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Empowering the Next Generation of Women in Audio

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

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

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

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

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

Selected Candidates will be scheduled for a Skype Interview.

Deadline is to Apply is June 1st.

Cities available

Mix With the Masters Experience

I would like to begin with a huge thank you to SoundGirls for making this opportunity possible. I was selected in a raffle to win a spot with Mix with the Masters with Sylvia Massy. The whole experience was completely magical and eye-opening!

Mix with the Masters is a week-long seminar held in Southern France at La Fabrique Studios. Each week-long session is given by a number of legend status producers. The studio houses a Neve 88-R Console with tons of outboard gear, pres, and boutique microphones. There were 14 attendees from all over the world. It was such a mix of creative minds and brilliant ears and personalities that made the seminar even more special. I would like to take a brief moment to address the fact that there was a pretty significant turn out of women for the workshop. I was not expecting 6 of 14 attendees to be women. Gender was never an issue in this seminar. I personally believe it was amazing to see the inclusive nature between everyone and the fact that everyone was so supportive of each other. It honestly made me feel grateful and fortunate to be working in audio in such a time where women are now more prevalent in a “male-dominated industry”.

Some of the highlights of the seminar

We started out the seminar with experimental drum micing. Sylvia brought out her bag of tricks and quirky ideas to the table right away. We put microphones inside of hoses and submerged microphones underwater to capture a “filtered” room sound for the drums. Everyone was encouraged to get hands-on experience which allowed us to be a part of the creative process.

During the week we worked with Adrien T. Bell and his band from Prague. We watched the whole process from the concept of a song into the final product. During the tracking of guitar, the signals were passed through various objects like cheese and lightbulbs. The output of these objects was captured and created very unique sounds. The cheese made the guitar sound like a fuzz effect, and the lightbulb sounded like a distortion pedal. I also really enjoyed the dialog in the studio between Sylvia and the artists. It was an art in itself to see the interaction between artist and engineer/producer. Words of affirmation brought comfort to the artist, and Sylvia always made sure everyone was completely comfortable. The environment was definitely designed to be stress-free and a safe place for the artists to unleash their best performances.

At the end of the seminar, Sylvia took time for a critique of peer mixes. Every participant brought a Pro Tools session or a finished mix and had the opportunity of getting a mix from Sylvia herself. Sylvia offered expert advice and insight to everyone and at the same time provided encouragement to each one of us.

Mix with the Masters is such a unique educational experience. I never felt like I was in a classroom as a spectator but was very much allowed to be a part of this learning experience. The leisure time allowed us to share experiences and get know each other. I learned from every participant in attendance. Countless conversations were exchanged regarding philosophy, approach, and style. I really enjoyed the camaraderie among everybody. No one was secretive including Sylvia of their own personal mix or tracking tips but more than willing to share insights and discoveries.

It was truly an intimate environment for learning from the best in the business in a retreat-style setting with lots of time to mix and mingle with the rest of the engineers. Also, I cannot stress enough how fantastic the staff was at making us feel right at home and spoiling us with the finest meals I’ve ever had in my life. Just like one of my colleagues said, “It was like being in a dream”. It was magical, and the air in France was glorious coming from the LA smog city. I am looking forward to having another experience like this in the near future. I brought back a new air of confidence

Melissa Samaniego is a freelance audio engineer and works in film sound post-production, tracking, overdubbing, mix engineer. She also works a theater technician at Fullerton College and is a songwriter and upright bass player.

What’s Your Plan B?

So you’ve wanted to be a sound engineer since you were a little kid. You studied hard in school, slaved away as an enthusiastic, overworked and underpaid intern, and no matter what the setbacks, you remained determined to succeed. In such a competitive industry, you’d think you’d need to be focused on nothing but sound, but what happens when your dream gets derailed? It’s easy to believe that pure grit is enough to get to the top and stay there, but there are so many factors that can throw your best-laid plans out the window. The earlier you put contingencies in place, the softer the blow will be if something does go wrong. Believe me; I’ve been there.

Firstly, I can’t stress enough how important insurance is. It seems so expensive when you’re starting out, and you’re barely earning enough to pay the bills, but do not treat it as optional. The world of live sound is a high-pressure, fast-paced, physical environment and accidents happen. Your number one priority should be public liability insurance. This won’t keep you out of jail if you are criminally negligent, but it helps if you get sued. Even if you didn’t do anything wrong, could you afford to prove it in court? Plus, any company worth its salt won’t hire a freelancer without it. Most unions and professional bodies can offer PLI for their members at a discounted rate, just make sure whatever policy you get covers you for all eventualities. If you are employed, check that your boss has you covered, don’t just presume.

