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Dedication and Perseverance – Meegan Holmes

Meegan Holmes has worked in live sound for over 25 years doing everything from system teching to mixing monitors and FOH. She is now in Global Sales for one of the largest sound system providers in the world, 8th Day Sound – Los Angeles. At 8th Day Sound Meegan can utilize her years of experience in sales and account/project management, as she held a similar position at Delicate Productions for over 18 years.

With a mother who is an artist and a father who is a musician, chances were high that Meegan would end up working in the arts. Meegan says her parents “were always supportive of whatever I wanted to do and they never discouraged me from pursuing my goals. In many ways, it made me both fearless and a bit stubborn.” At age 13, Meegan was exposed to live sound and event production when she volunteered at a summer stock theater. She would spend many evenings through several summers, painting sets, hanging lights and speakers. It was there Meegan learned all about theatrical mic technique and live mixing from the FOH engineer. From there Meegan would go on to attend California Institute of The Arts, where she studied Sound Design and Music Composition.

After about 18 months at CalArts, Meegan realized that she was not going to make it as a musician and started to think about how she could still be involved in music and not have to perform. It was evident to her that bands would always need crew and if she chose a path on the tech side, she would always have a job. ”I loved the experience that I had with the technical aspect of live production when I was younger, so it was an easy transition for me to make and one that I do not regret.” During her junior year, she started working as a stagehand with LA Stagecall. While working for Stagecall, she would make friends with the guys at Delicate Productions, which eventually led to Delicate hiring her as a stage tech for a tour.

While Meegan does not believe that attending an audio program or obtaining a degree is necessary, it will most likely benefit you. “CalArts gave me a chance to try varying aspects of audio, not just live production. I tried designing and mixing for film, television, and animation. I spent time in the recording studio on campus; I used the first version of Protools. None of that excited me, but a live rock show did. I don’t think a four-year private university is mandatory. Where I grew up in Connecticut, we weren’t given an option to ‘not go to college. I had to apply to at least four and pick one. I chose an art school. Honestly, going to college gave me the hunger to learn, the networking skills to get a job and the discipline to keep it. Keep in mind; there are many successful people in our industry that do not have any continuing education at all. If you already know someone that can help you get involved in the industry, great but if you don’t, attending some education program might be the only way to get some contacts to help launch your career.”

Meegan’s first tour was Lollapalooza 1997, (back when it was still a tour), as the stage/patch tech. “The tour was a lot of hard work; I started my day with flying/ground stacking PA. Once the band risers were up, I would start mic’ing up the seven bands. I’d re-patch between each and only get sporadic breaks to eat lunch and dinner. After the show was over, I took down the PA I had installed in the morning. My trouble-shooting skills improved by 100%. I learned how to be a strong member of a team (not only the audio crew but the other departments as well), we all worked together to execute the show.”

From there she would go on to mix FOH and monitors for various smaller acts, such as Soul Coughing, Tenacious D, The Melvins and God Lives Underwater. The majority of her road experience has been as a monitor or system tech on tours with Natalie Merchant, Natalie Cole, TOOL, Queens Of The Stone Age, Linkin Park, Basia, and Gorillaz. She even had a brief stint working as a production assistant on Limp Bizkit “I just wanted to try something different, I loved working with the PM on that tour, but I missed being on the audio crew.” Her favorite thing about touring was being paid to see the world, but the disconnect from her life at home was taxing.

Touring would no longer become an option prompting Meegan to seek local full-time work with Delicate. Over time she would start to assist in crewing shows, eventually leading to working as an onsite Project Manager for the more complex shows. Meegan says she “developed a knack for dealing with some of their more challenging clients. After learning the onsite leadership skills and all about dealing with personnel, I just had one last piece to learn, the money. I was promoted to account management in 2013 where I learned pricing and client management on an entirely different level. It was not a difficult transition to make. I spent a lot of time on-site with Delicate’s clients, building relationships with them. Also being on-site, I developed stronger relationships with the crew, bands and event producers. Creating these relationships gave me the opportunity to represent the company beyond email and phone calls. I learned a valuable lesson about how relationships drive our industry. Clients liked dealing with me; they did not care where the equipment came from, they wanted the service, attention, and dedication that I had to offer.”

After 18 years, Meegan felt it was time to move on as she says “Account Management showed me a lot. It also showed me the limitations at Delicate as well. I knew I needed to move on to take my career to the next level. I needed something slightly different and challenging. I interviewed with several different companies. Initially, I was interviewing with 8th Day to take on some of the 30+ festivals they do in the U.S. each year. After my interview, the plan changed, and I was asked if I was interested in starting the west coast operation of the company.

So start she did, with a small pile of gear stored in a warehouse owned by one of 8th Day’s clients. Meegan worked alone with the support of the Cleveland office and freelancers that she knew in Los Angeles. “At the time, I did much of everything, sales, crew, trucking, prep, loading and unloading the gear. I don’t think anyone (including myself) knew how quickly we’d grow here. We hired more full-time personnel and moved into our own warehouse last August. I spend most of my days, now that we have more personnel, doing quotes for shows and tours, conference calls and attending site visits and meetings, hiring crew for our shows here in LA and keeping up with the warehouse maintenance and needs. I spend time on show site, I still feel like nurturing personal relationships is a crucial part of my job.”

