for a male and female vocal in this scenario. I wouldn’t do anything different between the two singers until we start EQ’ing. When we get there, I’ll specify what I’d do differently. To start, let’s pick a mic. For vocals, it’s usually smart to do a mic “shootout” if you have the time. A mic “shootout” is when you line up 3 (or more) different microphones, and you have the singer sing into each of them the same part of the same song into each mic. Record a snippet of each vocal on each mic. Listen back, and decide which one sounded best for that vocalist. We do this because every voice if different. Sure, you can have a favorite or a “go-to” when you’re running low on time- but I suggest if you have the time and the mic selection to do a shootout, do it. You never know, you could capture some magic with a microphone that you never would’ve thought to use before!

Since we can’t actually do a mic shootout, let’s just do a theoretical one. Let’s say we used a CM7 (Wunder), Neumann U67, and a Sony C-800G. Each of these mics are known for their specific sound. Also, another thing to note is that all of these mics are tube mics. Now, for our female and male singer- to avoid this blog being two pages long, we will decide to pick the same microphone for both of them. I think the microphone that would work for both a female and male vocalist without too many differences is the Sony.

Now that we’ve picked a mic let’s go over placement. First off, don’t ever forget your pop filter. The pop filter will catch those harsh P’s and some S’s. Paired with a good compressor, those P’s and S’s shouldn’t be a problem if you have a pop filter. How far does the singer stand away from the mic, you ask? A couple of inches back should be fine. Now for mic placement. You never want the singer singing UP into the mic. You want to place the mic in line with their lips, and then SLIGHTLY below. This is so you can capture the top end and low end of their voice.

The signal chain I like to use for vocals is usually a Voxbox for the pre-amp, followed by an EQ (if there is an EQ on the pre I am using, I’ll use that), and then slight compression either from the ELOP, or the CL1B. I’ve had great success with both of these compressors. Regarding the pre-amps, if I’m not using the Voxbox- I am probably going to be using some sort of Neve pre. Let’s say we are using the Voxbox as the pre and the ELOP as the compressor. Now what I would do differently between a male and female vocal is simple, but I still want to point it out. For a male vocalist, I would boost extra in the 1k-3k area and take out around 150 if his voice is a little boomy. I do like to do the typical, boost a little at 200 and 2k though. It usually evens out nicely. He is using the Sony, which is a very bright, and “polished” mic if I had to describe it. For a female vocalist, I would take out a little in the 1k-2k if it sounds a bit harsh, but if not I’ll leave the top end where it is. Boost around 3k if need be. I like to boost around 200 for a female vocalist, to round out the sound. Again, since we are using the Sony, we shouldn’t have to boost TOO much in the top end.

After EQ, I compress. I compress either (like I said earlier), with an ELOP, or the CL1B. Both compressors are amazing. In this scenario, we are using the ELOP. I don’t compress too heavily during tracking unless our goal is to have an apparent compressed vocal, or maybe if we are layering and wanted that sound underneath the main vocal. Since I’m not compressing heavily, I set my threshold at -2db, Ratio at 4:1, Attack can be a little fast because you can catch some of those P’s and S’s that way, Release- quick (I know that isn’t specific, but I want you to use your discretion because every vocal is different), and gain you would want to adjust so it can match your input level.

A couple of tips/tricks for getting a great vocal that aren’t technical.

Below is the finished mic sheet from our 4-piece band recording session.

 

Instrument Mic Wall Input Pre-amp Compressor Eq Pro-Tools Input
Kick In D112 1 API 1 DBX 1
Kick Out Fet47 2 API 2 2
Snare T Sm57 3 API 3 Chandler Little Devil 3
Snare B Km84 4 API 4 4
Rack Tom V421 5 Vintech 1 5
Floor Tom V421 6 Vintech 2 6
H.H SM7B 7 TubeTech 1 7
O.H Hat Coles 8 Gamma 1 (shadow hills) 8
O.H Ride Coles 9 Gamma 2 (shadow hills) 9
Room L Royer 121 10 UA 610 Distressor 10
Room R Royer 121 11 UA 610 Distressor 11
Bass DI J48 DI 12 Voxbox 12
Elec Dynamic SM57 13 Gamma 1 (shadow hills) 13
Elec Ribbon Royer 121 14 Neve 1073 14
Vox Sony 15 Voxbox ELOP Voxbox Eq 15

 

Alright, SoundGirls! That concludes our 4-piece recording session. I hope this gave you a couple of new ideas for recording that you may not have done before. If you use any of these techniques- email me! I’d love to hear about your results. My email is virginia@backbeat365.com. See you next month! 🙂

A Simple Method for Recording Drums

Recording drums is an important part of any project but the process can often seem quite daunting. Often in-studio pictures feature an abundance of microphones on and around the kit, suggesting that you might need a lot of equipment to get the job done.

