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Adventures in Sound

 

In 1992, I was on tour with Pearl Jam. We had been on tour crisscrossing the U.S. for the past two months. Ten, their debut album was starting to blow up, and by summer you would hear Alive, Even Flow, and Black blasting from car stereos, out open windows, and on every station is seemed up and down the FM dial.

One of our gigs was at the University of Colorado at Boulder. We had an army of college volunteers that were eager to help set up, although one young woman that was assigned to the sound crew stood out. She would turn out to be one of the best local hands we had all tour and a life-long friend. We would also learn later that Kim had never worked a show before.

Kim’s recollection of that day

I remember being at a party the night before. We had on MTV, and they had Pearl Jam on. I remember looking at the TV and saying “ Hey, that’s the band I’m working with tomorrow.” The next day I was assigned to the sound folks.  I had no stagehand or sound experience. I wasn’t going to college there; I just wanted to see free concerts, so I signed up to do security. I hated it because they would put you outside or in a hallway, and the patrons didn’t exactly like you because you were security.

I couldn’t believe there was a woman doing monitors. I was super excited, and I had a great time working with them that day and it made me seriously consider going into sound.

That Day Changed Kim’s Life

Kim would go on to sign up to work with other productions at the university and would begin on a path that would lead to a career in sound. She was working as a stage-hand at the University and as a coffee barista when a friend visiting from Los Angeles suggested she move out to LA, as that was the place to be for working in sound. Kim figured she had nothing to lose and packed up her 68 VW bug and headed to Los Angeles.

Kim made her way to Los Angeles during the winter of 1993 in a VW bug that had no heat. She spent the drive dressed in many layers and wool socks. She would switch back and forth with her feet on the gas pedal and on the floor where the heat of the engine was really hot. Upon arriving in Los Angeles, she started to hit up sound companies for an internship.

No Show Sound, later to be known as Industrial Sound gave Kim an internship and she secured another job as a coffee barista. Kim remembers Greg Dean’s sound boot camp. “He would hold up cables and ask what it was, what it did, and where it patched. It turned out to be an xlr cable, and I was so intimidated I didn’t know where it went. I will never forget that moment”.

Ronnie Kimball, currently FOH for Bad Religion would take Kim under his wing, and she would spend most of her time working shows with him. Kim says they worked so many shows, but one of them stands out. It was a Truce Jam in East LA, (in 1992 there was a historic truce between the Crips and the Bloods, it eventually broke down as the City of Los Angeles walked away from their promises to help rebuild South Central after the Rodney King Riots) the concert as its name implied was to celebrate the truce between the gangs.

This experience was entirely new for Kim

I was still a little mountain hippie girl and oh so new to the big city. When we arrived for load in the stage wasn’t quite built, so we sat around and waited for a while. It finally gets finished, and we start building the PA, FoH, and monitor world. I notice we are the only white people there, and racial tensions are still high from the recent riots. The event was poorly organized, and security was provided by the Nation of Islam. I had a Leatherman that they took away from me and told me they would give it back to me at the end of the show.

So the concert starts. They had a cleansing ceremony with a Native American blessing with sage. While a band is playing, I look up to see the crowd parting ways and a guy carrying a folding chair chasing after another guy. People ran backstage, everywhere leading to the cancellation of the show. I remember some people saying damn whitey’s ruining the show with the sound. Everyone was saying it was the white guy’s fault and blaming the sound guys. It was some scary stuff.

Kim would eventually make her way to San Francisco where she knocked on the doors to the Warfield. There she met the late Paul Majesky, the production manager for the theater and presented her case as to why he should hire her. Kim still had a limited resume and lacked experience, but Paul took a chance on her. Kim would spend several years working at the Warfield and occasionally still works there. She would also start working at other Bay area venues such as the Shoreline Amphitheater, Slims, and The Fillmore.

