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La découverte de la musique

Music is an important part of many people’s lives. The number of albums available to listen to is endless. I have recently been going through and organising my parents’ vinyl collections, as well as their VHS tapes and cassette tapes. How vintage. It made me realise that I have never really actively “looked” for new music to listen to. Music seems to find me. My lifestyle can result in the discovery of new artists every day. For example, through scrolling on social media, I am made aware of different songs. By listening to the radio, I hear new musicians. Instagram stories by influencers can encourage me to search for a song. I have an ever-evolving playlist on Spotify simply called ‘new’ where I add songs recommended to me all the time. Then when I find the time to listen, I go through and either keep or delete.

 

A recommendation by Corinne Fisher on the ‘Two Less Lonely Girls’ podcast was the 1995 Alanis Morissette album: ‘Jagged Little Pill’ and I am constantly playing it on repeat at the moment. It is so good. I don’t know how I hadn’t heard it before now. I also follow YouTube musicians including Ebony Day, Hobbie Stuart and dodie, not to mention authors and directors that sometimes post a cover or two, such as Hazel Hayes. Whether its covers or original songs, you can often feel much more connected to a song sung by an online personality whose work you admire. It is clear that I have an eclectic taste in music. Is there anyone else that enjoys the La La Land soundtrack just as much as Wu-Tang Clan?

I watch a Norwegian TV show called Skam, which has a superb soundtrack. The show has been recreated in many countries including France, Italy, Spain, and Germany, adapting the storylines and characters to the culture of the country. The soundtracks are available as playlists on Spotify and YouTube, and it is such a great way to discover a wide range of international music. From Yelle to Kid Astray, from Gabrielle to Sigur Rós, there’s bound to be a song that surprises you (in a good way).

I also find new musicians through podcasts such; ‘George Ezra & Friends,’ ‘Teenage Mixtape’ and ‘Phil Taggart’s Slacker Podcast’ where they ask fellow artists and music lovers what first inspired them, who they used to listen to when they were younger and the first album they bought. This made me think about the first music I bought.

My first…..

Cassette tape: S Club 7 – 7 (This was unfortunately left in a car and never found again).

Vinyl: Jake Bugg – Shangri La

CD: Girls Aloud – Sound of the Underground (I vividly remember getting this from Woolworths in 2002 lol).

Spotify playlist: SKAM NRK P3

 

Through looking through my parents’ record collection, I have discovered Daryl Hall and John Oates and Genesis as well as rediscovering Billy Joel and the ABBA Gold album. Safe to say I have hundreds of vinyl and tapes to listen to for the rest of the year. Do you have a record collection? Although CDs have become less popular over the past few years due to streaming and online downloads, it seems that vinyl is coming back into fashion, either to be used properly and played on record players or framed and used as décor!

WHERE ELSE TO FIND ME:

Tri-lingual radio show (Sobremesa): https://www.mixcloud.com/Alexandra_McLeod/

Sobremesa Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AlexandraSobremesa/

YouTube and Geography blog: https://alexandrasobremesa.wordpress.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-mcleod-79b7a8107?trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile

 

I Have Confidence in Me

 

So, let them bring on all their problems – I’ll do better than my best

I have confidence they’ll put me to the test – But I’ll make them see I have confidence in me

I Have Confidence, from The Sound of Music: Rodgers and Hammerstein, 1965

To succeed in audio, having the right amount of confidence is key. I struggle with a lack of confidence, and this post will mostly deal with how I counteract that. However, if you think you’re god’s gift to sound, you might want to take a minute to reflect on whether that’s true too, especially if your bragging is overcompensation for low-esteem. Being realistic about your abilities, and having a mindset somewhere between Marvin the Paranoid Android from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the average Pop Idol contestant is the goal.

Plenty of aspects of this job can knock your confidence: as a freelancer, it’s easy to constantly compare yourself to others. As I mentioned in my last post, social media can be toxic; when all you see is the best aspects of your peers’ lives, it’s easy to think you’re lagging far behind. If office workers get stressed out and jealous any time there’s a promotion to compete for; we can feel that way for every gig. “Why did they put him on that show?” “Why did they think she’d be good for that role?” “Why didn’t they ask me?” The politics of who gets hired are many and varied, and if you try to make sense of it or take it personally, you may well end up sobbing in a corner. Even if you try to abstain from it, your colleagues might loudly and rudely question your abilities for you, either to make themselves feel better or to advance their careers. Having the confidence to get on with your job and show them why they’re wrong to doubt you are the best way to fight back.