When hiring crew Meegan says she looks for “someone that is willing to do any aspect of audio, patching the stage, FOH/monitor tech, RF tech, and mixing. This versatility is beneficial if you plan to work for sound companies. If someone specializes in something, we have less work for them of course but sometimes being the best RF technician brings you more work. Keeping a positive attitude, being reliable, honest and having a good sense of humor are all necessary traits. We can teach you the technical side of the things you don’t know, but we cannot teach you to have integrity. Spending time as a stagehand, working in a warehouse or working in a venue learning how everything goes together is beneficial, especially if you are starting out.”

Meegan’s long-term goals are to help build the 8th Day’s business here in Los Angeles and to use her position to help others achieve their goals in the industry.

What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?

I contacted two audio companies when I graduated from college; the first told me “we don’t hire women for touring positions.” The second told me “we don’t hire women because we find we have to pick up their slack.” These were literally the only two tangible barriers I experienced, and both happened in 1993.

How have you dealt with them?

I never stopped wanting to work in the industry and have always worked hard. I never made a big deal out of gender or my education; I let my work speak for itself. Either people wanted to work with me, or they didn’t. I kept a positive attitude and tried to have fun regardless of what I was doing. I never said ‘no’ when I was asked to do something like pull feeder or load or unload a truck.

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

Get ready to work and prove yourself. Nothing comes easily to anyone, and there will always be someone smarter, stronger, and more experienced than you. Stay humble and open to learning from anyone and everyone you are around regardless of age, gender, race, or experience level. This applies to both technical and interpersonal skills.

Must have skills?

Patience. Drive. The willingness to learn. A strong knowledge of signal flow and troubleshooting.

Favorite gear?

Equipment that can handle the wear and tear of road life.

Parting Advice.

Don’t limit yourself! If you tell someone that you only mix FOH, then you’ve just limited yourself, and you’ve made it harder for someone like myself, to hire you or recommend you for a tour. Do not be afraid to fail; it means you tried. If you are not happy with your job, do everything you can to change that. We spend much of our lives working, and if you don’t love your job 90% of the time, it will affect your entire life. Have fun, be safe and do not give up on your goals, sometimes they might take a little longer to achieve than you want but the wait will be worth it.

More on Meegan

The SoundGirls Podcast Interview Meegan Holmes

Getting What You Give: Inside The Career Of Veteran Audio Professional Meegan Holmes

NAMM – Meegan Holmes

Meegan Holmes on Roadie Free Radio

Wrong End of the Snake – Meegan Holmes

The Pandemic Series THE ROLE OF AUDIO COMPANIES IN TOURING — PT.6 — 4/21/20

Showmakers – Meegan Holmes

Find More Profiles on The Five Percent

Profiles of Women in Audio

Asle Karstad – Mic Tips for Acoustic Instruments

On the last day in February, Soundgirls.org – in cooperation with KRETS (Norway) – arranged a day with Asle Karstad, who gave a lecture on the reinforcement of acoustic instruments.

Asle Karstad has worked for over 35 years in sound, and and refers to himself as a ‘sound producer’ – the person who guides the sound so the listener will get the most optimal experience. He has spent most of his time working with the Oslo Symphonic Orchestra, but is also very well known by Norwegian Jazz and folk musicians.

On this particular day Asle had been kind enough to invite some friends to join him – an acoustic guitar player, a quartet from Norwegian Radio Orchestra and a well known contrabass player by the name Ellen Andrea Wang.

We were very excited to meet Asle in this relatively new venue in Oslo.
Sentralen is only a year old and contains five separate and diverse concert rooms. (If you happen to visit Oslo, don’t miss out on visiting this very special venue.)

Asle’s first mission was to show us how you find the resonant frequency of an acoustic string instrument – or the ‘Crazy Note’ as he refers to it. (The resonant frequency is the natural ‘note’ that the instrument will create on it’s own as soon as you ‘put’ some energy into it, for example by tapping on it.) The reason Asle places importance on finding the ‘Crazy Note’ – is because he discovered that when six violin players put down their instrument at the same time, the little bump on the floor creates the resonant frequency, which could lead to feedback from the six violins in close proximity with each other. The resonant frequency of a violin will be around 275 Hz – 280 Hz. Their fundamental note is 94 Hz.

The method he used to find the ‘Crazy Note’ was to place the instrument on a table and close mic it where the resonant frequency was assumed to be found (Asle was using a DPA 4011 as microphone). He would then tap around the body of the instrument, and take a ‘snapshot’ of the frequency response.

By using this method we discovered that the instrument has one spectacular note in the lower range that stands out- the crazy note! (If you try this yourself, remember to dampen the strings so they don’t resonate – a towel works well)

It’s important to find this frequency because you may have to deal with other issues in the low end, like for example the low hum that likes to ‘sneak’ around your PA and end up in your mic’s on stage. If that ‘hum’ happens to be the same frequency as the ‘Crazy Note’ on one or more of the acoustic instruments in the orchestra, you could quite quickly end up with a problem.

Asle reminded us that it is always good to consider that the low end has a tendency to travel around the speakers and up on the stage, higher frequencies, as we know are more directional and therefore don’t have the same problem. This is also why we like to close mic, to eliminate ‘sneaky’ low end frequencies from PA and the room itself.

Whilst we are thinking about resonance – we also have to remember that any kind of resonant shell acts like an amplifier. You will do yourself a favor knowing the resonant frequencies of your acoustic instruments in advance to deal with any issues. For example the resonant frequency or ‘crazy note’ of an acoustic guitar will most likely be around 200 Hz. Asle suggested, when you pull that frequency out of your acoustic guitar that you add a little decay to it around 1,85 – 3,25 seconds to keep the natural sound to it.

