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Denmark – Sound System Optimization Training Seminar

Sound System Optimization Training

Come learn best practices for tuning sound systems with measurement and operational concepts through a FFT-based (dual-channel) acoustical analysis software platform. The seminar will be taught by

2016 Seminar

Theis Romme – Freelance engineer for several companies with Meyer Sound Inventory. Theis is a most appreciated member of the Meyer Sound family and is also considered an expert on SIM3 as well as Smaart V7 & V8.

Rasmus Rosenberg – Freelance sound engineer and a super user on Smaart, as well as beta tester for Smaart products before they hit the market.

We recommend participants to download ‘Smaart V8 User Guide’ and read before attending the training. Please bring PC/notebooks for both dates. Participants will learn  to measure and analyze the frequency content of audio signals, study timing and frequency response of electro-acoustic systems, and perform basic room acoustics analysis. Everybody regardless of experience are welcome to participate! This includes students and newcomer’s in the industry

The maximum number of attendees will be 20. Be sure to sign up early as our events tend to sell out. If you require financial aid please contact us at soundgirls@soundgirls.org

  Register Here

How to get to the venue:

Airport: Take the metro to ‘Lergravsparken’, walk 100 meters south of Østrigsgade, take a right turn on Øresundsgade. The venue will come up on your left hand side after 500 metres.

Centrale station: Use the exit to Tivoli. Take bus no. 5A towards Sundbyvester Plads/Airport. Get off after 9 stops at Øresundsvej. Continue 50 metres. on Amagerbrogade. Take a left turn at the intersection and Amager Bio will come up after 50 metres.

Accommodation:

For any practical questions on logistic or accommodation, please send an email to either mallekaas@gmail.com or aiste.baltraityte@gmail.com

This is an exclusive offer to members of SoundGirls. If you are not already a member, please visit our website to sign up.

 

From “Girl Engineer” to Re-Recording Mixer – Sherry Klein

Sherry Klein is an Emmy-nominated re-recording mixer and a pioneer of women in audio in both music and television. Sherry became a recording engineer at Larrabee Studios in the late 1970s – one of a handful of female engineers in Los Angeles at the time and possibly one of the only female re-recording mixers in town when she moved into post in the early 1980s.

Sherry’s television credits include Bull, Queen of the South, Burn Notice, Sons of Anarchy, Falling Water, The Shield, and Arrested Development.  She mixes dialogue and music with her partner Scott Weber, who handles sound effects and Foley.

What’s your music background?

I took all my music classes in Manhattan. Growing up all I ever wanted to do was study music and play guitar. I would travel to the city to learn blues fingerpicking style at the Folklore Center in Greenwich Village. And on weekends played small clubs and coffeehouses in the NY and Jersey area. After High school I went to College in St Louis, Missouri to major in music composition.. 6 months into mornings filled with classical counterpoint and fugue, I decided I would rather study jazz. There was only one school for me, and that was Berklee College of Music, in Boston. I got accepted and then spent the next six months hitchhiking cross-country before moving to Boston.

While attending Berklee, I was pretty much a monk to music and composition, and after a few semesters, I found that I was having difficulty writing and composing. I could analyze a Charlie Parker solo on the subway, Ace my exams .. but I just couldn’t innovate anymore. Learning the nuts and bolts of music theory seemed to limit my creativity. I went on to study independently at Boston School of Electronic Music and took various classes all over town… basically whatever interested me in the areas of sound and music. Even audited (snuck into) an acoustics class at MIT… I did crazy stuff to get a little bit of everything in.

What I realize in hindsight is that I have a very technical and organized mind. While in college I memorized all my scales and theory exercises using mathematical formulas, but in reality, I sucked at math and practically flunked it in high school … it just wasn’t presented to me in a way that I saw any use for it in my life, but as soon as I was able to make sense of it in my life, i.e., in music… math and I got along much better!

How did you get into sound?

I started hanging out downstairs at the 2-track studio at Berklee and became fascinated with sound. Soon after leaving Berklee, I got a job working for Hub Recording Studios. I was the girl in the front who handled phone calls and stuff. Eventually and begrudgingly, the boss ” allowed” me to become an assistant engineer. I also began working live sound in clubs around Boston and working for a few local bands. One night a couple of guys came over to the studio to do some wiring work. We talked for a while, and they said they were building a 16-track recording studio. They asked me if I would be interested in joining them … that was a no-brainer. I said “Hell yeah! It proved to be some of the best times I ever spent during those early years.