Lack of confidence can sabotage you while you’re in the middle of work. We often have to deal with complex issues while sticking to tight deadlines. We can’t wander off, read up on the topic then come back the next day feeling educated and refreshed; the gig has to happen today. And of course, what every sound person dreads: the announcement that there are “technical issues.” The entire audience turns around as one to stare at the front of house, even if it’s a dodgy connection on a guitar pedal. You didn’t even see that bus coming before they threw you under it!

A healthy level of confidence (not to be confused with arrogance) is essential to remain resilient and effective in the face of challenges. It benefits the gig, your career, and your well-being. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is often recommended to treat depression and anxiety, but I think it can help everyone. Courses are freely available online and from your local library, and they help you to get perspective on things and break out of negative thought processes. For example, if you lost out on a job, imagine what you would say to a good friend if they were in your situation. You deserve as much faith and respect as anyone else, telling yourself you’re worthless or unemployable is not constructive.

I have referred to this blog post about caring about the opinion of others before, but I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say it changed my life: Taming the Mammoth: Why You Should Stop Caring What Other People Think. The main point to take away is that people are far more interested in themselves than you, and it’s a waste of time to worry about what others think of you. Let’s take a classic rom-com cliche as an example: you pass a group of people who all smile at you. Wait, why did they do that? Are they just happy? Are they smiling at something behind you? What if they’re actually sniggering at you because you have something stuck in your teeth?

As you can see from the Punnet Square of Embarrassment, there are four main possible scenarios, and in each of them worrying that you have something stuck in your teeth achieves nothing. We all have teeth. We all eat food. Stuff sometimes gets stuck in our teeth; no one cares. If they are laughing at you, you can pity them for wasting their time caring about something so inconsequential. For a bonus tip: very occasionally, I go for a walk and pretend that anyone looking my way is simply awestruck by how incredibly amazing I am. Obviously, that isn’t the case, but it lifts my mood and makes me laugh anyway.

The Punnet Square of Embarrassment. Pink denotes a waste of all your energy to worrying, purple denotes a waste of some energy, and in the blue area, no energy is wasted.

Of course, messing up at work is a bit more important than dental greenery, and laughing it off like you don’t care is not the approach to take. The principle remains the same, though: it happens to everyone, even the best engineers in the world have bad days. By all means, learn from what happened and plan how to prevent it from happening again, but then brush yourself off and move on. Dwelling on it can ruin your focus for the rest of the day and lead to more silly mistakes.

A great way to have confidence is to genuinely have a solid understanding of the topics at hand, and I recommend learning all you can at every opportunity. However, no one can know everything about every piece of equipment, every band, every venue. It can take a bit of experience to know what’s normal to know, and what isn’t. If you’re not sure of something, don’t be afraid to admit it; we’ve all been there, and it’s how we all learn. Everyone needs to ask the internet, a friend, or a manufacturer’s tech support for help sometimes. It isn’t a sign of failure; it’s part of the job.

Finding a happy medium in self-confidence, and having an accurate idea of your competence is a constant growing exercise. Discuss it with colleagues you trust, as it is often easier to gauge from an outside, more experienced perspective. Ask for input from several sources, so you aren’t unduly influenced by one opinion. Knowing your worth can reduce stress at work, reassure your clients and colleagues, help you when negotiating pay and lead you ever closer to your goals. It also encourages you to help others: only people who are afraid of competition hoard their knowledge. People who are confident in their abilities are happy to share and raise everyone up, which increases their confidence too.

Ableton Live for Anybody

No experience necessary. Beginner and intermediate users welcome. All genders and non-binary people are welcome.

$60 for the two-day course – email soundgirls@soundgirls.org if you require financial aid

Register Here

Class Description
Do you want to start making beats? Do you want to learn how to make your own demos? Do you want to sharpen your DAW skills so you can get over that first learning curve and really start running with your creativity? Do you want to start performing live with Ableton, but don’t know where to start?

By the end of this two-day course, you will have learned all you need to know in order to really get your engines revved up about Ableton. I want to give you the tools to explore and to run as much of your show as you want to. With your newfound agility and excitement, you might even feel confident to explore parts of Ableton functionality that haven’t yet been discovered! Because that’s what creativity is all about—exploring and playing! But first, what is it exactly that you will be learning?

Day One will be all about the essentials of Ableton. What is the basic design behind this software? How do you get the sounds you want IN there, so you can edit them and play with them? How do you program a drum beat? How do you slow it down if you want to? How do you mess around with ideas and decide what parts you want to go at the beginning, the middle, and the end? How do you listen to it on your phone? By the end of the class, you will have a multi-track song that you create entirely by yourself using Ableton.
*Key items covered: time signatures & tempos, MIDI, audio, clips, arrangement view, bouncing

Day Two will focus on Ableton in live performance. You will learn how to make backing tracks that are suitable for the type of performance you want to put on. Maybe you want to push play at the beginning of the set and never really look at your computer again until your last song. Or maybe you want to engage with every sound that comes out of the house speakers. Or maybe your fantasy set is something in between! We will go over different approaches to designing your live set by using your new song from day one as a template.
*Key items covered: importing tracks, deciding on a playback concept, labeling, setting up loops and automation

Equipment needed (students):
-laptop with Ableton already installed – You can download a 30-day free trial

Instructor: Elana Carroll is a songwriter, producer and performer who has been making original music for 15 years. She holds a BA in music and critical theory from Bard College at Simon’s Rock.

Elana’s interests as a writer/producer span from electronic and dance to pop and country, and she co-writes with other artists as well. Her current focus is on teaching (she will be teaching a Beats by Girlz class this fall), and her own project, Party Nails. She feels it is part of her purpose in this life to “normalize” non-males in the music business through performance, teaching, and mentoring. She is particularly fascinated with popular culture and music in the age of technology.

Missed this Week’s Top Stories? Read our Quick Round-up!

It’s easy to miss the SoundGirls news and blogs, so we have put together a round-up of the blogs, articles, and news from the past week. You can keep up to date and read more at SoundGirls.org

May Feature Profile

https://soundgirls.org/from-making-tea-to-top-gear/

The Blogs

Zora Neale Hurston

Podcasting Gear on a Teacher’s Budget

Avoid the Event Hangover.

Being A Musician Makes Me A Better Sound Designer and Engineer

 

Internet Round-Up

New music program wants more women, non-binary producers in the mix

Songwriter / Producer / Entrepreneur, TRAKGIRL on Pensados Place

 

SoundGirls News

Leslie Gaston-Bird is raising funds for her 50th birthday. Happy Birthday! She is raising funds for the “SoundGirls – Gaston-Bird Travel fund” which has been established to increase the presence of women and those that identify as women at audio trade conferences. Women who have been invited to speak, or sit on panels at audio related trade conferences are welcome to apply. More info at https://soundgirls.org/soundgirls-gaston-bird-travel-fund/

SoundGirls Co-Founder Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato has created a Free eBook called 7 Things Every Live Sound Engineer Should Know

“The most common thing I hear from new engineers and those just getting started in live sound and mixing is how overwhelmed they are with how much there is to know. They focus on trying to learn all of the gear and keeping up with every new piece of equipment or plugin out there, instead of learning the underlying principles and techniques. This is why I created the eBook. There were so many other things I could have listed, but I tried to keep it to what I felt would help solve some of the biggest problems sound engineers face: Understanding how the system works together, being able to mix on any console, dealing with feedback, getting better quality sounds and mixes, and having more confidence in what they are doing.
The book covers these important concepts- Signal Flow, Proper Gain Structure. The eBook explains the importance of these, as well as proper EQ techniques, how to use a gate and compressor, choosing the right microphone, basic troubleshooting, and getting good sounds from the source.”

The link for the free ebook is:
https://www.mixingmusiclive.com/ebook-page

Top 30 Audio Engineering Blogs, News Websites & Newsletters To Follow in 2019

Congratulations to all our bloggers. The SoundGirls Blog is number 12 of the Top 30 Audio Engineering Blogs, News Websites & Newsletters To Follow in 2019.

SoundGirls Events

https://soundgirls.org/event/mastering-w-piper-payne-oakland-2/?instance_id=1522

https://soundgirls.org/event/vancouver-meyer/?instance_id=1524

https://soundgirls.org/event/vancouver-soundgirls-social-3/?instance_id=1526

 

SoundGirls Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon – May 26th

Register For Career Paths in Recording Arts

 

https://soundgirls.org/event/los-angeles-soundgirls-june-social/?instance_id=1555

SoundGirls Intro to Soldering – Colorado

SoundGirls Opportunities

Apply to Work The Ladybug Music Festival

SoundGirls and SoundGym

Shadowing/Mentoring/Internship Opportunities

Shadowing Opportunity w/ ME Aaron Foye

Shadowing Opportunity – Brad Madix and Annette Guilfoyle

Shadow Gil Eva Craig – NZ & Australia

Viva La Muxer – SoundGirls Volunteers

SoundGirls Resources

Spotify and SoundGirls Team Up – EQL Directory

SoundGirls – Gaston-Bird Travel Fund

Letter for Trades and Manufacturers

Women-Owned Businesses

SoundGirls Scholarships 2021 Now Open

Events

Sexual Harassment

https://soundgirls.org/about-us/soundgirls-chapters/

Jobs and Internships

Women in the Professional Audio

Member Benefits

Being A Musician Makes Me A Better Sound Designer and Engineer

I have been a musician for almost my entire life.  At four years old, I could sing every word of Annie without skipping a note.  When I was in the third grade, I got a piano for my birthday and started the first of many private lessons.  In the fourth grade, I started playing the viola in my school orchestra. I don’t usually count that as one of my instruments because, in orchestra class, I was more interested in talking to my best friend, who played the cello and sat right next to me.  Because of this, I never learned how to read alto clef fluently, and so I faked the viola until I was in the 7th grade and had to quit when my rouse caught up with me. In the 6th grade, I started playing flute and piccolo in the school band. In the 8th grade, the jazz band needed a tenor saxophone player, so I did that for a year since it was a smooth transition from the flute.  Somewhere in middle school, my dad got me a Fender California Series acoustic guitar, and in high school, he got me a Gibson SG. I can play the guitar well enough to be entertaining at a campfire. I was a music major in college, and while there, I took private piano and flute lessons. Most of my music school friends were percussionists, so halfway through my college career, I started taking private percussion lessons, and somehow became the principal percussionist in Campus Band.  So, as you can see, I have a pretty diverse background in music. Music has driven every of my life decisions. So why, when I started my studio recording private lessons, did I not want to play any music?

My degree is in Commercial Music.  My focus in that area was on engineering and producing.  As part of this focus, I was required to write, record, and produce a song once a week.  I would then have a one-hour lesson where my professor would respond to my latest creation.  The expectation was that I would absorb these notes, and my next project would be better. The thing is, it took me a while to get better because I did not want to write or play my own music.  For some reason, once I began the Commercial Music program, I decided I only wanted to be an engineer and producer, and I did not want to be a musician anymore. I asked my professor if I could hire musicians to play for me.  I told him I would do two lessons a week instead of one; I just did not want to play anymore. He did not bend–not even a little. Then he told me something that I have never forgotten. It’s a phrase I use with my students all the time.  He said, “My engineers are not just button pushers.” He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, and he is a fantastic trumpet player. He has a wealth of musical knowledge, so it frustrates him when sound engineers don’t feel the music the way he does.  He told me a story about a sound engineer that worked for him in the past. He said this guy did not have a musical bone in his body. He was a button pusher. Mics would come on; mics would go off. That’s it. My professor decided that he did not want anyone coming out of his program to perform like that.  I fought it for a while, but eventually, I gave in, and I’m glad I did. It was the best decision I ever made.

Now I’m a sound designer for theatre, and my musicianship helps inform many of my decisions.  I know to push the music during a big musical swell or interlude. I know that a little reverb in the back makes a small orchestra sound more prominent and lusher.  I know to fade down to underscoring, and I know to gracefully fade up to transition music. It’s not something I think about. It’s something I feel in my body, and my hands just follow.  I know it’s easy for me to say though. I’m a musician, and I have been for most of my life. So what if you’re not a musician? What if you can’t read music, you’ve never touched a musical instrument, but you are a sound engineer?  You don’t have to be a musician to be musical. You don’t have to be a musician to feel the music in your body, and I have a few exercises to help bring the music out of a non-musician’s soul.

First, make playlist of ten songs.  These should be some of your favorite songs, and if they’re contrasting genres, even better.  Next, get some headphones, and head to a quiet room where you can be alone. If it doesn’t creep you out too much, turn off the lights.  Now put on your headphones, and listen to your entire playlist. Note the parts that give you the warm fuzzies, or make the hair on your arms stand up, or force tears to flow from your eyes.  What is happening musically in those moments? Did the instruments crescendo? Was there a vocal effect? Did the reverb ring out after the final note? What about that music made it an experience as opposed to an exercise.  Remember that stuff, and carry it with you into your next gig.

After you’ve done the headphones task, do it again, but this time listen through the best speakers you have access to.  Even if that’s in your car, that’s ok. Listen to the same playlist, and remember those spots you loved. Keep your hand on the volume knob, and gently follow the musical line.  Turn up the volume slightly with that swell. Fade it back down when the line does. This will start to help you attach your warm fuzzy feelings to your technical hands. This is an exercise I love, so I always encourage people to do make multiple playlists and practice this regiment often.  It really does help train your brain and your body to work together.

Another great exercise I like to have my interns and students work on is shadow mixing a movie.  My suggestion is to choose a few movie musicals like Les Miserables, Moulin Rouge, or literally any Disney movie.  Now, sit on your couch, and put 8 pennies on the coffee table in front of you.  For the first movie, keep your pointer and middle finger on your right hand on two of those pennies.  Those are your music faders. Just like the volume knob exercise, move those penny faders with the music.  If you want to add a level of precision, mark a piece of paper with decibel markings to put under the pennies and keep track of the relationship of your pennies to unity.  Do not note things like “Now I am at -10, now I am at -12.” Once you start relying on the numbers, you stop using your ears, and they are your most valuable tool. The muscle memory and relationship between your ears and fingers is what is most important.  After you’re comfortable with the music, watch the movie again, and this time, assign characters to the other 6 faders. This part you will probably have to practice scene by scene, and if there are more than 6 characters per scene, you can assign groups to one DCA, or penny, in your case.  So now, you just repeat the process but adding vocals. When you hear voices get big, follow them with your pennies, and keep doing what you were doing on the first round with the music. If you’re going scene by scene, try filming your hands, and repeat the scene twice. Do your hands have basically the same relationship each time? Are there long stretches of time where you have forgotten to consider music changes? Review the footage, and repeat the practice. The next time you are mixing or designing a show, you just might find that your natural inclination will now be to enhance the musical line with subtle fader movements, thus giving an otherwise flat sound some body and life.  This will be the difference between an acceptable show and an impressively beautiful show.

 

Podcasting Gear on a Teacher’s Budget

Last year my colleagues and I had a super fun podcast and were hoping to expand to a live radio setup. Unfortunately for reasons beyond our control, the entire radio program was canceled! We invested in some equipment, which I do not regret purchasing as we have repurposed it for video blogging. The next adventure is learning live video broadcasting (with live switching??) on a teacher’s budget. For now, I am sharing our budget-but-still-nice setup. Altogether we’re looking at under $1000. I do not suggest buying a bunch of equipment if you’re just starting out, or have no idea on which preferences you have or what you will need. You can rent, borrow, record on your phone using your headset, etc. until you figure out what you want. My local library in Downtown Orlando has a fantastic set up with full recording studio & small vocal booths that are entirely free to use as a resident! Check your local library, seriously!

Equipment

We chose an interface with more inputs than we needed & one that had iPad compatibility (with adapter). It was more expensive than the Focusrite Scarlet, but worth the extra inputs. This interface has two built-in headphone outputs, perfect for a two-person setup. If we had more than two people, we used a headphone amplifier we already owned and borrowed an extra microphone. We purchased two hard cases (technically gun cases but whatever) with foam inserts for $20 each! Our kit also includes XLRs, which came with our mic kit plus some we already owned. You can make your own XLRs as well, which will almost definitely be nicer than the cheap ones you can purchase locally.

Ingesting/Edits

My personal preference is Adobe Audition, although my partner uses ProTools and Logic for ingesting as well. I have always preferred Audition, as I have been using it since it was called Cool Edit Pro. I did a lot of editing for our podcasts, as you can see in the screenshot. Use an automixer to avoid the need to do a lot of automation later in life.