Next is injury and illness insurance. Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to carry on working if you aren’t in full health. Even if you live in a country with good social security, there can be a long, frustrating application process that can leave you without any income for months, especially if you’re a freelancer. It can also be tough to show that you are unwell enough to qualify. For example, if you break your leg, you can’t load in gear or tip a desk, but as long as your hearing is intact, the person in the social security office may not see why you can’t work. Get a good injury and illness insurance policy from a provider that understands the nature of your job. It’s tempting to skip the illness part when you’re young, thinking it’s so unlikely to affect you, but you should seriously consider it.

I was 28 when I got ill. I went from being absolutely fine to having to leave work halfway through a load-in within a week. It turned out that I had gastroesophageal reflux disease, which is the term for severe, chronic heartburn. It doesn’t sound serious, but I got unbearable stabbing pains in my stomach any time I tried to lift anything. If left untreated it can lead to oesophageal cancer. It took 18 months to get the message through to my doctor that taking an antacid here and there and avoiding lifting wasn’t an option for me, get referred to a specialist, get officially diagnosed, have surgery and recover. If I had known that it would take so long, I would have taken a break from sound and done something else, but it felt like everything might get fixed at the next appointment. Of course, I didn’t have illness cover. I was 28! I stubbornly kept working as much as I could, but every gig hurt, and it made my condition worse. It also meant I wouldn’t have qualified for unemployment benefits if I had applied.

You can do everything in your power to pursue your goals, and you can treat your body as a temple, but there are some things you can’t predict or control. Even if you’re lucky enough to stay healthy, you might have to take time out to look after a loved one. You might need to move somewhere with fewer jobs available, or the work might simply dry up. Our industry is frustratingly fickle, and I’ve seen talented, hardworking engineers lose long-term clients just because their new management wants to use their own team, or someone offers their services cheaper. It’s a smart move to make as many friends as possible and have a diverse client base, so you aren’t relying on one band or company too heavily, and you have an excellent network to call on when times are hard. Still, there will almost definitely be a point when you’ll need to make a living doing something else, even if it is temporary. Live sound, especially touring, is unlike any other job and can leave you institutionalised and stuck. What transferable skills do you have? What else are you passionate about? You need to sit down and seriously assess how you could make a living outside of sound. That Etsy shop you’ve meant to open to sell nose warmers for elephants isn’t going to cut it.

I know I’ve been pretty pessimistic here, but there are ways to stave off disaster if the unthinkable does happen. If you realise your skills are lacking, start working on them now. We’re lucky enough to live in a time where we can study online from anywhere in the world, whenever it suits us. Learn a language, learn how to code, figure out how those social media celebrities make a living. Find something you enjoy, treat it as a hobby, and if the worst happens, you know you have something to fall back on. It could even earn you some good money on the side in the meantime, and you can feel smug in the knowledge you’ll continue to do great things, no matter what life throws at you.

 

Take Care of Good People

SoundGirls is a community by women for women, to enable greater gender balance in male-dominated audio and related fields. Groups like SoundGirls exist to provide women with space they need to develop and share the skills and experience necessary to work as professionals in music and audio.

It goes without saying that these spaces exist as women-only because their real-life counterparts are essentially male-only, though not officially or by definition. There is no rule of a soundboard that says you have to be male, and yet the majority of students, interns, teachers, mentors, and other people working soundboards are men. So men are provided with the experience of learning something new in an environment that feels somewhat familiar, and women interested in the same thing are not able to learn in an environment that feels familiar, except through programs like those that SoundGirls offer.

So, here we are with programming that is expanding, and a growing professional database of women in audio and music. How do we translate this to the real world, to actually being at work? There are many women-only collectives, labels, and studios & businesses propping up, which is very exciting. But not all people want to be surrounded by only their gender. Also, isn’t the goal equity?

One day I hope to work in a studio with as many women as men. I hope to produce male artists; I hope to produce women artists aside from myself. I hope to hand over skills that others want to learn, regardless of who they are as a gender.

When you love a woman, you take her seriously. You aren’t surprised at her skill level, and you encourage her to keep challenging herself. You let her learn from her mistakes. You let her go, switch jobs, leave for tour, meet new people. Just like we do men.