However, one simple method of recording drums that is highly effective is the Glyn Johns method.

It uses only four microphones and is relatively easy to set up.

What you need

Overheads

First, begin by placing one overhead mic about a metre (3 or 4 feet) above the snare. The microphone diaphragm should be pointing down at the kit. Then take your second overhead microphone and place it to the right of the drummer (so the microphone diaphragm is facing the Hi-Hat). Then measure the distance so that it’s the exact same measurement from the first overhead mic (so about a metre). Pan the two mics in the mix and you should get a nice balanced sound.

*The image shows the distance of the microphones but not the correct diaphragm placement

Snare + Kick Drum

The snare and kick drum microphone placements can be played around with until you find a sound you like. Often with kick drum mics you can place the microphone inside the drum or have it set up on the outside.

Overall this is a great and relatively easy way to record drums.

 

The Simple Home Studio Kit

Creating and recording music can be a daunting task if you don’t have any prior knowledge of production. From aspiring music producers to seasoned musicians, the art of recording your music can become quite a difficult undertaking very quickly.

So, to combat this, I thought I would compile a range of equipment that I believe to be great for beginners and anyone wishing to record on a budget.

The Right DAW

A DAW is short for Digital Audio Workstation. To put it simply, it is the software you use to record and mix your music. There is a wide variety of different DAW’s out there, and each producer has their preference for a multitude of various reasons and depending on what they require.

My advice is to start simple. If you’re new to music production, software like Pro Tools, Logic and Ableton can seem extremely daunting.

If you’re a Mac user start with GarageBand. It’s free and is very much a simplified version of Logic. If you have a Windows computer, try Audacity. They are both mapped out in a way that it is straightforward to begin recording some tracks you can then transfer this knowledge to more complex DAW’s.

The Interface

I have used many interfaces, and the one I find recommending most to beginners is the Scarlett 2i2.

It is a USB audio interface and has everything you need to start recording: two line/mic ports, 48v phantom power (some microphones require this power to operate), can record 192kHz /24-bit sample rate.

Overall it’s the perfect compact recording device and comes in at around $160/ £100.

A Microphone

Microphones, for me, are the hardest to recommend. It depends so much on a person’s preference and what they want to record. More specifically what sound they want to achieve. But, if you need a place to start, I recommend the MXL 770.

It comes in at around $72 / £90, and I believe it to be well worth the money. It’s impressive, to say the least. It’s not perfect, but it certainly can give microphones worth triple the price a run for their money.

I hope you find this information helpful and just remember there is no perfect set up. I am always updating my kit and trying out new things. It’s what keeps you creative as a producer.

 

Excellence in Assistance

Learning how to be a great assistant is one of the best ways to put yourself on the path to mastery in commercial music production. As important as it is to know the technical and creative aspects of your craft, it’s equally important to understand how social and interpersonal dynamics function in the studio environment. Knowing how to operate equipment might get you in the room, but knowing how to deal with a multitude of needs, problems, and personalities will keep you there. No one cares whether or not you’ve got a degree in engineering if you don’t know basic, real-world studio etiquette.

Every studio and every recording session comes with its own culture. Make it a point to understand the culture of every session you’re involved. Being able to read the room is an invaluable skill. It imparts competency, attention to detail, pride in your work, and investment in your team.

Some sessions will be clear and to the point. There will likely be a professional team in place. Your job here is to help things run smoothly and make sure that everyone has what they need. In situations like this, you’ll defer directly to the lead engineer and probably won’t interact too much with the clients. This is the kind of session where you want to be “invisible”—wear basic clothing, try not to speak unless spoken to (with exception to polite greetings and the like), keep a low profile. Stay out of the way, but be hyper-present and ready to jump in when you’re needed to change out a mic or take a food order.  If you become aware of a technical issue that no one else seems to notice, find an expedient but non-disruptive way to make the issue known to your lead engineer. Be prepared to take action on a moment’s notice.

Whether you’re working in a large, commercial facility or a small project studio, hospitality should be a top priority. Keep coffee hot and fresh. Have a kettle ready to fire up when a singer needs tea. Make sure artists’ riders have been satisfied to the best of your ability. Keep beverages, pens, paper, and other basic items plentifully stocked. Personally, I try to bring extra items with me just in case. Candy, aux cables, guitar accessories, adapters, phone chargers, tampons, and other such items can be a great door opener. For example, I had the chance to get friendly with super producer Don Was during a session because I was the only one in the building who had dental floss. The better you can anticipate and facilitate the needs of others, the more of an asset you will be in any production.