One of the mistakes that I made early on was not having the preproduction solid enough before recording. This meant a lot of editing in post, and that was a significant undertaking. I was an editor in another part of life, but I knew there had to be a better way. Editing everything in post was an actual nightmare.

To quote Bill O’Reilly, “Fuck it, we’ll do it live!!”

Please don’t judge my automation, if we were to continue with multiple users, I would integrate an automixer or the newer “https://larryjordan.com/articles/adobe-audition-cc-2018-auto-ducking-is-magic/”Auto-Ducking feature in Audition CC 2018.’

 

i-Jingle Pro workspace for a podcast on an iPad

There are a lot of options for playback. You can use whatever DAW you feel comfortable with and set up all of your playback from there. Qlab has a free (2 channel) version. Soundcue ($14.99) is one that I’ve used for kids’ theatre production when I had to program an iPod for playback. If you have one of those DJ sound effects pads, that would be a cool choice. For our podcast, we used i-Jingle pro ($10.99) for the iPad. We made our own imaging using the garage band app on our phones (yes, seriously). We’re not musicians, and it turned out hilarious, and I still love it.

Have a solid rundown and play any pre-recorded interviews, imaging, sound effects, music, etc. LIVE. This will save you so much time, treat it like a live radio broadcast, and only clean up what you need to in postproduction. When we figure out the live video blogging (budget version, because teachers) I will share that as well, so stay tuned.

 

 

Avoid the Event Hangover.

 

Have you been there? Done an event that starts at 6 am but doesn’t end until 3 or 4 am.

Afterward, you go home, get some sleep, but you still have to get up at a reasonable time to function that day?

Then you wake up feeling like you spent the night drinking way too much?

I call this the event hangover. It’s close to the same feeling as a hangover, but you missed the entire section of the night that was enjoying a few drinks and hanging out with friends.  There’s the headache, body aches, your feet hurt, and you don’t exactly remember what time you got home. Does any of this sound familiar?

As I do more and more shows each month with hours like this, I strive to avoid the event hangover as much as I can. Here are the tips and tricks I have found that help me avoid feeling terrible after a long event.

Drink lots of water – forget the monster soda and coffee. Drink water all day and night long.  If you must have something caffeinated pair it with a bottle of water as well. Along with this – make sure the water you are drinking doesn’t have any additives that counteract the point of drinking water.  Be picky with bottled brands to make sure there isn’t added salt or bring a reusable water bottle and fill it up at the drinking fountain.

Eat right – Balance your meals and try to stick with your routine. Make sure to eat regularly to give you the fuel you need to make it through the long day. Most of all avoid the deep-fried food and the desire to overeat once the show is over.  If you must snack – snack well, granola bars, fruit, protein bars, etc. will do the trick. Avoid the candy bars or the left-over doughnuts from the morning load-in.

Wear the right kind of shoes – unlike a real night out where we might wear cute shoes, don’t! Wear durable and reliable ones instead. If it is a long show, consider a change of shoes. I find if I change shoes halfway through, my feet don’t hurt as much the next day. Wear your composite or steel toes for load-in and out, and other shoes designed for standing and walking in-between.

Shut down and get some sleep when you are done with work – Stay away from your computer, tv, or phone screen. Unwind by reading a book or magazine or by listening to soft music as you fall asleep. Focusing on digital media can keep you up and focused on everything else but rest. Get as much rest as you can so you can recover from the long hours and hopefully avoid the event hangover!

 

Missed this Week’s Top Stories? Read our Quick Round-up!

It’s easy to miss the SoundGirls news and blogs, so we have put together a round-up of the blogs, articles, and news from the past week. You can keep up to date and read more at SoundGirls.org

May Feature Profile

https://soundgirls.org/from-making-tea-to-top-gear/

The Blogs

Interview with Electronic Music Collective Hyasynth House

 

Internet Round-Up

The Other 50% Podcast – Interviews Allie Boettger

Allie Boettger is a sound mixer. And I don’t mean the kind of sound mixer who works on a stage, although she can do that too. Allie is the kind of sound mixer that goes around the world on the Amazing Race, goes to Alaska in winter to shoot Alaskan Bush People, hikes to the top of a mountain and then rappels down it. She is super badass. And she is quite the storyteller, so this episode was really fun.

Theatrical Sound Designer Rebecca Kessin

This is a hugely wide field, and what I’m doing changes from show to show. Musicals become more engineering/system design-oriented, while plays tend to be more content based. One week I’ll be figuring out the logistics of routing a huge orchestra, the next I’ll be recording the rustling palm trees outside my building at three am. (True story.) Creating a narrative through sound is my favorite aspect of what I do, especially from a psychoacoustic standpoint.

URM Podcasts Featuring Susan Rogers

Susan Rogers is a neuroscientist and professor at Berklee College of Music and a mixer/engineer who’s worked with legends like Prince, David Byrne, and Barenaked Ladies among many others.

 

SoundGirls News

Leslie Gaston-Bird is raising funds for her 50th birthday. Happy Birthday! She is raising funds for the “SoundGirls – Gaston-Bird Travel fund” which has been established to increase the presence of women and those that identify as women at audio trade conferences. Women who have been invited to speak, or sit on panels at audio related trade conferences are welcome to apply. More info at https://soundgirls.org/soundgirls-gaston-bird-travel-fund/

SoundGirls Co-Founder Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato has created a Free eBook called 7 Things Every Live Sound Engineer Should Know

“The most common thing I hear from new engineers and those just getting started in live sound and mixing is how overwhelmed they are with how much there is to know. They focus on trying to learn all of the gear and keeping up with every new piece of equipment or plugin out there, instead of learning the underlying principles and techniques. This is why I created the eBook. There were so many other things I could have listed, but I tried to keep it to what I felt would help solve some of the biggest problems sound engineers face: Understanding how the system works together, being able to mix on any console, dealing with feedback, getting better quality sounds and mixes, and having more confidence in what they are doing.
The book covers these important concepts- Signal Flow, Proper Gain Structure. The eBook explains the importance of these, as well as proper EQ techniques, how to use a gate and compressor, choosing the right microphone, basic troubleshooting, and getting good sounds from the source.”

The link for the free ebook is:
https://www.mixingmusiclive.com/ebook-page

Top 30 Audio Engineering Blogs, News Websites & Newsletters To Follow in 2019

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Interview with Electronic Music Collective Hyasynth House

Hyasynth House is a Nashville-based electronic music collective for female, trans and non-binary creatives founded in 2018 by Jess Chambers and Eve Maret. The pair have been incredibly productive since the group’s inception, having hosted a wide variety of events like electronic music meet-ups, live shows, and even a live score accompaniment to classic silent films at the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville. Most of all, the group works hard to foster a community where female, trans, and non-binary artists have a readily accessible platform to express their talents as well as meet and learn from one another.

What inspired you both to start Hyasynth House?

Jess: I was playing shows around Nashville and found myself to be almost always the only female on the bill. The live electronic music scene at that time was mostly made up of cis-men. I was curious to see if I could help change this by reaching out to femme, non-binary and trans electronic artists and helping them get a functioning live setup so we could play shows together! I got excited about the idea of having regular meet-ups to discuss gear and creative process.

Eve: Like Jess, I too longed for a sense of community here in Nashville. Before Hyasynth House, I had considered moving away because I didn’t feel like I was connecting to many people creatively. I’ve always needed to be stimulated and inspired, to make meaningful connections to other artists, and to promote positive change through creative expression. With Hyasynth House, I envisioned a music scene that was more inclusive and diverse; one that centered around the notion of providing a platform for female, non-binary, and trans artists to freely express themselves and learn from each other. At its conception, Hyasynth House represented a microcosm of a healthy society.

Are there other collectives or groups out there that you’ve modeled Hyasynth House from or take examples from?

Jess:  I’m very inspired by Discwoman. They’re a New York-based collective, booking agency, and event platform. They started as three friends putting on a 2-day festival featuring all their female friends who DJ and the response was so positive that they continued as an agency. They have used their success as a platform to be vocal about gender and racial discrimination issues within the electronic music industry.

Can you talk about your experience in the music community in Nashville and how Hyasynth House plays a role within it?

Jess: Our experience has generally been very positive. There is something special about femme, non-binary and trans artists hanging out and making things happen for ourselves. It feels powerful and beautiful, and it’s so much fun!