Here are some other resonant notes to remember: Cello 80 – 90 Hz, Contra Bass 105 Hz (105 Hz goes for electric bass too). Asle suggest to ‘work’ a little around 65 – 105 Hz, since you will have the low end energy from the PA in this area as well.

Some other interesting tips from Asle are to put a compressor on the reverb send for your acoustic strings. And if you do not want ‘things right up in your face’ as he puts it, delay the whole mix 6 – 9 ms. We tried this and it made a huge difference, it somehow also made the mix sounds bigger and brighter.

Also to make your mix sound more natural you might want to put a high shelf cut on your strings from 1500 Hz and up – it sounds crazy, but if you think about it, higher frequencies die quickly over a distance. We felt this method worked.

Regarding string instruments – aim the capsule at the wood when you mic up – not for the strings!

KRETS is a part of the Norwegian music organization that was founded in 2013, as a tribute to the 100 year anniversary for the Women’s Right to Vote in Norway. The group is trying to connect female technicians across Norway by supporting events like this one with Asle Karstad. Soundgirls.org would like to thank KRETS for their co-operation and support.

 

SXSW – Tips, Tricks and Other Stories

This festival is like nothing else in America. Its origin and functionality in our industry is modeled completely differently from any festival you will ever attend, work or perform at. I’ve been doing this festival since 2011 and have always worked as the house engineer for what I consider to be ‘pop-up’ venues; places that don’t normally have sound and that SXSW puts production into. So here is some of my advice, having lived through it for a few years.

Places that normally don't have sound that SXSW puts production into.

Attitude

If you are in anyway a grumpy, or pessimistic person, this gig will run you down. You need to walk into this knowing that what sustains the event for the people around you, is how you react.

I like to prepare myself to have a good attitude, amidst the chaos, by planning. Before I leave for SXSW, I ask myself “what piece of equipment makes my day faster?” I bring a few of my favorite mics and DIs, zip-ties, gaffe tape, e-tape, several flash lights, screwdrivers, fans, adaptors, Y-cables, a soldering iron, solder, and instrument cable. Do you need all these extras to pull off a show? No, of course not, but in a pinch, I’d rather reach over and grab the easy solution. Someone forgot their instrument cable? You know what? No problem, got you covered. It’s easier than having to send them to ask all the other musicians if they can borrow one.

Another way to prepare yourself within your venue. I test every piece of gear, every day. I test every line, every day. Every mic, every day. I ring out my main system and my wedges, every day. I may not start from flat, but I go through to make absolutely certain that what I thought sounded good yesterday still sounds good today. I try to get all the input lists, and plan all the patch changes I can mentally keep in my head at one time. I show up an hour before my call-time to do these things.

Understand your role on show-day

This is big. Will you have a stage manager? Most likely. But understanding their experience level is key. Most are volunteers and have varying skill-levels. They start working, planning, and contacting artists long before the music festival portion of SXSW starts. Letting them know on the first day how you like to have your stage function is key. Find out how the backline will work, making sure they know, and you know, where it all is going to live, how it will come off the stage, etc. Don’t over talk it, just get to the point. If something feels like it’ll be a problem, do not think ” that’s their job, their problem”. Its ultimately your problem. If the band doesn’t start on time, everyone will be looking at you – pointing fingers won’t fly. Work as a team. Just remember, you do this for a living and the stage manager is probably doing this for the first time.

You will also have volunteers at your venue. They are not your resource. The stage manager is their boss and if you need anything, I recommend going through your stage manager. I’ve been lucky; this year I taught one stage manager how to over-under cables. After the first couple days, she seemed very interested in production and when I asked if she wanted to have a more active role, she said yes. That was her choice – coiling cables and helping manage the stage is not in their job description. Most help at the door, or maybe carry gear on and off the stage, but they are not your stage hands. However, they can be an untapped resource, depending on their level of interest and, of course, how

That being said, prepare for everything you can think of, and just accept that many things will be uncontrollable. Almost all the bands that will play your venue understand how SXSW flows. Road closures, broken gear, forgotten gear; approach everyone as if your venue could turn itself upside-down and, despite that they (the musicians) will have a great show. It works.

Just roll with it

Yes, sometimes a band will go over by fifteen minutes, but later in the evening another band might end ten minutes early. Don’t get stuck on the little details. If the SXSW production staff or the event sponsors are happy, then you are doing your job. I let my stage manager have total control of telling the band when to get off the stage. Usually the event runs on time, but I’ve seen some engineers really get bent out of shape. It’s SXSW – just go with the flow.

Musicians should keep in mind, when playing these venues, that a line check may be all you will get. Unfortunately, that’s just how it goes at pretty much all the venues. Rest assured, every line will work and we mix so many bands each day that the in-house engineer will work like a machine, sussing out your sound within the first song. We get hired to work these events specifically because we are trusted to fly like that. We want you to be happy, we really do, and we want to enjoy the music, and the faster we can make that happen, the better.

As a band or a solo artist, the best thing you can do is to make sure your management sends out the most up-to-date stage plot, and avoid changing it while we are loading onto the stage. Sometimes I will have already set up my patch based on your paperwork, which said that the keys are on stage left and percussion on stage right. I’ll roll with the change, but those changes can throw hiccups into the flow. Guess what we like at SXSW? A good flow.

