Join Us

Empowering the Next Generation of Women in Audio

Join Us

From My Ears to Yours

If someone asked you what the job of the monitor engineer is, I’m fairly certain you’d say, “to build the mix for the stage monitors”. Recently, there was an interesting exchange between some audio folks and myself where I realized that, somehow, that very basic concept and the true meaning of mixing monitors has sort of gotten lost. There is a bit of glory associated with running the desk, and kind of an egotistical boost with being in charge.

I had someone say to me, “there is no art in mixing monitors”. I want to firmly remove that thought from anyone’s mind. Whatever your skill level, your ultimate goal should be to help the performer give the best performance they possibly can. On monitors, you have an audience of one – just the one person on the other end. What I think, enjoy, or like literally does not matter at all. A mix is subjective, but on monitors, it can be a whole lot easier to define: The mix is whatever the performer wants and likes.

The creative part of doing monitors is figuring out what the performer wants, and whether they can express that want clearly. There are three things you can use to evaluate their hearing situation: Body language, understanding of music, and listening.

Watching body language is key. I find musicians typically give the same basic cues to ask for a few typical changes, and then give a whole host of other cues that are so unique that I often feel I’m playing a guessing game. Just the other day, I was mixing for a pop band and the trombone and sax players kept not being able to hear their wedge. I kept pushing and pushing the volume. Finally, they agreed it was good. During the second set, I kept seeing the sax player do…something. Something seemed to be causing him to act ‘off’. During the break, I asked him if everything was ok. He lamented that it was ok, but the sax he was playing didn’t have the right mouthpiece for this music, and if only it had “more mids, like 800”. I had said almost nothing, just asked if he was okay. He talked through it himself, and literally gave me the answer to his problem. I boosted 800Hz and he was thrilled with the rest of the gig. Mixing monitors is about listening to your performer. I like to give the ‘you good?’ look. Trust me, no musician wants to suffer a bad monitor mix, but a whole heck-of-a-lot of them would rather do that than deal with Mr. Pissed-Off Monitor Guy.

Understand music. I highly recommend knowing the basics of the Nashville Number System, and maybe knowing a little bit about as many instruments as you can. Any amount of music theory can give you more ‘ah-ha!’ moments than you’d realize. If you can’t take classes, or don’t have time for books, you have access to the second-best thing: the performers themselves. Learn the language of the performer. As an audio engineer, you’re in ‘technobabble’ and they are in ‘performer lingo’. Learn to follow that lingo. I once had a band where, every time they played a certain song, the keyboard player’s keyboard would cause chaos. After talking it over with someone else in the band, I hummed the few notes which had caused the issue. The musicians’ eyes brighten up – the keyboard player and the bass player were hitting exactly the same notes. Whenever that happened, the room was very unhappy. The keyboard player and bass player couldn’t hear each other well and had never realized that was what was happening. They corrected it and afterward not only did I not have issues with the sound, but the song itself was also more musically sound. Learn their lingo because some performers don’t know how to tell you that the vocal reverb in their in-ears is too long.

My last key point is to listen to your space. Realize that you live your life analyzing audio and what it sounds like – a performer does not. Think of things that might be hard for them to express. Does your space sound different to their space? Maybe that performer isn’t actually being difficult, maybe it does sound like crap in their wedge? Think about where you are and how it sounds, and how that is different to what they are hearing. When possible, I’ve taken to walking up to the wedge during soundcheck and feeling their space. Is there any wonkiness? Are there any frequencies that are too present? When the crowd shows up, will this mix really cut through? How is the house going to affect their mix? Learn to listen, because once you can put yourself into their head, you can do something that I like to do: “Hey, that song later in the set is a rather fast tempo – do you think you’ll want that much reverb on your voice? It might drown you out.” Oh, maybe they didn’t think of that, so yes, please turn it down. Your job is to put your feet in their shoes (or, your ears on their head). If you were them, would their requests really be that strange?

There it is. Watch for body language, understand the music, and listen. Do all these things and you will be well on your way to a creative experience mixing monitors. If you’re like me, the creative joy of nailing one person’s mix is way more exciting than mixing FOH for a ten thousand person show.

Aubrey Caudill: Aubrey lives in the Dallas Fort Worth area and works as a freelance audio engineer. She currently works for several area wedding bands and runs monitors at The Potter’s House North Dallas. She is also a mother of two sons under ten.

Los Angeles – Intern at Ladies Rock Camp – April 22

SoundGirls members can intern with Kevin from High Desert Music for Ladies Rock Camp – Los Angeles. Load In starts at 9 am and you will intern until the truck is loaded. Lunch and Dinner will be provided and you bring a refillable container for water.Do no Register unless you can work the entire day.