Hyasynth House works to bring together and uplift female, non-binary and trans creatives. We’ve held meet-ups where artists demonstrate their live setups and teamed up with local techno label Tram Planet to run a DJ workshop. We gathered artists to perform at high-profile events such as the Big Ears Festival 12 Hour drone and Science on Screen at The Belcourt Theatre. We’ve hosted shows for local and touring artists. We’ve been proactive in having conversations with local promoters about how we can collectively deal with harassers and curate safer and more diverse live shows across the entire underground/D.I.Y. scene.

What impact do you hope to have on the electronic community in Nashville and beyond?

Eve: We hope to see more gender and racial diversity in the music industry. I feel really grateful for the people I’ve met through Hyasynth House who have touched my life in a really beautiful way, and for the opportunity to bring people together and uplift one another. This ripple effect has the power to make a difference!

What work do you think in this realm is most important?

Eve: Having an all cis-male lineup at a show is not acceptable. Female, non-binary, and trans artists need to be given a platform to be creative. Giving marginalized people a safe space to be vulnerable and share their art is an absolute necessity, both for our individual healing and the healing of the community at large.

How are you tackling these issues?

Jess: Our meet-ups and workshops are exclusively for femme, non-binary and trans people at this time. We believe this is an ideal environment for our collective learning. That said, we are not policing anyone’s gender, and we won’t turn anyone away. We also prioritize calling in talent that is female, non-binary and trans when we have events, so we are directly giving opportunities to the marginalized groups we are focused on.

What challenges has Hyasynth House faced since founding? What kind of regional and local reactions have you received?

Eve: What’s challenged us most has been coping with the behavior of those who don’t understand our vision. Intentionally creating space for female, non-binary and trans artists in our community has sometimes touched a nerve, and certain people have had intensely negative reactions to what we do. It’s hard for them to accept that there’s no “one, right way” to building a diverse music scene. How we’ve chosen to navigate this work is our choice, and we’ve seen a lot of positive changes (individually and collectively) take place as a result. We’ve been offered a great deal of help, and people share their opinions freely with us. We strive to remain open and adaptable while standing by our values. Ultimately, we make decisions based off of what we believe is in the best interest of the people we advocate for. We’ve received a great deal of positive support both locally and across the nation in the form of articles, awards, and the blossoming of mutually beneficial creative relationships.

Can you talk about the artists you have worked with so far with Hyasynth House?

Eve: We’ve been really lucky to showcase the work of amazing artists from Nashville and across the country. Linda Heck, Amaryah Shaye, Erika Glück, Annalyse Clark, Belly Full Of Stars, Adrienne Franke, are a few local artists who’ve been involved in our workshops and shows. Tessa♡ (Cassie Lopez and Edie Babs), Pearl Crush, and Precious Child are non-local artists we’ve had perform at our events.

Favorite piece of gear in your arsenal?

Jess: Roland SE-02 synthesizer

Eve: Ableton Push 2

Best piece of advice you’ve received for your music career?

Eve: Once, at work, a customer came in with a shirt that said, “Quit work. Play music.”

Jess:  This from Discwoman Co-Founder Frankie Decaiza Hutchinson… (not directly to me, but really valuable advice) ”Don’t compete. Try and focus on yourself. People are always going to look like they’re doing cooler shit than you. It’s really just a big distraction and I see that a lot. I know we all experience jealousy and these kinds of feelings….don’t compare yourself to other people.”

Advice you have for other artists?

Eve: Follow your heart! You can do anything you can imagine, just stay true to yourself.

Jess: Aim to touch people’s hearts. Making music isn’t about being clever; it’s about sharing something real. If someone feels it first rather than deconstructs it intellectually, then you’ve tapped into the power of music and art.

What do you have coming up that you’re excited about?

Eve: I’m moving to California in August, and Jess and I are exploring what form Hyasynth House will take once I’m out West. We will continue to expand, connect people and ideas, and host events. I’m most excited about inviting more people to have a hand in coordinating events. We want those who are touched by Hyasynth House to feel welcome to use it as a resource to manifest their creative visions. Reach out to us!

www.instagram.com/hyasynth_house

www.facebook.com/hyasynthhousetn

Jess Chambers aka Dream Chambers

www.instagram.com/dreamchambers

www.facebook.com/dreamchambers

Eve Maret

www.instagram.com/evemaret

www.facebook.com/evemaretmusic

 

 

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