Make sure your gear is in working order

Does your bass DI not work? Please tell the sound person ASAP. Do you have a passive pick up in your guitar? I highly recommend carrying an active pickup with you. Please know all the functions of your gear: There have been times someone has brought a piece of guitar gear that I’ve never seen before, and therefore don’t know how to troubleshoot it. Are you a keyboard player? Please have cables and back-up cables – maybe even back-up cables for the back-ups. You play so many shows that those cables could work fine at one venue, get thrown into your keyboard case, and then come out ruined. Same for guitarist: please bring back-up cables and back-up strings. Assume there is absolutely no way to get a replacement or repair any gear. All the music stores in town will be out of everything and so busy it’ll be a mental drain to get to them. If you are a DJ, bring a small table with you. Also be aware that stage vibrations may affect your turntables; if that will ruin your show, please find appropriate ways to eliminate that problem. The sound person will have limited resources for you to use if that happens.

The stories

This year, from the very first day, I had my backline show up exactly at downbeat. This was a new room with a PA that had not had a band play through it yet and there were lines that hadn’t been used at all. My venues operate on a line-check basis, and my band had shown up at their load-in time, two hours before downbeat. Having been excited about having so much time to soundcheck, we then had to scramble to get started on time. Between the sponsor, stage manager, volunteers, backline tech, and the band themselves, we got set up extremely quickly. The sponsor was very stressed-out while I sound-checked: I had continuous feedback on a vocal mic, and insisted on them holding-doors until I could suss out the problem. During this, I had several folks at FOH adding a mental strain to the process. In a moment of clarity, I realized the vocal had a processor on it that I wasn’t aware of, coming from the stage. Within minutes the feedback was solved. We opened doors and started only fifteen minutes late.

Another year, I came in to find my PA sounding ‘off’. This was the year that I learned a valuable lesson: trust your ears. I had issues with feedback and an overwhelming wonkiness. While the first band was sound-checking, I ran to another venue that a friend was running and asked for his advice. After running noise through the PA, I found that in all four of my three-way speakers, the mids had frozen. If you don’t know how to test your PA, I highly recommend learning that process. My friend left the other venue while he had touring engineer at FOH and came over, collected my volunteers and anyone else who was interested, and started the processes of replacing every mid. We lucked out as the company I was working for had extra parts. Guess what was the life-saver? Me bringing tools. I won’t ever leave tools at home again. Having screwdrivers was a life-saver.

If you get booked at SXSW, don’t sink with dread or get an overwhelming sense of fear about it. It’s an experience that can bring the best together. As an engineer, you’ll get stronger, tighter, and faster. As a band, you’ll earn a level of teamwork you never knew you had before. Just remember, the music festival is just a week. Let the experience build you as a performer or technician.

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.

The Important Art of Documentation in Theatre Sound Design

When you work on a production, you never really know what sort of life it’s going to have after that initial run or tour. A production you designed two years ago may suddenly get another run, and you realise you need to dig out all your sounds and designs and make them work in a different venue. Or, you need to hand it over to an associate to do the same. It’s at times like these that you discover the value of two things: accurate, detailed documentation and an organised filing system.

I know that documentation and filing are the least exciting aspects of a creative sound role, but I cannot overemphasize how much they will save your bacon when you need to recreate the sound design for a show. In the time-sensitive, pressured environment of theatre and theatrical productions, it’s very easy to let documentation lapse, so you need to either delegate the task or make time for it. You don’t want to be tearing your hair out the night before tech week kicks off because you have no idea where you put that crucial sound effects file you recorded four years ago.

Here’s a starter list of what you should be captured during the production of a show.

Rehearsals and production weeks before tech week

  1. Make sure you have copies of all your design drawings, whether you created them in CAD software or hand-drew them. If they’re hand-drawn, scan them so you have an electronic copy as well. Ask for model box photos as well (or take your own), so you have a visual reference point for this production.
  2. Make sure you have an electronic copy of the script, score, or both, and any additional material e.g. song lyrics, prologue/epilogue, as well as paper copies.
  3. Take photos of any pictures, sketches, diagrams, props, or anything else that were used in the rehearsal process or in your own creative time that directly influenced your sound designs. They may come in handy if you need to create any new files for subsequent runs.
  4. Label each sound file accurately as you create it, including documenting the recording process if you recorded it from scratch.
  5. Label and save all venue tech specs and sound hire quotes
  6. Label and save all photos taken during venue visits, including any notes about potential speaker/equipment positions

Tech week to press night

  1. Once speaker positions are set, take photos from multiple angles to accurately capture positions. If you have to hand a show over to an associate further down the line, it’s far easier to show them a picture of how you positioned a particular speaker in a venue than explaining it.
  2. Note positions of racks, microphones, processors, desks, screens, comms, cue lights, everything that’s specific to that show.
  3. If there’s anything particularly unique about this production that you may need to remember at a future date, write it down.
  4. Keep sound cue sheets and update them as necessary, including a record of deleted cues. They may be reinstated for future productions.
  5. Make sure you have an accurate list of hired sound equipment, including the hire company, any existing venue equipment used in the show, and any equipment purchased by the production
  6. Save all show and desk files

After press night

  1. Save copies of the final show files and desk files with copies of all final sound files.
  2. Save any sound files not used in the show to a separate folder. You may need them for subsequent productions
  3. Save all documentation, including sound design plans, final cue sheets, radio mic plans, scene maps, etc.
  4. Confirm where any sound equipment purchased by the production company will be stored following the end of the show’s run and save that information in a document
  5. Label everything clearly and put in a single folder so you can quickly find everything for that show
  6. Back up everything!

