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Musings on the Role of Femininity in the Music Industry

Historically speaking, women, and those that are female-identifying, have largely been unwelcome in the music business. Unless you were an overstated, hyper-exaggerated version of a sexual, feminine ideal in a front person role, you had no place, no business being near a stage, studio, or mixing board.

The concept of the feminine identity in relation to the music industry is one that perplexes and fascinates me. Now I don’t necessarily mean simply dressing in a “girly” way – most, if not all, of us, are unable to wear a skirt when working (it’s not practical in the slightest, not to mention a possible safety hazard in live situations. I prefer my trusty blue jeans.) – but more the attitude, the feeling of being “feminine,” whatever that means, and how it translates to our work.

I interviewed a few of my colleagues regarding their thoughts on this topic, asking the question, “have you ever felt like you’d have to reject your femininity in order to be successful in the industry?” Most that I asked this question to initially responded with a hard, “no.” Jill Meniketti, band manager for Y & T stated,

“That’s not something I’ve ever focused on.  I focus on my work, which I take seriously.  When you excel at your job, that garners respect, regardless of gender.”

Delving in a little deeper into the feminine mentality/attitude aspect garners a slightly different response. When I first got started in the studio, my college professor insisted that being a woman in the studio was a massive advantage, because they are better at keeping the peace and stepping into the role of the band’s creative therapist. My friend Eva Reistad, a studio engineer based in Los Angeles, echoes this thought. When I asked if there was a time when being feminine proved advantageous, she stated, “yes there was: band members sometimes are more open to the fact that you’re a woman, in which case they’ll sort of open up and tell you more things, which will cause the session to go better. I don’t think it’s really anything so much as femininity so much as being female.” Somehow, just being a woman allows people to feel more secure and comfortable in that situation.

Through all my discussions on this topic, the main conclusion I come to encompasses more than just femininity. It’s about being comfortable with who you are. As Eva puts it, in the end, what I think is how you present your aura, your energy, that will determine how you are treated. You cannot control how other people react. Be comfortable with yourself entirely.”

There is power in being a woman in the music industry. Being confident and secure in who you are provides a sturdy foundation for the rest of your work, whether you are a tech or an artist.

Jill’s Website:

Eva’s Website:

 

The sound of the Elizabethan era: Sound design for Shakespeare’s Sister

It’s always exciting to work on the first production of a new play. Don’t get me wrong; I’ve loved working on the re-envisioned versions of Shakespeare, Wilde, and others, but there’s something quite special about knowing your production will be the first time anyone has breathed life into this particular story.

So when I accepted the role as the sound designer for ALRA drama school’s production of Shakespeare’s Sister, and I found out that this would be the first full production, I was excited.

Shakespeare’s Sister is a play about the sister of William Shakespeare – nothing to do with the band, in case you were wondering! It follows the fictional character of Judith Shakespeare as a budding playwright when, following an unwanted marriage proposal, she follows in her brother’s footsteps and travels to London to seek a career as a playwright.

From the outset, it was clear to me that music would be an important part of establishing the period and the world of the Elizabethan theatre. In our first sound meeting, the director and I discussed the emotional context for each scene and what we wanted the music to achieve, and I outlined my views on the role of music in the play.

The director, Titania Krimpas, had already researched possible music choices as she wanted the music to be used in rehearsals from the start, particularly in the choreographed scene changes. The tracks she suggested opened up a discussion about how we wanted the music to sound – all period-appropriate pieces or modern tracks with a period feel? Live or recorded? Recordings of Renaissance music played on modern instruments, or on period instruments?

kirsty-gillmore-nov2016-pic5At this point, I looked at the design and lighting design, to give me an idea of their general approach and make sure I was aligning my design with theirs. The set consisted of a raised stage with stairs (quickly named the “raised platform” to avoid confusion with the stage itself) and moveable pieces of furniture and props on the ground in front of it (the “apron”), with action taking place on both levels. The raised platform acted as both the stage of the Rose Theatre in London, the setting for much of the play, and another level for scenes set in Stratford and the Tower of London. Although the design wasn’t intended to be strictly traditionally Elizabethan, it took inspiration from the world that Elizabethan actors would have inhabited: simple, almost stark, in plain neutral colours, with few embellishments except for touches of flamboyance in the costumes, as befitted key characters.kirsty-gillmore-nov2016-pic3

A conversation with the lighting designer, Ben Cowens, revealed his intentions to make the lighting design as naturalistic as possible, supporting the set design, and thus I had a clear direction for the music. I dismissed modern songs and investigated recordings of period compositions on period instruments, which I felt gave a much more raw, natural sound than recordings on modern instruments.

Live music was an element that I also considered from early on in the process. I enjoy using live music elements where possible in my sound designs, as I feel they add immediacy and intimacy that is harder to capture with recorded music. In an ideal world, I would have liked to use a live ensemble, but this wasn’t possible given our budget, so instead, we looked at ways of incorporating live music elements at key points. Taking our lead from the references to trumpets and drums in the script, I suggested the use of a bodhrán drum, played by one of the actors as a “player” (the Elizabethan word for an actor). A bodhrán isn’t entirely period-appropriate, but it was much easier to source than a tabor (a type of snare drum used in the period), and I knew the sound was similar enough to work with pre-recorded sounds of trumpets and other drums.