In 1998, Kim was hired by Grant Lee Buffalo as a monitor engineer and drum tech for a short tour of Australia. Kim did not have experience as a monitor engineer or drum tech. She had no clue how to do monitors or even how to tour. She convinced the sound guys for Big Day Out to mix monitors for the band, and somehow faked setting up the drums. Kim says it became evident that she had no idea what she was doing and needless to say did not become friends with the drummer. Miraculously, she survived the tour and became friends with Grant Lee Phillips.

Grant would go on to recommend her for a sound gig at Cafe du Nord.  The “Monday Night Hoot” series at Cafe du Nord is named for the hootenanny movement of the ’60s. Kim would learn to mix during this Monday night folk series on a small Allen Heath board set up on the side of the stage. She would work at Cafe du Nord until 2007 and become known as Audio Elf and Tough Love Griess.

10400259_52155062747_7199_nDuring this period, Kim also fell into a lot of TM/FOH work. She toured with several bands ranging from Arab Strap to The Cramps and Nada Surf to Chapterhouse. Kim says, “all of the bands sounded so different, and I loved mixing every single one of them. When you’re on tour, you get those songs in your head. You wake up with them and fall asleep with them. I love that I got to mix every night. It’s great to be able to add the effects where they were meant to be, bring up the solos and really be able to mix something. You get to feel like you’re part of the band.

As much as Kim loved being able to do FOH, she disliked the tour managing aspect of the job. Kim explains “I never wanted to be a TM. It was just a means to get to do sound. I am still willing to do some very small tours as TM/FOH, but I won’t go out and do any long and grueling tours like that anymore. I really didn’t enjoy TM ing as you are never off and it is one of the hardest and thankless jobs out there but I did the best I could. Kim would continue to tour as a TM/FOH  until 2010 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Kim fights breast cancer and puts a touring career on hold

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Fighting Breast Cancer

In 2010 I was diagnosed with breast cancer. This put a little damper on the work thing. I was offered a tour with Chapterhouse a band from the UK. I wanted to work the tour since it was going to be my last for a long time. I was the TM/FOH, and I had a blast. I was also asked to do one more four-day gig, in Hawaii with Dengue Fever. There was no way in hell I was gonna miss going to Hawaii. It was a beautiful visit with two shows and some fabulous free time spent sitting on a gorgeous beach. It was a wonderful way to come home and start four months of chemo, surgery, and six weeks and five days a week of radiation. I have been cancer-free for ten years.

I didn’t work for over a year taking care of myself. I slowly started working at clubs again and have recently just done my first tour as FOH for John Doe.

Touring with John Doe

It was a pretty amazing realization I was doing sound for John Doe, that sexy bass player from X. You bet your sweet bibby I was gonna go out there. Getting a call from John was so surreal. I was honored to be asked to mix his sound.

We had gigs in many different types of clubs. Venues ranged from 300 to 500 seaters. I had to do monitors and FoH from FoH on every show we did. I didn’t mind so much. In some venues, it’s better that I do monitors as some of the guys out there don’t care as much about the show.

The band and crew traveled in a van, and we all shared hotel rooms. So you have to be willing to spend every day together, you are thrown into a 24/7 situation with people. It isn’t easy, but it is part of the job. Sometimes to just get some free time to myself, I would take myself out to a nice Italian dinner and just sit back and relax. It’s good to make sure you give yourself some me-time on tour. It’ll keep you sane.

Kim continues to work in the Bay area with Sound on Stage, Delicate, at the Fillmore and as a member of the IATSE Local 16.

I used to work at Shoreline Amphitheater, Slims, Great American Music Hall and sometimes at Bottom of the Hill. The thing is I’m not getting any younger, and I had to start thinking about what to do for the future. I have benefits and make a living wage working with the union. I do miss working at all those nightclubs, hearing all the new bands and just how much fun it is, but you don’t really make that much, and there are no insurance benefits. So I sadly gave up most of the rock and roll lifestyle but not all of it. Good lord, I couldn’t give it up all the way. I think I’d lose my mind if I did. That’s what I grew up doing. I was 18 when I started in the “biz.”

Kim’s favorite gig The Stern Grove Festival has just ended for the season. The Stern Grove Festival is a ten-week series Kim mixes monitors for. The festival keeps her busy through the summer; typically prepping the gear at Delicate on Thursday and Friday, loading in and setting up on Saturday and doing the show on Sunday.  This year the festival opened its season with Smokey Robinson and closed with The Zombies.

So see, I still get to do some rock. I’m just doing a bit more corporate shows to keep food in my belly and keeping a roof over my dog Ollie’s and my heads.

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Stern Grove

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Part 12 – The End

By: Malle Kaas

My god, these months at Brit Row went by so fast. It just shows how fun and exciting the course has been. It is a bittersweet time having to say farewell to my talented and dedicated classmates and the awesome staff of instructors. Yet, it is exciting to start on this new adventure in live sound. I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog about my experiences at Brit Row. (more…)

Part 9 – Different Paths to Becoming a Sound Engineer

By: Malle Kaas

I have a lot of experience as a sound technician, but I practically have none as a mixing engineer. However, as I have mentioned in previous blog’s, it is my goal to become a mixing engineer. I would like to share my thoughts about the path I have chosen to follow to becoming a sound engineer. (more…)

Exploring EDM – Producer – DJ – ARIES DENG

Aries Deng is a U.S.-based DJ & EDM producer. Born in Beijing, China, Aries moved to Atlanta, Georgia to pursue her love for music during her high school years. She started playing classical piano at the age of four but got drawn to Hip-Hop music during her middle school years after receiving a 2Pac CD from a friend. In 2006, Aries Deng produced her first EP, “Because of Love”, which combined her Hip-Hop and classical influences. In 2010, Aries moved to Boston after high school to attend Berklee College of Music and pursue a double major in Electronic Production & Design, and Music Production & Engineering. Shortly after, her musical tastes branched out to other genres. Aries started DJing and scratching using her favorite Technics turntables. She also discovered a Japanese Electronic Duo ‘HIFANA’, and after seeing one of her biggest music influences- ‘DJ Shadow’ performed with his electronic setup, Aries decided to explore the technology side of music. (more…)

Part Six: Can you be too old for this?

Within the last year, I have asked myself many times if I’m too old for this. Sure, I’m not 21 years old any more but am I too old? Should I be concerned about my age? Should I be bothered if others think I’m too old?! Well, many of my co-workers who were around when I started out 20 years ago are still touring and still dedicated and enthusiastic about their job as a sound engineer. I even know of some that are close to sixty and still touring.

(more…)

Karen Kane – Woodstock Inspires A Life in Music

Woodstock is the iconic music festival that continues to influence the music industry today. Woodstock brought over 350,000 rock n roll fans to a six-acre farm in Bethel, New York to celebrate three days of peace and music. Woodstock inspired countless attendees to pursue careers in the music industry, one of them was a young woman by the name of Karen Kane. Woodstock would inspire and put her on a journey that would start by learning to play music and wind up forty years later as a well-respected audio engineer with countless awards to her name, owning a professional studio, and teaching the next generation of audio engineers.

One of Karen’s earliest jobs was managing 6 West Recording, a New York jingle house. Even though she was working in a studio, Karen says she still did not think about a career as an engineer. Karen explains “When I worked at 6 West Recording, there was an unspoken rule that women did not touch the equipment”. Thankfully, there were a few engineers that took Karen under their wings and trained her, and most importantly taught her that she could be a recording engineer regardless of her gender.

Karen would move to Boston and enroll in Berklee College of Music, where she studied guitar and bass performance. She then landed a job at Intermedia Sound in Boston, starting as an assistant studio manager but soon after starting work there; she received two diplomas from the Recording Institute of America. (The first audio classes in the U.S. were held at Intermedia). She learned the basics of audio, as it applied to analog recording in a studio environment While there, Karen would pull all-nighters with one of the engineers, learning everything she could, including how to ride a motorcycle. Eventually, Karen would become one of the studio’s engineers.

Once in a blue moon is a woman does work in our favor, although I admit very rarely. For Karen it was beneficial as she explains “I hooked up with a community of musicians who were “folky/leftists” and when they wanted to record their songs, they wanted to use a woman because it was a male-dominated occupation and they wanted to make a statement by using a woman engineer. So even though I was a beginner and not very good yet, I got the job because I WAS a woman. I ended up making albums with them for the next 12 years and got better and better”. Karen learned everything hands-on, after graduating from RIA. Karen credits Barry Ober, R. Berred Ouellette, and Bob Stoughton as being her early mentors at Intermedia.

Intermedia 1977

Through the years Karen spent in Boston she continued to work as an independent recording engineer, music producer, and live sound engineer. You can check out all her recording and live sound credits on her website mixmama.com.

One of Karen’s favorite live gigs was the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, where she was the live sound engineer for the acoustic stage for 19 years (she retired in 2010). The Michigan Womyn’s Festival often called the Womyn’s Woodstock was an international feminist music festival. It started in 1976 and was put on every year (until 2015) in August with attendance ranging from 3,000 to 10,000.

The event is unique in that women built all of the stages, ran the lighting and sound systems, provided electricians, security, and medical services. They facilitated workshops covering various topics of interest to the attendees. Hundreds of women spent upwards of a month out on the land building the festival from the ground up because every year the festival was torn down, leaving the land as close to how it was found as possible. You can read more about this unique festival here Michigan Womyn’s Festival

A Move to Toronto

Love brought Karen to Toronto where she continued to work as an independent engineer/ producer. During her time in Toronto, she developed courses in Audio Engineering for the Learning Annex and Centennial College. She also was hired to teach at Toronto’s Harris Institute for the Arts which Karen says “was a big highlight in my life, getting to teach at such a great school.” “I learned how to be a teacher at Harris. I realized I was good at it and the students really liked me. I spent four years teaching there”.

The desire for a warmer climate would bring Karen to Wilmington, North Carolina, where she is now based. In Wilmington, she owns her own professional home recording/mixing studio. She also runs her own audio courses, which take place in the Fall, Winter, and Spring. There are five courses offered, including, Intro to Audio Engineering, Learning Pro Tools, and the “hands-on” only Advanced Course. You can check out her courses here mixmama.com.

In addition to her independent recording work and audio courses, she joined the faculty at the University of North Carolina Wilmington as the instructor for the Recording Technology program there. Karen says the University job is “one of the best things to EVER happen to me.”) Getting to teach Audio Engineering and Pro Tools in a University setting is my dream part-time job! I plan on it being my retirement job!” The 2nd “best” thing to ever happen to her is WINNING the “Producer of the Year 2013” Award last summer at the Carolina Music Awards in Raleigh, NC. AND, she just found out that she is nominated again for Producer of the Year at the Carolina Music Awards for 2014.

Karen on Live Sound

I never had any trouble with how I was perceived as a woman in a live sound position. I THINK mostly because I was not doing big shows with mainstream artists. At the time in Boston, there were not a lot of engineers studio, or live. Because of that, I was able to hook up with a few rock bands and started doing local/regional gigs with them. Later, I went on several U.S. tours (on a converted school bus) with a political folk band named Bright Morning Star. That started in 1980, and I did gigs with them for several years. I also did a lot of local acoustic shows with other singer/songwriters.

On the Evolution of Gear

The studio gear today blows my mind compared to the studio gear in the ’70s and ’80s. There are things I can do today that I NEVER DREAMED possible. I do miss, some things about analog recording (especially the smell of 2″ tape) and the simplicity of it all compared with today’s gear. I cannot speak to live sound, but I can say that as I am learning how to use live digital boards, I love some of the features like calling up monitor mixes and FOH mixes (as many times I do both).

Advice to Women Starting Out

Learn to play a musical instrument…for fun or seriously. It helps with audio engineering in many ways.

Go to a good audio school. Research them and find out all you can about the teachers! That is what makes an audio school GREAT, the teachers! The best audio schools have teachers that are ACTIVE professionals in the music industry.

If you are interested in studio work, TRY to get an internship at a local studio.

If you are interested in live sound, go to as many live shows as you can…stand by the soundboard and watch and listen to what the engineer is doing. This will start to train your ears. And by the way; ANYONE can learn to use equipment, what separates the good from the great are your EARS!

You can also begin training your ears by analyzing recordings…. on a good pair of speakers, describe the tone of each instrument, describe what you hear more in the left speaker or in the right speaker, describe the overall balance of the instruments, and then the instruments with the vocals. It’s a good way to get you to listen more intensely.

 

evening mix

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The Grind

I mentioned to Karrie that I was having a hard time coming up with a topic for this month’s blog, a bit of writer’s block due in part to the mental and physical exhaustion of being in the final stretch of a long tour while simultaneously trying to get my head into all of the prep work for my next tour.  She said, “why don’t you write about the grind?”  Perfect! (more…)

Touring Life and Motherhood or How You Can’t Have it All

Note – I do know a few men in the industry who have sole custody of their children and face many of the same issues.

After the birth of my daughters, I took some time off and did not work at all. As reality sunk in, I came to realize that touring was going to be difficult if not impossible. I thought about going back to school and getting a teaching degree – still one of the professions that allows for a schedule to be with your kids. I eventually returned to Los Angeles and took on a general manager role at Rat Sound – which really was doing a bit of everything, similar to what I did before but kept me off the road.

It was pretty great for awhile – I was able to achieve a balance between work and raising my daughters. Then the Chili Peppers launched a 17 month world tour, which I turned down. It took a while for this sink in, as I embraced my new life – I came to really miss being on the road and I wrestled with this for a while – but there did not seem to be any option. I started to work local shows again, but this I found pretty difficult to balance – the long hours, the child care bill, trying to function as a zombie the next day.

Then I was offered REM and I was determined to do it – I did not know how I was going to make it work – but I knew I wanted that gig. After many discussions with the girls dad, we came up with a game plan to make it work. In the end, the gig ended up falling thru as they wanted a FOH and Monitor team, engineers that had worked together for several years. My team was Brett Eliason (PJ FOH Engineer) and he could not do the tour.

It ended up being for the best – as parents we had worked out what we were comfortable with, what I needed to be happy, and what we felt was best for the girls.

It basically broke down to:

And that is what we did for years – still do – but now they are self sufficient and I think look forward to us being on the road. The girls had an extended family that they felt safe with and were loved. It also made them independent. Plus they got to travel with us several times and got to see some cool places.

Of course, this would not have been possible without a father that was willing to be a full time dad. I think this made him a better father – and the girls were bonded to both parents. We both made sacrifices to do this – There were tours turned down on both sides, mixing challenges and experiences that were missed. Yet, when I was home it was 24/7 and for every championship softball game I missed – I was there for most of the season.

I guess what I am trying to share is that you can be a mom and have a career in audio. It is not going to be easy, but life is not easy. You might choose to work a constant theater gig over touring, or work part time doing local shows for a sound company. You might switch to an AV gig. Even with the sacrifices made – I always felt it was better than working a 9-5 job with the kids in daycare. And I still got the rush of working a live concert. Would I have followed the path I did without kids – I will never know.

I would love to hear how others have balanced this or are attempting to.

 

 

Volume, High SPL, and Hearing

The Seductive (Yet Destructive) Appeal of Loud Music

How to Take Care of Your Ears

Loud, Loud, Loud

Mixing LOUD monitors

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