Good People – Naz Massaro

Working with all genders means that everyone understands they have strengths and weaknesses. One person may be good at something that someone else is terrible at, and that person may know much more about something than the first person. A young brain would feel threatened by this disparity, and try to compensate with egotistical actions. But truly, there is nothing to feel threatened by—your differences make you a stronger team. Embrace them. Challenge yourself to learn from the people around you! Challenge yourself to learn more about yourself by recognizing your strengths and weaknesses! Enjoy the beauty that is collaboration. Teach people around you to work from a place of love, so they too can spread that light.

Note: SoundGirls is inclusive and open to anyone who has a desire and drive to succeed in professional audio. The ratio of women to men members is approximately 65% women and 35% men.

How to Communicate About Audio With Non-Audio People

The language we use to do to do our jobs spans across a lot of areas (audio, acoustics, electronics, technology, psychoacoustics, music, film, and more). Our clients, on the other hand, may not have much language to convey what they want. The mix notes I get may be as broad as, “I don’t like that” or “something doesn’t feel right.” My job is to fix it and deliver a product they are happy with but how do you do that without language?

Everyone has preferences for sound even if they don’t have the language to convey it. It takes time to uncover these preferences, and that’s part of our job. It’s like a painting where you can see the outline of what to paint but don’t know what color palette to use. Some people like bright colors and others prefer pastels. Some people know their favorite colors right away, and others want to see you paint a bit then have you change it (and maybe change it again). It takes some trial and error to discover their “color palette,” but once you know it, you can make choices that will likely be in their taste (or at least close enough to have a discussion about it).

In music, this is knowing that the drummer will want less vocals in the monitor before they ask. It’s knowing that the lead singer wants a slap delay on her voice on the album. In post, it’s knowing that a producer wants to hear every footstep or doesn’t like a particular cymbal the composer used in the score. Having this knowledge of someone’s taste builds trust because it lets them know that you understand what they want. It’s what gets you re-hired and over time establishes you as “the” engineer or mixer for that person (or group).

Finding these preferences takes investigation. Our job, in that sense, is like a doctor and a patient. For a doctor, there’s a lot of questions about symptoms, recent health, etc. because the patient doesn’t have the same expertise. The approach is the same here with a mix note: “Are the guitars loud enough for you? Is it something about the dialog bothering you? When you say it doesn’t feel right, is it a balance issue or a timing issue?”

Sometimes the message can get conveyed without using proper language. For example, non-audio people may use the word “echo” to mean reverb. One common note is something is “too loud” or “too soft.” But, the problem might be something else (is it perceived as too loud because it’s bright? Is it too exposed vs. too loud?). With notes, you have to ask yourself: does this need to be taken literally or is it an observation that might be pointing to another issue?

For example, a producer I work with likes to give me a sound design note: “Play around with it.” Does that mean he likes what’s already there but wants more? Or, does he want something totally different? I’ve learned that’s his way of saying “I don’t know what I want or like yet.” I sometimes do more than one version including one out of his normal taste (a different “color palette,” so to speak). I find that helps him define what he likes (or doesn’t) by hearing two contrasting ideas.

You can adapt to a client’s strengths, too. A filmmaker I work with doesn’t know audio well, but he’s very good at conveying moods. We talk about the moods of the film and specific scenes, and I interpret that into audio. He might give a note like, “I want to feel the car wreck.” I know what that means (in audio terms) is he wants a lot of detail in the sound design, and the car crash should be at the forefront of the mix.

Talking about moods is a useful technique with musicians, too. Should it be intimate, polished, rough around the edges, massive, etc.? Do they like clean studio recordings or does it make them uncomfortable? Should it feel like a private living room performance, a rowdy bar or a stadium? You obviously won’t be adding bar patrons to a music mix but knowing that will influence the approach to the mix from vocal treatments to EQs, balances, reverbs, and effects.

Where this gets tricky is when people use words that aren’t audio words at all. Sometimes we can translate or offer other words. “When you say it sounds too ‘shiny’ do you mean it sounds bright or shrill? Or too clean and you want it more gritty?” If someone is struggling to convey what they want, they might be able to think of an example from somewhere else (an album, movie, or Youtube video). It might be totally unrelated, but it can help figure out what they’re asking for.

The most effective way to be a good communicator with clients is to have a diverse audio language yourself. It’s a great skill to talk about audio using words not related to audio. You can make an exercise of this by asking, “what words could I use to explain what I hear?” Walking on leaves could be crispy, crunchy, and noisy but it also could be like Pop Rocks, crinkling paper, or eating cereal. So, the next time a client asks you about the “gaggle of Girl Scouts”** in the mix, you’ll have a better idea what they’re talking about.

(**This was a real note I got from a client. The sound was actually a pan flute.)

Daniela Seggewiss – Time Flies When You Are Doing What You Love

Daniela Seggewiss can’t believe that she has been working in Live Sound for ten years, because time flies when you are doing what you love. She initially caught the live sound bug when she was 13 and attended her first concert.

Daniela grew up surrounded by music, with music always being played around her house and she learned to play piano and drums, but she never could put her finger on what fascinated her about music. Until “I visited my first concert (One-Day 70ies Rock Festival – Sweet, Slade, Suzi Q, Hollies). Seeing that technical side of live music was the missing piece of the puzzle. I remember the one moment I realised I wanted to work in audio. I was standing next to monitor world watching crew, band and audience interacting with each other, that magic moment when music connects people and lets them forget their troubles. I knew there and then, age 13, that that’s what I want to be when I grow up, I wanted to be part of creating that magic. Following that fateful moment, I spent my time figuring out what career options there are in audio and how to make it happen for me.”

Her family was not quite sure how to deal with Daniela’s choice for a career, mainly as they had no idea what it meant to be a sound engineer and could only imagine the world as one of Sex, Drugs, and Rock n Roll. They did their best to support Daniella, while her teachers and career advisors in high school tried to stir her into more conservative alternatives.

After finishing her A-Levels (high school), Daniela would apprentice as an event technician at a German national broadcasting station, learning about sound, lights, and rigging. This provided her a solid foundation in audio knowledge and stagecraft. She would eventually start out in audio taking care of the live sound for WDR’s (Westdeutscher Rundfunk) events in Cologne, Germany.

“Our team of three handled live audio and projection for every in-house event from planning to overseeing or operating the event itself. The events ranged from conferences to literature readings, and award shows to orchestra and big band performances and the occasional jazz or rock show.”

She would spend her summers working in Ireland for a festival, as an audio engineer on the second stage and the main stage audio tech. “My day started midday with the 2nd stage soundcheck followed by the gig and me running to the main stage to make the load in for the evening gig.”

Daniela would eventually leave Germany, to study and work in Leeds. She is a registered freelance sound engineer and was able to work in venues throughout Leeds. Rotating between four venues, with different size rooms from 100 -500 capacity. More often than not, she was the only tech working the gig, doing monitors from FOH and assisting the bands with the backline.

“The venue I spent most my time was the Cockpit in Leeds, which had three rooms in three arches under a railway bridge with aluminum stuck to the arched ceiling, literally a gig in a tin can. A shift in there would involve several power cuts, water dripping off the ceiling and stage invasions by the whole audience. After surviving that nothing a gig throws at me nowadays takes me by surprise.

The Cockpit main room had a monitor desk, and most engineers did not like mixing monitors there, so I got that shift regularly and figured out quickly that I prefer that side of the multicore.”

Working at those venues, led to working with a local music festival, Bingley Music Live. It is a three-day, 15,000 capacity festival. She started as 2nd stage audio tech and worked her way up to main stage monitor engineer.

She currently works mainly as a freelance monitor engineer for the bands The Sweet and Opeth. Her year fills ups quickly between the two groups. She fills in the gaps with festivals and local gigs in Leeds.

In 2017, she finished her BSc from Leeds Beckett University (Hons) in Music Technology, which has increased her knowledge of recording. She continues to learn by taking part in manufacturer training, d&b, Shure, Midas, etc. to make sure she stays up to date with the newest technology.

Her long-term goals are to start working with sound companies, so she can work her way up to working on larger-size tours. Although she does enjoy the medium size productions, being part of a small team that is family. And for now, feels that she could Mix Bands and See the World forever.

What do you like best about your job?

It’s two things for me.

The touring family & seeing the world! The friends I’ve made on the road from as early as that first concert are family to me! The part I like best about these deep friendships is that it does not matter how often we see each other, whenever we do, we can pick up right where we left off, and it feels like we haven’t been apart at all! I have “family” all over the world now, which is very handy considering I love to travel, too.

My family always traveled a lot. We own a campervan and would just go to the coast for a weekend. I always loved going on trips, exploring new places, meeting new people. Now I get paid to do that.

What do you like least?

It is the travel pace that I like least. I don’t even mind long flights too much, yet anyway. Give me another ten years, and I’ll probably hate them, too. But for now, it’s not having enough time to explore a gorgeous part of the world due to the brief time we spend in one place. I can tell you my bucket list of travel destinations is becoming longer and longer instead of getting checked off.

What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?

The most significant obstacle for me was to find the way into the industry, especially into the rock’n’roll side of things, as there was no clear career path that I could follow and come out as a sound engineer.

I was very lucky to make connections early on with a network ever-expanding. However, even with some contacts, I felt like I did not have many options after finishing school as there are no sound companies in or near my hometown.

However, working through these obstacles confirmed that I was really passionate about becoming a sound engineer. And my way through the industry starting in broadcasting, followed by tiny clubs to medium venues and finally festivals and touring is exactly the “education” every sound engineer should experience. You have to grow in the industry! It is a hands-on job that has to be learned through hands-on experience.

I know there is still a lot of discrimination happening in this male-dominated industry. Either it never really happened to me, or I just didn’t care.

The local crew that thinks I must be the merch girl, just makes me chuckle nowadays. However, I have encountered local engineers, who thought I didn’t know what I was doing. In most of those situations, my touring crew family was more upset by the situation than me. It was only encouragement for me to show these guys that I know exactly what I was doing. And the band gave me the thumbs up at the end of the show was the best thing to shut these people up.

How have you dealt with them?

I feel like I just run through any wall. It was in my head that I would be a sound engineer, so any dead-end or obstacle was ran over.

Thinking about it now I realise that there were a lot of “No’s and “You cannot do that” involved, but I was so determined that I just kept going until I found a “Yes.” I came out the other end stronger and even more determined. So my determination and passion for this job help me with all the obstacles.

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

Never give up! Be persistent.

Your best shot is to get to know sound engineers in your area, your local venue. I know this is the cliche answer. Networking! It is still weird for me to know to advertise myself and network to get my name around but that is where jobs come from, at least as a freelancer.

What helps me is to remember that we are all tech geeks and love to talk about it. Also, most engineers, however big their current gig might be, started out exactly where you are right now and provided the timing is right, are happy to give you advice!

As there is no clear, academic career path to become a live sound engineer, persistence, and professionalism, from the beginning is the key, as you never know which one of those 1000 people you talked to about sound might get you your first/next job. It was the monitor engineer I met when I was thirteen that got me my first job in a venue when I moved to the UK, ten years later.

Must have skills?

Such a simple question it seems but oh so complex.

The big picture:

Technical understanding – managing all those buttons

Music – it’s all about the music, you have to have a feel for music to understand the musician’s needs and requests and translate that into technical terms.

People – in my opinion the skill that’s the reason you get/ lose you the job

You’ll spend a lot of time with your band & crew so be easy to be around.

Especially as a monitor engineer you are working with people and need to be able to understand them almost on a psychic level, translate whatever they throw at you, in context of their daily mood, to a sound.

On a more practical level, it has to be Tidiness!!!

A tidy stage doesn’t only look good and professional but also you make your life so much easier for changeovers and fault finding. And this applies to 50 cap bar gigs to arena shows.

What other jobs have you held?

I am proud to say that I have managed to work as a sound engineer all my adult life. I was lucky enough to make some important connections early on and had that little bit of luck to be in the right place at the right time, so whenever one job opportunity ceased another opened up and I grabbed it tight and did not let go.

Do you ever feel pressure to be more technical than your male counterparts?

Not really. I am German and a perfectionist, which makes for a highly efficient combination. I demand a lot from myself. So no male counterpart, may he be oh so ignorant of my skills, has ever topped the expectations I have towards myself.

Is there anything about paying your dues you wish you would have paid more attention to that came back to haunt you later in your career?

On a more general level. Maybe. I wish I would have been more in the moment in the past couple of years. So many great things happened and kinda just flew past, again coming back to this rapid pace of life.  I am proud that I have grabbed every opportunity that presented itself to me if anything it has been my private life that had to pay the dues so far.

I actually regret not continuing to play music regularly … I can still play a bit piano, taught myself some chords on guitar and love playing drums but I wish I would have continued to improve my playing … well, it’s never too late for that I guess.

Favorite equipment

I love DiGiCos. I seem to agree with their workflow.

I tour with a SD9 whenever I get the chance, and since I first used one, it felt like any given function I was looking for was exactly where I thought it would be.

I also always carry my RF Explorer which saved me and my IEM loving artists several times.

Parting Words

Keep calm! It took some club shows with power cuts and over-enthusiastic young bands knocking the PA over to teach me always to keep calm.

I bought my RF Explorer after getting an Arabian prayer through a GTR wireless, luckily only mid soundcheck. I did not want to take that chance ever again though.

Thinking outside the box.

The heaviest thunderstorm I have seen to this day at an outdoor gig in the Czech Republic taught me to think outside the box and just make it work with whatever you have available. That day the whole stage & backstage was flooded. But in good old “the show must go on” fashion we found as many towels as we could in an attempt to dry the stage and played the show with pedalboards on towels. Having learned a lesson, we played a show in Norway right after heavy rain with all pedalboards and wireless in zipper bags.

In the end, it all comes down to the ability to make it happen, which in my opinion is one of the main characteristics of the live sound / live concert industry. There is no second chance. We have the one chance to get it right so if something goes wrong we look around and use whatever we can find around us to make it happen!

Find More Profiles on The Five Percent

Profiles of Women in Audio

Maintaining Business Relationships – Part 2

Last month I wrote the first part of this two-part series on business relationships. I focused on the seller or company side of the relationship offering my perspective on a few things companies can do to strengthen and maintain customer relationships. I mentioned that I disagreed with the ideology that the customer is always right because relationships are a two-way street. Just as businesses need to keep up their end, customers need to as well.

Customers shopping for audio services have an extensive selection of companies and service providers they can choose to hire. To be able to secure the best resources for the show it’s important for the client to build a relationship with companies, to create a successful event. Customers need to remember companies have several clients and projects they are working on and that the business will continuously be changing.

The customer needs to understand a company exists to make a profit by selling a service or product. For that company to stay relevant, the company will need to try new things, increase inventory, and pay staff properly.

If the company met or exceeded the exceptions that were set in the past and you the customer plan to use their services again, let them know. Purchase or reserve the services as soon as allowed. Companies can’t wait around hoping for work to come in.  To maintain the relationship let the company know about any plans for reoccurring business.

As with any relationship, the customer should expect that things will change. Prices, staff, and inventory. As professionals, be open to trying new things the company suggests because they are the experts you have hired and trust.  Take advice on new equipment and trust that the staff hired will uphold the company’s values and professionalism that has been experienced in the past.

Don’t shortchange the company.  Companies are successful due to multiple customers; allow time to work out details, remain flexible, listen to advice offered, and most of all communicate. This relationship is based on what the client’s needs are, but companies cannot meet those expectations when the expectations are unknown. No one is a mind reader. Communication is vital in any relationship, and in this instance, the client needs to drive the conversation, so the company can help create a successful event and offer the proper support to the client.

As with any relationship if it is not working it is ok to move on and try something new; which both entities have the right to do, but don’t set up this relationship up to fail from the start. Develop a two-way business relationship so both the client and company can be successful.

A Chance to Build Each Other Up

Yorkshire Sound Women Networks Meetup, March 2018

On March 25 I had the pleasure of attending the Yorkshire Sound Women Networks meetup at Yorkshire Dance in Leeds.

The Yorkshire Sound Women Networks were founded in Huddersfield on July 14, 2015, with the aim of bringing women together to “share knowledge and skills in music and sound technology, sonic arts, production, and audio electronics.” They describe their “glorious mission” as “to inspire and enable more women and girls to explore sound and music technology.”

Since 2015 they have seen the network expanded to encompass regional groups in Sheffield, Hebden Bridge/Todmorden, York, Oxford, and as far afield as Malta. As well as regular member meetups, the network offers workshops in synthesis, Ableton Live, Arduino, live coding, production sound, and sound design.

March 25 was the first joint meetup for all groups, and the first time the network has offered a full day of workshops, talks, and performances. The day was open to all women who were interested in attending, from within the Yorkshire region and beyond.

Sharing knowledge was one of the key themes of the day – the programme handed to me as I registered included the statement “Today is our chance to build each other up by sharing ourselves, our knowledge, our resources, our networks.”