We wired everything in that studio. We built a shell within a shell that sank within the first year. Physically I was the smallest one, so I ended up doing much of the wiring between the ceiling and the shell. I could wire and solder anything at that point. We had to make many compromises because our funds were very limited.

For a DDL: we used our concrete basement and would put a Neumann U-87 in bidirectional mode catching the bounces off the wall and feeding it back upstairs. That was our DDL because we couldn’t afford to buy a real one.

Our reverb unit was a bastardized set of Hammond springs that sat under our little homemade console; we would change the reverb time by putting small pieces of fiberglass on the springs. (Above examples of Hammond Springs, not exactly the ones used by Sherry.)

Hub Studios Rate Card

There were so many crazy things we did to emulate the real stuff that we couldn’t afford. When we positioned amps and mics just right, in that basement, we could get some great sounds! It was an amazing learning experience because we had to create sounds in the most uncanny, but organic ways! After a few years, a new partner joined us and with him came a “real” console and that helped to prepare me for the next step I was about to take.

I left Boston in 1976 to move to Los Angeles and only knew a few people in town. The record business was a big and lucrative industry at that time. There were many recording studios, and I think I circumnavigated all Hollywood looking for a job as an assistant engineer. Larrabee Studios called me back first. I also got lucky because I had a client from Boston that gotten signed and was coming to LA to do an album. They contacted me and asked if I could do their demos for the album. When Larrabee called me, I said, “I’ve got this client from Boston, they’ve got a couple thousand dollars for a demo – can I do it here?” One of Larrabee’s engineers assisted me and right after that .. I got the job as an assistant engineer. As time went on, I was given some engineering work. I did a lot of the publishing demos and got some great clients and album work from that.

Leslie Ann Jones, Sherry Klein, & Lenise Bent AES

As far as I knew there was me, and three other women engineering in Los Angeles at that time (the mid-late 70s ) – The late Terry Becker at the Record Plant, Lenise Bent at Village Recorders, Leslie Ann Jones at Capital Records.

Did people treat you differently for being a female assistant or engineer back then?

There are lots of stories I could tell, but mostly I had good experiences once the client got to know my abilities and me. Sometimes, the studio wouldn’t use my name when assigning me to a client. One time, in particular, there was a very major British engineer that I was going to work on, it was on a set of music festival recordings, Larabee’s owner, Jackie Mills, said “We’re not going to tell him your name or anything. When you come in to meet him be ready to spout every four-letter word you know” When I walked in for the meeting the engineer looked at me and said, “Oh Fu… crap, Give me a break (and a few other choice words) !” Jackie gave me his look, and I just rapped off a whole paragraph of 4 letter words… the engineer just looked at me, smiled, and said, “Ok, we can do this! Ready?”

I assisted on an album for Michelle Phillips; Jack Nitzsche was producing. I was working with an engineer who had to go do another gig out of town for a week, and he told Jack “Sherry can record the vocals and do some of the overdubs.” In the end, I got my first credit. Jack listed us as “Girl Engineer” and “Boy Engineer.”

It was Kim Fowley who gave me my first solo album gig., an all-girl group “The Orchids” for MCA Records. He taught me rock and roll history, and he was my mentor. He gave me my first, second, third albums – quite a lot of projects actually. I also credit him with helping to give me my backbone in the industry, and anyone who knew him would know what I’m talking about…. he was truly an amazing person, and he remained a friend until he passed away.

Kim Fowley playback party

Why did you leave the music industry?

Those were incredible days to be working in the music business, the late 70’s, early 80’s. The years before the bottom fell out of the record industry. That’s when I moved into post-production. A bunch of record labels went under, and I was only doing a few albums here and there. A mixer I had worked with on an album was working at KTTV. He called and said needed a sub while he went on vacation he said, “You know all this stuff – you know the consoles the machines, you’re familiar with gear, and you’ve got the ears. You just need to learn about the CMX and timecode synchronization, what do you think?” I said ok, and that’s when I moved to post-production… I went over there for four weeks and stayed for the next year.

I started mixing tv shows over there as a single mixer; it was basically “audio sweetening.” From there I took a lot of little freelance jobs here wherever I could find them. I met with EFX Systems, an independent facility transitioning from music to post, and was hired as their first postproduction mixer. That’s where I started honing the postproduction side of myself. When we picked up the show  “30 Something” we went to a three-person crew, and I mixed dialogue. That was a big deal for me because it was a very high-profile show. I think that’s when people started knowing about me, even though I was still fairly isolated and didn’t know many post people in town.

Were there other women re-recording mixers in post at that point?

Not that I was aware of, at least in LA. I learned of Melissa Hoffman, who I believe was at Ryder Sound a few years later. I stayed with EFX for nine years until they closed their doors. After EFX, I began looking for another post facility I knew that I wanted to be on a team and not just work as a single mixer. Strangely, I found that the doors were open, but many studio managers who were ok with having a woman mixer said they just hadn’t found one with the experience and credits. Luckily.. I had some of both!

Sony was the first to call. They needed someone to replace a popular mixer (who was retiring) on a team with three mixers, he was mixing a show called “The Young Riders, ” and they needed someone who could take over for him. They offered me the dx chair. When I first came on, I asked the head of post-production, “Do you think the guys are going to be cool about this?” He said, “If they’re not ..screw em,” you have the qualifications.” As it turned out, I had a great fx mixer, who took to me immediately. The music mixer not so much. Since I wasn’t embedded in the “studio lot” culture and was the first and only woman on a dubbing stage at Sony, I didn’t want to make waves, I kind of rode it out and took some words and (shall we say) disrespect?. Unbeknownst to me, some of the clients weren’t happy with what they were seeing and started going to management.

One day management came to me asking how long this attitude had been going on? I said pretty much since a few months after I came on (about a year). He said, “Why didn’t you say anything?” I said, “I didn’t want to be a problem, I’m hard-headed and can take a lot,..” He said, “You’re the lead mixer and the reason that clients are coming into that room. This is done!” He fired that mixer. I was really quite taken aback. I had no idea that was going to happen, but the decision had been made before he even talked to me. When my original fx mixer retired I had to put together a new crew, we were together for almost nine years and still remain close friends.

Where did you go after Sony?

One of the reasons I left Sony was because I wanted to get into Protools mixing and at that time, they weren’t ready to use it on the dubbing stage. Prior to leaving Sony, I had been working on three shows, and two got canceled in the same week. My last remaining show was the final season of Dawson’s Creek, and I wanted to see it through..  I had lots of free time, and I started looking around for Protools classes. I found Chilitos Valenzuela and his company “Audiograph Intl” in Santa Monica. It was the best thing I could have done for myself, I signed up and took his class, it was three weeks and paid for by me … Chilitos and I became fast friends, and he truly helped me to learn Pro Tools. I moved over to Larson Studios the following season. They were one of the first full Protools studios in town, and that was a great place for me to begin what I call the 2nd phase of my career. Currently, I’m with Smart Post Sound– and they’ve been my home base for the last ten years.

In my choices for leaving one facility for another, I can honestly say that I’ve only moved when I felt was the right move for my career; I never moved just to get a few extra bucks. Just wasn’t where my priorities were set.

Can you explain your role working on a two-person mix team?

The dialog mixer is the lead mixer on the team. Usually, we’re the ones who get all the shit if something goes wrong. Rarely is there a situation where I’ve had to throw (lead mixer) weight around? It’s just not in my nature. I feel that we’re both equally important to the team and therefore equal in our mixing partnership.

How much time do you get for a mix?

An hour show is typically a two or three-day mix. We work from 9 am to 7 pm with a lunch break. On day one we get through the show. By the late afternoon, we’ll do a pass playing back together.  Since we work separately, this is the first time we hear everything together so we can start to fine-tune it all. By the end of the day, we’ve done one pass on the main speakers. (Many of the execs still prefer their playbacks on small speakers… it drives us crazy..but that’s what they want, and so that’s what we do:-) So, the next morning we do playback on the small speakers and a pass with our co-producer. We all take notes and do our tweaks. Then if we have another chance, we can play it down again and take more notes. Usually, after lunch is when we get the execs. If we have three days, not much changes with the schedule except there’s more time for playbacks, tweaking, and just making it more presentable.

What happens when execs love something that you hate? How do you deal with creative differences?

The executive producers are the final word. If asked my opinion? I’m very honest. I’ve been known to say “I hate it.” Sometimes they will ask, “Are you happy with it? ”my answer can be as simple as, “It sounds better than it has any right to.” and it’s true!  There are times when we’ve all worked on something and mixed in circles because of getting directions from so many people in the backfield that at the end of the day we walk out saying to each other we liked our version better. But that wasn’t the way the powers that be wanted it.  There are days where I’ve been pulling my hair in frustration because the dialog was so noisy – bad locations, mumbly actors, or whatever. The truth is… I’m too close to it, and I just have to take a step back to hear that it does sound fine, and better than I thought. But always, it’s the execs that have the final say!!