Of course, there will be sessions that test the limits of your patience and professionalism. The producer may be inexperienced or unable to communicate effectively. They may get angry or throw you under the bus when they make a mistake or are not able to properly manage a session. They may have an ego issue and feel the need to assert dominance to feel like they’re in control. This may be a genuine personality trait, or it may be what they think they need to do to impress or intimidate their clients (yes, this is an actual production tactic and you’d be surprised at how often it works). They may be dealing with a difficult artist and funneling that frustration your way because they have to remain in service of their client. Perhaps the artists themselves are inexperienced, egotistical, or unprofessional, and the whole room is suffering for it. There may be substance abuse or behavior that isn’t necessarily conducive to productivity. It’s your job to be prepared to navigate these challenges with patience, composure, and effectiveness. Stay solutions-minded and try to keep your feelings and judgments in check. If things escalate to the point of being abusive or dangerous, extract yourself from the situation and speak to a supervisor.

Some sessions will be relaxed, and you’ll become friendly with the artists and/or producer. In my experience, most artists prefer the kind of environment where they feel a sense of ease and camaraderie with the crew. The level of friendliness will depend on your ability to read the room and to adjust your personal levels accordingly.

Making a record can be an intensely bonding process. If you’re being invited to be a part of the bonding, you should participate! You just might forge relationships that will last throughout—or even advance your career!  However, don’t lose sight of how important it is to stay professional while you’re on session. Studio etiquette should always be your default setting when you’re on the clock, and the artists/producers should be handled with a clear sense of priority and deference.

Additionally, understand that your friendly relationship with clients might not extend past the sessions themselves. Sometimes the spirited nature of relaxed, friendly sessions is just what the artist needs to get through their process. Don’t take it personally if a producer asks for your card but never calls, or if an artist talks about wanting to hear what you’ve worked on but doesn’t offer a clear opportunity for you to present it, or if you don’t get a follow back on Instagram, or whatever.  Keep a sense of confidence and equanimity around you and stay centered on what’s most important—providing excellent service and doing what it takes to make a production successful.

 

The Importance of Saying Yes

It is so important to stay open to new opportunities while building a career in audio. Saying yes will often lead to one of two realizations: this opportunity is right for me; I want to continue to do more of this work! Or, this is wrong for me; I now know what to avoid. Both are valuable lessons for shaping an ideal career. Working in music is a lifelong journey – undoubtedly it will be full of unexpected and unpredictable twists and turns, so finding joy in both outcomes has to become an important practice.

Landing a dream job does not happen overnight, and if it did, my guess is that it probably would not be that rewarding. One of the best pieces of advice I ever received after I graduated college was that during your early career it is often more important to learn about what you do not want to be doing rather than worrying about doing precisely what you want. As someone who recently transitioned into full-time freelance, I am always trying to strike a balance between doing what I am passionate and excited about, and doing what makes practical sense, which sometimes means taking on gigs that are less than ideal.

I have accepted a lot of gigs that have turned out to be not quite right for me. It can be an unfortunate part of the process of figuring things out but is also highly valuable. I can say with certainty that the reason I am now doing what I am doing is due to a series of saying yes to opportunities that have come my way. This has allowed me to narrow my scope and better understand the type of work I do not want to do, behaviors I will not accept, and how to be most efficient when dealing with new clients and projects.

Occasionally I will get asked to help out running FOH on a show or festival around town, and even though live sound is not a career path I want to explore, I always say yes. It would be really easy to peg myself as only a studio engineer and say no, but something positive always comes out of it. For one, I get to listen to music and likely see some friends. It is also a really easy and genuine way to meet people and talk about what I enjoy doing in the audio realm. From picking up a few gigs like this around town, I have been able to join bands and start recording projects, just because I was present and doing my job.

When I worked at Welcome to 1979 all of the opportunities that arose for me came from me being open to new challenges and saying yes to things. When I was hired as an intern, I was asked to work in the office part-time, which was not something I was interested in pursuing long-term. I was clear that I wanted to be an engineer, but I said yes because I wanted to learn something new, diversify my skill set, and become a valuable member of the team. Later on, I became an assistant, and after about a year of doing that I was asked to learn how to do vinyl mastering, and then, be the studio manager. I said yes to every opportunity because I was trusting in the process of figuring out my path. I was also trusting in the fact that my bosses probably saw something in me that I did not see in myself at the time. Through this process, I grew tremendously as an individual, gained critical technical skills, and walked away with a better understanding of what I wanted to pursue.

I would love to get to the point where I can be extremely selective about which gigs to take on and only work with my favorite artists. I hope I am on my way to that point, but I think it’s a long process of saying yes and staying open to opportunities, even ones I don’t feel ready for. My imposter syndrome can be extreme, but I have found that trusting in the timing of life helps me value myself and understand my worth. Either way, I know I will learn something in the process regardless of the outcome. The fun part is not knowing where one “yes” might lead!