The music component of a sound design is an area where a collaborative relationship with the director is crucial. Music is a subjective discipline, and directors can have definite choices about the music they want for production. Sometimes this feels a bit restrictive for the sound designer as it can mean they have to build their design around the music they didn’t choose. It’s useful to remember that the sound elements of a production, and music in particular, often play a significant role in the rehearsal process. In the case of Shakespeare’s Sister, the choreography of the scene transitions required music and the actor who was playing the bodhrán needed to rehearse with the pre-recorded music which he was to accompany.

As rehearsals continued, I found I was drawn to create the sonic world of the play’s version of Elizabethan London more with music than with sound effects. While I used sound effects and soundscapes to establish location – the crackling of a fire and chickens in the yard for Stratford, wind whistling through cracks, and dripping water for a cell in the Tower of London – I used musical motifs and drums for moments of heightened emotion and physical tension. One of my favourite sound moments in the play was the use of a repetitive drum beat which slowly increased in volume as the scene built to a climax. Rather than keeping the drums at a level that comfortably underscored the actors’ speech, we chose to use the sound to energise the scene and encourage the actors to raise their voices above the drums.kirsty-gillmore-nov2016-pic2

I haven’t spoken much about the speaker positions for this production because these were straightforward. Any production with a limited budget and space restrictions will require a certain amount of compromise, and I worked around fixed speaker positions and speakers that wouldn’t have been my first choice but worked fine for the production and in the space.

Two challenges that I had to overcome were where to position two speakers behind the raised platform and where to put the two subs. I had expected to attach the two speakers on a horizontal bar between wall beams, and the subs under the seating banks, but had neglected to discuss this with the designer or the lighting designer. During the get in I discovered that the designer and lighting designer had planned to install a lighting feature behind the set and the seating banks would be too low to fit subs underneath them, which slightly marred my plans! Thankfully, I was able to re-position all speakers with minimum fuss, and it was a good lesson to maintain the relationship with the creative team right through the rehearsal and production process.

Having designed a baroque opera and an Elizabethan play, it almost feels like my next design should be medieval, but instead, I’ll be concentrating on two banned plays from the 1920s. From courantes to Charlestons, no two plays are the same and my work is more interesting for it.  

 

Life on the Warped Tour

warped3“Oh my god! You did Warped Tour? That must have been AWESOME!” is usually the response I receive from people when I tell them I toured with Warped this past summer. From an outsiders perspective it is pretty awesome, and from an insiders, it’s still kind of awesome!

Warped Tour is one of those legendary places that all pre-teens and teens have attended or dreamed of attending since the mid 90’s. The legendary status that comes with Warped in the world of Punk Rock, Hardcore and Metal is historic. It is the longest running festival, continually propelling tens of thousands of kids (and parents!) to see acts from the radio today to artists who parents jammed to on cassette.

Then there are the people in the background, the people who never get noticed but make every day happen and run crazy schedules to make these shows happen. The hardest working people on Warped Tour, with the worst schedules, are definitely the Sound Techs, Stage Managers, backline and the setup crew. Since I don’t have experience with the latter, I’m going to tell you about the former!

Every morning you wake up tired, your body heavy with the need to sleep. You look at your phone. 6:30 am. I think “Ok I can lay here and relax for another 15 minutes. When I hear Amy moving around, then I can get up.” I inevitably nod off and wake up in a panic around 7:15 and scramble to get ready and to catering. Load in on my stage, Monster South, starts at precisely 8 am every morning. That is not true of all of the stages, but it’s definitely how mine rolls.

We wait at the back of the truck behind our stage, sometimes waiting for hours for the stage to be placed itself, or waiting hours because the local union says we can’t unload our truck until THEY get there. After those mornings the rush to get everything up before 11 am, becomes real, and kids sometimes are staring at you as you check your system for the first time that day. My Check was: The Floozies, “Love, Sex and Fancy Things” For the Bass, Trombone Shorty “Hurricane Season” and a variety of music from Sting usually “Shadows in the Rain” or “Hounds of Winter.”  So not exactly a punk rock system check.

But most mornings we wait. On our stage, we have a beta system being tested called the K-Array. It is the first thing off of the truck and the last thing on. These line array rigs are 3 boxes a cart and probably around 7 feet tall. They are heavy and awkward to get out of the truck, and definitely caused many a fallen off toenail. Slowly the members of our various bands start to show up, along with tech people from other bands. You see they have a choice. Unload the truck with us every morning or sell merch all day or some various other choices. We always had a lot of help from our bands. They really were into teamwork on our stage.

Once the truck was unpacked to the point where most of the PA was off I would break away and start working on my own. Most mornings I started by pulling our feeder across the stage and getting the PA feeder run. As the FOH/System tech for the stage, I had to make sure the PA was rigged, wired, and functioning every day as well as making sure the guest engineer’s files were properly pulled up and patched.

warped8I worked with some amazing people. My monitor engineer, Mike, has been in this business longer than I’ve been alive. He showed me some great tricks when he was feeling nice; he also helped me rig my PA for the tour, much to my dismay. I was more than capable of rigging my system, but the initial week of the tour set the load-out pace. Once we started with Mike helping me on the out, that’s how it rolled. It was a fast and efficient system, with Mike and Jon getting the whole stage down in about 15-20 minutes. Our whole stage down and loaded some nights in (our fastest time) 38 minutes! I learned a lot from Mike, unexpected things. Like how to properly align your chain bag on a single point system, or the magic of Gold Bond. Jonathan was a stage and patch ninja! He had some of the best looms I’ve seen for the stage. I LOVE neat stages! My stage manager Myles and our Backline tech Cesar were literally the best team on the tour. Our stage had 0 problems, and if they did it was handled quietly and efficiently. I have so much respect for those guys. We had a great team.

