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The Road from Montreal to Louisville – Anne Gauthier

Anne Gauthier is a self-taught independent recording engineer, producer, and drummer originally from Montreal, Canada. She is currently working at La La Land in Louisville, KY.

Anne started touring with bands as a drummer when she was 19. She found her favorite part of being in bands was in the recording studio and at some point decided she wanted to get serious about recording. “The non-official start of my recording adventure was a boombox setup to record casio/vocal duet rock operas with my brother when I was seven. A friend lent me a four-track tape recorder and a couple of 57 knockoffs in my early 20’s which I used for a few years to record my own projects”. She finds the recording process to be technical, creative and instinctual all at once. She would go on to build a home recording studio.

Anne would become interested in analog recording and would stumble across an article in Tape Op on Kevin Ratterman and his studio and his work with analog recording. She decided to email Kevin, and he responded. They would stay in touch for a couple of years and then one day he invited her to assist at the studio. Anne got a work visa and moved to Louisville. She says she has been “very, very fortunate to find such a kind and talented mentor and co-worker.”

Anne would start engineering her own sessions shortly after arriving at La La Land and she just became the head engineer. At La La Land, she has access to a broader selection of gear, and she has found being able to track in a large room has changed her recording decisions. Anne says that her “approach to recording has always been about finding the best recording color to fit whatever project’s personality. Using gear as a means to represent the band in their most natural and interesting light. So even if I wouldn’t call myself a gearhead to any extent, it’s been really fun having a wide array of classic recording gear to experiment with while recording”.

As an engineer, she has been able to work on diverse projects, from hip-hop, jazz, metal, rock, pop, roots and country bands. This has made her a well-rounded engineer. She has also learned to work with different people and personalities. She has found this experience has made her more patient.

Anne finds inspiration from recordings that were made using vintage gear and tracked to tape. She loves the old country and Motown records. Some of the recent recordings that has influenced her are Mary Gauthier “Mercy Now” (Gurf Morlix), