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Empowering the Next Generation of Women in Audio

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SoundGirls Presents – Sennheiser Wireless Workshop

Join us for a two day Wireless Workshop with Gussie Miller and Brian Walker of Sennheiser.  Gussie and Brian will lead a two day workshop on wireless and will cover topics from RF Best Practices, to the shrinking of the RF spectrum. Get hands on experience with the newest Sennheiser wireless technology, and gain an understanding of the differences between Sennheiser wireless systems.

This two day workshop will be held at Schubert Systems in North Hollywood.

Jan. 24 – 9:00 am to 5:00 pm – with an hour lunch break

This day will include Lectures and Power Points on Understanding RF and RF Coordination. There will be hands on training with the equipment.

Jan. 25 – 9:00 am to 5:00 pm – with an hour lunch break

This day will focus on lecture in the morning, after lunch we will set up and work with a live band.

This is an all-star band featuring

Herman Matthews: Tower of Power, Kenny Loggins, Tom Jones and more

Jay Gore: Lauryn Hill, The Pointer Sisters, Keb’ Mo and more

Ewin Livingston: Justin Timberlake, Will.I.Am, Aretha Franklin and more

Noriko Olling: Chaka Khan, P!nk, Gladys Knight and more

This promises to be a amazing Hands on Learning Experience. Please RSVP to soundgirls@soundgirls.org to secure your spot. This event is free for members of SoundGirls. A big thanks to Sennheiser and Schubert Systems for their support of SoundGirls.Org.

Brian Walker is a Sennheiser RF expert and has many years of RF experience as a broadcast engineer. He has an extensive background in wireless system, RF troublshooting and frequency coordination.

Gussie Miller is a Sennheiser Customer Development and Applications Engineer. Gussie Miller has run the gamut of audio experiences,having engineered worldwide broadcasts for NASA TV, and having been the technical supervisor for ABC TV’s “The Glass House”. Mr. Miller was also one of the music mix engineers for KCET’s “Artbound” and UFC broadcasts. Miller has also been on the rental staff of Location Sound and ATK/Audiotek and has years of experience as a Camera Technician and Indie Film Producer.

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Riding the Roller Coaster of Live Sound – Rena Kozak

Rena Kozak is a FOH engineer and tour manager based out of Calgary, Canada. She has always had an interest in arts and has played in numerous Calgary bands as well as studied painting and drawing at University before becoming a sound engineer.  

A talented dancer, Rena was studying ballet at the University of Calgary in 2002 when she injured her foot. Unsure if she would be able to dance again, she considered alternate career paths. A friend of hers, Josh Gwilliam (current chief engineer at OCL Studios in Alberta) suggested she look into the audio recording course at the Academy of Production and Recording Arts in Calgary. By a stroke of luck, Rena’s father had just given her $5,000, a bonus from his job as assistant coach of the Canadian women’s hockey team after they won the 2002 Olympic gold. The audio engineering program cost exactly that amount, and Rena enrolled. After graduating, she began working at a recording studio but found the work of recording commercials to be monotonous.

Instead of pursuing more studio work, Rena interned with an electrical engineer and learned to fix analog equipment.  In 2005, this electrical engineer recommended her as FOH for the musical Guys and Dolls. She recounts: “it was an insane opportunity in retrospect, a 24 person cast with a full orchestra… people work for decades to break into that kind of work. It was a crazy stroke of luck. I never thought I would like live sound, it seemed so intimidating, but it was exhilarating to take my knowledge and apply it in the moment to tell a story to an audience.”

After the musical had ended, Rena got a job with a local production company Sound Art, working on shows and maintaining gear in their shop. In 2007, she did a national tour as a monitor engineer for a dance show that featured a live band. Rena felt the road wasn’t for her and found that touring took away her ability to create music or art. She took a house gig in 2008, as house engineer for Mac Ewan Hall.  child_actress

In 2012, her boyfriend passed away suddenly. After grieving, Rena found that she was in a different place mentally: “I wanted fewer physical attachments. I didn’t know where I wanted to live, I didn’t want possessions, I didn’t want to attempt to have a lifestyle that resembled anything permanent for a while so I approached the boys in Preoccupations  – who were called Viet Cong at the time and are long time friends – about using me as their touring FOH.”

Preoccupations agreed to hire her, and Rena found herself thriving as a touring FOH. She has worked as FOH for Operators (Montreal), did a run of festival dates with Holy Ghost! (Brooklyn) and even had the chance to fill in on monitors for Beirut for a couple of shows, which she describes as a career highlight.

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Operators

Although she enjoys being on stage, she has realized she likes touring as an engineer more than as a musician. She thrives on mixing the same show every day and enjoys the challenge of having to work in different rooms.  Rena notes that touring can be a psychological roller coaster: it is hard to get to know new people and sharing tight spaces like a van or bus can be taxing. To offset the stress, she tries to eat well and do as much hotel room yoga as possible.

Her favourite piece of gear is her old TAC Scorpion recording console, which she is slowly re-soldering and fixing. In a live setting, Rena likes using guitar pedals as live mix effects – on the fall Preoccupations tour, she was running a couple of FX chains for vocals and drums, in the hopes of recreating the album’s sound. She hopes to get other gigs that allow her to be as creative with equipment.

Regarding must-have skills, Rena believes a willingness to do whatever it takes to get the show done is crucial.  “This job is mostly problem-solving – whether it’s solving the actual technical problems with the sounds themselves or repairing broken equipment or figuring out how to safely get the gear through a mud puddle into the venue. There is no problem that cannot be solved; you just haven’t found the solution yet.”

It’s also important to have a solid technical understanding. Knowing how the physics of sound works, knowing how your gear functions and why, understanding the equipment and systems in detail – these things are so important to achieving a good product. The more you know about your tools the better you will be at manipulating them. It can be easy to get by without knowing details – a lot of people work for a long time with very little knowledge, but reading up and building a foundation of knowledge is what will set you apart.”

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Rena’s long-term goals are to keep touring as a FOH, and to work on her own artistic projects. She has recently finished recording and mixing her first solo record (under the name Child Actress) and is looking forward to writing more music.  You can find her on the road with Preoccupations in 2017.

Rena shares some words of advice on the barriers she has faced as a woman in the audio industry, and how to overcome them.

“I’ve been tremendously lucky to have had an exceptional amount of support from so many people I’ve worked with. Of course I’ve faced the obvious challenge of being a girl. While it’s never prevented me from landing good jobs or enjoying my work, more often than not it has absolutely been a factor.

Fortunately, I had a lot of very real support. A lot of dudes who were well respected in the business saw my passion for it and believed I knew what I was doing gave me work and helped me learn and progress. I don’t think most people are as lucky to have as much support as I received.

That being said, it’s been a constant issue. It feels funny answering this question right now because of how I’ve continued to struggle with being female at work even in these last two months. From the guy who wants to carry my case for me (fine, you want to help but it’s my case, it isn’t even heavy, I don’t need you to look after me we are peers here) to the old house sound guy who tries to tell me how to EQ my wedges until I demonstrate to him how my EQ curve was actually cleaner than his, to the TM who makes side comments about not liking “having to listen to a woman”. It isn’t gone. I’ve been at this for nearly 15 years and it’s still there. But, it’s better. There are more of us, and things are changing.

I have always been great at handling the old-school sound guy personality type. I’m great with a quick joke and talking to them like I am their equal. I’m rarely intimidated, and I’m quick to win most of them over with my personality.

I’ve also recently found I’ve needed to deal with my own internalization of systemic sexism. Trying to remain calm and remind myself why I love this work and that I deserve to be here doing it, and trying my best not to react with anger as much as possible. I am very actively working on this right now, trying to be Zen and maintain confidence at all times. I find the best way of thinking about it is to remind myself that I have to COMMAND respect and not DEMAND respect. Don’t get angry, just be confident and execute your work as perfectly as you know-how and this will generate respect from your peers.

Do you have advice for women and other young people who wish to enter the field?

“Do not be intimidated by anyone. You have as much or more right to be there as anyone else.

And for those who are just beginning and feeling intimidated by the equipment or the technical side of it, shake that off and remember that you are capable of comprehending anything technical – and remind yourself of some of the sound guys you’ve met along the way.They aren’t all geniuses, are they? If they can do it even just a little, you can do it epically well. 

And call me up! I love to teach; I’m happy to take on any ladies who want to apprentice or just ask questions.”

You can contact Rena and find out more about her upcoming projects through her website

Career Development – Resources for Resumes and Social Media

A polished resume (and LinkedIn profile!) can be almost as valuable to you now as they are when you’re in the middle of a job search. Keep your resume updated—always. We have compiled a list of articles to get you started.

 

 

Tips on Writing your Resume

The Importance of the Cover Letter

The Best First Impression

Five Ways to Make your Freelance Applications Work for You

Professional Social Media

Fake it Until You Make it – Or Not

Five Lessons from a Career in Sound (so far)

Notes on Your Resume

Resume Builder

ResumeBaking

Cover Letter Mistakes

Six Good Reasons to Always Keep Your Resume Updated 

A Top Recruiter on What Anyone Can See After 30 Seconds with Your Resume

Design an Awesome Resume — Free

Uptowork’s Online Resume Builder – Choose professional, elegant, creative, or modern resume templates. Uptowork’s resume maker offers 20 templates in 400 colors. You can easily adapt the designs to any resume format you choose: functional, reverse-chronological, or combination. SoundGirls Members receive access to their free platform using code SoundG53% at checkout

Cover Letter Examples

Women’s March on Washington Seeks FOH and ME

download-45The Women’s March on Washington will take place in D.C. on January 21st. Hundreds of thousands of women will arrive in D.C., all standing together in solidarity around the idea that Women’s Rights are Human Rights. The Women’s March on Washington stands for all issues that affect all marginalized people: immigrants of all statuses, Muslims and those of diverse religious faiths, people who identify as LGBTQIA, Native people, Black and Brown people, people with disabilities, and survivors of sexual assault. Please see the website for a more comprehensive explanation of the mission: 

The Women’s March on Washington currently expects 300,000 to 500,000 people, with numbers rising every day.

Ginny Suss is heading up the production team for the event. Ginny was a tour manager for many years and was routinely the only woman on the crew or anywhere backstage. Ginny hopes one story we can build from this amazing march and movement is of a primarily women-led production crew. She is currently seeking two women to join the production crew, one to mix FOH sound and one for monitors.

Applicants ideally would be available for rehearsals in NYC  the week of the 16th and  then travel down to DC on the 20th for the rally on the 21st. The Women’s March on Washington  can help with travel and accommodations. Your services would be pro-bono — as the entire effort from the national organizers to our legal team to our PR to tech and web development is entirely volunteer based.

If interested in taking part in this historical event please send cover letter and resume asap to soundgirls@soundgirls.org. Please only apply if you have experience mixing large-scale events.

Some recent press:

Protest like your basic rights depend on it – because power is taken, never given

 

Why Thousands of Women are Marching in Washington on Jan. 21st

 

 

 

 

NAMM Mentoring Session

SoundGirls.Org Presents NAMM Mentoring Session – Hosted by Heather Rafter

Join us for a Mentoring Session with Women Leaders in Professional Audio

You must be a member of SoundGirls.Org. You Must RSVP for this Event as Space is Extremely Limited. You will receive venue address with your confirmation. RSVP to soundgirls@soundgirls.org

This event will be a casual mentoring session – where you can get advice and answers to your questions. Groups will rotate between leaders specializing in Live Sound, Recording and Mastering, Broadcast Engineering and Professional Audio Sales.

Industry Leaders Include

working-tara2LESLIE ANN JONES

Leslie Ann Jones has been a recording and mixing engineer for over 30 years. Starting her career at ABC Recording Studios in Los Angeles in 1975, she moved to San Francisco in 1978 to accept a staff position at the legendary Automatt Recording Studios. From 1987 to 1997 she was a staff engineer at Capitol Studios located in the historic Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood. In February of 1997 she returned to Northern California to accept a position as Director of Music Recording and Scoring with Skywalker Sound, where she continues her engineering career mixing music for records, films, video games, television, and commercials.

She is a past Chair of The Recording Academy’s Board of Trustees and is the recipient of 4 Grammy Awards, including 2 for Best Engineered Album-Classical. She serves on the Advisory Boards of Institute for Musical Arts, Ex’pression College for Digital Arts, and is an Artistic Advisor to the new Technology and Applied Composition degree program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

20160717_113247-1Karrie Keyes – Monitor Engineer for Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder – Executive Director and Co-Founder of SoundGirls.Org

Karrie has spent the last 25 plus years as the monitor engineer for Pearl Jam. Karrie started out doing sound for punk bands in Los Angeles in 1986 under the tutelage of Dave Rat of Rat Sound, where she spent twenty years helping to establish the company. She was able to gain an immense amount of hands-on experience and technical knowledge at Rat, which eventually led to her becoming the monitor engineer for The Red Hot Chili Peppers from 1990-2000. She first met and started working with Pearl Jam who opened for RHCP on their 1991-1992 Blood Sugar Sex Magic Tour. She has worked with Sonic Youth, Fugazi, and Neil Young.

10329981_10202734866705629_3189953941176639467_oErika Earl – Director of Hardware Engineering for Slate Digital and Slate Media Technology

From pulling out the soldering iron to setting up microphones around a drum kit, Erika Earl brings experience from all sides of the professional audio business. Her understanding of audio electronics was earned through more than a decade of experience repairing, servicing, and performing quality control for a wide range of top manufacturers, including Tube-Tech, Drawmer, Focusrite, Daking, Bock Audio, Avid, Little Labs, and many others.

She has also engineered for studios and run FOH throughout Arizona and California. Erika served as Head of Technology and Chief Technician for LA’s landmark studio The Village. When she’s not thinking through a schematic or evaluating the subtleties of a tube compressor, you’re likely to find her sifting through her collection of vintage records and rare books.

imageLeslie Gaston-Bird Vice President for the Audio Engineering Society’s Western Region  & Associate Professor of Recording Arts at the University of Colorado Denver

Lesie has over 25 years of experience in audio for film and video, music recording, and radio. She graduated from the Audio Technology program at Indiana University in 1989. She also holds a BA in telecommunications and an MS in recording arts. She has worked for National Public Radio in Washington, D.C., Colorado Public Radio in Denver, as recording engineer for the Colorado Symphony and as a sound editor for Post Modern Company in Denver. She has performed soundtrack restoration on films from the Sony/Columbia Pictures archives and is one of the pioneers of a music video production style she calls “Music Video Vérité”. She runs her own freelance audio post production company, Mix Messiah Productions, LLC. She is also a Fulbright Scholar.

fullsizerender-1Grace Royse – Live Sound Engineer and Production Manager

Grace Royse is a Live Sound Engineer and Production Manager with 11 years of experience in world touring.Clients include Sublime with Rome, Fitz and the Tantrums,  Maintaining a background in studio productions, business management and artist development, she has mentored several young men and women over the years, all successfully working within the industry today.”