Does it ever bother you to work on something where the dialog is terrible, to begin with, and then your name is in the credits for it?

Sometimes what we do as dialog mixers is to make shit shine. Sometimes dialog is good, to begin with, so we can work to make it richer and fuller and just enhance it. The question for me is that when I walk out at the end of the day, do I feel creatively fulfilled? That answer would be yes, or I would have stopped doing this years ago.

What do you enjoy about being a TV dialog mixer?

I like the hustle of tv and the fact that it’s like a new mini-movie every week. Having multiple years on a show is always a treat because you have the opportunity to grow with your crew and the show, it becomes kind of a family thing!!

What skills/traits should someone have who wants to be a dialog/music mixer?

Patience – of which I have none! (I have the attention span of a 12-year-old) which is why I’m better working in television than features.

You need people skills – especially when you need to let everyone in your backfield argue (discuss) and do their thing while you wait till they’ve come to a consensus.

You need stamina and the ability to multitask. You have to be able to filter out what’s going on behind you and just do what you need to do up front. Sometimes it’s stopping and listening to what the people behind you are saying, and other times it’s continuing to work and then turning around and saying, “did I miss something?” It’s an intense balancing act. You have to move fast and move with preciseness and detail. You need to learn to gauge time and your activities within the time allotted to get something you’re happy with, and they’ll be happy with.

Favorite plugins?

Izotope RX 6 – I got hip to RX a couple of years ago, and it’s fantastic. It’s saved my ass tremendously in a lot of things. If you get to know Spectral Repair, there’s a great number of things you can do.

Cedar (noise reduction) – I like to use it gently, and these days if I want to go in deeper, I can go to the RX.

Audio Ease Speakerphone – I use it on a lot of my ADR, not with the futzes but utilizing the rooms and other parts of the plugin. From my record engineer days, I know how to use the various mics to change the characteristics of the sound. There are also lots of other features within the plugin I like – it’s sort of my audio suite channel strip.

LO-FI – I’ve always been a fan of this one. Sometimes we just have to shmutz things up

Avid ProLimiter, Fab FilterDS, SA2 – we’re always fighting sibilance, and we have to keep our levels within network specs.

Those are some of my go-to plugins.

What advice would you give to women in the field or trying to get into the field?

I think there are a lot more opportunities than ever before for women moving into mixing positions. The field is open to it. I don’t believe it’s even a question of being a woman mixer – it’s a qualified mixer. Years ago people would say “she’s one of the best chick mixers etc.…”  and I would say, ‘” Umm … I’m a mixer” I just happen to be a chick. We are mixers. Nuff said!!

As far as getting into it and coming up through the channels – it’s a long road. It’s a very satisfying road. Ultimately, you do have to learn how to have your life, while still devoting the time needed to have the gig. I don’t buy tickets for anything unless it’s a Saturday night or Sunday … and even then I don’t know for sure; travel plans are always meant to be changed. You have to be willing to sacrifice the aspects of “normalcy” that most people are accustomed to. I tend to believe that it can be a bit more difficult for women…speaking personally, in my past experiences sometimes the men in my life have not always understood that I just can’t get up and leave a session that’s going into OT because we had planned together that night. Oh Well. That’s why those are in my past!

How do you find work-life balance?

What balances me is being able to go and spend a couple of weeks at my home in Mexico – or as I call it “in my other world.” I will always try to get out of town when I’m not working. When I’m in town and have time off, I try and catch up with my friends, more time with my man and then there’s my other passion which is baking bread. I was informed almost nine years ago that I had to get off gluten. After asking wtf that was, I started researching on the internet and experimenting with baking. Now, I grind all my own flours and bake whenever I have the time. It’s just all mixing! Be it flours or eq’s or levels..it’s mixing to get what you want. It’s sort of like my out of the dub stage Zen place!

Cinema Audio Society Board

Final thoughts?

I think a mixer can only mix for what they hear, and that doesn’t always please everybody all the time. I’ve left shows because I’ve felt I wasn’t the right person for the job anymore.. and sometimes it’s the clients that want to make a change… shit happens, I’ve learned that you have to just roll with it.

