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A Life in Sound

GIL EVA CRAIG

Gil Eva Craig is an independent Audio Engineer and Music Producer working in professional audio for the last 18 years. Gil got her start as a recording engineer in 1996 and still owns and operates her own mixing and production studio, The Secret Beehive. This past May, she co-produced an album with Charlotte Yates and has done sound design and written original music for several theatre productions. Her passion though is live sound, and she currently is the FoH Engineer for The Wellington Ukulele Orchestra and works for the family business, Western Audio Engineering.

Gil 1-1907 Gil’s interest in audio started in her teen years, as she would make ‘multi-track ‘ recordings using her brothers Walkman and the family boom box. Recording a guitar track first on the Walkman and then playing it back off the boom box, while recording a second track with the boom box, recording on the Walkman, and so on and so on. Reflecting back on this tracking technique Gil says “It didn’t take too many generations before my recordings turned to unintelligible satanic hiss”.  Eventually, she was able to purchase a four-track cassette recorder, followed by a host of recording setups including; ½ inch 8 track, 1 inch 8 track, adats, 2 inch 16 track, and finally a 24 track hard disc recorder and Protools.

Gil spent the early years of her career recording and mixing demos for bands while trying to fund her studio. Initially, she was lured to live sound with the promise of fast cash to fund her studio. She started mixing bands at the local bar and quickly found that she not only enjoyed it but preferred it overworking in the studio. She has continued to work in both the studio and live environments. Gil has worked on several theatre productions, in which she has won awards for sound design.

Gil stumbled into sound design for theatre productions, as well as writing original music, when a mutual friend recommended her to a sound designer. She was hired to write music for a production of Penumbra that he was working on. At this point in time, the only theatre experience she had was as a musician in two amateur productions of Shakespeare. Tim Spite, a theatre director, attended the production, liked the music he heard, and hunted her down. He offered Gil the chance to compose and sound design on his next production. Gil continued to work on several of his productions, including a production of December Brother that she won a Chapman Tripp Theatre award for best sound design. The Chapmann Tripp Theatre Awards are New Zealand’s equivalent to the Tony Awards.

Sound Design for theatre productions encompasses two main disciplines; the technical design and the creative design. The technical design includes the speaker and playback system, programming the playback software and the digital consoles. The creative design is the sound effects, atmos, and music.

Gil was recently involved with the production for ‘360, A Theatre of Recollections. The production includes a surround sound and music design, and the audience is seated inside a circular stage, on swivel chairs. Gil programmed the show into a Q lab, and was able to run eight discrete outputs to six surround speakers, overheads, and subs. The sound designer, John Gibson, wrote the score utilizing surround sound to create the illusion of being surrounded by singers and players at key points in the score.

The Evening Post Onslow Brass Band.

The Evening Post Onslow Brass Band.

Gil’s extensive music background has surely helped throughout her career. She was trained in classical guitar starting at the age of ten and took up the trumpet when she was fifteen. She briefly played the Soprano Cornet and Flugelhorn, before settling on the Tenor Horn. She played as a musician in several bands, including a “file-under-difficult-listening” art band that was mixed by her future husband. She also played in a Brass Band called The Evening Post Onslow Brass Band.

Playing in the Brass Band provided a brilliant musical education, Gil explains that “playing in an A grade brass band was demanding, as a big part of being in the band was playing in contests. The test music for the A grade is challenging, much of it sonically pushing the boundaries of what can be done with a large brass ensemble. The time spent in rehearsals pulling these amazing and complicated pieces of music apart and making sense of them, coupled with what I learned at university and a modern music course I took, was the best musical education I could have wished for”.

While Gil did not have formal training in sound engineering, as at the time there were not programs offered in New Zealand, she did embark on a degree in music. Eventually, her engineering work took priority and she did not complete her degree. She feels that the time spent on her music degree gave her a solid foundation for sound engineering. She was taught the basics of harmony, counterpoint, orchestration, acoustics, and ethnomusicology. As for the technical side of things, she learned by reading, observing, and hands-on experience.

Hands On – The Family Business

Gil’s husband, is a partner in Western Audio Engineering, a professional live sound production company. For over a decade, the couple lived in the PA workshop (warehouse), which also housed her studio. This allowed her free access to outboard gear and mics for her studio and live gigs, and she found herself surrounded by sound gear 24/7. Instead of flowers on the kitchen table, there was a soldering iron. Gil reflects on her time spent living in the workshop “It was awesome living in the workshop for nine of those years, then I started to hanker for vases of flowers on the kitchen table, and nice vintage glassware that wouldn’t get smashed in a week”.

Currently, Gil works mainly in live sound, and her job duties at Western Audio include whatever needs to be done; stage patching, show prep, loading trucks, equipment maintenance, FOH, and Monitors. Recent gigs at Western Audio have included; mixing the entertainment and anthems for an international netball match, mixing live elements for a wearable art show, a stage patch for a festival, and monitors for a small outdoor festival.

As an independent engineer, Gil mostly mixes FoH, and does a small amount of sound system and playback design for theatre. She tours as the FoH engineer for the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra, who regularly tour New Zealand and occasionally Australia.  She recently shared her experiences mixing them with SoundGirls.Org, you can check it out here: Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.  Gil does monitors for the Pink Floyd Experience, which regularly tours New Zealand and Australia and has done sessions in South Africa.

Gil explains what she enjoys the most about touring “I like that every day is different, but the same, as you are setting up the same rig (give or take a few variables) each day, but are in different places. It’s a perfect blend of routine and novelty. Also, being part of a team, but with a certain amount of independence. Both of these factors completely suits my nature”. She also loves to travel, which fuels her fascination with airplanes and her love of photography. Her days off usually include visiting galleries and museums and taking photographs. The thing she likes the least is finding food, being gluten intolerant is a challenge. Aftershow pizza is out.

Women in sound in New Zealand

New Zealand is a very small country, with only about 4 million people, so women in live sound are fairly scarce! I think I am the only woman who is currently touring.  In all the years I have been doing live sound, I have met three New Zealand women working in a technical capacity.  One is a good friend of mine and is head of audio for the New Zealand Festival of the Arts. A female engineer is definitely still a novelty to some house guys when I meet them for the first time. When last touring with the Pink Floyd Experience, I got the classic ‘so you sing backing vocals’ a couple of times.

Advice for Women starting out

It is important to learn at least one instrument and be able to read music. Learning to speak the language of musicians is invaluable. Invest in a professional set of earplugs and take steps to protect your hearing. Take time to learn and try out different areas of audio to see where your passion lies and what fits your personality.

Gil feels she would not last in today’s modern recording environment with its emphasis on computer-based recording and pro tools editing.  She once worked on a film production and immediately knew that was not a good fit. At some point, you just gotta jump in. I have met two women who have gone through audio school, who have yet to mix a show because they are afraid. I’m still afraid! Just today I agreed to mix a monitor gig and now I’m thinking why the f*** did I say yes? Learn by osmosis and observing, but you have to observe and surround yourself with people who are really good at what they do!