After the setup came the hard part for me. I only mixed two bands all summer, Vanna and Cruel Hand. Most of my day I spent hiding from high dB levels and screaming music. Honestly, I probably needed gun muffs on top of my 25dB filters as my ears constantly rang for that tour. No good. As we all know, you can try to give hardcore music a dB limit, but it never works out. And especially not with our system.

One of the biggest challenges of the tour for me was actually the PA. This Array was meant for a much longer throw than we needed it for. We needed the PA to throw 80’ tops on any day, most days about 35’-45’ to FOH. The system was easily throwing well over 100’ until I finally started to turn off my top two boxes and after a recommendation from Bill Black (FOH on North), I also inserted a high shelf starting at around 2k to take out the harshness of the system. It was then much easier. Not only that but we had no front end on the system. There was no unit at FOH that gave me control of my system, allowed me to see how it was performing or even if it was hitting the limit. There was no way to enforce our levels without the ability to mute the PA from a source that wasn’t the board. That is especially hard for Monster North who had bands bringing their own desk.

Warped tour is one of the most brutal tours I’ve done, in terms of schedule, exposure to the elements, and levels of exhaustion. But It was over before we knew it. One day we’re saying “Oh MAN, a month left. It feels like we’ve been out here  for a year.” To the end where it became “I can’t believe we only have a week left!”.

warped-2Warped tour was an amazing experience as a growing engineer. I had the ability to do whatever I wanted with the scenes for my bands every day. It was a festival! If I got bored with my scene for either one of my bands, I would just dump the entire thing and start from scratch. Not only did it hone my engineering skills immensely (two months potentially mixing from scratch every day) but also I learned some amazing techniques from engineers who have been doing this for a very long time. I have to say that one of the biggest benefits of the tour was the opportunity to grow as an engineer. I can also say that Hardcore is one of the hardest genres to mix, and if you can make that sound good everything else is cake! It has a very style-specific sound live; generally, it’s a super-produced sound with tracks and effects trying to resemble an album feel, less live.

warped4Some of the things I’m most grateful for are the friends I made in those two months. I toured with a fellow SoundGirl, Amy Truong, and she rocked the stage and patch on Monster North. I also had the pleasure to tour with another lady Sammy Keyes-Levine who was FOH for the Full Sail Stage, and another kick-butt SoundGirl Nikki Berna who ran Monitors for Full Sail. We had such a great crew of ladies I’m sure I’ll be friends with throughout my career.  I had never had the opportunity to work with so many women! In the ten years, I’ve been doing sound on the east coast; it took me eight years to finally work with another woman engineer! What a great experience to have so many ladies. I’m very grateful to Rat Sound Systems for their drive to hire females.

It’s important to take away lessons from everything you do. Warped Tour taught me a lot of things I needed to work on, such as my propensity to get very stressed when there is an issue. Or learning that sometimes people’s dislike of you and treatment of you is not a reflection of you, but rather a reflection of them upon you. It was very lonely for me on my stage sometimes, but being FOH for these types of festivals/tours are lonely by nature. FOH has very little interaction with the stage unless there is a problem.  I know that there was some dislike of me from some of the men on my stage who for some reason thought I wasn’t qualified for my position. A lot of muttering and starting of rumors from the men because I am female, or drunken conversations where you’re told that they don’t believe you deserve the position. But after ten years in the sound industry, being belittled by people who don’t know me becomes normal, and you become more able to ignore it and be comfortable with your skills. Sometimes to those people asking for help is seen as weak, but it’s not. The best engineers I know STILL ask questions of other engineers because to do what we do and do what we love, we must always be learning. Otherwise, what’s the point?  Our industry changes every day, in turn, we must learn.

Warped, though difficult, was one of the most important things I think I have done to date in my life. The best advice I can offer is do the thing that scares you the most, conquering your fears brings your dreams to fruition! Take the bull by the horns and get what you want, because you are the only person who is going to get it. I had absolutely no idea what I was walking into for Warped. And at the end, I had invaluable life experiences, and I would do it again.warped5

loreenLoreen Bohannon: Complete audio geek! Loreen has worked in the live sound field since the age of 16. Working from the case pusher up to audio engineer within a small local company for many years, Loreen took her skills to the road. As a freelance engineer, she has worked with a great variety of acts dealing with all positions. She has toured with Rusted Root, Warped Tour, and is currently touring with Cabinet as TM and FOH.

About Loreen: loves learning and teaching anyone who will listen about her craft! Loreen also produces and hosts a radio show that features local talent called Music on the Menu. She does as much outreach as possible to local youths in Northeast PA, showing them that there is a place where they can work, do what you love, and not be looked down upon if you don’t fit in! Loreen loves to write and read, and you just can’t get her away from small furry animals.

Ready to Rock? A Beginner’s Guide to Life on the Road

So you’re heading off on your first tour – congratulations! It’s an exciting time and you’ll never be this new again, so enjoy it! You’re going to learn a lot on the technical front, but it’s also a lifestyle, and there are certain ‘soft-skills’ and behaviours which make life a lot more comfortable – so from someone with a couple of touring decades under her belt, here’s some non-technical advice for life on the road.

– Rule number 1: no pooping on the bus! You’ll get a heavy clean-up penalty, or at the very least, serious bad vibes from the bus driver (who’s responsible for cleaning the toilet) for the rest of the tour. So no solids down there – we put tissue paper in the bin to avoid blockages.