At this point in my career I want to continue to work with people I respect and enjoy, and with people who allow me the freedom to be creative and fulfilled in my work. As far back as I can remember I’ve always tried to be as honest as possible and give 150% of myself to all my projects. I truly don’t know how to do it half-assed! My best explanation of what I tell people I do for a living is “I get to play in a big sandbox with a bunch of crazy people, and paint pictures with sound.” Gotta love that.

More on Sherry

Find More Profiles on The Five Percent

Profiles of Women in Audio

What are you worth? or Do I need an agent?

In an industry where fees are kept close to everyone’s chest, it’s often hard to know what is a fair price for your time. Taking a job where I feel I have been ripped off in the fees department is never a way for me to feel like part of a team and produce my best work. I have found that it is often not a one-off. Doing one show at a discounted rate, in my experience, only leads to being offered more shows with a discounted fee attached. It is often assumed, in theatre, that the Sound Designer is at the bottom of the pile when the money is being handed out. Add to that the global phenomenon of women being paid less than men. Yes, women working full-time still often earn less than men doing the same job:

Women are Still Paid Less than Men Even in the Same Job

Nursing Pay Gap Women Paid Less

Research Finds Women Paid Less than Men in 90 Sectors

The Gender Pay Gap

It can feel the struggle to find out if you are getting paid what you are worth. I have said this before but, I have found that, for me, working for free has never led to a paid gig. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, but not in my personal experience.

There are Guidelines for Theatre Designers, but not specifically for Sound:
The Association of Lighting Designers has a suggested fees document that covers everything from a major musical (£20,000) to a fringe/pub theatre production (£1,000). I find that the only way not to drive myself mad is to try to stick to this. If there are special circumstances, like a very short run in hope of a transfer, then I will make sure there are clauses like: I get the first refusal if the show transfers, and that transfer will come with a fee that is the going rate. I also make sure the copyright of the sound design and content created stays with me.

If I have to be away from home, there is the issue of accommodation. £500 seems to be a standard figure offered for accommodation and travel but I am very honest if I can’t find anywhere for that and/or there are last-minute changes to schedules. Not being able to book ahead makes everything a whole lot more expensive.

Also, I always mention any dates I am not available for during the rehearsal and production period. We aren’t expected to be there for every day of rehearsals unless specified in the contract and compensated, but it is still good to give a heads-up to the director and producer of any clashes in my schedule. Theatre Sound Design pay rates mean you often have overlapping projects; people understand this but communicate with them so there are no awkward surprises later on.

I do sometimes wonder if it’s worth trying to get an agent to do the negotiating, but the only benefit I can see is that they have more of an idea of what the going rate is. I would still have to agree, or not, to the terms of the contract. Technical Design Agents in the UK theatre scene don’t really get you to work, at least not actively. As far as I’m aware, they negotiate the contract on your behalf. I have heard a variety of things from Lighting Designers: those whose rate tripled when they got an agent, to the agent who insisted on taking a cut from all of their clients’ earnings, regardless of whether they had been working as a designer or not.

The only way through, for me, is to make sure I don’t go into a job feeling that I’ve been taken advantage of. If I can manage that, then I am happy to negotiate the contract myself. And there is always the rest of the creative team who, if they won’t actually tell you the fee they are on, will tell you if they think yours is below the going rate.

 

 

 

Standard Brazilian P.A. Mix for DVD Recording

In our past blog, Live Recording of a DVD of Setanejo, my colleague Karen Avila went through the crazy process of Brazilian DVDs. Although she was specifically referring to the ‘sertanejo’ style, most Brazilian artists record a DVD before going on tour. We only get one day of live recording. Also, some new singles are recorded live on that day, to promote the ‘DVD tour.’

We usually record the sound/light/video check, with cameras in positions that would be impossible to do with the public. Then, we record the show with the public and re-do some songs at the end. It works fine, but we have to mix the P.A. with the recording in mind.

Over the years I’ve been the DVD P.A. mixer, but also the studio mixer and editor. I’ve developed some procedures – some are my own, some that I have learned from more experienced colleagues – in order to have a good P.A. mix without compromising the recording.

Overall volume and alignment of the P.A., front-fill, subwoofer, and delays:

Most DVDs are not recorded in open areas because it is safer concerning weather variations. On the other hand, acoustics are always a problem here. The house mix is usually not centered because it is more important to have open space in the middle for the audience and cameras.