Managing your documentation should be an integral part of your sound design work, not an addition to it. Do it once and thoroughly for each production, and you’ll save yourself a lot of potential headaches in the future

SoundGirls Mexico Chapter Conferences at ExpoSoundcheck 2017 Mexico City.

SoundGirls.Org Mexico Chapter Conferences at ExpoSoundcheck 2017 Mexico City.

When: April 23 – 25 (from 11:00 to 20:00 Hrs)

Where: WTC Mexico City (conference room)

Cost: 100 Pesos for each conference.

Contact: Carolina Anton soundgirls@soundgirls.org

Six conferences in 3 days:

Saturday 23:

“Cinema Acoustics”

Speaker: Ing Sarudy Zuñiga

Time: 13:00 to 15:00 hrs

“Cinema Mixes round table”

Speakers:

Carlos Cortes (Splendomnia Studio)

Marco Peña (Astro Studio)

Pablo Lach (Azote Post Studio)

Time: 17:00 to 19:00 hrs

Monday 24:

“The Development of Sound Design and Mixing 5.”

Speaker: Marco Hernandez (Mixer at CCC THX Room)

Time 13:00 to 15:00 hrs

Sound Editing for Film, “Diseñando Delicias”

Speaker:  Maria Luz Orozco (Collaborates as editor with Martin Hernandez)

Time 17:00 to 19:00 hrs.

Tuesday 25:

“Sound Design; From Script to Screen … The Magic of Creating”

Speaker: Juan Francisco Hernández

Time 13: to 15:00 hrs

SOUNDGIRS.ORG Round Table (mentoring sessions)

– Laura Delgado; Marketing Coordinator for REPRE (Shure, Nexo, etc.)

– Aurora Ojeda; She is the head of the sound studio and professor of sound at the University Center for Cinematographic Studies (CUEC)

– Eva Escobedo: With more than 20 years of experience as production manager for several tours, currently 90’s pop tour.

– Griselda Jiménez; Monitors Engineer for Vicente Fernandez by more than 30 years. The first woman inside the audio in mexico

– Gabriella Galán: Design Services, Latin America at Meyer Sound Laboratories, Inc.

Time: 17:00 to 19:00 hrs.

SoundGirls.Org México Conferencias Capitulares en ExpoSoundcheck 2017 Ciudad de México.

Cuándo: Del 23 al 25 de abril (de 11:00 a 20:00 Hrs)

Dónde: WTC Ciudad de México (sala de conferencias)

Costo: 100 Pesos por cada conferencia.

Contacto: Carolina Anton soundgirls@soundgirls.org

Seis conferencias en 3 días:

Sábado 23:

“Acústica de Cine”

Ponente: Ing Sarudy Zuñiga

Tiempo: 13:00 a 15:00 hrs

“Mezclas de cine mesa redonda”

Oradores:

Carlos Cortes (Estudio Splendomnia)

Marco Peña (Estudio Astro)

Pablo Lach (Azote Post Studio)

Tiempo: 17:00 a 19:00 hrs

Lunes 24:

“El desarrollo del diseño de sonido y mezcla 5.”

Ponente: Marco Hernández (Mezclador en la Sala CCC THX)

Horario 13:00 a 15:00 hrs

Edición de sonido para la película, “Diseñando Delicias”

Ponente: María Luz Orozco (Colabora como editora con Martín Hernández)

Horario 17:00 a 19:00 hrs.

Martes 25:

“Diseño de sonido, de guión a pantalla … La magia de la creación”

Ponente: Juan Francisco Hernández

Tiempo 13: a 15:00 hrs

SOUNDGIRS.ORG Mesa redonda (sesiones de tutoría)

– Laura Delgado; Coordinadora de Marketing para REPRE (Shure, Nexo, etc.)

– Aurora Ojeda; Ella es la cabeza del estudio de sonido y profesor de sonido en el Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos (CUEC)

– Eva Escobedo: Con más de 20 años de experiencia como directora de producción para varias giras, en la actualidad gira pop de los años 90.

Griselda Jiménez; Monitores Ingeniero de Vicente Fernández por más de 30 años. La primera mujer dentro del audio en méxico
– Gabriella Galán: Servicios de Diseño, América Latina en Meyer Sound Laboratories, Inc.
Horario: de 17:00 a 19:00 hrs.

 

The Art of Listening Part Two

The Art of Listening Part One

Mixing sound is both an art and a science – a collaboration between the feeling, intuitive right-brain, and the analytical, logical left-brain. Last month I talked about critical listening and how, as a monitor engineer, to interpret a musician’s requests. This month we’ll examine how to separate different audio elements within a mix, and I’ll describe how I EQ individual inputs. It’s by no means the only way, but in 20-plus years of trial and error, I have found this method to be the most efficient and effective for me.

Monitor mixes need to be easy to play an instrument to / sing to as well as sounding good. They particularly need to provide clear, functional information about pitch and timing, so it’s worth considering what is supplying useful information to a monitor mix, and what is unnecessary filler. For example, some sounds are useful for an artist to pitch to or time to, or they carry a signature riff within the song; other sounds might create a pleasing fullness for FOH but reduce the clarity of a monitor mix and make it hard to play along to. This is especially true when it comes to hard-drive tracks – some elements are more useful than others. Sounds like strings and percussion are typically pretty helpful; effects might be less so. PFL is your friend when it comes to identifying different sounds, particularly when multi-tracks are involved because the sounds are likely to change from song to song. Frequent PFL’ing of your inputs will familiarise you with what’s coming in, and helps you to identify useful audio information.