– Whilst we’re on the subject of toilets… bus slippers or flip-flops are a REALLY good idea. You’re likely sharing this moving bus with a lot of guys, which can be an unhappy barefoot experience… not everyone’s aim is true!

– Tidy up after yourself on the bus and in catering. Clear your cups and plates away and leave the place as you’d wish to find it.

– Dress appropriately, both at the gig and on the bus. That doesn’t mean you have to dress like a guy, you can absolutely retain your femininity – I wear light make-up at work, and I love getting a bit dressed up on a day off. But low-cut tops and revealing nightwear won’t help you to be taken seriously, so be mindful of what’s on show.

– Be cautious around tour romances, especially in the early years of your career. As one of the few women on the road, you’ll probably attract a degree of interest, and you might meet someone who sparks your interest in return. But you don’t want to discover, a few tours in, that you’ve been more-than-friends with a bunch of your touring colleagues – live production is a small world. I’m not saying you should disregard the idea of another crew member as your partner – hey, I met my husband on the road. Just tread carefully and respect yourself – if you treat yourself with respect, others will follow suit.

– On the subject of self-respect, go easy on the post-gig temptations of drink and drugs. By all means, be social and have a few beers if you enjoy it, but remember that you have a responsibility to be fully capable of doing your job the next day, and it won’t go unnoticed if you repeatedly show up late or hungover. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the same rules apply to you as a brand-new audio tech, as to the guitar tech who’s been with the band for 30 years.

– When you mess up (yes, you will), hold your hands up – nobody likes the person whose fault it never is. Own up, apologise, correct it and move on.

– We all have days when we’re feeling a bit jaded. Sometimes there are legitimate problems to discuss, and we all have a little moan sometimes – I’m just as guilty as the next person. But moaning can be very insidious on tour and it really brings the vibe down, so check yourself. A lot of people would give their right arm to do what we do, so if we can’t be positive then let’s at least be quiet!

– Get enough people to lift heavy cases: there are no prizes for slipped discs, and you don’t prove anything by hurting yourself. Learning to direct local crew is one of the skills you’ll acquire over time, but being confident, clear and polite in your instructions is a great place to start, as is asking names and shaking hands.

– Get used to the fact that there are lots of daily jobs that aren’t that much fun but are 100% necessary, and as a new member of the audio crew, they’ll probably fall to you. Just smile and get on with it – the more experienced members of the crew have all had their time doing the exact same thing, and if you bring the right attitude to work, someday you’ll be one of them. What’s more, it cements you as a team player, and for a woman, it has the added value of showing that you’re not afraid to get your hands dirty.

– Life on the road is tough, great fun and hugely rewarding. Glamorous it ain’t! It takes time to work your way up, but the journey can be really exciting, with many great perks and happy times. So be friendly, professional, reliable and above all – ENJOY it!

What would Shakespeare do?

A few months ago I was lucky enough to work at the Globe in London. The Globe is a replica of the theatre Shakespeare worked in when he was working in London during the early 1600s. The Globe is made largely of wood and is open to the elements, it has the only a thatched roof allowed in London. We’re still a bit cautious after the Great Fire of London in 1666.. The Globe had previously been run as a theatrical kind of museum; productions did not utilize tech support or theatrical lighting and sound.

While the audience no longer urinates in the corners of the auditorium and due to modern-day health and safety concerns the theatre capacity is considerably less than it was in the early 1600s. The Globe is still in Southwark, on the south bank of the Thames as it was in the 1600s. During the 1600s this was outside of the city of London and such was London’s illicit entertainment district and was full of prostitution, animal fights, and the theatre. Shakespeare was not a stuffy member of the respectable establishment.

About 400 years later I am sitting in a replica of the Globe doing a production of Macbeth. There are two drops of line array a digico, some MSL2s, and a line of delays on every level. It is part of the wonderful season and a new Artistic Director has been appointed to the Globe, Emma Rice. This was her first season at the helm, and modern lighting and sound are being employed, and this is upsetting a lot of people. But the box office is strong with performances having brisk sales.

Yet just after one season, Rice has been asked to step down. In a statement the chief executive of the Globe, Neil Constable said Rice’s “mould-breaking work” had brought in “new and diverse audiences, won huge creative and critical acclaim, and achieved exceptionally strong box office returns.” He goes on to further say, “Following much deliberation and discussion, the Globe Board has concluded that from April 2018, the theatre programming should be structured around light productions without designed sound and light rigging, which characterised a large body of The Globe’s work prior to Emma’s appointment”.

They are getting rid of the lighting and sound and Emma is going as well. What a shame! They want productions without designed sound as Shakespeare did. But Shakespeare utilized a sound department, using sound effects and they lowered actors in from the flys. Shakespeare’s plays would have originally been performed with young men playing the roles of women. Does that mean women shouldn’t be performing as well? There is a place called the “Sound Attic” it has always been the sound attic because that’s where they produced special efx. Such as firing cannons. Cannons that were sound effects. In June 1613 during a production of Henry VIII, a piece of burning wadding fired from a canon in the sound attic, set light to the thatched roof, and in about an hour the theatre had burnt down. Shakespeare did use sound and lighting efx.

Would Shakespeare shun today’s technology?

The Globe’s revenue this season has increased, there have been great reviews. Depending on where in the world you are you can even watch a recording of A Mid Summer Nights Dream. (not the production I was involved with) It’s excellent, you should watch it if you can.

images-35Is the Globe a working theatre or a museum that does theatre? Is there room for it to be both? Artistic Directors sometimes disagree with Chief Executives, but Artistic Directors typically are not called “Naughty” At a recent event on women theatre, Emma Rice revealed she had been emailing someone “pretty high up in the arts” who had referred to her three times as ‘naughty.’ “And I want to say: who would use that word to a man?” she said. Rice was asked at an event if she thought opinionated and ‘loud’ women attract more criticism, she replied: “I don’t think I am loud. I think I have led an incredibly private life.” When it was then suggested there might be a perception that a director is automatically a ‘loud figure,’ Rice responded: “Who says that about a man?”

Was Emma’s gender the reason she had to step down, not necessarily? Does her gender influence how she is spoken about, absolutely!

From the Mosh Pits of Orange County – Whitney Olpin

hdotd2015Whitney Olpin has been working in Live Sound for the last six years, working as an Independent monitor engineer and stage manager. She has spent the last year touring with Fitz and the Tantrums. Based in Los Angeles, when she is not on the road she picks up local work through Live Nation.

Whitney grew up in Utah and took part in church and school choirs as well as the internationally recognized Salt Lake Children’s Choir. She would teach herself piano at age 12. Whitney says she was always interested in music but growing up in Salt Lake her exposure to music was limited. “In middle school, my family moved from Salt Lake City to California, and I suffered complete culture shock. I went from being a Mormon raised, Mariah Carey listening kid to living in mosh pit loving Orange County, CA”.

Whitney remembers during the early 2000s when she was in high school that Orange County had the best alternative music scene –

“It consumed my life, all music — all the time. We’d pile into cars and drive to shows all over Southern California. Sometimes we didn’t even know who was playing. This was before smartphones or iPads; there was no Googling the set times or previewing bands on Spotify first. That wasn’t what it was about. It was about the scene, the music, and the experience. I’d be in the crowd waiting for the next band to start just watching all the techs setting up and checking microphones, etc. I’d see them outside loading the van, talking about where they were going and where they’d been. I made a lot of friends that played in bands locally. I think the first ‘gig’ I ever had might have been loading their drum kits into their trucks or carrying a guitar or two. I just wanted to be part of the action. If it hadn’t been for that music scene, I wouldn’t have all these tattoos, and I’d probably have been a lawyer by now. Sorry, Mom”.whitneyleigh

After high school, Whitney would go on to attend college in Orange County. She enrolled as a music major and took a few basic electronics and tech classes for fun. She realized quickly that tech was more her speed and transferred to an audio engineering program in Massachusetts. During this time, she would strike up a friendship with someone who worked at a local theatre, he would recommend her to the local sound company, where she would start working and interning. She also worked as a bartender, a runner, and stage-hand, and sold merch in the local punk/metal scene.

The venues were full of vintage analog gear that would break all the time, and this taught Whitney to be incredibly resourceful. She also learned how small the touring world is, seeing a lot of the same engineers coming through over and over. This allowed her to make some strong connections and friends, a few that she remains in touch with and hits up often for their “Ninja Skills.”

whitfohAfter college, Whitney would move back to Los Angeles and start working at various local venues including the House of Blues Sunset and Saint Rocke. This is where she would learn digital boards and spend a lot of time mixing house and monitors. She was also introduced to mixing new genres Pop, Reggae, Jazz, Country, Hip Hop, Gospel and Acoustic acts. “The House of Blues Sunset was notorious for doing underplays, so I got the opportunity to mix for a lot of big-name artists. It was challenging and exciting”. At Saint Rocke, she would meet sound engineer Grace Royse. A few months later Grace would call asking her to fill in on a gig with Fitz and the Tantrums.

melodygardotpiano

Melody Gardot Piano

Whitney would hit the road for the first time in the fall of 2015, as a monitor engineer for blues and jazz musician Melody Gardot. “Melody insisted on picking up a different piano in each city for her to play on that night. We never knew what style we would get, and with so many live instruments on stage, that tour kicked my butt. Every place we went, I would sit down and play, move mics, phase reverse, eq, etc. until the piano sounded as natural in the monitors as possible. I can mic that instrument like nobody’s business now! But most importantly, I learned the subtle art of annoying the FOH engineer to death with Journey piano covers. Epic”.

She would move from that tour to Sublime with Rome, where she would work with Grace Royse at FOH. “Switching from jazz to punk was a whirlwind in the best way. I grew up in punk and metal clubs, so this tour felt a lot more like home. The bond between the band and crew is family strong; in fact, I still think that camp is one of the best around”. (Meet the Women Running Sound for Sublime for Rome)

Since then it has been a whirlwind of shows and tours for Whitney. She has done local and fly dates with Dirty Heads as TM/ME, FOH for SWR, and ME for Toni Braxton. She also has mixed monitors for Ms. Lauryn Hill. Whitney’s favorite thing about touring is Learning. “Every time I go out on the road I come face to face with all the technical things I have and haven’t mastered yet. You just can’t get it all from working in a club. I enjoy learning from other engineers on tour and asking their opinions”.

She also loves traveling and finds waking up in a different city invigorating. At the same time, she dislikes the lack of sleep, eating mystery food every day and being away from loved ones. On days off she likes to find a local hiking spot or drops in on a fitness class.

“When I first got started I remember hearing a lot of warnings from other people, like get out of this industry while you still can’ and stories of smelly 15-hour plane rides, sweaty summer tours, overnight load-ins, etc. So I think it’s important to for me write about what keeps the fire burning when the gig gets tough”.

Warped Tour 2011

Warped Tour 2011

“I remember one of the first shows I mixed monitors for; it was on Warped Tour, on a local stage in Boston, MA. It started pouring rain, and all the other stages shut down, but our stage was totally covered with tarps, so the singer looked at me like, ‘fuck it, I’m gonna keep going.’ So I ran out, flipped all the wedges over, and they kept playing. Since all the other stages were closed, all the fans started following the music to our stage. Suddenly this little no-name hardcore band had hundreds of spectators and kids moshing in the mud. I still think back to that moment– this band did it with no monitors in the pouring rain because they love this shit”.

“Sometimes shows don’t go perfectly; mistakes happen, it rains, whatever. I make it a point during every show to breathe and take a minute to take it all in. I take a look out at the crowd and see these fans just losing their minds. I was just like them. I’m still just like them. When times get tough, I remind myself that I got into this for a reason and I’ll keep going for that same reason. Never lose sight”.

Whitney keeps her skills up to date by attending trainings and seminars completing training for Midas, SSL, Soundcraft and Rational Acoustics. She also reads audio books when she has time. She is fascinated by how large-scale events are produced and feels it important to understand it from the production side and touring side. Her future goals include moving into bigger tours with larger productions. She wants to learn more about audio systems, and as much as she loves mixing, she would like to move into system teching.

What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?

For me, the biggest obstacle has been juggling multiple jobs while building my career. It was scary to walk away from a steady bartending job of eight years, a job I relied upon almost my entire adult life. I used to say it supported my audio addiction.

How have you dealt with them?

In 2014 I quit my bartending job. I was beginning to get more sound gigs and just couldn’t handle the scheduling nightmare anymore. Plus the more audio I did, the more I realized I had outgrown bartending. I didn’t realize it then, but all the years I spent behind the bar would actually make me a better engineer. It taught me fundamental skills like multitasking, maintaining a sense of urgency, speed, and communication.

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

I don’t really look at myself as a ‘female audio engineer.’ I just think of myself as an engineer. However, I can’t ignore the blaring fact that  women make up just a small fraction of this industry both on and off stage. With advances in technology and social media, I think the general public is becoming more aware of live sound engineers. When I get fans asking to take a photo of me at the monitor console after the show because ‘they never see women mixing’ then I know there’s a problem. I’ve straight up had a male engineer tell me thinks girls can’t mix and we can’t hang. I still laugh thinking about it. Haters, unfortunately, are a part of life. I just think of it as fuel for the fire.

My advice for women is the same as it would be for men. Be prepared to work hard and from the bottom up. Get a job at a local venue or studio and be persistent about wanting to move up the ladder. Learn everything you can from everyone you can. Also, “Fake it ‘til you make it” never worked for me. Don’t let your pride get in the way of asking dumb questions. That’s how you learn. It’s amazing how far, “Hey, your mix sounds great. What are you doing on that vocal effect?” goes over. We’re all nerds at heart, and from my experience, we all love to geek out about it; use that to your advantage.

When the time comes, don’t be afraid to accept or reach for gigs that intimidate you. I’m not going to pretend I wasn’t apprehensive about some of the shows I’ve mixed, but some of them led to more significant opportunities. I’m still trying to master the art of not psyching myself out. I’ve been in multiple situations where an engineer couldn’t make the show, and I got to mix, which in turn led to future gigs. Don’t let self-doubt hold you back.

Must have skills?

Signal flow, signal flow, signal flow. Cable management. Maintaining composure. Attention to detail. A strong sense of self-awareness. People skills. A sense of humor. Integrity. As a monitor engineer specifically, having the ability to gain and maintain an artist’s trust is paramount.

Favorite gear?

I’ve admittedly never been much of a gear head. I learned on the basis of ‘make it work with what you have,’ but there are a few pieces I really can’t live without. One is RF coordination software (currently I use Vantage and Shure Wireless Workbench) and a good spectrum analyzer (I tour with an RF Venue Rackpro and a handheld RF Explorer). No kidding, there have been shows I couldn’t have gotten through without them. Also my JH Roxanne In-Ear Monitors. They have an adjustable bass feature and sound better than any other IEMs I’ve tried. The cables are also easy to repair on the fly if need be.

Parting Advice:

Whitney’s offers this advice to those wanting to go into audio I knew early on that I wanted to go to school for music technology but had trouble finding a good fit, program wise. I think society imposes this idea that you need to get a degree, so I shied away from anything that didn’t offer one. In retrospect, I wish I hadn’t. When anyone asks me what I think of audio schools I tell them what one of my engineer friends said to me once, “ You could’ve bought a console with that money!” That has always stuck. He’s right. Look, I’m not saying school isn’t important. Just be wise in what you choose. Maybe take a workshop and see if it really interests you before you jump in. I believe strongly in music performance and electronics degrees, but audio engineering can be learned on the job. I got book smart in school and street smart at the venue. There’s no reason you can’t do both economically”

Everyone’s journey in audio is different, and opportunities arise when you least expect them. My best advice is whatever path you choose, make sure you live every moment. Get the most out of every relationship and connection you make along the way. I’ve been doing audio for only six years now, but not once has someone looked at my resume. I would be ignorant to say I’ve gotten to where I am all on my own. I’ve always gotten gigs by endorsement from someone I know who has a little faith in me. Trust me when I say it counts to call and check in with the people who were there from the beginning. The ones that make you re-wrap all your cables because you do it wrong, or call you out because your mix sucks. Embrace the tough love. It might sting in the moment, but they are preparing you for the battles ahead. There are a few of these engineers in my life that I will always look up to. They are constantly setting the bar higher and higher. Surround yourself with people that inspire you, and you can do great things.