I appreciated that these resources and knowledge included talks on more administrative and educational topics, as well as electronics and music. Andie Brown’s practical and informative presentation focussed on finance management for the self-employed, while Michelle Myrie’s talk provided insight into her experience of changing lives through music through her work with NEET young people – young people “not in education, employment or training.” It was clear that YWSN had thought carefully about what topics would be pertinent and valuable to the attendees, who included students and women who were interested in electronic music and sound, as well as professional performers, musicians, and educators.

Collaboration was also a welcome theme. In the section of the day dedicated to showcasing work from YWSN’s regional groups, it was exciting to see how musicians and sound artists were inspired by each other’s work, which resulted in unusual and unexpected collaborations. The Hebden Bridge/Todmorden group spoke about a sound walk they’d designed which incorporated location sound recording and electronic sound art. The Huddersfield group performed live (their first live performance as a group), using a mixture of synthesizers, vocal manipulations, and found instruments.

The highlights of the day for me were an immersive electronic music performance from University of Huddersfield student Ching Wu, and Vicky Clarke’s hands-on DIY electronics workshop, where we had the chance to breadboard a noisemaker. As someone who hasn’t fiddled with electrical components since sound school, it was a fun and somewhat challenging reminder that there’s more to sound-making than sitting behind a console or computer in a studio.

Finally, it was immensely encouraging to see lots of young women in attendance – from Ching’s performance using Ableton Live, to the Malta Sound Women Network’s report on their work and events (delivered by video). It was clear to me that providing this kind of supportive spaces and communities where collaboration and experimentation (both successes and failures) are encouraged is not only a good thing, it is vital to the continuation and growth of women working in music and sound.

To slightly paraphrase the quote from Laurie Spiegel, printed in the programme information for the day): Bravo to the Yorkshire Sound Women Network. I can’t wait to hear what you’ll create next.

Special thanks to Liz Dobson from YSWN for inviting me to attend the day.

You can find

The Yorkshire Women’s Network on Facebook Here

Malta Sound Women Network

Yorkshire Sound Women Network – Sheffield

YSWN Hebden Bridge

Leeds Sound Women

YSWN York

Tips to Improve Workflow When Mixing FOH

In my opinion, the dream of every sound engineer is to achieve a high impact mix that provides the audience a great concert experience. Therefore we must take into account a series of considerations.

Having a good position for FOH, so you have a real reference of the system, it is important to remember that there is more than one point where the audience is listening.

Make sure you a system that has proper coverage and is aligned and optimized. We must be aware that our mix will reach every listening point and having proper optimization will help us avoid cancellations that hurt audio quality.

Having a solid understanding of the input gain (gain structure). Understanding how our tools work technically (consoles, processors, among others) we help us achieve a dynamic mix with plenty of headroom.

Solving these issues beforehand will allow us to focus on mixing the show. However we do not always have the best work tools, but by keeping the bases clear, we can solve technical difficulties as they arise.

These are some of the techniques that have worked for me when mixing Sala.

Attend the rehearsals- it is essential to be in contact with the musicians and the project in general, you should pay to the performance of the musicians, knowing the musical repertoire and the feeling and dynamics expressed by each song.  We have an obligation to learn what our artist or musical group wants to reflect to the public

Recording multitrack sessions is something that has worked for me, and I highly recommend it. With the session files, you will have the ability to practice and study, learning where solos take place and you can learn the dynamics of vocals and instruments. The more you learn the music the more ideas  you will get in order to achieve a high impact mix. You will also be able to set up your workflow (you can set up files for different digital consoles using their offline editors) and speed up your workflow during soundcheck and the show.

Experiment with different microphone techniques – There is a wide variety of microphones to choose from, take into account the following characteristics: sensitivity, polar pattern and frequency response. You can select microphones that best suits the artists and their sound. You do not always have the time to experiment during a soundcheck, so make sure you determine the best microphone positions beforehand.

The stage plot and input list- is a must for the engineers. Having an accurate and current input list and stage plot is a must.

How to Make a Stage Plot and Input List.

List of Software and Apps to make a stage plot

We do not always have the possibility of finding the desired team, but by studying hard, training, and practicing, we can solve every obstacle.

By Samantha Martínez Luviano

Originally from Mexico City, she began her audio and production studies in 2013 at G. Martel University.  She took part in a series of courses that opened the doors to the music industry, such as Mixtlán, Meyer sound, Shure learning center, liveS, among many more skills that contributed to her job growth, she is currently studying engineering in mechatronics. Samantha is now an independent sound engineer.

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