Judicious use of the most basic of EQs – a high pass filter – goes a long way to eliminating unnecessary frequencies that can muddy a mix, and it’s my first port of call in the EQ process. Consider the range of frequencies that each sound exists within and where the defining characteristics of that sound lie in the audio spectrum. Let’s take a hi-hat as an example – there’s not much useful information in the lower frequency ranges, in fact, the mic is picking up spill from the rest of the kit – so it’s good to clean up and get rid of the extraneous low stuff. Personally, I set a HPF at around 600Hz for cymbals, but try it for yourself – solo the mic, use your ears and see what you think. Follow the same process with your other inputs, and tidy up anything that isn’t providing useful audio information – play around and consider where you might set hi-passes for different drums, vocals and so on. You can do the same thing with lo-pass filters, but be very careful with these. A bass guitar for example is primarily low frequencies, but if you set a LPF too low, you’ll lose a lot of the ‘attack’ – the finger-on-string sound which gives a bass its definition – because that attack sound is actually quite high up in the frequency spectrum. (Try boosting a bass guitar in the 5kHz region and see what you notice.) Likewise vocals – most of the action is in the 300Hz to 3KHz range, but set your filters there and you’ll lose low ‘body’, as well the ‘super-Ks’ – the very high harmonics which give a sound its ‘air’. So listen, listen, listen and experiment!

Identifying frequencies is obviously a vital tool for a sound engineer, and learning this skill really is just practice and repetition. I spent many hours in a PA company warehouse with a mic and a graphic EQ, making a wedge feedback and gradually learning what different frequencies sounded like. Once you’ve got a decent idea of that, you can start to refine your skills using the parametric EQ on the channel strip of the desk, and this is the next EQ tool after the HPF for your inputs. My preferred way to precisely locate a frequency is to solo the (muted) input on cans/IEMs, set a filter with a tight bandwidth or ‘Q’ around the frequency I’m looking for, and boost it quite hard – say by 10dB. Then I sweep the filter up and down slightly until the frequency I’m listening for me pops out (you can close your eyes as you do this if you like, to make sure you really are using your ears and not letting your assumptions fool you!) and with that identified I can then reduce or boost it as appropriate. You might want to keep the Q really tight if it’s just one frequency that’s over or under-represented (which is what I’d usually do with toms), or you might choose to do a big old scoop – my typical kick drum EQ has a wide low boost for ‘boom’, a wide high boost for ‘thwack’, and a wide gap in the mids where there’s nothing useful or sonically pleasing going on.

Approaching EQ like this means that you start to carve an audio landscape, with different instruments occupying different areas of the frequency spectrum. In my experience that gives a nice clarity and ‘separation’ to your mix – the opposite of audio ‘muddiness’. It’s all about trial and error, so grab every opportunity you can to play around – the advent of virtual soundcheck playback systems has made it easier than ever to refine your skills, so if you’re lucky enough to have access to such a system, make use of it. Tip – most high-end desk manufacturers have demo rooms set up with exactly that, and are usually very amenable to potential end-users coming to try out their equipment, so don’t be shy about calling them up and arranging a session! It’s a great way to hone your craft, learn different desks, and make contacts.

Until next month, SoundGirls – happy listening!

Rock n Roll in Brazil? Sure!

Brazil is a huge country, the largest in Latin America, and already has more than 200 million inhabitants. Discovered in 1500 by Portuguese colonizers, it is a country that has never stopped receiving immigrants; absorbing their cultures, and mixing with them. As a consequence, it has become one of the most multicultural countries on our beloved planet Earth. And this plurality reflects directly on all aspects of our culture and habits.

You may be wondering: So, do you have a Rock n Roll scene in Brazil? Yes, we do! And it’s new, vibrant, and far more interesting than you could imagine.

But first, let’s take a quick look at the influences of the past that have brought us to where we are today.

Samba & Nature:

I believe that in the imagination of those who don’t live in Brazil, or have not visited yet, the first things they think about are Samba and Nature.

We agree.

Certainly, our natural resources, fauna, and flora are extremely rich and impressive; indescribable landscapes that cater for all the tastes and types of experiences that anyone would want to have.

This extends to our culture. We are very rich musically, and it is not possible to speak of any other local musical style without talking about Samba. It was the first style genuinely developed here and gives rise to the many others that we have all over the country.

The presence of African slaves has been constant ever since the beginning of colonization, through the cultivation of sugar cane in 1500 to the later exploitation of gold (around 1700), where the indigenous people refused to work. From these African slaves and their musical heritage came the rhythmic basis of Samba and the other types of music that emerged after the abolition of slavery (in 1888). This combined with the influence of seventeenth-century European erudite music, which was also present in the major cities of Brazil during that period.

Bossa nova:

But the greatest Brazilian musical exponent, which opened the door to the world, was the Bossa Nova in the 1950’s. It is a derivative of Samba, with influences of Jazz, although slower and based on the acoustic guitar or piano (with added bass and drums), and is a simple form where sweet melodies are sung, whispered, and almost spoken.

Songs like “Girl from Ipanema” (“Garota de Ipanema”) are still re-recorded (more than 240 versions) and played, inside and outside the country.