We caught up with Whitney in August of 2019:

Since talking about her touring in the original interview, she continued to tour with other acts like Sofi Tukker, X Ambassadors and Walk the Moon. She currently mixes monitors at the iHeartRadio Theater in Burbank and production manages for Live Nation Clubs & Theaters in Los Angeles.

Anna Bulbrook’s GIRLSCHOOL

 GIRLSCHOOL is a celebration of women challenging the status quo.

 

 

Anna Bulbrook has been playing music her entire life. She is a trained classical violinist and is best known for her work with The Airborne Toxic Event. She has recently started her own project The Bulls, with Marc Sallis, bass player for The Duke Spirit. The Bulls is Anna’s outlet for her own songwriting and vision.

Two years ago Anna volunteered at the Los Angeles Girls Rock Camp and says she had a “ mind-bending experience of seeing women use rock’n’roll to encourage young girls to take risks, grow, and be more themselves in a really utopic, positive, and very thoughtful all-female environment. The experience changed my brain. The relief of connecting to a community of positive and pro-active musical women hit me like a wave”. Once Anna got a taste of what she calls “Utopia” she knew she had to do something to keep that feeling of community alive and continue to grow it. (This is exactly how and why SoundGirls.Org was started). So she started GIRLSCHOOL.8965_764298326969973_1887516619067237208_n

GIRLSCHOOL is a music festival that celebrates women-identified-fronted bands and women artists. After spending a decade as a “sideman” in the alternative rock world, where you really don’t see a lot of other women around—onstage or on your crew—I started to really miss and crave the camaraderie of women. I mean, growing up in classical land, I saw women players everywhere and had a million girlfriends who also played instruments. It wasn’t this segregated thing.

SoundGirls recently talked to Anna about Life on the Road and GIRLSCHOOL 2017.

GIRLSCHOOL is expanding this year–what is in store for this year’s festival?

First, we have some REALLY exciting headliners that I can’t announce. It’s just going to be a freaking amazing lineup. Second, we are adding a lot more educational and community programming that will doing the boots-on-the-ground work of literally creating opportunities for women from across the music industry to meet, connect, learn, and maybe get inspired to try something new: panel discussions, mentoring events, informative talks, Q&As. That kind of thing.

What are your long-term goals?

I’d like to grow Girlschool to be a traveling or pop-up festival around the world. I’d like to build the platform to celebrate and connect and share the work of more and more amazing women from across the music industry. And I’d like to hear from women who are in music or are interested in music to hear what would be most helpful to or inspiring for, YOU, so Girlschool can try to answer those needs as we go forward.

More on Anna and GIRLSCHOOL

Anna Bulbrook: On GIRLSCHOOL’s Mission of Empowerment

Where have all the Credits gone?

By: Catharine Wood

Advisory notice: This collection of words is 100% based on my opinion and observation as a professional engineer, producer, composer and music maker in Los Angeles, California, USA. I reference consumers and listeners with love and utmost respect…it is not your fault that the current, primary consumption mode of listeners now is streaming — which largely does not pay the creators of the music. My thesis here is directed at the streaming services: Where have all the Credits gone?

Back in the day (post-Wrecking Crew era), producers, engineers, studios, players, and songwriters (the list goes on and on) … became known for their work via Liner Notes (among other avenues – like word-of-mouth, playing live, etc.). As their reputation built, so did their workload, pay rate, and visibility. Sustainable careers were made. Now, in 2016, with CD sales dwindling and digital streaming “the new radio”, a large percentage of artists are DIY and their budgets have become micro with the “downsizing” of commercial music revenue sources. With the “trickle-down” effect of diminished performance royalties as listeners shift from terrestrial radio to internet streaming, compounded by the massive shift from physical CD album sales to iTunes 99¢ downloads…and now free streaming (from which songwriters earn fractions of pennies in performance royalties for their work),…recording budgets are smaller than ever. I share the following information for those interested music consumers, creators, and music industry professionals alike who would appreciate knowing who created the music.

To the point – I recently attended an industry roundtable; an intimate gathering of working music professionals and top audio talent. Grammy® winning producers and engineers – collected for an open discussion on the “current state of the industry”. The topic of Credits came up (and the fact that they have, literally, disappeared since streaming took the driver’s seat) – and a heated conversation about HOW can we make music valuable again ensued.

Now that music has shifted from a tangible commodity to digital “thin air”…consumers want music to be free and convenient. And with that, the streaming services, iTunes, and any digital retailer where music can be purchased (except, to my knowledge, CD Baby…who does allow a Credits section for the artist to supply the info for…as well as YouTube)…do not have place on the sale, stream or download page to list Credits. No link to see who wrote the songs, where the music was recorded, who produced, engineered or played what instruments on the album. Unfortunately, not showing who worked on an album, single, EP – or listing where the music was recorded – further perpetuates the current myth that music should be free. It also gives consumers the false impression that the music has magically come to be without hundreds of hours of work, careful consideration, execution and … a budget – consisting of actual money.