 

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Jett Galindo Audio and Vinyl Mastering Engineer at The Bakery

Jett Galindo is an audio & vinyl mastering engineer from The Bakery, located on the Sony Pictures Lot in Culver City. With credits spanning different genres and legendary artists (Bette Midler, Nile Rodgers, Colbie Caillat, to name a few), Jett carries on the legacy left behind by her late mentor, mastering legend Doug Sax of The Mastering Lab.

A GRAMMY Voting Member (P&E Wing) & Latin GRAMMY nominee, Jett is also an accomplished soprano who specializes in choral ensemble music. Jett also ​devotes part of her time writing for Soundgirls and volunteering for Berklee College of Music as an Alumni Ambassador.

sara-coversdolliesimg_1024Sara Elliot VP of Operations and CoFounder of VUE Audiotechnik

With more than 20 years of experience in professional audio, Sara has held strategic marketing and operational positions with numerous sound production companies including Burns Audio, A-1 Audio, and PRG. Sara also served as Director of Marketing and Sales for Live Sound International Magazine and ProSoundweb.com, two of the industry’s most respected news and technical information sources. Sara brings to VUE Audiotechnik a wealth of industry relationships and a deep understanding of business operations.

dawn-birrDawn Birr – Global Commercial Manager Sennheiser and Neumann

Dawn Birr is the Global Commercial Manager, Audio Recording with Sennheiser & Neumann.  Dawn started out as temporary receptionist and with strong mentors and a nurturing culture has been able to work her way to the top.  During the 16 years she has been with Sennheiser she has held these positions, Neumann Product Manager, RF Product Manager the Sennheiser 3/5K series, Channel Manager for Installed Sound, Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Installed Sound in the U.S.

download-40Fela Davis Sound Engineer and Owner of 23db Productions

Fela Davis is a co owner at 23db Productions based out of New York City. She’s a graduate of Full Sail University and has over a decade of experience in audio engineering. Her past experiences includes working for industry power houses Clair Broadcast and House of Blues. When she’s not mixing or mastering songs for 23db Productions, she’s mixing front of house engineer for the 5-time Grammy award winning jazz artist Christian McBride and Grammy nominated Ottmar Liebert.

img_5006Claire Murphy Guitar and Backline Tech

Claire holds a Bachelors degree in Music Technology from Hertfordshire University in the UK. She has 7 years of professional touring experience as both guitar/backline tech and as Tour Manager. She recently moved from London to California (Los Angeles). She has a business in the UK providing storage for bands in London, and previously provided rental sprinter vans but sold these when she moved.

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Catharine Wood Recording – Mix Engineer – Owner Planetwood Studios

Catharine Wood is a Los Angeles-based composer/producer with a recording studio in Eagle Rock. With a background in audio post-production for commercials, Catharine engineered on the first iPhone commercial among hundreds of national and international campaigns – including the Geico Caveman and Priceline Negotiator spots. As a mix and mastering engineer, she has engineered on over 200 commercially released songs – including her own custom compositions which have aired on NBC, ABC, BBC, ESPN and more – both nationally and abroad. She is a GRAMMY® Voting Member and Producers & Engineers Wing member.

Catharine currently holds a position on the LA Recording School’s Recording Arts Program Advisory Committee and is the former Director of Southern California for the West Coast Songwriters organization. She is a proud Professional Member of the Society of Composers & Lyricists and in 2016, Catharine was elected to the California Copyright Conference board of directors. Her company, Planetwood Productions, specializes in producing singer-songwriters and providing engineering and composition services to the TV and Film industries.

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Tiffany Hendren Live Sound FOH and Monitor Engineer

Tiffany Hendren is a monitor engineer at The Pageant in St. Louis and the House Engineer for the Del Mar.  She tours as the FOH Engineer for “A Silent Film”. She has been involved in sound professionally for around seven years, full-time about five. Tiffany is the Co-Director of SoundGirls.Org.

 

loanneLoanne Wullaert Venue Manager and Owner of the Phoenix a Stagehand Labor Staffing Company

Loanne is not a sound engineer. She does not know the difference between a NL4 and a Noitrix.  She cannot spell that either. However, she is a venue manager, and performer and runs The Phoenix a successful stagehand labor company. She has worked in the industry since 1986 and knows what good sound is. She also knows flattening the EQ and turning it up to 11 does not solve anything.

About Loanne:  In her spare time she sings and plays piano, works on restoring her 1850’s house and has helped to save hundreds of dogs in the last year from being euthanized at Los Angeles shelters.

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Jessica Berg – Tour Manager and Live Sound Engineer

Jessica is a freelance TM/FOH/MON engineer and is currently touring as the TM for Phoebe Ryan. Jessica is SoundGirls.Org’s Director of Development. She is honored and excited to be volunteering with a growing organization and community that is achieving its mission – to help empower the next generation of women in audio, expanding opportunities for girls and women in the audio and music production fields, and sharing resources and knowledge through cooperation, collaboration, and diversity.

dan_profilepicDaniella Peters – Head of Sales and Management Team at Rat Sound Systems

Daniella has been with Rat Sound for over 15 years building their sales dept from a concept to a multi million dollar part of their business. She started off her career working for an international cosmetics company doing their live event production. She then transitioned to HHB Audio and Ashdown Music, Emap Performance (Kerrang and Q magazines) in London and now with Rat Sound.

She is passionate about women’s issues and spends a good portion of her spare time using her production skills to produce and host music and fashion fundraising events for various women’s non-profits.

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Meegan Holmes – Global Sales Manager Eighth Day Sound Los Angeles

Meegan graduated from California Institute of The Arts from their Technical Theater program in 1993; she entered the live production industry before graduation as a local stage hand with LA Stagecall in Los Angeles. In 1997, she began her 18-year audio career with Delicate Productions where she worked as a touring technician and engineer. Meegan wore many hats simultaneously during her time with Delicate Productions including Labor Coordinator, Project Manager and Account Manager.

This past March she joined the international touring audio company Eighth Day Sound to open and manage their new Los Angeles operation. Throughout her 24 years in the industry, she has worked hard to elevate others through hiring and mentoring. Her new position as a Global Sales Manager with Eighth Day Sound is no exception, hiring a full-time staff and expanding the company’s west coast-based freelancer pool as well as building the company’s touring and west coast based clientele.

Broadcast Engineer Jeri Palumbo, Production Manager and StageHand Hire Loanne  Wullaert, Touring Production for Rat Sound Systems Kim Sawaya Levine. Stay tuned for more announcements.

 

 

 

Baby Microphones and Self Production

Staying motivated and inspired as a female in a male-dominated industry can become incredibly daunting. Usually “I want to work with you” gets misconstrued as a dinner date or even worse, “I like you” might get taken as “I want to work with you.” Welcome to my world, where “little girl” usually precedes “what are you doing behind the console” and where my body of work is usually thought to be written and produced for me. I am a producer/engineer, that happens to be a woman.

Since I was very young, I always had an ear for sound, harmonies and things that made sense in my head as an arrangement. Not only one melody, but many contrasting melodies painted vivid colors and gave me different feelings. I started playing multiple instruments by applying the theory of piano to guitar, and that to violin, viola, etc. Before I knew it I was able to compose my own symphonic works and like a mini anvil falling from the sky… I realized I was a producer. When I started making music, I had one of those little tape recorders with the face and the microphone. I would tape over cassettes and hold the mic to my keyboard and put a split sound and a beat to it, essentially a live recording (JK, but in theory, I guess). I think that was my first take as an audio engineer — making the recording not clip and adjusting everything accordingly so that I could hear both sides through one incredibly unfortunate baby microphone. I think most of the time now, I keep that same sweat ethic with different gear. It took me so long to develop my crafts but I never lost an ounce of enthusiasm, that’s what keeps me mostly motivated. I live for production and writing.

13606623_10206842016993288_1134111027423738312_nI write daily, sometimes 4-5 songs in one day- depending on my level of inspiration/caffeine. There are certain beats or songs that have fermented in my head throughout the day or over a period of time that by the time I’m ready to give them life, they’re more or less done. Sometimes it’s a lyric, or a piano lick, or a melody in my head, or a feeling that feels like a color that feels like a certain emotion that will sound a certain way in my head and I paint that sonically, and develop from there. I think most music has an organic way of flowing from one point to the next. I don’t really stress about making music unless I’m producing for someone else and I’m on a crazy deadline and have other ideas in my head. (I get incredibly cranky and strange when I don’t make music o.0 ) Sometimes I have to throw the ideas for my own stuff on the side and concentrate on other things, or tying up loose ends and finishing touches on beats/lyrics that are for another person. Either way, there is no lack of inspiration or hard work on my end. I think since I love what I do, I’m able to do it 24 hours a day and it doesn’t feel like work or a chore. It’s just like breathing for me, it’s natural, and that’s what really helps my workflow, as does being my own producer.

Don’t get me wrong, I do have so many producers I love and would love to work with but self-production can sometimes be the best approach to a record if you can take yourself objectively out of your own head and not get married to certain sounds that may not complement that work or arrangement (easier said than done, I know that). There’s no better way to get your vision across than by producing yourself, it feels more real to me that way and I can connect with the music more and have a better vocal and musical performance and overall experience with a song or record. I have so many ideas and many times people want to play things safe, and I just don’t have time for that. I’m a risk-taker; life’s too short to play it safe. By producing and mixing things myself, I’m able to get every idea out of my head and not have to describe it or go through trial and error until it sounds how I thought it would sound. It’s a lot more work while composing a record, but I think it’s more rewarding and fulfilling. I’ll throw in a lot of hidden things sonically or musically that enhance my art, which had I not been so involved with my own material, I probably wouldn’t be able to do. I think most of all it’s empowering. I started off as a musician and writer to a producer from my natural curiosity, and studied audio out of a love for sonic art, then realized the ultimate perk; it was the best way to avoid the ever creepy “What are you going to do for me?” engineer. (I can feel the silent nods) I will leave it at that; be your own boss, be your own idol, be your own producer/engineer/writer and most importantly be yourself.

1380290_10202060927029027_2965347870082939655_nEve Minor is an up-and-coming artist based in New York, with origins in Southern California. While she formerly spent time as part of Universal Music Group’s songwriting team, the talented singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist is ready to break out on her own in 2016.

Minor has faced a multitude of trials and tribulations throughout her life, including a difficult childhood in foster care, toxic relationships, and a battle with cancer, all while never letting go of her ambitions within the music world. With all that she’s learned in her young life, she aims to inspire other artists with her writing and uses her personal struggles to inspire young women everywhere.

Her latest music endeavors feature the flavor of New York’s hip-hop scene with splashes of her own California roots. The production, largely developed by herself through her use of Reason, Logic, and Pro-tools, is inspired by late-night adventures and new friends, while also telling the story of making the most out of being dealt a tough hand in life. Minor cites that she was influenced by Miguel, Nina Simone, Amy Winehouse, as well as Alice In Chains, Phantogram, and Citizen Cope as major inspirations for her sound, and credits Mobb Deeps’ “Quiet Storm” as the song which made her enamored with hip hop. With various influences that range from pop to soul to hip hop, Minor has crafted an unique style and sound that is all of her own.

 

Making Mistakes – Learn and Move On

You are going to make mistakes, you just are, there is no one who hasn’t made a mistake. One of my favorite things about the West End is our pragmatic approach to a life long career. Common phases in use are “ We’ll all be laughing about it in a years time” “I’ll dine out on this for years” and “I’ve screwed up bigger shows than this one”.

Of course messing up something that doesn’t get fixed before it makes it into the show is not a habit to cultivate.  But dwelling on the mistake you just made is not going to keep you focused in the moment and moving the show along. The skill to master first is how to keep going under pressure. Reshma Saujani is the founder of Girls of Code. Says “we’re raising our girls to be perfect and we’re raising our boys to be brave” She has a great TED talk.

Reshma  talks about her experiences teaching girls to code.  

“We immediately see in our program our girls’ fear of not getting it right, of not being perfect. Every Girls Who Code teacher tells me the same story. During the first week, when the girls are learning how to code, a student will call her over and she’ll say, “I don’t know what code to write.” The teacher will look at her screen, and she’ll see a blank text editor. If she didn’t know any better, she’d think that her student spent the past 20 minutes just staring at the screen. But if she presses undo a few times, she’ll see that her student wrote code and then deleted it. She tried, she came close, but she didn’t get it exactly right. Instead of showing the progress that she made, she’d rather show nothing at all. Perfection or bust.”  

So what do you do when things get really bad I recently had an experience where I spec’d a Rio ( Yamaha digital stage box) with an old Yamaha desk. The show is in rep, I had to use that desk as it is owned by the theatre company, and I wanted to avoid a copper multi core in order to make the turn around as easy as I could. I am use to Rio and newer Yamaha desks working together. The M7CL took a bit more persuading than I’m use to with the newer desks. So I downloaded all the manuals and spent some time working it out. I posted in a few forums in case that would be a quicker route to a solution.   Could I have researched more that there might be an issue ? Is this the gig that is finally going to expose me as a fraud” – OR  – Had to use an old desk, spec’d a Rio with it. Made it work I am awesome.  

There is a famous Les Mis Story.  Les Miserable’s is a long running musical in the West End. It opened in 1885 and is still going. The Head of Sound was mixing and had been at the desk for the sound check. The SFX were played from a CD player that was also used for the sound check. On that day the sound check CD had been left in and instead of a carthorse SFX there was a Goriliz track. Obviously this is considered a huge error and as the show was being archived that night. (there is an audio recording of the whole thing).  That Head of Sound has moved on to other shows and is still one of the most sought after mixers in the Westend. He has a copy of the audio of that nights show and will play it for you if asked. Was he mortified? Absolutely! Will that ever happen on a show he’s operating again, I doubt it.  It has neither defined nor ended his career and your bad gig isn’t going to define yours either.

Get up Trinity.

So how do you get through the gig itself? It’s easy to slip into “deer in the headlights” mode when things are going wrong. It’s a flight or fight response and it’s a perfectly natural state of being but it is not helpful in this situation. So take a breath, assess what is really going on and make a plan. Start with what you know is working, it can seem like nothing is going well but it’s rare that nothing at all is, start with those certainties and build from there.

The Road Less Travelled

Tips for Touring in Less Developed Countries

Touring with full production in first world countries is, let’s face it, not easy street. Like a family of hi-tech snails, you carry your home and everything you need; and beyond power and rigging points, you don’t need a whole lot from the local production/promoter. Even when you’re not carrying all your gear, picking up what you need locally in the western world is usually straightforward as long as you’ve advanced it all properly, especially in countries where we all speak the same first language.

But what happens when you start to travel further afield, to countries where the language, culture and wealth-status is very different? Touring in far-flung places is fabulous – you get to see parts of the world you might never have even considered visiting. You get to experience different cultures, meet people of all nationalities (and realise we’re all the same), taste wonderful and unusual foods, explore cities where you can’t read the roadsigns, see natural beauty and temples and monuments that you didn’t even know existed, and step far, far outside your comfort zone and grow as a person more than you knew was possible.

You’ll probably also get frustrated, feel out of your depth, and feel like you’re being stared at a lot, especially if you’re a woman working on a gig.

You know what? It’s all really good for you, both as a human and as an engineer.

My first world tour was 13 years ago, and I’ve wound up somewhere unusual every year since then. Some tours have been big enough that we’ve carried everything except racks and stacks (PA, wedges and amps), and others I’ve carried little more than a multimeter and sense of humour – both of which are VITAL! I’ve picked up plenty of tricks and tips along the way to make life easier, which I hope you’ll find useful the next time you find yourself on a long-haul flight to somewhere you never dreamed you’d find yourself!

– Speak very plainly. When you start to write your spec, remember that English is not these people’s first language – keep it simple. Lose any slang, colloquialisms and unnecessary words in specs, emails and conversation. It avoids confusion and means you’re more likely to get what you need with a minimum of fuss.

– Make plain in your specs, things that would be taken for granted back home. For example, I offer a couple of alternatives for acceptable IEM systems, then add ‘all EITHER x or y please, no mixtures’. Likewise amps and crossovers – I once walked on stage to find the wedges I had asked for, but all sounding completely different from each other. I asked my babysitter to show me the amps, which were buried under the stage, and sure enough, amongst a horrible snakepit of cable, there were several different sorts of amps and crossovers. I certainly improved my chops that day! To things like mic stands, I add the words ‘clean and in good working order. This extends to the production world too – things like toilet roll are not a given in some countries. Assume nothing and put it all on the rider!

– When advancing, don’t take a reply of ‘yes, everything is fine as confirmation that everything is indeed fine. Many cultures around the world are very concerned with ‘losing face’, and want to be seen as stepping up to the mark in their dealings with you. Unfortunately, this often means that they will agree to everything on paper, and wait till you’re on-site to tell you that this bit of kit was broken or that piece of gear is not available in their country. Ask them to list exactly what they have. You might be lucky and you might not, but better to know and have the conversation about substitutes and contingencies now, than when it’s 10 hours till showtime.

On a side note to this, always communicate respectfully, both because you’re a nice human, and because the ‘face’ thing can’t be overstated – if you make certain cultures feel disrespected, you’ll make life very hard for yourself indeed.

– Invest in a good quality multi-meter if you don’t have one already, and take it everywhere. It’s good practice to meter the power before you plug in wherever you are, but it can quite literally be life or death in less developed countries. I’ve come across readings that could have killed someone had I blithely carried on without noticing. Local gear will often already be rigged and powered up – find an outlet and meter it anyway. If it’s not what it should be, don’t go any further till you get it sorted.

– Make friends with the interpreter! If you’re very lucky you might have a member of the audio crew who speaks good English or a technical translator, but the likelihood is you’ll have a dedicated interpreter who doesn’t have any technical knowledge. Nonetheless, they are going to be a big help, so learn their name and keep technical questions that need translating as simple as possible.

– Have a stash of wipes and a paintbrush for cleaning your gear and the desk. In a lot of places, you’ll be faced with gear that hasn’t been well-maintained and sometimes is downright filthy – and there are few things grosser than a stinky vocal mic!

– The food in some countries is fantastic, but that doesn’t mean all crew catering will be great. Some days it will rock your world, others days it really won’t. Having a supply of nuts or muesli bars is a good idea for those days. Likewise, it’s smart to carry a kit of basic medicines for common ailments – something I’ve done ever since trying to explain a UTI via sign language to a pharmacist in Russia!

– Be sensitive to where you are. In very poor countries, the local crew might not be earning 1/100th of what you are each day – I’m not kidding. Understand that they don’t have the same experience or opportunities as you; be kind, patient and if they seem interested in what you’re doing, take the opportunity to share some of what you know. There are often keen members of the local audio company who are eager to learn from you, and if you can teach them something that helps them, however simple, they’ll never forget you.

– There aren’t many women doing what we do in a lot of the world, and staring is not considered rude in many cultures. This adds up to the fact that, as a lady roadie, people are going to be curious about you and you’re going to get looked at. 99% of the time it’s completely innocent and they’ve just never seen a woman do what you’re doing, so try to ignore it. (It goes without saying that if it gets creepy, you don’t stand for it – trust your instincts.) There’s also less concept of personal space in some countries, and having people close behind me when I’m trying to mix the show is a personal pet hate of mine. I deal with it by either creating a physical barrier, such as a cable trunk behind me as a ‘table’; or if that doesn’t get the message through, I’ll smile and say, ‘I’m sorry, could you give me some more space please?’ Again, the culprits are usually just trying to learn what you’re doing – I’ve known people take photos of channel EQs!