Must Have Skills

Aside from the obvious technical ability, having diverse musical experiences both as a listener and player gives you a huge head start. I’m grateful for every second I spent playing in the brass band, orchestra, guitar and brass ensembles, various pop/rock bands and the howling I did in the file-under-difficult-listening performance art group. Human communication skills: basically really listening to what people say and knowing what questions to ask.  Which means you can translate ‘my monitor sounds mongy’ into ‘its right on the edge of feeding back at 250.

Gil 1-3
Favorite Gear: I am mad about and completely obsessed with reverbs.  My favorites are the Bricasti M7, AMS, lexicons 460 and 300.  I am also very fond of the Sony R7, and have a soft spot for the Yamaha Rev 7. I just love them. I haul my Bricasti to all my shows. The one show last year I couldn’t take it to, as we were traveling on a plane so small it was basically a van with wings, I really missed it. The Sony M7 is an underrated treasure, possibly because it’s not easy to program. It’s got its own thing going on sonically.

While I don’t really get overly gooey over microphones, I do really like DPA 4061’s and 4099s. I think they sound great. I used 4099’s on a couple of trombones recently, fantastic. My favorite consoles are Midas digital consoles. I like how they sound and love the VCA and Pop group concept as you can program it so it’s under the fingers, very nice. I have done a few things on the pro 1 lately, which I call the kitten console because it’s impossibly little and cute. When coupled with a DL251 stage box to expand up to 40 channels, it’s amazing what you can do on it.

Gil 1-Album mixes:
Charlotte Yates’s Beggars Choice and ‘Archipelago’
Rosy Tin Tea Caddys All Mountains are MenChris Prowse’s Waterfront Collective’s Trouble on the Waterfront’ and The Shiner
Flea Bite’s – In Your Ear and Circus of Fleas
Fatcat and Fishface’s Bird Brain Theatre Sound Design:
-Sound design and music for several of Tim Spites Seeyd Theatre plays, 2006 – 2012, including the award -winning December Brother
-Sound design and music for Ginette MacDonald’s My Brilliant Divorce 2008
-Sound design for Centrepoint Theatres The Raft 2009
-Sound System Design for 2010 New Zealand International Arts Festival show 360
-Sound system design for Chris Wards award winning sound design for The Lead Weight 2011Awards: Gil has been nominated for several Chapman Trip theatre awards, and won best sound design for The December Brother in 2010. She also mixed Tui award winning albums Trouble on the Waterfront by The Waterfront Collective, and Circus of Fleas by Fleabite and tracked another Tui winning album Dog Breath by FatCat and FishFace.Live Sound:
-Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra – FOH engineer
-Pink Floyd Experience – Monitor engineer
-World of Wearable Arts – FOH engineer
-The Woolshed Sessions – FOH engineer
-Rosy Tin Tea Caddy – FOH engineer
-Claude Rains – FOH engineer

History of The English Brass Bands

The English Brass Bands got their start during England’s Industrial Revolution. They were originally organized and financed by mining and milling companies to keep the working classes from politically organizing. In 1860, there were around 750 brass bands in England. Today the English Brass Band tradition is found throughout New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and the United States. The Salvation Army has kept the tradition alive in the United States.

English Brass Bands are made up cornets, flugelhorn, tenor horns, baritones, trombones, euphoniums,B-flat and E-flat basses and percussion. The bands are made up of 28 to 30 members and their programs can include original music, traditional marching songs, hymns, and medleysBands in New Zealand are graded into four levels A grade to D grade. A grade being the top grade, and D being the equivalent of a beginner band. In Britain, the equivalent is 1st – 4th grade, with the addition of the Championship Section. The Championship Section is the best of the best and includes famous bands such as Black Dyke and Grimethorpe.

The contests in New Zealand consist of each band preparing a March, a Hymn, and an original piece. They are also given a set test piece. The A Grade is very competitive, and as the contest becomes closer; the bands practice several times a week, with extensive rehearsals on weekends. Each player is expected to continue practicing at home. Several bands have tempted top players from England by helping them relocate to New Zealand.

 

Leslie Ann Jones- Part two

LA JONES photoDon’t be afraid to raise your hand

Women can sometimes hold themselves back out of fear of failure, whereas men will generally jump at opportunities to take on something new even if they’ve never done it before.  It’s often a challenge for us to overcome the feeling of needing to be proficient at something before agreeing to take it on. Leslie recognized this herself in the early days of her career. “Wanting to be of service as an assistant and yet trying to be ready so when the moment came to be thrown into the fire, even though I might be nervous, to just do it was challenging. And yet to this day, that is what molded me. My curiosity, my willingness to try different things, to step out of my comfort zone on purpose.”

“To tell you the truth I NEVER really felt comfortable and secure. I always felt like there was so much I didn’t know, and so much I needed to learn. Even before I became a professional, when I would walk into Hi-fi stores or instrument stores and ask questions, it was really to try and get a better grasp of terms. When I worked at Capitol Studios, we started doing more film and TV scores. But the method of working and the language was so different that I ended up taking a film sound class just to get more comfortable with the vocabulary and the work-flow. So for me, it never stops. I guess deep down now I am secure in knowing I will figure it out. Every step of the way I learn more. I still ask questions, even of my contemporaries.”  Leslie adds that for women to push past their comfort zone and take the necessary risks to advance in their careers, “The most important thing is to raise your hand, say yes, and then find a mentor or someone you can tap into to help you along the way. At ABC I was so fortunate to feel like everyone there, from the tech staff to the engineers to the artists had a vested interest in my success. But you have to be open to that.”

Leslie has taken on many challenging projects because she does raise her hand and say yes.  Recently she took on a live project called “The Hidden World of Girls.”  “I was asked to do it by Laura Karpman, an Emmy-winning composer and client, and friend of mine. She composed the music for the Cabrillo Music Festival in Santa Cruz centered around The Kitchen Sisters. They (Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva) had a radio show where they asked girls to call in and leave a message about their “hidden world,” things about them others didn’t know. They were fascinating stories, and a whole full-length performance was built around those voice recordings, Laura’s music, and the music of 3 other women composers, all conducted by Marin Alsop and the Cabrillo Orchestra. And to add to the challenge, it was being performed where that festival is always performed, in a civic auditorium that also gets used for things like basketball games. I decided to mix it in surround. My assistant and trusty sidekick Dann Thompson and I brought a whole pro tools system and played all the voices off that. It all had to be timed perfectly like an old radio show. In fact, that is what I wanted the audience to experience…to close their eyes and be transported to these different worlds. There were a lot of masters, err mistresses to please. Laura, of course, asked me to do it because of my orchestra experience, I have known and admired Davia and Nikki for a long time, and then there was Marin and the orchestra. Nothing was done to a click, so that made it even more challenging. But she is a great conductor. It all took care of itself.”

 

Having started in this business when women audio engineers were extremely rare, their number still has not increased greatly over the past 40 years.  The answer to why this is difficult, but Leslie offers two ideas: One being that girls need to be given the tools they need while they are in middle and high school. “ Girls tend to be more concerned at that age with peer pressure, boyfriends and puberty. They need to be supported for their convictions and their tenacity and regarded for raising their hand first, regardless of the consequences. That is why organizations like Girls, Inc., and The Institute for the Musical Arts are so important. They build confidence.”  And again, having the courage to take risks and seize opportunities when they arise, “. I think it is still a big leap to go from being a great assistant to having all the responsibility for running the session. I saw it as a means to an end. I could still be involved in the creative aspect of making music but in a different way.”