“In my father’s record store, why would I say, ‘Okay, I’ll tell you what. I’m gonna close my eyes and I’ll count to 30 and you take anything you want and when I open my eyes just don’t be in the store.’” -Philip Glass

Labels and DIY artists pay good money to hire a producer to hire the right people and studios to help make their music come to life. The music does not come to life on its own – out of thin air … yet consumers have grown accustomed to listening for little to nothing … with ease of use, accessibility and maximum selection as the priority. The ART of CARING about the ART of MUSIC and its CREATORS seems to have disappeared. Culturally. This was the topic of discussion at this industry round table … and it was unanimously observed that for music makers in the room especially – their business had been directly, and negatively, affected by two things: 1) the failure of streaming services to properly provide a space, field, link – PLACE – to credit players, studios, producers, engineers, songwriters, publishers, etc. and 2) the lack of consumers, culturally, not caring about the details of the art they are enjoying as a PASSIVE listener. Very few care to purchase the actual CD anymore — if the artist or label even has the budget to actually manufacture physical copies. It is my observation that music consumers are no longer ACTIVE listeners. Music may be the soundtrack to everybody’s lives — but in 2016, it’s coming at an immense cost to creators.

One solution presented by NARAS (The Recording Academy, aka The GRAMMYs) in their “Give Fans The Credit” initiative is to lead by example. Somebody, please, either update their streaming service to include a place to credit the creators … or create a new service that makes creators the focus with deserved recognition. Build a streaming service that focuses on the whole listening experience … as in the days of yore. Opening up the album, checking out the lyrics, seeing who’s singing or playing guitar…who wrote the songs…etc. The ART of LISTENING to music has devolved culturally to a nameless, earbud, playlist experience. I would argue that this has only happened since iTunes downloads and Streaming took over and turned music as a tangible commodity into a VIRTUAL commodity. With that said, I believe it wouldn’t take much to re-engage listeners again…with the right tools.

Photo Credit - Catharine Wood

Photo Credit – Catharine Wood

It may sound like too simple of a solution — but if people are listening and SEEING how many people work on an album to make it come alive … perhaps they might VALUE what they’re listening to a bit more … and understand “what a deal” their 99 cent download is or Free streaming. It’s a reality that “streaming’s here to stay” – but it doesn’t have to be the end of the line for music creators (many of whom have either had to resort to making music as a HOBBY or are leaving the profession altogether). Right now, with the Consent Decree issues going on in Washington, woefully outdated performance royalty rates, and the Copyright NOI loophole (if you don’t know anything about this, Google “DOJ ASCAP BMI 100% licensing”, “Songwriter Equity Act” and “Google And Amazon Leverage Copyright Loophole”), songwriting as a profession is on the verge of extinction. This sounds nuts to anybody who isn’t in the industry or doesn’t know what’s going on – but it’s the crazy truth of the current situation…because, in part, our culture, at present time, is more interested in commerce than it is in supporting art. IF credits were allowed for with the streaming services (like watching a movie with end credits…where you get to see who actually WORKED on the movie), you’d get to put a “name to a face”, so to speak, with guitar players, drummers, producers, songwriters, publishers — you name it: The great “de-mystifying” of modern commercial music.

The streaming services have essentially created an environment of music with nameless faces — so people can listen without caring. I truly believe that IF Credits were allowed again — as in the days of BUYING CDs and Vinyl after hearing a song on the radio that you can’t get enough of — and cracking open the record case or sleeve and having the opportunity to LEARN about and ENGAGE IN the music…the current, passive CULTURE of consumers would change – and caring (ENGAGING) would return. So would gainful employment for players, engineers, songwriters and producers on albums. Why? Because artists would see who did what and want to work with them. It’s very simple.

wonderlust_picbycatharinewood

Photo Credit Catharine Wood

It has become the “Wild West” in the music industry “behind the scenes”. We do everything we can to maintain our livelihoods as music professionals — and it does not need to be an insurmountable task. Though I am gratefully managing to continue paying my bills through sheer grit and passion for my craft and profession, my father aptly calls what I do “miraculously rowing up hill”.

Music is a beautiful part of life. For those of us who create it – it IS OUR LIFE – as artists & creators. Commercial music is a commodity. It is not free to make and it should not be free to consume. Can you imagine showing up at your favorite restaurant and sitting down – ordering – eating your dinner & then leaving without paying the bill? We call that dine-and-ditch…and it’s stealing. Streaming services: Please give creators the credit we deserve…so that consumers can know what their listening to – and appreciate it enough to actually value it enough to pay for it…and become engaged again.

#IRespectMusic #SupportMusic #StandWithSongwriters

1_catharinewood-300x300Catharine Wood is a professional mix, mastering, and audio post-production engineer. She produces singer-songwriters, composes music for film and television and owns and operates her own Los Angeles-based studio, Planetwood Productions.

 

Intern with Sennheiser at NAMM 2017

Sennheiser & Neumann are seeking two members of SoundGirls.Org to intern with the company during the 2017 NAMM show. Interns will need to be available from January 17-January 22 (there is some flexibility).

Duties will include:

Booth setup and tear down,

Equipment setup and demo for customers

Meeting and greeting customers when they are in the booth

Gathering badge information

And anything else that may happen during a busy trade show.  

Payment will be a pair of Sennheiser headphones and microphone:HD280Pro and e835. You will also receive a letter of recommendation upon successful close of show.  

It’s a great networking opportunity and we look forward to having SoundGirls join us!

Deadline to apply is Nov. 22

Please send a cover letter of why you would like to intern and a resume to soundgirls@soundgirls.org

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