 

Recording a Four Piece Band Part 1

Last month I wrote about the importance of being an artist with a knowledge of what’s going on Behind the Board. This month I am starting a three-month themed blog about the process of recording a four-piece band.

For the first blog, I will be sharing how to pick out mics for (my favorite thing to capture) drums, the second blog will be all about guitars/bass, and the third will be about getting the icing on the cake during a vocal session.

Drums. The base of every song.

The very instrument that I may go as far as to say- determines the vibe of your song. For that very reason, I recommend getting your drums feeling good first. How do you do that you say? There isn’t a “correct” way of doing anything in recording. It’s a creative endeavor. There are NO right or wrong answers. So let me be clear, I am by no means telling you HOW to mic drums. I’m just going through the steps I have taken to get good drum sounds in the past. Of course, over time you will find your own ways to get tones you like as well.

The first step is pre-production. So, let’s assume you have already heard a demo of what you’re client is recording. This way you know how to create a plan of attack for the drum sound in the song. After that, your second step is organization. I always print out a mic sheet with columns for wall inputs, mics, preamps, EQ/compression, and Pro-Tools inputs.

Organization is always crucial when recording, but I would have to say MOST important when recording drums. There are (most of the time) several mics on the kit, some of which may require phantom (48v), some may not. Either way, you don’t want to accidentally send phantom to a microphone that doesn’t need it (aka, ribbons). Now when it comes to picking out mics, you can get VERY creative, so to avoid writing a three-page blog- I’m just going to go over a pretty simple setup, basically my “go-to” for good drums tones.

 

Instrument Mic Wall Input Pre-amp Compressor Eq Pro-Tools Input
Kick In D112 1 API 1 DBX 1
Kick Out Fet47 2 API 2 2
Snare T Sm57 3 API 3 Chandler Little Devil 3
Snare B Km84 4 API 4 4
Rack Tom V421 5 Vintech 1 5
Floor Tom V421 6 Vintech 2 6
H.H SM7B 7 TubeTech 1 7
O.H Hat Coles 8 Gamma 1 (shadow hills) 8
O.H Ride Coles 9 Gamma 2 (shadow hills) 9
Room L Royer 121 10 UA 610 Distressor 10
Room R Royer 121 11 UA 610 Distressor 11

 

I’m going to go through this mic sheet, and explain why I picked what for each part of the kit:

Kick in: I almost always use a D112. It’s a dynamic microphone that (depending on where you place it) can give you a nice punchy sound on the high end for your kick drum tone

Kick out: I chose a Fet 47. I did this because I’ve found if you place it a few inches back from the kick, it will pick up an excellent fat tone of the drum that fills out the bottom end of the kick very well

Snare top: I’m using an SM57 because this microphone is good at focusing on precisely what it is directed at- the snare. I don’t want to pick up too much of the cymbals that are around this mic, so any kind of dynamic microphone is almost always a good choice. Some people use crash guards. I recommend messing around with one, so you can see the difference it makes in how your snare sounds, and the overall effect it takes on the sound of the kit. The snare top is the only piece of the kit I used an outboard EQ on. I used the Little Devil EQ because I always, ALWAYS want to have a great fundamental and crack on the snare from the very beginning of recording the drums.

Snare Bottom:  I like to keep it simple with an SM57

Toms: I am fortunate enough to work out of a studio that has a vintage 421. On this mic sheet, I chose to use the vintage 421s on the rack and the floor, because in a perfect world- that’s what I would do! I chose the Vintechs for the toms because I want them to have a nice, clean tone. I’m not looking to add any color to the toms during tracking

High-hat: I am using an SM7B with the filter off. I chose this mic because I want a nice crisp tone for the high-hat. I am running this through the TubeTech, so that crisp tone is smoothed out by the tubes in this preamp

Overheads: I chose to use Coles. I love the Coles. They have this beautiful, dark sound to them that tends to smooth everything out in the BEST way. I ran these mics through the Shadow Hills to continue getting a warm tone for the overall image of the kit

Rooms: I chose the Royer 121. These are fantastic ribbon microphones. Like the Coles, they can also be a tad dark, but as a room mic on a drum kit- it’s quite lovely.

The bullet points you just read were mostly about why I picked each mic. These next bullet points will be about placement for these mics.

Kick in: I aim the kick mic inside the sound hole (if there is one), and go about halfway inside of the drum

Kick out: I mentioned previously I like to put the kick out a couple of inches away from the kick, so I can get that nice fat kick tone I am looking for to fill the bottom end

Snare top/snare bottom: when mic-ing a snare, you have to use your ears to find the correct placement. I can’t tell you exactly what to do because it’ll always be different for that very reason. What I can say is when you find that perfect spot, make sure you have good phase between your two snare mics after you’ve finished picking their positions

Toms: basically what I said about positioning the snare mics.

High-hat: I usually position this mic a couple of inches away from the center of the bell. The middle of from where the bell starts and the edge of the cymbal is a good spot

Overheads: Overheads aren’t as tricky as they may seem! The trick with overheads is finding good phase. What I do to get good phase is first I place the mics. I place the left mic above the snare and point it down at the snare. Now with the other mic, I just aim it a little past the drummers ride cymbal and point it down. Once the mics are roughly placed, I like to grab a mic cable, place one end on the middle of the snare, stretch it to the middle of one mic and then to the other. This is to check and see if they are both equal distances from the snare drum (because, phase).

Rooms: Room mics are where you can get creative. Sometimes I do a mono room; sometimes I’ll do a stereo room. In this case, I chose to do a stereo pair for the room. I like to place my room mics relatively high and a hefty few feet back from the kit

Like I said before, all of this is just my version of the basics of mic-ing a kit. There are no right or wrong ways. You don’t always have to have good phase. You don’t always have to use a dynamic mic on the snare. If it sounds good, hey- IT SOUNDS GOOD. Always trust your ear. Follow where your creativity flows. With that being said, I hope you enjoyed this month’s blog post. I had fun writing it. Feel free to use this mic setup or something similar next time you are recording drums, and if you want to send me your results- please do.

 

 

Delia Derbyshire – In Profile

Coventry is a city in the middle of England, known for the legend of Lady Godiva, the WWII blitz, and for many years it was an industrial boomtown and subsequently a ‘concrete jungle.’  It is my hometown, a place that has given us a diverse selection of musical greats over the years spanning from Ray King, The Specials, and Hazel O’Connor to The Primitives, and The Enemy.  Coventry was also the home of electronic composer Delia Derbyshire. Although I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, interviewing and performing in front of a number of this city’s musical giants, regrettably I never had the chance to meet Delia before her untimely passing in 2001.

Delia was a musical pioneer, a unique lady with a sharp sense of humour, humility, and an unbridled passion for creating.  The story of her contribution to the world has not taken up space as prominently as it should but is still quietly there nonetheless.  I’d like to turn up the volume and tell you a little about her life and work, and why she is an iconic woman in music, who in my opinion possessed all of the ‘cool points’.

Early life

Fifty years before I would come to exist and first set foot in my childhood home, the place of Delia’s childhood home lay just five streets away.  While I’m proud of where I come from, it is not a fancy area – it is one of honest, working-class roots. It’s still the kind of place today where earning the opportunity to study at Cambridge is an esteemed accomplishment only achieved by an exceptional minority.  Delia Derbyshire was exceptional: she graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in music and mathematics at a time when it was the most prestigious location for studying mathematics, and when only 1 in 10 students were women.

Upon graduating, Delia approached Decca Records for work in 1959 only to be told they didn’t employ women in the recording studio.  Heading to the BBC shortly after that in 1960, they were firm that they did not employ composers however Delia was hired as a studio assistant.  She cheekily referred to this as ‘infiltrating the system to do music.’ Later that year, she joined the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, a role that was traditionally only short-term, the reasoning of which was rumoured to prevent the onset of madness.  The Workshop provided sound design and music for a vast amount of TV and radio and was located in the mysterious room number 13, found at the end of a long corridor in Maida Vale studios.

The Radiophonic Workshop Years

Delia remained at the Radiophonic Workshop from 1960-73 and created her most iconic pieces in that time both freelance and for the BBC, the most well-known work being Derbyshire’s original Doctor Who arrangement.  The theme was commissioned in 1963 and had an amicable story relayed in Spinal Tap-like fashion by Derbyshire’s contemporaries of the time: composer Ron Grainer had given Delia not a full musical score but a scribbled idea on a sheet of the manuscript with vague directions that she interpreted perfectly.  His stunned reaction upon hearing the finished piece was to ask “Did I write that?!” to which Delia replied, “Most of it.” The original intention had been to hire and record a French band performing the piece on glass rims, however, the BBC budget was too tight, hence Delia was brought in.