SoundGirls is also seeking an experienced Live Sound Tech to assist our SoundGirls Interns. If you are interested in being a Crew Chief for SoundGirls interns email us at soundgirls@soundgirls.org

Ladies Rock Camp is a mini version of summer camp, welcoming participants ages 18 and up and who identify as female. In just three days you will: take lessons on the instrument of your choice (either learning for the first time or brushing up on your skills), form a band, write a song and perform live at a local club.

It’s a weekend of bonding, getting out of your comfort zone, expanding your horizons and HAVING A TON OF FUN in a safe and supportive environment. Our instructors are amazing people with a wealth of experience in performing, songwriting, recording, touring, and more. We can work with individuals at any level of musical experience, including total beginners.

Weapons Up: Explorations into Radio Drama

Over the past six years, my main areas of work have been as a sound designer, voice actor, and producer for commercial, gaming and animation voice demos,

These disciplines often overlap and complement each other. I’ve provided voice-overs for plays that I’ve sound-designed, for example, and actors for whom I’ve produced voice demos have recommended me as a sound designer to directors. But sometimes an opportunity arises that is such a great combination of your skills and interests, you wonder why you didn’t think of exploring it earlier. My introduction to sound design for radio drama was this kind of opportunity.

Back in October last year, I received an email from a voice actor friend, who approached myself and two other actor friends with the idea of creating a showcase for our voice acting skills, in the form of an audio, or radio, drama. We would write a short script for four female actors, record and produce it and then send it out to radio drama directors and producers who we thought might be interested in hiring us.

The UK has a long history of radio drama, mainly thanks to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which broadcasts hundreds of radio dramas every year. The creative possibilities of radio dramas appeal to me both as a sound designer and an actor. For me, it’s about learning how to tell stories without relying on what you can see.

Initially, I planned on acting in one or more roles in our fledging radio drama and doing all the sound design and mixing. Then in a flash of inspiration one afternoon I drafted an initial synopsis for a dramatic science-fiction thriller, and after a few drafts, it became apparent that while everybody loved the story, nobody else in the team was keen to take on the task of actually writing a script based on it. And so I found myself writing, sound designing, mixing and acting in a sci-fi radio drama called The Converged.

Once the script was ready, we booked a studio that could accommodate four actors in the same studio, found an experienced director and recorded three takes of the script in an hour-long session.

My first task after I got the recordings back to my studio was more editorial role than sound design or mixing. I had to decide what take to use for each line. As our script was short and we weren’t under any pressure from a commercial publishing company, we had the luxury of having two hours of rehearsal time with our director beforehand, and being able to record three full takes plus pickups and efforts (grunts, groans, and other vocalisations). Rehearsals and multiple takes are pretty much unheard of in the commercial work of radio drama – most directors aim to record between 60 – 90 minutes of material per day, which doesn’t leave any time for rehearsals and limited time for multiple takes.

So it was a bonus to have three full takes of the script. The director had given me a few notes on his preferences, plus I had made notes during the recording session – one of the benefits of acting in the play as well. But I would still need to make the final choices of which take to use for each line.

Each character was recorded on a separate track during the recording session. The engineer had also kindly labeled the different takes, so I had three audio files per character, one for each take, which I could lay them out in Protools on separate tracks. I immediately discarded the first take, as a quick way to reduce my options. That left takes two and three, which I could A/B to find the take for each line that I thought worked the best. I did this for each character – fortunately, there are only five in total!

The next step was editing, made much easier by the fact that I didn’t have to do much cleanup, thanks to high-quality recordings, and processing on each vocal channel.

Then I left the voiceovers alone for a little while to concentrate on the next important piece in the process: planning the sound design.

My two main reasons for writing a sci-fi script were a mix of creative and purely practical.  There is a lot of scope for creative sound work within the sci-fi genre, and I already have an extensive library of sci-fi sound effects. Normally, I like to create as many sounds from scratch as possible, but I knew I would only have a short window to design and mix the first episode, hence wanting to stay within the boundaries of what I could already accommodate.

I also knew that if we wanted to produce more episodes of the drama (and we do – there’s a cliffhanger at the end of Episode 1 for this very reason), I would need to have a plan of the overall tone and style for the design.  Throwing in random sounds that sound impressive won’t work for an episodic drama where the sonic world needed to be consistent enough to be recognisable from episode to episode, and adaptable enough to sonically create a variety of environments.

I divided my overall sound design plan for The Converged into categories: atmospheres and drones, interface beeps and noises, weapons, explosions, foley (mainly footsteps, doors and operating various tools), mechanical sounds, vocal processing and miscellaneous.