Because of these conditions, I always prefer a digital console, which can be controlled through Wi-Fi. It is better that the P.A. console is not the one being used for recording but, depending on the budget, it will be FOH, monitors, and recording…

FOH not centered – Digital console, Wi-Fi controlled

The volume has to be high enough for the crowd to be excited and reach them even when they are screaming the song. Brazilians usually sing all the lyrics during the whole song, together with the band (I think this is a Latin phenomenon). But it cannot be too high, so it doesn’t mess up the ambience microphones. We want to clearly catch the crowd screaming. It is the same for delays all over the room.

Front-fill is a solution and a problem. I usually only put vocals and solo instruments on the front-fill in this type of mix. And I do not put any effects on the front. The best crowd is always the one near the stage. They need to hear the singers, but we have to be careful in case we have some editing, studio overdub or auto-tuning to do afterward. All high frequencies tend to be reflected back to the stage and mess up the ambience mics. I do not use a lot of hi-hat and overheads, nor high-frequency percussion on the mix.

For the front-fill, I use an HPF. I need it to complete the Main Stereo. It doesn’t have to sound really, really nice. It is usually on an aux send or matrix send

 

I cut the subwoofer at 80Hz because it is easy to cut this out from the crowd in the mix. I use it a lot. It saves me when we don’t have too much volume, but we need the crowd to jump and dance. I only send the instruments that I want to excite the crowd to the subwoofer; like the kick drum, the electronic stuff, and the bass. It is usually on an aux send or matrix send. We must be very careful to have the subwoofer outside the stage, or in an end-fired or cardioid arrangement.

 

I like to duplicate the voice with some parallel compression, to make it powerful but not too high. I need a strong de-esser because of the above-mentioned high-frequency issue in the P.A.

As for effects, unfortunately, I must use very little. For example, I cannot do crazy long effects or delay rides. Usually, I prefer to use a short modulated-delay (in eighth-note), a medium stereo-delay (in quarter-note) instead of reverb. If you don’t put a lot of feedback in them, they will be wonderful esthetic allies. I also use a little overdrive in some of the instruments, but especially in vocals, to add presence, since I don’t have analog gear in general.

 

Basically, this is it. I’m constantly in touch with the recording suite, so they are always giving me feedback about P.A. leak in the recording. If we are always working as a team with artists, monitor/recording/P.A., lights and video, it will come out just fine.

Florencia Saravia-Akamine has over 20 years dedicated exclusively to audio, whether in the studio or live. Today, she centered her activities in the areas of “live sound” and recording, editing, and mixing for broadcasting. (This has changed through the years and will probably keep on changing every day.

More on Florencia Saravia-Akamine at Pro Audio Clube

Australia – Intern – Bill Frisell Sound Check

Claudia Engelhart, FOH Engineer and Tour Manager for Bill Frisell has invited up to three SoundGirls members to come shadow her for load in and sound check for the their shows in Brisbane and Adelaide. Please send an email to soundgirls@soundgirls.org

  • SoundGirls Member ID
  • Show: Adelaide or Brisbane
  • Brisbane – June 9th – QPAC Concert Hall

Adelaide – June 11th – Dunstan Playhouse

You then will receive confirmation with load in time.

 

 

Kansas City Internship

SoundGirls Members can apply to intern with SoundGirl Samantha Potter

Get some real-world experience in the Kansas City area. Different kinds of experience available from Houses of Worship, to a local 8-piece R&B Band. Some events are weekly and some events are on random weekends. Anything to fit your schedule!

The right intern can be as green as spring grass, or a more experienced individual trying to get more board time. The right attitude is an attitude of learning. Don’t come into the internship thinking you have nothing to learn. I cannot teach someone who refuses to have an open mind. This internship is a real hands-on work experience, including some load-ins and load-outs.

The position is unpaid, although food is often provided.

I prefer to be a mentor to my interns and help them learn and grow and develop a friendship. This is a field all about networking and relationships, and it starts with internships. I’m interested in helping my interns find their path and get started in their careers here in KC. I’ve been professionally working in KC for five years now with experience in studio work and live sound, so I am happy to teach in either.

Preference to 21+, but 16+ accepted.

Send name, contact info, SoundGirls Member ID, cover letter and resume to soundgirls@soundgirls.org

Tips for Getting the Vocals on Top

Down in the trenches of clubs keeping the vocals on top of the mix and loud enough in the monitors is a challenge. Here are some strategies that Karla Barrera utilizes.

The biggest problem I have is when mixing loud music like punk or metal is how to keep the vocals loud enough. When the musicians don’t hear themselves in the monitors, and they are on the edge of feedback? First of all, the sound starts with the stage volume always. You need to control your stage volume right off the bat.