It is worth noting that this period was before the synthesiser, and it may be useful to reflect on how incomprehensible it can be in our digitized lives to understand how Delia made electronic music in the mid-1960s.   She worked heavily with a Wobbulator (portmanteau of wobble and oscillator), which was a sine-wave oscillator that could be frequency modulated and is also called a ‘sweep generator.’ Delia made the sounds she used both painstakingly and organically by inventing, manipulating and shifting samples that she often created from scratch, and this was all captured on reels of tape.  For the Doctor Who theme, Delia used three layers and three tape machines at once for the final recording. Each note in the piece had to be individually cut and placed onto the tape reel. It is no wonder that all who knew her concurred that Delia was undoubtedly a perfectionist.

Whilst the Doctor Who theme has become her most famously known work; it came with its difficulties.  The BBC had a longstanding policy of anonymity for the staff in the Radiophonic Workshop, and even when composer Ron Grainer wished to split the writing percentages and give Derbyshire credit, the corporation refused.  Other creatives Delia had composed for made similarly fruitless acknowledgment requests. Years later, the BBC subsequently changed their rules on anonymity but declined to do it retrospectively. Delia got nothing for Doctor Who. Interestingly, the source of annoyance with the theme for Derbyshire was the number of times new producers at the BBC wanted to revamp it over the years. She was very vocal about her views and disapproved of all ‘tarted up’ versions other than Peter Howell’s.

The Swinging Sixties

Aside from her BBC work, the 60s were a most fruitful time for Delia’s solo creations, and she also collaborated in several electronic band projects including ‘White Noise’ and ‘Unit Delta Plus.’  These works blurred the pre-existing lines of genre and broke many moulds in their experimental nature. Delia and her peers were highly influential and pivotal in shaping the music scene at this time: her ‘Unit Delta Plus’ bandmate Peter Zinovieff had a studio in Putney where Delia would often work which was known as EMS – Electronic Music Studios, and this was equipped with Zinovieff’s pioneering VCS3 synthesiser. Derbyshire believed in the generosity of knowledge and wanted to share her techniques and new discoveries with others. Some of the most quintessentially 1960s stories and sounds resulted from her remarkable contribution by the end of the decade.

Delia was approached by Paul McCartney who requested she arrange a backing track for “Yesterday,” and he soon came in person to listen to some of her work at EMS.  Shrouded in secrecy, Delia was then involved in the somewhat fabled electronic Beatles piece “Carnival of Light,” a legendary experimental track, which was played once and is now impossible to find.  In a rare interview, she comically recalled “I did a film soundtrack for Yoko Ono. While she slept on my floor”, and the occasion when Brian Jones visited the Radiophonic Workshop and played with hand-tuned oscillators “as though he could play it as a musical instrument!”  Delia was also responsible for bundling Pink Floyd into a taxi to EMS after the band visited her at the workshop to introduce them to Peter Zinovieff and his famous VCS3 – see “Dark Side of the Moon” for the outcome of that.

Creative process

 

Delia’s methods for composing are thought-provoking to me: she looked at music very mathematically and often assigned ideas to pitch and frequency with a meaning in mind, her starting point always being the Greek harmonic series.  Being classically trained to a professional level pianist as a young woman meant that Delia’s music theory provided a solid knowledge of the rules in order to break them, her written notes highlighting this quirky combination with the use of graphic scores and colloquial musical and technical directions.  She believed the way we perceive sound should have dominance over any theory or mathematical working. Delia herself cited childhood experiences as the earliest influences on her interest in electronic sounds, notably the ‘air raid’ and ‘all clear’ sirens she had become accustomed to hearing as a young girl during World War II that had piqued her interest in sound waves.  I find it fascinating how such a combination of experiences can be a catalyst for such innovation and creation.

After the Workshop

Delia left the BBC in 1973 and is quoted as saying, “The world went out of tune with itself,” which is quite a heavy statement.  She felt electronic music, and the common usage of synthesisers had changed music for the worse – it wasn’t organic enough as she always wanted to physically get inside equipment.  It’s hard to know if her statement was borne from a reluctance to embrace the changing times and methods of making music, or perhaps how this had affected her role at the BBC, whom she openly blasted for being “ran by accountants” and “expecting her to compromise her integrity.”

Personally, I fear there may have been a sadness in Delia at this point, as she turned her back on working in music after leaving the BBC, taking on various non-musical jobs.  She wrote lots privately, however never recorded, released or collaborated in the same way as she had in the 60s. Delia described herself as a utopian who believed freedom of creativity was more important than getting work, and I believe her. Perhaps the many years of blatant sexism, lack of credit, and working long through the night after everyone else had left were no longer sustainable if, in addition, her creative process was now being micromanaged.