Following a timeline of the script, I mapped out the important points for each category. These included: where we needed to hear a change of the base environment (for an atmosphere or drone), or a character used equipment or a weapon, where the Foley happened and when the vocal processing would change depending on the character.  For example, when characters needed to sound like they were in space suits.

The major choices I made about vocal processing were the sounds of the astronaut suits and the AI character. A plugin called Cosmonaut came to my rescue on the first, and I auditioned various modulation plugins until I found one that gave the detached, slightly jarring chorused quality that I wanted for the second.

Once I had my sound map, I started making decisions about the sounds themselves. How futuristic did I want the spaceship (the location for the episode) to sound? Ultra high-tech or a bit more organic? In the end, I went for a combination of processed organic electronic sounds (bell-like chimes for interface noises), and recognisable mechanical Foley sounds e.g. the sound of metal doors opening and closing on military ships and rifle handling sounds.

After I had all my sounds in place, it was time for track-laying and mixing.  Panning is particularly vital in a creative sense for audio drama. Without a picture to follow, it’s up to the sound designer to locate the action for the listener for each scene and make sure it makes sense with the script and the story. When you don’t have a picture as a reference point, it’s easy to forget that a character is a collection of sounds – footsteps, equipment beeps, clothing movement, gun movement – and not just a voice.

The teaser for Episode 1 was released last week with the full episode due to be released within the next month.

I’ve learned a lot from my first foray into radio drama, and I already know there will be some changes to the sound of Episode 1 of The Converged, and probably to the sound of the following episodes as well.

It would be interesting to incorporate binaural sound, especially in sci-fi drama. I’d also like to experiment with the ideas explored in the film Gravity, of only hearing sound in space when conducted through touch. Possibly a step too far for a radio drama? After this introduction to its creative possibilities, I’m keen to continue my explorations.

 

University of Crash and Burn – Rebecca Wilson

Rebecca Wilson is an industry veteran, working in live sound for over 25 years. Touring solely as a monitor engineer, except for a brief stint as FOH Engineer for Flemming and John (while out with Ben Folds), she has worked for Sound Image, at Humphrey’s by the Bay and toured with Nanci Griffith, Wilco, The Bangles, and more. Rebecca is based in New York, and after finishing a 15-month project for Tibet House US, the Cultural Center for the Dalai Lama in NYC has moved into the position of head audio engineer for the TED headquarters and TED World Theatre.

Rebecca grew up in ‘cow-town Colorado and says she had limited exposure to the arts. She took piano lessons from the age of five until age thirteen when her musical training was stopped short: “I got kicked out of the piano school for pressing a million short yellow pencils into the styrofoam ceiling of the composition room. I thought they were neat wooden stalactites, but my teacher didn’t.”

When asked about what drew her to audio, Rebecca says, jokingly, “hot band guys of course.” In fact, she always had a thing for audio, spending hours using her father’s voice recorder as a child. “I’d steal the batteries from my friends’ TV remotes for it and record endless stories, listen back, and then re-record them.” When she got the chance to push her first fader, she became love-struck with the idea of being the moderator for people’s sonic experience. “Plus, getting DJ rights between sets is fun.”

Like so many in the music industry, Rebecca fell into it by chance. During her Freshman summer break, she lived with her brother in Hawaii and worked as a cashier at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was there she met a roadie from KC and the Sunshine Band, and she asked him how she could get his job. He told her, if she could leave right now, she could have his. He mixed FOH, and they talked. Since she was attending college, he suggested she work for their campus performing arts center; learn sound, and get paid.

Rebecca answered a projectionist ad that fall when she returned to Colorado State University. It turned out to be more: the performing arts center which did the screenings had just purchased a brand-new PA in components. “I learned to use tools at that job, cut holes for the enclosures, load drivers, and wire the new racks.” She started to learn about signal path and processing and got to mix her first band, punk band Seven Seconds, in the university’s beer basement. “It was so awful and riddled with monitor feedback they stopped mid-show and ask if anyone in the audience knew how to run sound because it was obvious that she (and pointed at me) had no idea. Pin drop. I was mortified and totally hooked on understanding audio.”

After getting her BA from CSU in Communications, Rebecca worked for local venues as a stagehand, pushing speaker cabinets and loading trucks. She requested to assist the audio crew and then asked enough questions to drive the engineers crazy. She then got work at local sound companies where she attended the ‘University of Crash and Burn and Get Up Again.’ “My first real boss was really drunk all the time, and he’d let me mix even though I didn’t know what I was doing.” Rebecca has never taken a live sound class and does not support expensive schools that spit you out without real experience. She says, “all you need to know you can learn by starting at the bottom and can get paid for it.”

A year after school, Rebecca saved enough money, from stage-handing and freelance audio work, to move. She packed up her 20-year old Toyota Tercel and drove from Denver to San Diego. “I wanted to learn to surf, [it] seemed like a good plan − I’ve never liked wearing shoes.” After a week on a friend’s couch, she found a house and job working freelance for a large corporate production company Meeting Services Inc. doing hotel and AV work. She then got a house gig at a venue called ‘4th&B’ in San Diego, and it was there she met Fishbone. “They came through, liked what I did, and I left the following week on my first tour.”

Touring through the South at 21 years old opened Rebecca’s eyes. On a bus with ten black guys and one white guy, she had a gas station attendant refuse to sell her cigarettes. “He said they were sold-out of my brand while I pointed to a pack of them behind the counter. He said, ‘those aren’t for sale.’ I had no idea what was going on.” When she told the band what had happened, they semi-laughed. “You got off the bus with us,” Angelo explained. The band told her that in the South some people saw her as worse than a ‘n*****’ because she worked for ‘n*****s.’

Rebecca toured with Fishbone for two years, honing her audio chops. “Mixing a club tour tends to be your first step as an engineer. Its hard knocks, different gear, various spaces, nothing is ever the same. A lot of club gear it is broken, blown and bad, but that’s where I learned the most about phase reversal and troubleshooting. Clubs tours can accelerate one’s understanding of gear, rooms, stage volume and band dynamics, and how they correlate. Invaluable.”

Over the next few years, she would work for unknown R&B artists whose labels told her that they were going to ‘blow up.’ “I learned very little about audio during that time, as there were many promises for support tour slots with large artists, but none of that ever happened. All that ‘blew up’ was my credit card bill when I couldn’t get paid.” She ended up getting a house monitor gig at Humphrey’s by the Bay through the audio company Sound Image.

At Humphreys, she got to mix folk legend Nanci Griffith, and a week later Rebecca was on her way to Nashville for rehearsals for the Newport Folk Festival Tour. Nanci Griffith had a large band with around 50 inputs, mainly playing sheds. During the tour, she met Wilco who was traveling with little production and they ended up hiring her for the run. Rebecca found it incredibly rewarding working with such amazing artists and talent. After that tour, she became the ME for The Bangles and would work with them for over ten years. Rebecca says “I love them; fantastic people and musically wonderful. Truly”.

Rebecca has just wrapped up a 15-month audio contract job as Media Director, for the Tibet House, the Cultural Center for the Dalai Lama in NYC. “It was the first 40-hour a week ‘job-y job’ that had a title beyond ME, FOH, A1 or A2.” She took 30 years of analog recordings and converted them to digital, installed a webcasting system in their event space, and started broadcasting meditation classes and programming. “I was relatively unqualified for the archiving bit − I’ve never been a DAW whiz −, so I researched best practice for file transfers and archiving. I also learned audio compression and ID tagging for the web, along with streaming and international content delivery networks. The webcasting part felt more familiar; it was live, mixing audio and switching cameras for broadcast. There were some initial hiccups; internet bandwidth issues, audio aux crapping out. I learned that webcast audiences are less frustrated if the picture is compromised rather than the audio: if they could still hear the webcast fine, the phones didn’t ring with complaints. Of course, I’m a bit partial, but I believe that audio is more important than lighting and/or picture. Radio had told visual stories before TV was even on the scene.”

When asked what her goals are now, Rebecca says that “beyond living through President Trump, I’d like to keep building my skills in still photography. My website is www.rebeccawilsonstudio.com  I also write screenplays.”

What, if any, obstacles or barriers have you faced?

“I’ve put more pressure on myself to measure up as a ‘soundman’ than any man ever has. The biggest obstacle I’ve ever faced is my own inner critic, feelings of inferiority, and the fears of being broke, old and alone (but with a good pair of headphones of course).”

How have you dealt with them?

“I had to come to terms with the fact that just because my life looks different than most, it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with me or my decision-making. I still consistently throw myself into new, unfamiliar aspects, [both] audio and things in general. It’s a terrifying and sometimes stressful way to live, but I hear people express they’re afraid to die with a lot of ‘should have’ regrets, that they didn’t step off the pavement. I’ll certainly die with a few extra stress wrinkles, but smiling. No regrets. I would encourage anyone reading to not fall for the safety net trap. Of course, be smart, but if you’re on the fence, just do it. No personal richness or outward success ever comes without some humiliation and failure. Learning to use it positively is key.”

What advice do you have for other women, and young women, who wish to enter the field?

“Speaking from a live concert sound perspective, check your motive for going into audio engineering. Is it sensational-based? Or do you have an affinity for sound waves moving through the air? You don’t need to know until you get a little experience in it, but it’s something to think about. I feel a strange timelessness and focus while listening to music critically. Early on, I think I heard the world more than saw it. My stuffed animal horse was named Beep.