MPB (Brazilian Popular Music):

In the early 1960s, with political issues, Bossa Nova being widely spread among universities and university students, and the additional influence of other musical styles from outside, audiences began to demand a more critical music, with mixtures of traditional styles, and a desire for this to become the characteristic style of the country.

This has indeed happened, and nowadays this acronym (MPB) is the most used to describe the kind of music made by the new artists that appear with the national ‘accent’.

At the same time a ‘Pandora’s Box’ was opened, bringing the richest and most diverse Samba mixes to other styles – such as Tropicalia (psychedelic rock), Samba-Rock (rockabilly and soul) and Jovem Guarda (British and American rock and pop).

What about Rock?

Since the 1950s, even on a small scale, this has always been present in Brazilian music, as it has practically all over the world, having a successful single here, another there, also enjoying the ‘fevers’ of Elvis Presley and Beatles, for example. The greatest boom in Brazil was in the 1980s, denominated BRock, that extended until the mid-1990s. Since the, while the style remains alive, present and mutating, it has all but left the mainstream (with some exceptions, of course) and survives largely due to the emergence of independent festivals that have proliferated from the north to the south of the country over the 1990s and 2000s, which remain to today. Also, due to internet diffusion, it has become more accessible over this period into the present day.

We usually say that the life of Rock n Roll in Brazil is a life of love. Much love.

The structures are very precarious, the concerts usually have more than one (or five, or ten) group(s) per night, the venues are the most under of the underground, and much adaptation and collaboration is needed among those involved.

It is very common to have to make the F.O.H. and monitor mixes from the same mixer, which will probably be located on stage or in a position where you can barely see or hear the band. It’s also common to deal with limited and damaged microphones and equipment, and to have to hear that “you don’t need microphone / channel in the amplifiers, because they already come from the stage”, fighting until you make yourself understood, and having the minimum quality to make a good mix . Or not. Sometimes it’s a lottery…

 

But it is also a GREAT ‘school’ of sound, which makes you use all your skills and knowledge, and acquire new and never-before imagined skills that challenge many acoustic and physics theories. Just living to believe.

 

Another good thing is that, sometimes in the year, you have the ‘luck’ to participate in small and large festivals, or spaces prepared to receive concerts, where they spoil you and offer that beautiful minimal structure that we all deserve – its only joy!

 

 

This strengthens and spreads more and more of the good old Rock n Roll, which in Brazil we find mixed with both national and folk styles, as well as being faithful to the originals, in some cases being sung in English.

What is important as a SoundGirl here is to keep in mind that we live this whole mix every day and that even if you want to direct and specialize in one style only, you’ll always have the opportunity to mix unusual instruments in the same job. This is what make the daily life of our profession here fun and intriguing.

Links for those who want to know a little more:

Donga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woLpDB4jjDU

Cartola: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUjOfsoBhMY

João Gilberto and Tom Jobim: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuJhgDrx1Aw

Elis Regina: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_LwGTdUImA

Os Mutantes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uSXJMqG6_o

Jorge Ben: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPENGb-FG5E

Novos Baianos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlmmaqWrUUU

Secos & Molhados: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpqbbmJ42yU

Paralamas do Sucesso: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c5UrNqECjA

Raimundos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fvza_7TyHQ8

Pitty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxRlnQCZE1k

Vivendo do Ócio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmnpfaU6-YI&list=PLPUVvUKUHDpJ6O46c301DCr_JPXndKYnj

Far From Alaska: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSwCPHN-RRg

Roberta Siviero: SoundLover, SoundWorker, and SoundGirl with great pride, for the last 18 years. I am always interested in learning more about sound, specializing in live sound (F.O.H. and M.E., rental companies technician), but I also have experience in broadcast and post production. Everything that has ‘sound’ in the middle, I strive to learn. I am responsible for the projects Mulheres do Áudio (Women of Audio) and Terças Técnicas (Technical Tuesdays), always aiming for the union of the classes, diffusion of information, and knowledge related to sound, in Brazil and around the world. Half bossa nova, half rock n roll, cat lover, travel lover, and vegetarian too. Anyone who wants recipes or any information related to these subjects can send an e-mail to robertasiviero@gmail.com. I will be happy to hear from you!

Mulheres do Áudio: https://www.facebook.com/MulheresDoAudio/?fref=ts

Terça Técnica – SP:  https://www.facebook.com/Ter%C3%A7a-T%C3%A9cnica-SP-701089939995946/?fref=ts

Venue Management and the Multipurpose Room

Everyone in our industry has a venue – either their favorite place to stop on a tour, their favorite place to attend a show or the place they like to work every day. These venues range from small club spaces, studio or recording spaces, to 100,000 seat stadiums and more.

Currently, my venue is a multipurpose room – virtually a swear word when I talk to some tour managers on the phone because they never know what they are going to get when that term is spoken. The multipurpose room could be an empty box with cement flooring and a portable stage made out of 2x4s and plywood, or it could be a ballroom with carpeted floor, acoustic treatments, and functional furniture adapted to any need. In other words, multipurpose rooms could be defined as compromises made to cover all the priorities determined at the time, and hopefully good enough for anything else. It’s kind of like saying McDonald’s is better than Burger King: It may be true, but it all depends on what each location is like the service you get, and your preference on which has the best French fry. My point is, the multipurpose room is a dynamic of unknowns and will never be perfect for everyone, but will be enough to get by for many.