Leslie, Bonnie Raitt and June Millington, circa 1979

For those who are interested in getting into the business, Leslie feels that an education in the recording arts is essential for anyone looking for a career as a recording engineer.  Equally as important though, is the creative part of the job which cannot be taught in school. Especially for those wishing to become producers. “Being a producer and what the job entails has so much to do with what the artist needs. There are very few multi-room studios now where one can get experience working on different projects, different genres, and alongside different engineers.”

Leslie has seen many engineers come and go and notes an important trait shared by the most successful engineers and producers is, “not getting upset. If there is a problem, just deal with it and keep the session going and the artist happy. I recently participated on a panel at AES in New York titled “What Would Ramone Do?”. It was a tribute to Phil Ramone, the producer and engineer legend. Al Schmitt told a great story about Phil; that if there was ever a problem in the studio, like a technical problem, he would just go out into the studio and start rehearsing with the band, or call for a dinner break and buy some time, all without letting on what was happening. When things were ok, they’d swing back into the session, and no one was the wiser.

Scoring Stage at Skywalker Sound

Scoring Stage at Skywalker Sound

Setting yourself apart from the competition is key to getting the job, and as with anything it takes more than technical skill.  “Still to this day I remain impressed by people that will do whatever it takes to get the job done. Extending themselves, showing up, asking questions, staying after school. That hasn’t changed. What has changed is this entitlement some younger kids feel that means they don’t have to do any of that. Communication skills, writing (yes penmanship), being of service, all of those will make you stand out. Find something you are great at and make the most of it.”  “To paraphrase a famous character, there is no thinking, only doing.”

Leslie Ann Jones has certainly done…a lot.

“You really have to walk in every day ready to make music, no matter what that entails.”  “Making records is a creative process, and that needs to be the focus. Remember what I said about Roy Hallee having all his tools in place? Then he could go ahead and be creative. Making records, making music is about joy and having fun. Our job is to make sure that happens.”

Leslie’s list of clients, projects, and accomplishments over the years has been extensive, and she says the diversity has helped her longevity in the business. Helping artists and composers fulfill their aspirations, and being able to do that in a facility that honors the creative work that helps make that happen, is one of the most enjoyable parts of Leslie’s job.   Working at Skywalker Sound, she says she’s had the pleasure of working with some of the most creative and talented people she’s known.

Leslie with one of her Grammys

Leslie with one of her Grammys

Like most women, Leslie finds it challenging to have a career and a life at the same time.  “Both are very important to me as one feeds the other. That balance continues to be challenging, and I think it is harder as a woman than as a man. I don’t have children, but I have watched many of my contemporaries have families and children. Unfortunately, we live in a society where it is still seen as the woman’s main responsibility for parenting, even when the Dads are great parents and our work is quite time-consuming. “  But when asked if she could imagine herself having chosen another career path Leslie replies, “I can’t imagine having chosen something else. I have a great career, exciting, challenging and fulfilling. I am surrounded by music all the time. I get to work with incredibly talented and creative people. Well, perhaps a little more time to make my 2nd wine would be appreciated.” : -)

leslie2

Leslie Ann Jones- Having the Courage to Raise Your Hand

leslie-at-work

Multiple Grammy-winning Recording Engineer Leslie Ann Jones is a true trailblazer. A most respected and revered engineer among her peers with a career spanning decades, Leslie has had the pleasure of working with many incredibly talented artists at several historic studios and is presently Director of Music Recording and Scoring at Skywalker Sound, where she’s been since 1997.

To say her list of accomplishments is impressive is an understatement. Here are a few:

First Woman Recording Engineer at ABC Studios in Los Angeles 1975

First Woman Engineer at the legendary Automatt Studios in San Francisco, 1977

First Woman National Officer of The Recording Academy

Sound engineer and Road manager of one of the first American all-women bands- Fanny, in the 1970s

Multiple time Grammy Award nominee and five-time Grammy Award winner for:

2003-Winner for Best Chamber Music Album- The Kronos Quartet, ‘Berg: Lyric Suite’

2005-Winner Best Jazz Vocal Album- Dianne Reeves, ‘ Good Night and Good Luck’

2010- Winner Best Engineered Album, Classical- Quincy Porter, Complete Viola Works

2015-Winner-Best Engineered Album, Classical- Laura Karpman-Ask Your Mama

2019-Winner-Best Engineered Classical-Kronos Quartet-Terry Riley-Sun Rings.

In 2014, Leslie was nominated for two Grammys: Best Surround Sound Album- Signature Sound Opus One,  and Best Engineered Album, Non- Classical- for Madeleine Peyroux, ‘The Blue Room.’  ( A category she shared with fellow engineer: Trina Shoemaker, and also the first time two women engineers had been nominated in the same category).

You never know where the road will take you

Growing up with musical parents, (her Father was novelty drummer, percussionist, and bandleader Spike Jones and her mother- singer Helen Grayco),  Leslie’s introduction to the music business started at a very young age.  Musician friends of her parents were always visiting the family home, and that led to Leslie being exposed to a wide variety of musical styles and sounds. Spending so much time around musicians from such a young age also gave Leslie incredible insight into working with artists.  From her Father’s creative use of unusual instruments (cowbells, brake drums, foghorns, and such) and her mother’s style of singing and introduction to the styles of Sinatra, Bennet, and Streisand, [1] Leslie’s young ears were already being primed, and she was forming a set of skills that would be invaluable in her later career as a recording engineer.

jones:grayco:photoagency

Leslie’s parents and brother Spike Jr.
Photo Credit: Photo Agency

Leslie started playing guitar around age 14, after receiving one as a Christmas gift.  She then formed a musical group with some family and friends[2] which proceeded down the all too familiar road of performing, recording, getting a record contract, and then getting dropped due to the ever-changing record company scene of the 1970s.

Her interest in audio was piqued when she found herself in charge of the sound for the last rock band she was in. Though she had a knack for mixing, Leslie felt that being self-taught on guitar she didn’t quite have the chops to be on par with those she admired like; Lee Ritenour, Larry Carlton, and Stephen Stills, so she focused her attention on becoming a producer like the legendary Producer/Manager- Peter Asher.  She began arranging music for other’s bands and acquiring PA gear.  “Then when the band broke up, and I found myself with a small PA system, I started mixing live sound and formed a company with friends who also did live sound. We pooled our equipment and went to work! I seemed to have a natural talent for it, even though I was not mechanically or electrically inclined. So I had to work harder at some aspects of it, but I loved to mix.”

During the same time, Leslie had a day job at ABC records working in publicity and artist relations. In her desire to become a world-famous Producer/Manager, Leslie had the foresight to know she needed to learn more about audio engineering and approached the studio manager for a job. [2]

It took some time though before she was engineering records.  “My first job at ABC Studios was as a “production engineer.”  I was on the 4 pm-midnight shift. In those days U.S. based record companies would send a 1/4″  2 track tape called an EQ copy to their foreign affiliates, and those affiliates would press LPs and cassettes using the EQ copy. That way it had the same sound as the US releases.
tape
My job was to make a copy of the EQ master that was generated by the mastering room so it could be sent overseas. We also had a large cassette duplication machine and would make cassettes for all the label execs and artists and producers working in the studios.”

Some months after she had started, she finally began doing setups for sessions.  Next, she volunteered to assist on a session and then did nothing but assist many engineers for months, later engineering their overdub sessions when they got too busy.  The studio manager, Phil Kaye was a bit unsure in hiring Leslie, as female engineers were an extreme rarity in the 1970s.  “We did have a female mastering engineer at ABC, Lois Walker, so the presence of a woman in a technical position was not foreign. But being in a mastering room and being in the trenches of a live recording or mixing session were not really the same thing”.

Despite that, Leslie found that the men she worked with at ABC Studios were supportive, being patient with her, as she learned. Something that probably wouldn’t have happened if she wasn’t open to accepting people’s help. [3] “I had so much support from the staff engineers at ABC who all took me under their wing: the late Barney Perkins, Reggie Dozier, my boss Phil Kaye, and of course Roy Halee, but it was also the first time I was taken off a session because I was a woman.” Roy really laid a foundation for me and the things I learned from him are branded into my DNA: Work ethic; making sure all your tools are as you want them so you can just go to work and be creative; Zero on a meter is important; using your ears; the value of reverb (he was a master). “

johnmayall-ahardcorepackage-sealed-lprecord-371997In those early days, Leslie had to walk the fine line of showing people you can do the job with confidence, rather than arrogance.  “Once I got thrown into sessions with outside clients I would still get asked when “the engineer” was showing up. I would say I was the engineer and of course would be met with some skepticism. That lasted about a half-hour into tracking. Once they realized that, not only did I know what I was doing, but they loved the sound, then I could do no wrong. Plus having a sense of humor (thanks, Dad) helped immensely.”It was at ABC Studios that Leslie finally engineered her first album with John Mayall, called – A Hard Core Package.

The Automatt

When Leslie moved to the Automatt in 1977, Fred Catero was the only other engineer at the time, and it wasn’t clear whether Leslie would be his assistant or another First Engineer.  All it took was a client to call who didn’t have an engineer and Leslie was it.  At the Automatt, she had the chance to learn from Roy Halee, Fred Catero, and David Rubinson.  “Roy came from CBS in San Francisco (later called The Automatt), so when I got there, I felt a little like I was following in his footsteps.”

“Roy’s contemporary Fred Catero taught me the art and value of recording many things on one track given limited “real estate,” 24 tracks in those days. How to stack tracks, how to do live bounces of backgrounds or horns when you didn’t have enough tracks. And both Roy and Fred were master editors.”

“And David, well he was what I had originally aspired to be…a great producer and manager. He could make great records and then go upstairs to his office where he made sure his artists got the best follow through. He and Fred trusted me with their demos, their artists, and later with many of the groups that came to record on their own. David also taught me about creating songs from 16-minute jams and how to listen and create on the spot. But my fondest memories of David were not recording-related at all. He had a great wine collection and a palate to match, and it was my first experience with that. That became my second passion, and after all these years I have just made my first wine.”

During her time at The Automatt, Leslie was lucky enough to have recorded the first digital multi-track recording session in San Francisco on the 3M tape machine, Carlos Santana’s album- ‘The Swing of Delight.’  Later at Capitol, she fell in love with the sound and operation of the Mitsubishi X850 and X880 32 track, which was later superseded by the Euphonix 48 track disk-based recorder at Skywalker, “because I was able to record 48 tracks at 24/96.”  “None of those are available any longer, but they were all great in their day. They allowed me to use technology to enhance my work.”  Some of Leslie’s other favorite pieces of gear include: a Neve 88R which is an analog console, one of the first digital reverbs, a Lexicon 224, EMT plates, “and yet I also use new things, mostly microphones.”

Use what you’ve got

The Automatt at one time had a staff of 6 engineers, 3 of which were women. “It was the Bay Area of course, infinitely more tolerant. But that ratio was unheard of…probably is still to this day.”

“At The Automatt, I first started working on sessions with all women. That was the era of ‘women’s music,’ primarily folk music specifically marketed and created for and by women. Women-owned record labels, musicians, producers, engineers artists, distributors, festivals, etc. Mostly lesbians, all feminists. It was when I first encountered being hired because I was a woman and what that brought to the sessions. Because the Automatt had a split staff, many times on regular projects, we would have a woman 1st engineer and a male assistant or vice-versa. One producer, in particular, would “cast” the sessions based on the vibe he wanted for the artist. I started to realize that being who I was and bringing that to whatever session I was doing was the most important thing I could do.”

Of Leslie’s many skills, being open to adapt to whatever situation comes her way and always ready to seize an opportunity, “not being afraid to raise my hand,” are two traits that helped pave the way to the top of her profession.

Leslie mixingWhile she admits that trying to find your way in a room full of guys can be challenging, Leslie also sees that women bring a different set of skills in the way we approach our jobs, with the ability to multi-task better than most men, being one.  Also, “there seems to be much less ego with women than men (for better or worse). We are more prone to work with people as team players. Maybe that is why I have always enjoyed being on staff. Those qualities are really important if you are going to show up at the same place and work with the same people all the time. BUT having said that, those attributes can be our downfall as well. I liken it to female chefs. We make great assistant engineers/sous chefs, but it is quite a leap from there to the Big Chair…to being in charge of the session/kitchen or restaurant. Still to this day that seems to be the most difficult transition.”

Leslie moved to Capitol Records in 1987 where she was hired as a staff engineer and became known for engineering Jazz, Vocal and Classical.  She had a roster of regular artists such as; Rosemary Clooney, Michael Feinstein, Bebe, and CeCe Winans and others. She also won her first Grammy for Dianne Reeves- ‘Good Night and Good Luck.’

Ten years later Leslie accepted the job of Director of Music Recording and Scoring at Skywalker Sound.  Having begun her film-scoring career with the movie Apocalypse Now during her years at the Automatt, Skywalker would allow Leslie to showcase both those skills and her talent for music recording while also bringing her organizational skills as Studio Director.

Read Part Two Here

 

Find More Profiles on The Five Percent

Profiles of Women in Audio

Kim Watson- You Have to Learn From the Best

UK-based sound engineer Kim Watson has been a freelance audio engineer since 1999.  Kim’s foray into live sound started with a love of music and a desire to work in the music business.  “I always knew I wanted to be in the music industry, I just never quite knew in what respect.”  Although having started her training in recording school, she found recording sessions boring and monotonous.  Kim was attracted to the challenge of live sound, “having one chance to get it right and then, that moment is gone.”

It never hurts to ask

While she was at a show, Kim approached the FOH engineer to whom she expressed her interest in live sound.  Luckily for her, he was the owner of a local PA system and gave her a call the next week to show up for work.  Kim recalls how she was the 3rd person on the show and was ‘paid in pizza and information.’   It was a proper sound company, and Kim spent the next three years learning as much as she could.  “First thing he showed me was how to coil cables.  Then how he wanted mics plugged in Stage box end first, roll the cable to mic stand, so it lies flat, coil left at the bottom of the mic stand in case it needs to move, etc…” She got on very well with the crew, earning their respect by getting her hands dirty, asking questions, and learning how to not get in the way if a problem arose.  Her fellow crew guys became very protective of her, jumping in if anyone gave her a hard time.  One bit of wisdom she retains to this day, ” If a mic goes down on stage, you have 30 seconds to fix it before everyone notices, and the band stops the song and kills the flow of the show.”  Kim paid close attention to the crew guys when they were talking tech, ” At first I didn’t understand much, so I picked up on words- ‘Crossover,’ and would then go home and research what it does.  The next time I would ask questions. I made it my mission to read the Live Audio Boards every day, even if I didn’t understand it, things would sink in.”