– Pack your sense of humour. On one memorable stadium show, the stage was deemed unsafe by our production manager and we all had to walk away whilst it was put right. An hour later we returned to find a large dead chicken, several garlands of flowers, and a lot of incense centre stage – and for once the incense wasn’t mine. When we asked the locals what was going on, they cheerfully explained that they had made an offering to the gods responsible, and the stage would now be fine. Needless to say, we went back to the dressing rooms for a little while longer!

Touring further afield is exciting, daunting, and a wonderful experience. It’s a privilege that most people can only dream of – to travel the world with a bunch of buddies and get paid for it. Some days amazing things will happen, some days things will go horribly wrong. But you’ll truly live life to the full – and if you ask me, that’s what this whole rock and roll business is all about!

 

When Does It Stop?

Since the beginning of my career I have committed to myself entirely to tirelessly working to build my reputation, build my resume, and build my networking. It’s been about five years or so now since the beginning. In some ways it’s flown by, and in others it’s been a lifetime. I have taken moments of my time the last few months to really contemplate my next career steps. And now it is Thanksgiving season, where I try to write out everything I’ve done this year and what I’ve accomplished to keep my perspective. So during my meditation and reflection I came up with the following question: When does it stop? When do I stop taking every single job that comes into my lap? When do I stop taking the kicks when I’m down? When do I stop working 70+ hours a week at assorted jobs? Does it ever stop?

As I’ve mentioned in one of my recent posts, I’m tired. Really tired. I’ve been on the grind for five years and it has gotten me so far. I’m proud of where I’m at most days. I make decent money having a lot of fun and doing what I love. But as each month passes, I find my tolerance level dropping a notch. A musician in one of my bands has a real micromanaging issue. I mean it’s really bad, you guys. He’s come up during the middle of a set and started mixing front of house. Literally pushed his instrument to the side and put his fingers on my board. The other week we had a sub trumpeter and instead of introducing me to him and having me work on his monitors for him, the micromanaging musician pushed me out of the way in the middle of a conversation to go to the trumpeter’s mix and put in random amounts of every single fader, regardless of what was actually going in it. I should’ve given it to him right there. I tell you this because I used to let this roll off my back. It’s just him. I don’t have it in me to be so disrespected with a smile on my face anymore. Is it worth it?

In another recent post I wrote, I speak on another job I took. The more I dig into the position, the more I understand the attitude of the guy before me. I came in thinking, “Wow this guy is cranky as heck.” And now I get it. As many sound people may know, regular folk have a lot of opinions on what you do and how it sounds. I have never gotten so many conflicting requests at any job ever. It’s impossible to make everyone happy, but I’ve been wondering if it’s possible to make anyone happy at this place. I am the agent of change, and as such, am the most disliked individual in the building. I come in to rip everything out and start fresh. Well, people like things to stay the same and that is not what I was hired to do.

So when do we decide enough is enough? When do you step down?

Every one of my jobs has incredible, amazing parts to it. Parts I’m not sure I’m ready to live without, which only makes this harder. In the aforementioned band, I love the music and most of the band members. At the new job, I love the fresh start. Is the money worth it to struggle? Is it worth the disrespect for the experience? When does it stop? Does it ever?

I’m not sure I have an answer, so I hope you haven’t read this far in search of one. I couldn’t do what I do if I didn’t love it. None of us can really do what we do if we didn’t love it. This field is brutal, and being a woman (and a young one at that) only makes it more so. There are days when I feel like quitting. There are days when I feel like taking on 5 more projects. As I’m typing this diary-style blog I begin to question if I’m just being whiny. I’d put money down that a lot of women probably have those self-doubting moments where we try to justify a reason to not feel this way.

Don’t you think you should be done, too?

P.S.:

I was originally going to end my piece what that last question. It felt done, I had gotten the feelings off my chest, I was relieved if nothing else. But, then I decided that perhaps I should add a few of my next steps so that you readers out there think I’ve abandoned the field and became a hermit here in the Midwest.

I’m still here. I’m not giving up. I’m not quitting, it’s not in my nature.

Instead, I will strive to be less of a doormat. I will expect more from my colleagues (I can’t be the only one who works this hard and cares this much.) I’m trying my hardest to shave off hours at certain jobs, especially the lower-paying ones. I’m going to try my hardest to share the band with another trusted engineer so that I don’t have to be subjected to such disrespect as much. I love the band and the music, but we all need to draw a line and swear we won’t cross it. I think that I’ve sacrificed a lot for the sake of my career, and I will continue to do so as necessary, but it’s time to appreciate the right here and right now. I’ve lived the last 5 years 2 years in the future. I’m always thinking and planning and preparing.

Don’t forget about right here and right now.

There’s a lot going on right here and right now.

Don’t ever stop striving for the best and for the future, but don’t put on blinders and accept anything and everything. Don’t wake up one day with no photos in the photo album. Wake up every day trying to add another photo on your amazing journey in this amazing field.

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