First of all, the sound starts with the stage volume always. You need to control your stage volume right off the bat.

Check levels starting with the Kick drum and beyond. Once I get to the bass and guitars, I listen to what is coming off the stage and if you feel like the stage volume is too loud, here are a few things to think  about

Is the bass the tone too woofy and boomy? Instead of having the bass player turn down his/her level, should I suggest changing the tone a bit? (Familiarize yourself with the EQ knobs on bass amps, usually Hi, MIDS, LOWS, CONTOUR,  ETC… EXAMPLE: “Can you back off the low mids a bit so that the low end won’t wash out the vocals in the monitors? ”

Is the guitar just too loud? Should I suggest turning town some of the high-end on the guitar or should I have them turn down the master level? Can you get them to warm up their tone? Example “Maybe warm up your tone a bit to give more space for the vocals.”

Should I suggest to the guitar player to face the amp towards the wall so that the amp won’t bleed into the vocal mic as much and shoot at me/the audience? (some guitar players do not want to turn down because they want to keep their tone.)

Try to get the guitarists/bass players to run thru all of their pedals. Have them toggle through their boost, clean, distortion channels to search for any dramatic level changes that will change mix too dramatically. Take a moment and work with the guitarist. What you are looking for is consistency through levels. The boost will naturally be a little louder, because, well it’s a boost pedal for solos. Once you take a moment to check their pedal levels, you are that much closer to having control of the levels coming off stage. EXAMPLE: “Your clean channel is much louder than your distortion. Can you back off your clean level and turn up your distortion to even out the levels? ”

Don’t be afraid to school musicians. Let them know nicely that sometimes their tone does not translate the same as it does in their rehearsal space as it does in your venue. (which is why you give them these suggestions). Some musicians don’t play live very much.

Once you are done with the basic sound check line check and you are ready to hear a quick song during sound check, turn off the PA and let the band know that you want to hear what is coming off stage first before you turn up the PA and you will turn up the PA shortly. Listen carefully to the stage without your mix (30 – 60 seconds or till you hear a loud part kick in) that way you can tell what is actually happening on stage before you start turning things up.

Once you have done that, start turning up the vocals, get them nice and loud before you turn any of the band up. If you can’t get the vocals loud enough before putting the band in the PA the band should turn down, flip amps around or change tone. Sometimes, it’s the snare, or the cymbals and drummers will absolutely not hit softer. They hate that.

EXAMPLE: “Right now, I am struggling to get the vocals loud enough, and I don’t have any instruments in the PA, do you guys mind turning down a bit and I’ll put more of your guitars in the monitors?” (note this is not decreasing the stage sound and will not be ideal for a struggling vocalist)

EXAMPLE: “Any way you can tape your cymbals a bit? They are much louder than the vocal right now.”

EXAMPLE: “Can we mute your snare a bit with a little bit of gaff tape on the snare? It’s bleeding straight into the vocal mic.”

When you are mixing, and there is a certain element on stage that is sticking out too much, just take the snare mic or guitar mic or hi-hat out of the house. You may not even need it because it’s loud enough coming off the stage.

The 2nd problem happened to me for the first time last night. I put Shure Beta 91 inside the kick drum but later changed it to AKG d112. I had feedback coming from somewhere when the drummer hits the kick which stopped when I muted the main vocal microphone and the guitar microphone. We turned away the whole guitar cabinet, and it got better.

Both are great mics, but here is where you should start:

First of all, you need to EQ the monitors before the band arrives to make sure there is no feedback on stage BEFORE the band arrives. You need a graphic equalizer on every monitor mix and find all the frequencies that are feedback and need to be cut out.

Once you stabilize the stage, check the lead vocal in the house before the band arrives. Get a long XLR and take the mic to FOH if possible or have someone check the mic for you while you are at FOH. Make sure you have a graphic equalizer on the house too and get it as loud as you can. When you hear feedback, start taking out those frequencies that are feeding back. You can download an RTA mic app that can help you see the offending frequencies that way you know exactly which frequency to cut (I use the app FrequenSee)

The kick drum was making the vocal mics feedback because you had them cranked so loud and you were not equalizing the monitors or the PA properly. Think about the basics. GAIN STRUCTURE IS EVERYTHING! Less gain before feedback. Instead of gaining up your vocal, turn up your monitor outputs to +5dB that way you have more headroom to turn up before reaching for the gain knob.