Festival FOH Four years later while she was working with another company, Kim would get her big break as a monitor engineer, when she got drafted to replace a co-worker who didn’t show up for a festival.  It was a 50’s Rock and Roll weekend with ten bands a day and a crash course in mixing monitors.  “First time on the monitor board was fun.  Feedback wasn’t so much an issue as we set up the day before, and Barry, the guy I was working for, had me ring the monitors out, teaching me as we went.  Barry introduced me to the principle of subtractive mixing, pulling back something that’s in the way of the item they want more of, be it through EQ or nudging the aux back a touch”, she says.  Kim’s been doing monitors ever since.

She is currently the monitor engineer for The Subways.  When she isn’t touring, Kim works freelance for PA companies, such as ESS (based in Mansfield), and is also an audio tech for the O2 Academy in Newcastle, UK.  Having a sweet house gig at the Academy is a huge advantage for Kim, being that she can always find work in the downtime between tours.

Kim is an experienced system/fly tech and more than capable of mixing FOH when required, but most often finds herself at the stage end of the snake.  “Primarily I tend to end up being Monitor Engineer and these days specializing in mixing IEMs.”  The close interaction with the band and the on-stage shenanigans that the audience doesn’t see is one of the things she enjoys most about doing monitors.

FestivalmonitorsNever stop learning

During her school years, Kim went to careers meeting with her parents where she was told that being a “sound engineer” wasn’t a real job.  While her parents tried to guide her to a more reliable career as a music teacher, she knew it wasn’t for her.  “It wasn’t until after I had started work experience with the PA company, that they realized it could be a job, but I would have to MAKE my way job in the industry.  For me, it was all or nothing.  I got into the habit of giving 110% on every show.  People are always watching, and that is what gets you up the ladder.”

Her educational background includes; studying music throughout her school years, Technical college, which included education in Music Tech, Math, Computing, and Physics, also getting her HND* in Music Production, while she was cutting her teeth working at the PA companies.  Kim also plays several instruments and has a background in music theory, which she finds very helpful in mixing.

Kim continues educating herself to this day.  To keep her chops up, besides working and mixing as much as possible, Kim also makes an effort to attend manufacturer’s training seminars.  “I did the Meyer Sound Comprehensive System Design (5 days) and the SIM3 (5 days) courses a few years ago.  I learned so much from both.  Understanding a lot more about the physics behind the sound system, audio interactions, and system measurement has helped a lot.”  Kim is also grateful for having studied Physics at College; she says it “made understanding the principles of phase and wave interactions (in wave theory) very easy.”

She has done training on every digital console she could get her hands on.  “I have always been a computer nerd and got my head around digital desks very early.  I am one of those engineers, that even though I have never used a certain type of board, I can make the show happen the same as I would on analog.  This makes festival walk-up gigs really easy.”

EmiliSande monsystemtech Royal Albert hall

Emili Sande at Royal Albert Hall

For The Subways, who she’s been with for going on two years, Kim is mixing IEMs.  The band usually carries their own LS9 and Sennheiser transmitters, and she’s hoping to have them fully self-contained on stage by next year’s tour.

Kim has been working for the O2 Academy since it opened in 2005.  Recently, she was Monitor System Tech for the two UK legs of Emili Sande’s tour, Monitor tech and Fly tech for Brit Floyd UK and Europe, and Monitor Engineer for “Wow- A celebration of the music and artistry of Kate Bush.”   Kim loves the people she meets on tour.  Familiar friends of The Subways will show up at their local gigs, sometimes joining band and crew on the bus for a few days.  She is also lucky enough to work with a band that enjoys organizing days off in towns with something interesting to do or see, such as visiting a castle or museum.

Lack of sleep is the hardest part of touring for Kim.  “There have been a few tours where hours of sleep at night are very minimal, with lots of back-to-back shows.  That nearly killed me, pushing me right to my limits and making me quite ill.  It’s learning to get the balance.  When you are on tour and you have the option of one of- shower, food, or sleep – choose wisely as it can be your undoing.”
While she admits to having difficulty picking a favorite piece of gear, since gear is always changing, she says, “ My favorite piece of gear is the one that works when you plug it in, and it’s right for the job at hand.”

From the start, Kim’s long-term goal has been to be in the top 10% of live engineers.  “I was told early on by one of my mentors, to be the best you have to learn from the best.  I went out and found out who the top engineers in the world were and read everything I could online that they had written, (through prosoundweb.com and other sites).  It’s been awesome over the years meeting, working with, and hearing the engineers I looked up to.”

Britfloyd Systemandmontech

Brit Floyd

When she first got started in the business, Kim asked another female engineer for advice which she quickly adopted as her own rules.

And one final word of advice: “The most important skill in this job is attitude.  Do it all with a smile and your day will be very easy.  Become a ‘yes person.”

*An HND is roughly the equivalent of two years of university and generally vocational in nature leading to work in a specific industry and entry into advanced levels of the university, somewhat similar to an Associates degree in the USA

The 50th Anniversary of The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

August 28, 2013 marked the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his historic I Have a Dream speech. The original March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was broadcast in its entirety (fifteen hours) by The Educational Radio Network (ERN) the fore runner to NPR. While WGBH of Boston presented the original broadcast in real time on the 50th anniversary, NPR broadcast live from the Lincoln Memorial. (more…)

Grace Royse – Rock & Roll Not a Pipe Dream

 

Rock and Roll was no ‘pipe dream’ for Grace Royse. Despite all of the discouragement from those around her and closest to her, Grace fought her way through to a touring career as a live mixer, never giving the negativity an ounce of energy.

“I was always obsessed with music for as long as I can recall. I still own the mixtapes I dubbed in my garage as a kid. In high school, I discovered Punk Rock and made some brilliantly terrible recordings.”  Once she was old enough to drive, Grace started following bands around and working her way into recording sessions where she met a few engineers and learned whatever she could.  “I ended up in the beginning stages of CRAS (Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences) in Phoenix. Back then the school was taught mostly by working engineers and the classes rotated through local studios, some of us even landed internships while in class.”

While attending CRAS, Grace met David Nichols, who was the owner of Livinghead Audio Recording and a talented engineer himself.  “Livinghead had amazing vintage gear and the best of the new digital platforms. I worked with Jazz, Classical, Rock, Rap, Country, and Indie. We attended several AES’s as a studio, and after graduation, I worked with David for three years before opening my own studio in Tempe.”

Grace and her business partner built their studio by at first, providing PA and live multi-track recordings. Maintaining her own clients and running shows, even on a small scale, is where she really learned the most.   “A few years after the studio opened, a Production Manager friend called and said his engineer had quit and he needed help. That very day I ran my first real touring show as a favor to my friend. I worked at that venue for the next 6 years, meeting hundreds of Engineers and Tour Managers was eventually scooped up by a Fat Wreck Chords tour, and have been touring ever since.”

When she was first getting started in the business, Grace faced a lot of opposition from family and friends who believed touring to be an unsafe environment and bought into false rumors that she had fallen prey to drug use and promiscuous sex.  Learning to stand up for what she wanted was her biggest obstacle, but one she has overcome.  “I never gave in to what others thought was best for me, pushing forward with my own voice in my heart.  It’s a technical job.  It’s no different from any other career with a long learning curve and long hours. You must prove yourself, starve for a while, stick to your guns, and love what you are doing, even when it gets really, really hard, even if you stand alone in your vision. ”  “As a doctor, it takes 12-14 years to actually get anyone to call you “Doctor” with an ounce of respect, and though being a Doctor is looked on with reverence in our culture, with the long hours, and travel schedules, not many people can maintain relationships with them. The struggle feels similar to me, though we aren’t curing cancer out here, some days it feels just as hard.”

Touring life can be brutal on relationships, which Grace experienced recently with both a supportive significant other, who was unhappy and wanted her home all the time, and a very old and close friend who, overcome with jealousy, told her touring would make her ugly.  To make things easier, Grace started actively seeking out like-minded people.  “I continue to build an expansive network of colleagues who support me and have big goals of their own. It’s kind of like growing up in a small town where everyone becomes a farmer, and you are the outcast who wants to be an artist, then one day you move to San Francisco and find amazing, happy people to create with. Touring was my grand move. Over the last nine years, I have met the most amazing teammates. We push each other to succeed, believe in what we are doing, and offer this rare comfort: You aren’t crazy to have such wild dreams and I believe you can do it! “

Over the last nine years Grace has had an exciting career in a variety of roles:  FOH engineer, Monitor Engineer, Stage manager, Production Manager, Recording Engineer, Pro Tools Op, and Broadcast mixing, with a variety of bands:  No use for a Name, Useless ID, Pour Habit, Dirty Heads, Cypress Hill, Pennywise and the Descendants.  She is currently the Monitor Engineer and Stage Manager for Sublime with Rome, and FoH/Production Manager for Rome.  That’s a lot of hats to be wearing.   When asked how she handles all of the responsibilities Grace replied, “I love working within a company that has me doing lots of different things. There is no chance of getting bored around here, that’s for sure. There’s huge comfort in that. I’m kind of an organizational freak and to be able to steer my own ship is awesome. To be able to work with people who trust me is awesome.  I hope in the future, they continue to give me even more responsibility, because not only do they know I can handle it, it’s a benefit to the whole project and everyone involved to have me at the helm, and that’s one of the biggest compliments in the world. I don’t mind that my hat changes and I don’t mind that they lean on me for just about anything.”

“I remember the first time one of my Artists introduced me to someone as simply “my Engineer.” I really took that as a huge compliment. I’m going on four years with these guys, and we have done just about everything you can imagine. Fly dates where I’m mixing them in this little room, with scarcely a PA and I’m the only one there, to these huge arena tours, where I’ve got several semis trucks, tons of local hands, and my own PA to fly.  I think in that time, my whole network has learned that they can come to me with just about anything and I’ll make it happen.”

Her favorite day off activity is hiking to a swimming hole, as long as the destination permits, and being a huge foodie, she likes to seek out the best cuisine around.

As for advice to other women who wish to enter the field: “Hold your own. Set boundaries and stick to them. If you are not true to yourself, your goals, and your own professionalism, you won’t make it, not in Rock n Roll, not anywhere.”  “You’re a technician but also an artistic performer. Passion drives art. If the passion is in your heart for that chilling silence right before the first note hits, and the thunderous applause after the last, proceed.”  Grace’s future plans include the goal of FOH/TM.  “As long as I stay with people and projects I care about, I know it’s within reach.”  “All the amazing people I have met and grown with over the years are invaluable to me. I am beyond grateful for their years of guidance and support. Lapping the globe with your best friends is beyond amazing.”

Grace’s favorite gear includes Digidesign, Neuman, Shure anything, and D&B. I have a huge lady crush on AKG 4050’s, Neumann KM184’s, anything Manley Labs, API or Great River.

“I am totally a closet gear junkie.” She’s quick to add, “I have worked with the worst gear you can imagine over the years, having to duct tape together a PA for a show, and repair things on the fly has made me a better engineer. I feel really bummed when I think about the privileged kid that gets to buy all the really nice gear right out of school or goes right into a super clean gig. They are totally getting jipped out of the struggle that will make them amazing. I laugh now, thinking about this disgusting club me and my friends worked in many years ago. I had to repair an NL4 that got stepped on in the middle of the show because we didn’t have spares. There I was on stage, right there under the lead singer, who was spraying fake blood all over the crowd and me. That club taught me to repair, maintenance, and really down to the point physics of sound and electrical science of what we do. You will never learn that if you walk in, flip a switch and it always works. Get your hands dirty and make it work when it won’t.”

Grace’s Recommended “Must Have” Skills

People Skills!

It is unreal, the broad spectrum of people you will work with. Be ready to have thick skin for that loud tough boss. Be open to the quiet, humble tech who doesn’t speak much, he likely knows more than anyone. Get along with everyone. You never know where you will see them again on your journey

Technical Aptitude.

You’re a super dork now. Read the books, hit the conferences, get in the blogs, and nerd down with your gear head friends. Stay on the edge of the coolest and greatest. Someday, when you are a really big deal, they’ll give it to you for free! For now, do what you can to put your hands on the gear and read anything you can find.

Organize, Prioritize and Be Prepared.

Learn to be the neat freak. The cleaner you are, the smoother the show will go. I make lists. I lay out my gigs in my head on the airplane. And I anticipate a million scenarios.

Stay Calm.

As the saying goes, “anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” If you live by #3, you are already, ready. I tell my interns, the people I respect most are calm amidst the storm. A pillar, the one you go to when the sh*t really hits the fan, and there they are, calm and with the answer in hand.

Have a good sense of humor.

Number five should very likely be number one.  If not for my ability to laugh, I’d never have made it this far. Humor, when you make mistakes. Don’t beat yourself up about it. That’s how anyone gets great at anything, by getting it wrong first. Laughter, when you are too tired and too busy to think. Humor is vital to the ability to brush off stress. Laughing with my friends is the #1, hands down, the greatest part about this career.  Laugh lots.  Laugh that you are blessed to wake every day to a career you love, that you followed through with what you started, and now your dreams are chasing you around the world.

More on Grace

Grace on The SoundGirls Podcast

Grace Royse on Roadie Free Radio

Grace Royse on Signal to Noise

Grace Royse, Virtual Congregations

The Right Balance: The Diverse Career And Life Of Grace Royse

Grace Royse on Mixing Sublime with Rome with VENUE | S6L

Grace Royse Website

Find More Profiles on The Five Percent

Profiles of Women in Audio

Proving Yourself

By: Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato
 
Although I am focusing this article on live sound as this is my area of familiarity, I am sure that those of you working in other areas- audio for gaming, post, broadcast, etc…

I think it’s safe for me to say that most, if not all of us, women feel incredible pressure to work harder, smarter, and faster than our male peers, especially when first starting out.  This is a male dominated business and there are still some men out there who feel women have no place in it.   It’s hard for anyone to break into live sound and the music business in general, but possibly harder for a woman. (more…)

Fleetwood Mac Tours with the Next Generation of Women in Audio

 

Over a span of forty years, Fleetwood Mac has survived numerous incarnations and several breakups to become one the most popular music groups in the world. They have sold more than 100 million albums and have several top ten singles such as “Rhiannon”, “Go Your Own Way”, and “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow”.  Fleetwood Mac is currently on a world tour, and Stevie Nicks has declared 2013 the year of Fleetwood Mac. It is also the year that their sound crew has added two women to the roster. Meet Hope Stuemke and Meg Tempio.

rig front

Meg has been working in professional audio for about four years and two years for Clair Global. Meg works as a stage tech on Fleetwood Mac. Hope has been working in professional audio at Clair Global for three years and works as a PA tech on Fleetwood Mac. They both had wonderful experiences working together on Fleetwood Mac bonding over Harry Potter and having dance parties in monitor world. They both found having another woman to talk to on the road refreshing.

Stevie Nicks has always demanded respect in a man’s world saying she “wanted to be respected by every single dude on that stage” (Nicks qtd. in Yuan). Hope understands the struggle Stevie and Christine had in the ’70s and is thrilled to see things have changed. Hope says “when people see that you know what you’re doing, you’re a hard worker, and you’re smart, man or woman, you get respect on the road.” Stevie and Christine were role models for Meg, and their driving force in the music industry was a source of inspiration. Meg thinks it speaks volumes being women on the audio crew for Fleetwood Mac and Hope has never felt more respected as a fellow roadie. Mick Fleetwood even admitted to his meet-n-greet guests that he couldn’t believe a tiny girl (Hope) put up all those speakers. Obviously, this made her day.

Meet Meg and Hope

Meg Tempio

Meg 4

Meg was involved as a musician in the local music scene of Greenwood, Indiana but found that she hated being on stage. She soon found herself working for a small club, and that opened up the world of live sound to her. Meg started off selling merch and eventually “got in the van” tour managing local metal bands. Van touring has definitely made Meg appreciate having a bunk on the bus. Hanging out at a music festival called Cornerstone – Meg got her first taste of a large-scale production. She watched how a barren field was transformed into a music festival for thousands of kids. She was hooked.

Meg went to Full Sail and felt that the program was fantastic giving her a sampling of what the real world is like. She graduated with a degree in Show Production and Touring and then got a job with Audio Integration Services in Chicago.  Meg worked for AIS for a little over a year, mainly providing sound systems for electronic dance shows.  Matthew Edgar and Nathan Short of AIS were completely supportive of Meg, giving her a solid foundation, and always took the time to answer all of her questions. Meg eventually landed an interview with Clair Global and was accepted into their Road Staff Training Program. Fleetwood Mac was her first tour for Clair, and she has just finished Paul McCartney. She will be heading back out with Fleetwood Mac on their European and Australian runs.

Meg 3

Meg has found that she has met some of the most incredible and inspiring people touring and would eventually like to become a monitor engineer. She has been fortunate to work with side some pretty talented engineers and says it is fascinating to watch their different approaches, from how they interact with the artists to mixing.

Meg believes there is still a stigma that comes with being a woman in the industry. She has lost count of how many times she has heard backhanded comments about not being able to understand or do something because she is a woman. Her advice to other women is to have a “thick skin and let it roll off your back. Have a sense of humor and laugh it off”. Meg says there were many moments that she felt like she had hit a wall and would never achieve the goals she had set. She says “Don’t give up, if you want it bad enough, you can make it happen.” Having a sense of humor and a positive attitude can make a world of difference. A good work ethic, being approachable, and easy to work with are incredibly important skills. Lastly, if something goes wrong, don’t panic – learn to work through it. Those skills will be extremely important for mixing monitors.

Meg’s advice for balancing road vs. home life: It is easy to get stuck in the bubble, but taking the time to text or call home will help keep you connected to people you love.

Meg is a history buff and enjoys spending her days off exploring with the help of an App called History Here. It pulls up your location and tells you what historical events happened in the area. One of the highlights was the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. She also enjoys having amazing meals.

Must have tools:
Leatherman
Beyer Dynamic DT770 headphones
Universal Audio 1176LN
Sennheiser e935.

Meg is still amazed that she gets to work in live sound and every day wakes up realizing there is nothing in the world that she would rather be doing. She looks forward to seeing what the next chapter brings. SoundGirls does too and look forward to hearing about it.

Hope Stuemke

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Hope is currently a PA and Monitor Tech for Clair Global; she has worked there for three years. She prefers working on the PA side and believes she would prefer mixing FOH to monitors.  She is currently on tour with JAY Z  and Justin Timberlake.

Hope was introduced to live sound through the youth band at her church. She says when the church found out she could sing and play guitar they threw her into a room full of PA gear, cables, and chord charts. She soon found herself as the leader of the youth band and soon became frustrated with their soundman. “He was pretty much deaf, and I was completely convinced I could make anything sound better than he could.” Hope eventually discovered she disliked performing and enjoyed manipulating music. That is when she decided to pursue a career in audio.

Hope went to Belmont University for Audio-Engineering and was able to work at Clair’s Nashville shop. Hope says the Belmont program is very thorough and covers the history of recording, how to record to tape, how to use a digital audio workstation, microphones, mixing and mastering techniques, acoustics and room treatment, and electronics and circuit theory. Belmont offers a class called Tour Production, which teaches the logistics, politics, and etiquette for life on the road. Hope says the class saved her from making a lot of mistakes and is grateful for it.

The live sound department at Belmont is where Hope called home. They ran an entirely student-operated sound company. They booked their own shows, maintained the gear, staffed the gigs, drove and loaded the truck, and did gigs. They even installed a sound system in the campus cafe. From Belmont Hope was accepted into Clair’s Road Staff Training Program and started working at the Clair Lititz shop. There she would spend half the day working in the Clair shop for whoever needed help. She would move between cable world, prep world, and speaker world. Then she would spend the rest of the day in class learning Clair-approved methods for system building, AC power, PA rigging, and proper RF design.

Hope has learned a lot about touring in the past few years such as breakfast makes a happy roadie, a productive crew always takes a break for meals even if it is only ten minutes. Take your time during load-in, ensuring everything is done right the first time and makes for productive load-outs. Learn how to balance all the personalities on tour and know that sometimes it is better to hold your tongue. She has picked up tricks and shortcuts from other roadies and has become particular in the way she does certain things. She says that she is destined for OCD in her future. She has learned to drink responsibly and is still trying to determine her breaking point.

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One of the challenges Hope faces is communication, and this is such an important skill to master, her advice is “It’s all about respect. Most of these people have been a stagehand longer than I’ve been touring, and half of them could be my parent”. Hope tries to find a way to instruct local crews while not talking down or yelling at them. Occasionally, Hope finds “there are a few people who just don’t get it, and that’s when the monkey see, monkey do principal works well. Do the first one with them. This also works well when no one speaks English”.