I’d like to add that when you mix and tour, there’s a good chance you’ll be tired a lot. The job is physically demanding, lots of lifting, pushing and standing, [and] lots of bruises and cuts if you’re me. The other day my boyfriend joked that I have construction worker hands. I went into the bathroom and cried a little. Then I gave him a kick-ass back massage. I love my hands and ears. They’ve enabled me to travel the world.”

What do you like best about touring?

“Seeing the similarities of how humans inhabit the Earth.”

What do you like least?

“Who I became on tour (1996-2000 at least). Touring gave me a professional excuse to separate from all the people and circumstances I didn’t want to deal with at home. I lived with complete impunity and isolation (it was the late 90’s, before cell phones). It turned out, being ‘on tour’ and ‘unreachable’ didn’t bring me any peace or freedom like I’d hoped because the problems weren’t back home. The problems were how I saw the world, more specifically, what I like to call the ‘golden carrot syndrome’: the belief that the better place or thing was just around the next corner. I was always in mal-contentment mode; I wasn’t a fun person. I lived on cigarettes, red vines, coffee, booze and breath mints. I’d become the touring ‘shot-out’ cliché by [age] 26. I took a year-ish off in 2001 to regroup. I was happy to find that the problem was me and not everyone else. I went back to touring without all that baggage. Two different lives doing one profession. Lucky. Wouldn’t change a thing.”

What is your favorite day off activity?

“I’d made a rule early on not to get aboard anything that went faster than 15mph on off-days. I walk a lot, lay on grassy mounds in quiet parks, I like to troll a place without a plan, try to get a feel for how it connects to the last place we just were. See art museums and do yoga. Whatever is quiet.”

Must have skills:

“Tenacity and kindness. If you’re a woman, don’t get hard and crass. Leave that to men.”

Favorite gear:

“Sennheiser G-series in-ear monitors with 3D molds by Sensaphonics. They change lives. The Westone’s triple driver pair is good too.”

Parting Advice:

“If you’ve read this far, you’ll probably really make a great soundperson. You’ve got dedication and longevity. Here are some non-technical things I’ve found that matter more than audio mathematics and algorithms ever have:

“The most valuable thing I can give a musician besides a feedback-free stage is my full attention. Try to always be scanning the stage for someone who needs something. During soundcheck I walk the stage and stand right behind them, listening from their perspective. If the band doesn’t soundcheck, and they struggle to hear. After the show ask about the experience. Be prepared for criticism, but communication is fundamental as an ME. If you don’t understand what they’re describing, keep asking questions. Lots of musicians lack the vocabulary beyond ‘tin can sound.’ Help them find words for what they are experiencing. If you can’t dial in a solution, look into a new piece of gear for it.

“Also keep in mind, some days nothing will sound good to them (or you) − don’t reset the console mid-tour because someone is hungover. The greatest enemy of ‘good’ is ‘better.’ If everyone is happy onstage, I don’t turn knobs, especially if I think ‘this will make it a little better.’ It’s a rabbit hole and changing things mid-song can really upset things onstage. Let the artist guide you. Once I get it up and running, on a good day, there’s not much to do.

“If things go wrong, GO OUT ONSTAGE. ME’s are usually listening in closets, as far as onstage crew. It’s our job. If the problem isn’t in your department, get the person who is responsible, if it is your department, trust that you’ll know a solution. One always comes. It’s a bit of gypsy stage magic. Don’t let the artist struggle out there alone.

“ME’s are there for mainly two reasons: One, to allow artists to connect to their instrument and what their bandmates are playing. Two, to give them [the artist] the sonic personal confidence to stand in front of a HUGE CROWD of people who paid a lot to hear them. Imagine how you’d feel if people shelled out a lot of money to hear you play and you couldn’t even hear what you are playing. I’ve been hit in the head with flying drumsticks and bottled waters because I was staring at the console for minutes on end. It’s a serious thing they and you are doing. Artists are out there totally exposed. It’s your job to give them clothes. Even if I have a bad feeling about a certain gig or day, I try and be calm when they come onstage; it transmits to them. Don’t do crack or Red Bull.

“Lastly, always have a spare vocal mic with a long cable. Always. And check it.

“Over and out − Rebecca.

“P.S. when you’re starting out, never call a cable a cord.”

More on Rebecca

Driven To Excellence: Inside The World Of Multifaceted Audio Professional Rebecca Wilson

Rebecca Wilson on Roadie Free Radio

Find More Profiles on The Five Percent

Profiles of Women in Audio

 

She Shreds – Seeks Women Audio Engineers and Interns

 

She Shreds – SXSW Show – March 14

She Shreds is looking for Women Sound Engineers and Interns for their SOLD OUT show at SXSW.  If you would like to be involved please send resume and cover letter to soundgirls@soundgirls.org.