Should the bands be less loud on stage? should I reconsider my mic techniques?

Maybe, try my steps from above to make sure you have control of the stage. Trying new mic techniques could work. I would have to know what you are doing.

Karla Barrera is a sound engineer at The Roxy and works freelance around Los Angeles. She previously worked as a Production Manager and Sound Engineer at The Viper Room. Karla is also the artist manager for Imaad Wasif. She attended The Arts Institute of California.

Attitude of Gratitude: Cool things about touring (that we sometimes forget…)

Many of us occasionally get a bit of jaded roadie syndrome. Maybe we get grumpy, and homesick, and miss our folks, and dammit if we hear that song one more time….. When life on the road feels a bit uphill, here are some of the great things about touring to remind ourselves of.

– You get to travel the world and get paid for it. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you find yourself in some crazy places that you just wouldn’t ever visit as a tourist, and become richer for the experience, both literally and figuratively.

– You get to do this with a bunch of like-minded people who often become good buddies. Sure there’ll be one or two who aren’t your cup of tea, but that’s just life, and there are lots of others to hang with. Camaraderie is one of the best things about life on the road.

– Music! I’m guessing a love of music led you down this path in the first place, and now you get to work with that love. With a bit of luck, you like the band you’re touring with, and it can be so fulfilling to be part of that creative process.

– You don’t have to clean the bathroom THE WHOLE TIME YOU’RE AWAY!

– Or go to the supermarket.

– Or cook.

– Or do your own laundry…. You get the picture.

– Lovely people cook lovely food for you. In fact, you may need to pack your willpower if you don’t want to come home with some unwanted tour swag…. Especially when the load-out food and drink fairies visit the bus!

– You get to be ‘in flow.’ If you’re directly involved in the show, you can’t be thinking about anything else for that couple of hours… you have to be present because if you’re not, you’re going to mess up. And we all know what that means – Taxi!

– Every day is dress-down Friday. Except when you put on normal-person clothes to go out for dinner on a day off, and everyone looks really smart, and it’s all a bit weird…

– You know that thing when you forget where you are? (Umm…. stage left?) Well, that happens, but it’s sometimes because you haven’t looked at the day sheet beyond timings and so you genuinely don’t know! Which is kind of surreal….

– Sometimes you get to stay in really swanky hotels. The rooms are usually ready pretty fast because a bunch of crew tumbling off the sleeper bus in their pajamas isn’t quite the look the hotel staff had in mind for the lobby.

– You get to try some really weird and wonderful local cuisines and customs on the more far-flung legs of a tour. If you’re prepared to step outside your comfort zone and embrace the adventure then it’s never dull!

– There’s that cool little rush of adrenaline before a show, and the happy sense of satisfaction after a, particularly good one. Heck, even on those shows when everything that can go wrong, does, there’s that ‘blitz spirit’ of everyone pulling together to make this thing happen!

– You make your living by contributing, in some tiny way, to the sum of human happiness. See all those shining faces in the crowd? You’re a part of that.

– Finally, when you get home after a long tour there’s nothing quite like it for making you truly appreciate life’s little pleasures. Early nights in your own bed; a proper cup of tea in your favourite cup; making whatever you fancy to eat; your own shower; catching up with home-friends; and of course the biggie of seeing your loved ones…. these things take on a new level of joy, and that alone is worth hitting the road for!

Delaware – Intern at The Ladybug Music Festival

 

 

 

Ladybug Music Festival is looking for SoundGirls members to volunteer for the 2017 festival. There are many positions available for any level of experience.

The event is July 20th in downtown Wilmington at various stages near 2nd and Lower Market Streets. They will have 8 to 10 small indoor venues they are looking for engineers to run sound at. Some are simple singer-songwriter artists with one or two inputs. Some are full band and may require more experience. The main stage is run by Electro Sound and volunteers are needed to assist at that stage with setup and artist relations.

Volunteers to mix sound at one of the smaller stages would need to be available between 4pm and 10pm. (there may be a small pay for this position only)

Interns to help with setup of the sound systems in these smaller venues would need to be available between 2pm and 5pm.

Interns to help with artists load in would need to be available between 3pm and 7:30pm.

Water and Limited Food Vouchers will be given to volunteers. Free parking is available through the organization. Anyone interested in volunteering or running sound for Ladybug Music Festival should email a resume and cover letter no later than June 15th to soundgirls@soundgirls.org

 

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