Sexism: Hope feels that it is rare, but still out there.  “Mostly the older guys who can’t grasp women in the workplace. My favorite example was a down-rigger telling me to “let the men do the real work” when I was trying to answer a question he had about one of my points. I walked away only because the rest of his crew apologized for him”.

Hope’s advice:

Hope offers this advice to women wanting to enter the world of live sound:

Must have skills:

Communication, patience, attention to detail, working well with others, learning from your mistakes, napping, radio and bus etiquette, troubleshooting, and cable management skills.

Must have tools:
Leatherman Wave
Neumann KM184
Neve gates
Mackie HR824
JH Audio 11’s in-ears
AKG k240 studio headphones

“I’m still new to this industry, and this is just a snapshot of what I’ve learned so far. This business is truly unique. If you can be a great roadie, I think you can be anything in life. But for me, I’m happiest on the road, so on the road, I will stay.”

Thanks for taking the time Hope and good luck in your future endeavors.

Works Cited

Yuan, Jada. “Stevie Nicks, the Fairy Godmother of Rock.” Vulture. New York Media LLC, 17 June 2013. Web. 29 Aug. 2013.

 

 

Mudhoney Inspires Career in Sound

From Mudhoney to Monitor Engineer Christina Moon

 

Mudhoney over their twenty-five + year career has inspired and influenced many musicians and fans. One night in 1998 they inspired a young woman to become a sound engineer.* Christina Moon found herself at a Mudhoney show at Summer Nights at the Pier, and walked up to their soundman and asked him “What she had to do to be him?” He gave her great advice recommending classes in music technology at Shoreline Community College and to get involved in the local club scene”. Christina followed his advice and started interning, and within the year things started to click for her.

Christina says she has worked at every club in town (Seattle) and got her start at the Central Saloon. Having met a gentleman named Purple Perry at the infamous Crocodile Cafe who invited her to come hang out with him at the Central. She took him up on his offer and pretty soon she was working a few nights on her own. Unfortunately, for Purple Perry, he made a singer cry, and Christina soon found herself working all of the nights. Christina worked at the Central for five years while working any other gigs she could. Corporate shows, stagehand, small runs of the Northwest with local bands – Anything and Everything. Christina says she learned “soooo much from being in the clubs. You don’t know as much as you think you do until you are thrown in the fire”. The most valuable skills she came away with were how to troubleshoot and how to handle different temperaments from artists.

Soon Christina found herself interning and working at Studio X and with a recommendation from the studio manager landed a gig at Carlson Audio. She worked at Carlson for about six years and during her time there honed her professional skills. She learned how to fly sound systems and was able to gain valuable technical skills. Christina says of her time at Carlson “I thought it was all about being able to put up a great mix, but no, it is so much more.”  A moment of accomplishment came when Carlson trusted her with a truck and PA and sent her alone with a broken arm to Portland for a Queensryche show.

IMG_1118Christina has been working in the industry for fourteen years and works with some of the most prominent alternative acts today. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Death Cab for Cutie, Cat Power, and LCD Soundsystem to name just a few. Christina mixed FOH for a long time but over time became known as a monitor engineer. While she did enjoy FOH, she has no desire to return. She prefers working on stage trying to figure out “people’s quirks.” Christina spends anywhere from eight to eleven months a year on the road and enjoys dining and spa-ing her way around the world. Australia is her favorite place to tour and hopes to get to Russia and Africa eventually. She has no advice for balancing tour and home life – other than she knows who her true friends are.

Christina has her favorite tools – An Avid Profile, D&B M2 or M4 Wedges, and Ultimate Ears for IEM acts. Christina’s acts all have specific needs, and she finds that the Avid Profile and the snapshot feature allow her the most control to manage changes during the show. For acts using IEMs, she throws an external time clock on the console to tighten everything up. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and LCD Soundsystem only use wedges, and with both bands volume is essential. She works closely with the FOH engineer to make sure “we’re not stepping on each other’s toes and leaving frequency holes, so we both have a good time.” A huge fan of D&B Christina uses M2 wedges and C7 sidefills for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Christina elaborates “The biggest challenge with this band is Karen’s vocal mic. She goes from being a quiet, demure singer to swallowing her mic with her face buried in her wedges. With the M2’s “I can get the volume that I need, and the double 12’s have an edge that I feel manage to poke through stage volume”.

LCD Soundsystem used 20 mixes of M2’s and M4’s with Q1’s and C7’s to get a club sound on stage. James Murphy singing thru a vintage Sennheiser 609 had an exact vision of the sound he wanted, and Christina used a combination of M2’s and M4’s to get his sound.

Death Cab For Cutie – A challenge as all of the guys in the band are producers with their own studios and can hear EVERYTHING. Christina does appreciate the fact they can tell her exactly what they are hearing and want. DCFC are all on IEMS.

Cat Power – Christina helped them to make the transition to IEMS. They were afforded the luxury of a month of production rehearsals to make the transition. Christina points out that time to make the transition is so important “I would say time is a big aspect of a band feeling comfortable with the switch. I feel unsuccessful attempts happen when bands try them for the first time on a show day and don’t have a great experience, then don’t want to try again”.

Q&A

Digital or Analog? Both have pluses and minuses. Nothing beats the warmth of an analog preamp. But the footprint of outboard gear is a bummer. So I’m going to have to say digital because you have everything at your fingertips.  I’ll take the extra ins and outs, comps, and eq’s. Digital preamps are getting better, the new Midas’s sound great.  Also, I could not go back to a day without snapshots. My setlists used to be covered in cues and some days you just didn’t get to them all. Now at a click of the mouse, all of my changes are made. Love that! So do the bands, it’s the same every night.

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What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?

I would say that I’m my biggest obstacle. Making myself face situations that are new and uncomfortable, always good to do that. Every time I start a new gig, I’m not 100% sure I can pull it off. It’s not just about your skills; you never know if you’re going to fit into the new scenario. I always come away a little more confident though. Advice you have for other women and young women who wish to enter the field? Get out there and get involved in anything and everything you can. That really helped me find what role I would be best suited for.

Must have skills?

Patience, sense of humor, and thick skin

Would you recommend Shoreline Music Technology program for young women starting out?

Yes, I think it’s a nice place to start. I don’t know if the program is the same, but you had to explore a lot of the different aspects of music production.  Analog recording, digital recording, live audio, with two years of music theory.  I feel it was a well-rounded learning experience.  Was I ready to get a job after this?  No, but I think it was a good foundation for me and gave me the opportunity to figure out what I was interested in.  It’s not for everyone.  I think that most of what you learn comes from on-the-job experience and interning.  Until you actually experience something, I don’t think it sinks in.

What discrimination if any have you faced? How have you dealt with it?

Sure you’re going to run into some dudes that just wanna be around dudes.  I really don’t care, and you deal with it by going out and killing it at your job.  Usually, by the end of the day, they wanna be your friend.  But for the most part, people are really nice and supportive.

Best show ever? And why?

I think my best show ever was the last LCD Soundsystem show at Madison Square Garden.   It was the band’s last show before retiring, and everyone worked really hard to make that show great.  Lots of dancing, champagne, and tears.

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Christina has continued to tour the 2017 season with LCD Sound System

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