Thankfully, by the mid-90s, Delia felt music was returning to it’s “pure” state and during the last years of her life Pete Kember a.k.a. Sonic Boom made contact with her by searching the Coventry phone book, eventually putting Delia in touch with the current generation of musicians she had inspired.  He even persuaded her to collaborate, and she is credited as adviser/co-producer on two EAR albums, as well as co-writer with Kember on the track ‘Synchrondipity Machine’. Delia and Kember thought very highly of one another, and shortly before her death, she said “working with people like Sonic Boom on pure electronic music has re-invigorated me.  Now without the constraints of doing ‘applied music,’ my mind can fly free and pick up where I left off.” It is bittersweet that the collaboration came so close to the time of her passing after all the silent years she’d endured.

Delia’s legacy

Her partner Clive discovered Delia’s back catalogue of tapes spanning her career after her death.  The collection had been kept in the attic, stored neatly in cereal boxes, although time had not been kind to the labels that had once documented almost 300 reels of tape. A project to restore and archive the collection was undertaken by Mark Ayres, Dr. David Butler, and Brian Hodgson, and the complete collection now resides at The John Rylands Library at The University of Manchester and can be viewed by anyone upon appointment.  The last work in the archive is a cue for an unmade film from 1980, donated by filmmaker Elizabeth Kosmian. Delia’s fascinating graphic scores and workings are also included as well as digitised sonic versions of her archived works.

Delia’s legacy lives on physically in The University of Manchester archive, and their associated organisation entitled “Delia Derbyshire Day” (DD Day) which offers events and activities promoting the art of British electronic music and history via the archive and works of Delia Derbyshire.  For an interactive and family-friendly experience, Delia has a charming permanent spot of residence at The Coventry Music Museum. Online, there is wikidelia.net, delia-derbyshire.org, deliaderbyshireday.com, and of course, the many music download and streaming platforms on which Delia is still a presence.

Delia was a complex woman, one with oodles of personality and a sense of humour that shone through in the few rare interviews she did. Her friends and colleagues unanimously described her as an incredible planner, intelligent, analytical, fiery, and an eccentric genius. An enigma.  She remembered, “Directors who came to see me work used to say ‘you must be an ardent feminist’ – I think I was a post-feminist before feminism was invented!  I did rebel. I did a lot of things I was told not to do.”

Delia Derbyshire lived a fascinating life, and I wish I could have met her, to learn and understand more about her work and her mind.  I’d be interested to uncover her thoughts on the 5% of women currently working in audio in 2019 and compare notes on the things that have changed so much, and the things that haven’t changed nearly enough. One thing’s for sure – if we ever discover the secrets to make time travel via Tardis possible, you’ll know where and when to find me.

 

Mary Shipman Howard

Mary Shipman Howard was one of the earliest known female recording engineers and one of the earliest women studio owners (in the 1940s). Mary worked with great musicians and composers of the era such as Glenn Miller, Arturo Toscanini, Charles Ives, and Samuel Barber.

From Audio Record Feb. 1948

Mary was born in 1911 in Hartford, Connecticut to an affluent family who supported the local arts. She played viola but got arthritis at an early age. In an interview with Vivian Perlis (part of the OHAM Charles Ives collection), Mary said, “Since I always loved acoustical, mechanical things – the process of translating a sound wave into an electrical impulse and back into sound – I got really into recording.” Mary was intrigued by records, and she bought a recording machine and started learning about record cutting on her own.

NBC Years

NBC Symphony Orchestra 1944

She came to New York in 1940 and applied for an engineering job at NBC. At the time, women weren’t allowed in the union, so Mary was hired as a secretary. When NBC became short on staff during World Word II, the union decided to let women engineer. Mary was the only woman at the NBC studios for around six months, but it didn’t take her long to make a name as a master recording engineer.

Her first assignment was Glenn Miller, whose music she liked even though she had a classical music background. She was assigned to recording sessions for Toscanini at RCA. There was a union deal between NBC and RCA which required an NBC studio engineer to be at RCA Victor. Mary couldn’t work, but the RCA Victor engineer couldn’t work without her there. Mary said (in her Perlis interview) she “didn’t do anything except sit with my eyes falling out of my head, and my ears dropping off.” Mary worked with Toscanini for eight years.

Mary Howard Recordings

Mary Howard Recordings record; Photo from Discogs

While Mary was at NBC (around 1945-46), she started a small studio in the same building she lived in called “Mary Howard Recordings.” It was three blocks from NBC (37 East 49th Street), and she worked at the studio part-time. She left NBC after the war (because of the long hours). But, by then, she found her studio was in high demand. She told Perlis, “I had all the best Ampex equipment, and I was the first private person ever to own a Scully lathe. Nobody else could afford it. I couldn’t afford it, either, but I got a loan from the bank. It was wonderful fun while it lasted, and the most fun were the people who suddenly, by word of mouth only, came to have me make recordings for them.” Time Magazine even did an article about Mary and her studio in 1947.