All positions are volunteer although there is a small salary available for the Sound Engineer Positions.

Positions Needed –

FOH/ME to mix the show – Will need to supervise interns. – 2 spots available

Intern Position – will be working as stagehands assisting in loading and setting up band gear, set changes and working under the supervision of engineers.

Production Manager/Stage Manager

Show Features these amazing artists
Aye Nako, Chastity Belt, Diet Cig, Dude York, IAN SWEET, Jay Som, Las Kellies, Sad13, Lisa Prank, Madame Gandhi, Mothers, Sneaks, Thelma and the Sleaze, Y La Bamba

She Shreds Magazine is the world’s only print publication dedicated to women guitarists and bassists. We strive to change the way women guitarists and bassists are depicted and presented in the music industry and popular culture by creating a platform where people can listen, see and experience what it means to be a woman who shreds. Our goal is to transcend boundaries like gender and genre—supporting radicalism, respect and revolution.

The Art of Listening

How often do you listen to music? I don’t mean throw some tunes on in the car or play the radio in the background, I mean really listen…. the kind of listening where you give the music your full attention, focusing on the qualities of individual sounds and noticing things which are not immediately obvious. That distant layered guitar chord; the faint timbale in the background; the different harmonies of the violins. The nuances of the reverbs, the tuning of the drums, the positioning of sounds within the stereo image. How often do you do that?

If you’re aspiring to be a successful professional sound engineer, I hope the answer is ‘a lot’.

This is the art of critical listening; the vital skill that every mix engineer needs, whether in the recording studio or TV suite, at front of house, or behind the monitor desk. Anywhere you find yourself with your hands on the console, you need the ability to zero in on sounds with Jedi-like focus, to discern what they add (or not!) to the overall mix. Only then can you begin to manipulate them to enhance the experience – because simply adding more and more sound sources indiscriminately can leave you with a nasty audio ‘mud’ from which it’s difficult to extract yourself. It’s a skill that is honed over time, but the good news is that can you start anywhere, with no fancy gear whatsoever.

You can start right now, by listening to lots of different styles of music on lots of different speakers and headphones. Never gotten into classical, reggae, country or samba? Give them a try!  I usually, listen to downloads in your car or on headphones? Beg or borrow a decent pair of domestic stereo speakers and play a favourite album on CD or vinyl. Clear your space of all other distractions and just listen. Prepare to be amazed at all the details you never noticed before. You can make it a game by writing down every sound you identify (if you don’t know the instrument, don’t worry, just describe the sound – it’s for your eyes only). Then try drawing a picture of the stereo image as though it’s on a movie screen. Is there a guitar sound to the left? A cello to the right? Are some things higher in the air, or nearer to the ground? Do you feel like some sounds sit further back, or closer to you? Do you perhaps start to feel that the stereo image is more 3D, than flat left and right?

Did you just blow your own mind?! I know I did, the first time I tried it – I can still remember the exact room I was in, and that was 25 years ago!

Doing plenty of listening practice puts you a step ahead when you’re eventually behind the desk. As an engineer, a smart move before working with a band is to get a copy of the proposed setlist and listen to all the songs, many times over. Obviously, if you’re mixing several bands for one day only at a festival then this isn’t practical, but if you’re doing repeat gigs then it’s really helpful to understand what the original song sounds like and what the musicians are used to hearing. You won’t necessarily try to recreate that – a monitor mix is functional as well as pleasant to listen to – but the reference point is invaluable.

There’s another sort of listening which is also vital, particularly for monitor engineers, and that’s the art of listening to what your artist is telling you. This is where we get into the realms of sound engineering as psychology!

I’ve written before about the importance of developing trust between the monitor engineer and musicians, and a great way to inspire that (after doing your pre-production homework and introducing yourself in a friendly and confident fashion) is to really listen to what they are telling you. (A wise person once said that we have two ears and one mouth for a reason!) Make eye contact, give them your full attention, and check anything you didn’t quite understand. Repeat keywords back to them, to make sure you’ve got it. This not only gives you a better shot at meeting their needs quickly but also helps them to feel heard – and believe me, that is a huge part of forming trust. Do you know those people who make you feel like you’re the only person in the room? Be one of those people!