As, with any space with architecture, you get what you get. You’re in the hands of the design and the mechanics of cement, wood, drywall, and rebar. Sometimes spaces are wonderfully designed with our industry in mind, and sometimes they’re ice hockey rinks first and shows are a way to produce more income in the off-season. Thankfully, our industry has come up with amazing tools to assist us in our goals when we end up in a space that isn’t meant for the activity occurring. Tools like pipe and drape assist with creating softer surfaces and hide an outdated look. Line arrays allow us to send the sound in the exact direction we want, and tools like Smaart assist with tuning. Heck, if the budget is there, talented people like us can make any square box into a mystical gem for a night!

Besides the tools we have, there is also a responsibility to know the room and provide hospitality to groups coming through. As a venue manager, it is part of my job to know the room well; what works well, what doesn’t, and to take steps to create the best situation for all. People swinging through for a one-night show rely on venue staff to provide insights on the space, but the venue staff must also maintain a balance of letting the group renting the space get their tasks completed without excessive interruption. A venue manager can help a touring group by having information about the space ready to share in advance of the show; things like directions to the venue, parking options, stage measurements, curtain setups, and recent pictures to name a few. I use a snapshot document to share information quickly. Many questions can be answered this way and allow groups to ask follow-up questions that may pertain to them. Bluffs snapshot

In addition to knowing the room, it will also be important for the venue manager to share the strengths and weaknesses of the space. If structural support for rigging is limited, share that information before the booking is finalized, and have supporting documentation available as well. If the venue can only hold 100 people safely, make sure this information is clear and stick with the capacity rating. If the space is extremely reverberant, share that so a tour can decide if it might be best to use IEMs instead of wedges. Sometimes information can be the key to a successful event. As a venue manager, I share what I can so the group can make educated decisions for themselves. Many times, groups will want to come back to a room that might not be perfect but they enjoy, because of great hospitality and knowing what to expect.

Preconceptions in Human Hearing

As sound designers, we often have to fight against what something actually sounds like, and what audiences expect things to sound like. For example, an authentic phone ring might not necessarily fit the tone of the piece, and actually, a phone from a different era would suffice in creating urgency and tonality.

As a starter for ten, human hearing is fairly straightforward. Sound waves are transmitted through the cochlea which then eventually reach the Primary Auditory Cortex and the syntax processing areas of the brain. We can say that these processing areas of the brain share the sound waves and do their best to find some rhythm and harmony in what we are hearing. This is because of the linguistic processing tendencies we have, and our innate need for understanding and communication.

Our perception of sounds stems from our memories, and the human memory is typically untrustworthy. How many times have you shared a story and had someone remember a completely different version? We could argue that it’s the same premise for sound.

While it’s true that our echoic (hearing/auditory related) memory lasts longer and has a quicker processing time than our iconic memory (visual related), and could therefore be described as more reliable; our echoic memory can only hear things once, and things once heard cannot be unheard.

This is also where our short and long-term memories come into play. If you were sitting in a packed auditorium at front of house and heard an announcement (the quarter call, for instance), nine times out of ten we would hear the call, process it, and then completely forget about it. Should somebody then ask you, five minutes later, what that call was, you may just be at a loss as to what it was, but could probably remember the tone, the clarity, and more about the speaker’s voice than the actual message. There are a number of factors to blame here.

Upon recognising that there was no immediate danger, you would blend out the rest of the call, and continue your own conversation. This is our basic selective hearing, but what of the rest of the call? We attenuate the rest of the information and store it in case it becomes useful, but it’s not always remembered accurately. This is further because our memories store a lot of information, whether it be in the long-term or short-term, and intrinsically we link memories to other memories to aid said storage. Of course when talking about sound, and sound effects, it entirely depends on the context of how/when/where a listener has heard them before – no two natural sound effects will ever be the same, and nor will their memory recalls within individual human beings.

But what does all of this mean for sound design? And particularly sound design for theatre? If we are playing on audience perceptions of what sounds, atmospheres, or even conversations between actors should sound like, then it depends on the effect being sought. If we’re talking a straight play, then a doorbell from 1911 should probably be true to the text – this means a bell on a pull.

On the other hand, I have absolutely used a recorded shop doorbell because it fitted the tone of the piece better. The bell was, due to pitch, smaller than any of the real house bells we tried, which meant it was a slightly lighter sound, and therefore more whimsical. Of course, this steers us into the territory of scenes in a play, and their overall tones (not to be confused with musical tones). A big old rusty house doorbell would often seem too clanky and boisterous for the entrance of the next-door neighbour (unless, of course, this is the exact effect that you’re heading for).

Sound designers will often never use just one sound effect to attain the overall effect that they are seeking; this may be as part of a sequence or even underscore/atmosphere. As we can see below from my recent show A Little Night Music, I used multiple tracks to create two car arrivals:

It’s often the textures of the sounds that I aim to create when sound designing, and often they do end up being true to what authentic/real-life things sound like, but more often they do not. This can often be for the reasons stated above. It can also end up being that, again, they do not fit the set, tone, or overall direction of the piece.

This is where the overall direction, sound design, and artistic licensing come into play. We can, with our best intentions, want something to sound authentic, however realistically, as designers and artists, we will borrow from different genres and times to make happen what we want to happen. This again, however, can come back to our own personal memories and experiences of sound and effects, and the ideas that they give us in terms of what we want to create.

Ideas fuel other ideas, as do our memories and creative minds, so the more that we feed into said ideas and the ethos of our creations, the more we contribute to the expectations of what things should, or could, sound like.

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