One of Mary’s clients was composer Charles Ives who asked her to do all his recordings of rehearsals and broadcasts. Ives would get letters from people asking how to interpret his music, and he would send them a recording instead of explaining it on the phone (part of Mary’s job was labeling and sometimes mailing). Mary had other clients who recorded for personal use or came to the studio for late-night listening sessions (like William Schumann and Alan Hovhaness).

In 1947, Mary started releasing her own commercial recordings under the MHR label. Artists included The Herman Chittison Trio, Ethel Waters, Lucille Turner, and Dale Belmont.

Over time, her studio grew to have multiple engineers and additional staff. Donald Plunkett, an engineer who worked at Mary’s studio, described her in an interview (with Susan Schmidt Horning):

Mary was very unique. She was a musician who understood musicians and understood a good deal about recording and how to marry the two – both the personalities of the musicians and the temperament of recording equipment.

Musicians are few and far between in our business . . . She had two portable recording lathes and a station wagon and did a lot of recording of prominent musicians.

https://www.lathetrolls.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2585

Van Eps Cutting Head

Mary was featured in Audio Record Magazine in 1948. At the time, some of the studio’s recording equipment included Van Eps lathe, Allied Cutting lathe, Presto 1-D Heads, and Langevin 101-A Amplifiers (the preamps and program amps were Langevin). 

When asked what they do to ensure good recordings, Mary showed her technical expertise and a strong understanding of audio:

“We are of the opinion that a compact, consolidated recording and control room, combined adjacent to and visible to the studio is the best method of recording. With this setup a recording technician can actually ‘ride gain’ but what is more important can see what actual level is imposed on the disc. We feel that the term ‘riding gain’ is a poor description of the operation involved. The more dynamics achieved in a fidelity recording, even if the frequency response is limited, the more the sound originating in the studio will be approximated. We feel that too much emphasis can be put on the word ‘fidelity’ and that some of the pre-emphasized and over emphasized high frequencies often result in a sound unpleasing to the ear, which after all is the final judge.

Recording information about cutting characteristics, recording head designs, styli and quality of response equipment is easily obtained. These all enter into the final results. Unfortunately, the interest and ingenuity of the recordist has often been overlooked. Recording is not a dull craft at all if engaged in all its technical phases. There seems to be a prevalence in large organizations for specialization – cutting technicians, studio technicians, maintenance, etc – which often results in poor recording because of lack of interest or information in all phases of the recording operation. If interest and enthusiasm were carried all the way through the recording organization, and management, perhaps time might be found to raise the general recording standards in America. We have tried to incorporate these methods in our operation and have had success… or some such thing.”

Leaving the Business

Mary closed the studio in 1955 when she grew tired of being in the city. She tried to split time in and out of New York, but it eventually seemed silly. She wanted to spend time outdoors, garden, and “try to make weekends meet.” (Perlis interview) She married Edwin Pickhardt (date unknown) and changed her name to Mary Howard Pickhardt.

Dog Breeder

American Kennel Gazette Dec 1963; Ch. Sabbaday Echo Best of Breed

American Kennel Gazette Dec 1963; Ch. Sabbaday Echo Best of Breed

After her recording career, Mary became a breeder of pugs under the name Sabbaday Kennels (named after the street her home was on in Connecticut). Her pug, Ch. Sabbaday Echo, won best of breed in 1963. Mary was recognized by her colleagues for her commitment to the breed (including helping give the national pug exposure).

Ch. Sabbaday Echo. Photo by Evelyn M. Shafer; Courtesy of AKC Library and Archives

She was active with the Pug Dog Club of America and Mary (and her husband) were respected judges at dog shows across the US. Sylvia Sidney, a stage and screen actor who owned and showed pugs said in the New York Times, “Mary was probably the best breeder and exhibitor of pugs on the Eastern seaboard.” Sylvia mentioned one of Mary’s dogs was on the cover of the American Kennel Gazette (likely the December 1963 issue; the pug on the cover was not identified).

In a tribute by the Pug Dog Club of America after her death, it was said Mary “was a tremendous supporter of all Pug clubs, an outstanding judge of Pugs and a woman of great courage.”

Mary died in 1976 (at age 65). She had a son, Arthur Shipman Howard, and four grandchildren.

Select References

  1. Plunkett, Don Interview by Susan Schmidt Horning. 09 Feb. 1999. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries. 
  2. The War Gave Mary Howard Her Big Chance to Make Good in Recording; She Did – And How! Feb. 1948. Audio Record (by Audio Devices, Inc.)
  3. Pickhardt, Mary Shipman Interview by Vivian Perlis. (Washington, CT; Sep 24, 1969). Oral History of American Music Collections Guide: Charles Ives, Yale University Library.
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