Of course, the tricky part of monitor engineering is that you need to make every person on stage feel like that simultaneously, and if they’re all talking to you at once, that’s no mean feat! Use the ‘one at a time, but I see you’ approach – stay with the person you’re talking with, but give the interrupter a nod or say ‘I’ll be right with you John’ (or whoever). As soon as you’re free, say ‘now, John, what can I do for you?’ After a few times, they’ll generally stop jostling for position, because they come to trust that they’ll get their turn. Of course, there are often inter-band politics to deal with, and sometimes you’ll be caught in the crossfire of ego-contests. Experience teaches you how to deal with those, but if you stay calm, methodical and professional, you won’t go too far wrong.

Many artists and musicians are not good at describing what they need to hear, so you have to learn to decipher their requests, and again this comes with practice. Comments like ‘my voice feels muffled’ can often be addressed with mic technique and EQ (more about that next month), but simply being curious is the way to get clues – if you don’t understand what they’re getting at, ask open-ended questions. ‘Can you tell me more about what ‘crunchy/breathy/purple feels like?’ (Yes, people do come up with the oddest descriptions!) This has the added benefit of helping them to feel that you’re on their side and again, it builds trust. As a monitor engineer, your relationship with the band really is of prime importance – when they feel that you’ve got their back, they can relax and get on with their job of playing a great gig – and that’s what it’s all about!

Part 2 goes into detail about listening to different sounds within a mix, and how I approach EQ’ing individual inputs. In the meantime – get curious, keep listening, and have fun!

SoundGirls Sound Camps – 2019

 

Upcoming Camps

2019 Camps TBA

SoundGirls Sound Camp is a one-week camp for young girls & women ages 12-18 (all genders and non-binary people welcome) who want to learn about live music production. The camp curriculum was designed by industry veterans and teaches the skills and technology to run live sound. Working in small, collaborative and hands-on groups, the attendees learn:

The camp helps to empower young women in underserved communities by giving them hands-on training, access to technology, life skills, and most importantly – confidence. Over 70% of girls attending our camps receive scholarships.

Testimonials

“The week-long class allowed me to learn the basics of stage plots, setting/striking gear, navigating analog/digital consoles, and working with a live band before ultimately sharing the responsibility of mixing with a professional at an annual music festival in the area.”

“Through workshops like these I think we can change the current trends. Someday soon long gone will be the days of the lone SoundGirl.”

“I absolutely loved the Live Sound camp for girls. I was able to learn a lot in an environment where I felt comfortable. The instructors were very helpful and I gained the confidence I needed to pursue a career in Live Sound.”

“My girls, who are musicians, now have the knowledge to set up their own PA and manage their own sound. This knowledge is invaluable and will follow them throughout their music life.”

Mission

To inspire and empower the next generation of women in audio.

Our mission is to create a supportive community for women in audio and music production, providing the tools, knowledge, and support to further their careers.

“It’s a generally accepted statistic that women make up about 5 percent of the audio engineering industry. And while more girls are participating in STEAM classes at a young age, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says women are still underrepresented in many engineering fields. SoundGirls.Org‘s vision is to inspire and empower young women and girls to enter the world of professional audio and music production.

A Big Thanks to our 2017 Sponsors:

Get Involved

To donate, sponsor, volunteer, or request info please contact Karrie Keyes at soundgirls@soundgirls.org

Seizing the Opportunities – Dawn Birr of Sennheiser & Neumann

Dawn Birr is the Channel Manager of the Americas for Sennheiser’s new Business Solutions division. Dawn has spent the last 17 years with Sennheiser and worked her way up, starting out as a temporary receptionist. Dawn has held several titles within in Sennheiser & Neumann; Global Commercial Manager, Audio Recording, Product Manager, RF Product Manager of our 3/5K series, Channel Manager for Installed Sound, Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Installed Sound in the U.S., and in between Sennheiser encouraged her to obtain an MBA.  

Dawn always wanted to work in the music industry and says she “was obsessed with it growing up, but as a teenager or young adult, I really didn’t have any idea the real scope of the music/audio business.  It’s a very diverse and interesting business to be a part of, with many ways to contribute and still nurture your passion.”

Sennheiser became a good fit for Dawn as she learned about the company and the people, igniting a passion. It is not uncommon to find individuals who have been with Sennheiser for over 20 years, and they are strong mentors for people coming into the company. On top of that Sennheiser has been championing diversity within the company Dawn says that “Daniel Sennheiser and Andreas Sennheiser, have been strong supporters of diversity within our organization.” and that “Sennheiser’s culture is a positive and encouraging environment for women.  I have great support from my peers and colleagues.  Our leaders set the tone, and they firmly believe that diversity makes us a better company.”

Dawn was fortunate to have strong mentors both inside and outside Sennheiser. Dawn says that  “Leslie Ann Jones has been both a mentor and friend to me since the first time we met.  She’s been encouraging and honest with support and feedback whenever I’ve needed a check or balance”. In addition to Leslie, John Falcone was the  U.S. President of Sennheiser when Dawn started, and she learned a lot from his examples. Falcone is now the Global Director of Sales and Dawn says “ I’ve also been allowed to learn from mistakes and grow from them under his leadership, especially in my early days.  I have a lot of respect and admiration for both Leslie and John”.

Dawn and SoundGirls Interns Melissa and Victoria at AES

Even with the nurturing environment at Sennheiser Dawn has faced adversity due to her gender and age“ In my earlier days I did have a few instances where I was questioned or called out (to my face) because of my gender.  Luckily, it only happened a few times, and it helped me develop some thick skin.  As I’ve gotten more mature both personally and professionally, it’s not been an issue.”  Her advice to women in the audio industry is  “Take every opportunity you can.  You never know who you will meet now and then again meet later in your professional life.  Believe in your skills and abilities, no matter how disingenuous that may feel in the moment or how loud the negative voice is inside your head.  Find the people you admire and get to know them.  Mentors will naturally come to you, and you to them, in many cases”.

Today Dawn loves that her job is different every day; she loves being a part of one project and then seeing the results on TV, in the studio, onstage. She says she “loves being able to talk about the history of our company and the products we’ve made that have changed the industry. I really love contributing to the success of our company”. Sennheiser has a range of new products that just debuted at NAMM; Sennheiser RF systems for live sound to exciting new studio monitors from Neumann. Dawn says Sennheiser is “spending a lot of time and focus on Immersive Audio and our AMBEO line of 3D products and services.  We have two pop-up shops that will run through the end of March in NYC, and the focus is both on Consumer and Pro audio. They’ve allowed us to be present in the public space in a really interesting way, and show off our full range of products from studio to stage to personal use”.

SoundGirls.Org would like to thank Sennheiser and Neumann for their support. They are sponsors for our Live Sound Camps for Girls and recently hosted two Sound Academy RF & Wireless workshops in Los Angeles and New York, for our members. Dawn generously volunteered her time to part of our NAMM Mentoring session.  Dawn encourages our members to contact her at Dawn.birr@sennheiser.com for help and information with any Sennheiser & Neumann Products.

 

Andrea Bocelli at Arena Da Baixada – Curitiba

I’m not sure if everybody had, at least once in life, the same feelings I had as a teenager: “Will I ever be a professional? Will anyone pay me for my work someday? Will someone ever trust me?” I have quite a clear memory of all these feelings.

I’m not sure about when this all changed, it was a smooth transition from being a student to trainee, a “rookie” technician and 15 years later here we are: huge concerts, immense responsibilities, overnights, difficult problems to solve. Andrea Bocelli world tour comes to Brazil again, and we are in a stadium at Curitiba. Brazilian rental company Loudness was the audio contractor, providing a massive L’Acoustics system for this concert. Loudness has done several Bocelli’s concerts over the years, always providing the best equipment and human resources. Our friends from Bocelli’s audio crew are true professionals, always trying to find the best solutions for each venue, and it’s always a challenge to set up their sound systems.

Fernanda and Marzia

This time I had the opportunity to bring a friend, hard-working girl Marzia Brini, who I met working for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. It was the perfect event to bring her to our team, and she is Italian. It is always nice to have someone that speaks the native language of our clients; it can make a big difference. Marzia did great. It was also one of the few times I was not the only woman on the team – and it was awesome!

As usual, we had a massive system to set up in a very short time.  The stadium was enormous and very reflective, the sound design was about having more sources, less level and avoiding reflections as much as possible. Some numbers around this concert at Arena da Baixada / Curitiba / Brazil: (L’Acoustics) 64 K1, 48 SB28, 64 KARA, 16 V-DOSC, 50 KUDO, 24 12XT, 108 LA-8 amplifiers, plus analog boards Midas XL4 x2 and XL3.

It was not easy, but we did it! As the show started, I had these memories from my teenage years and all the doubts about my future, and suddenly I felt very proud. I felt proud about the choices I had made, some good and some not so good, but everything made up the path to get to where I am.  The feeling of being part of a team and accomplishment, to make your client happy, to make the show happen. That feeling!

End of the concert: load out was ten hours of nonstop heavy work, but again it has to be done. Thanks, Marzia and the Loudness crew, I hope to have many more successful shows and hope to see more and more women working on event production.

Fernanda Lemos is the only woman working as a sound engineer for Loudness, the second largest sound company in Brazil. Fernanda has faced obstacles and some of them are cultural, as her job in Brazil is viewed as man’s work. Some of artists automatically won’t work with her as they do not believe a woman is capable of doing the job. In the beginning, she thought this would change by showing she was capable of doing the job. She has come to realize it is going to take much more time and societal norms must change. She is proud that she is a part of making the change happen.

X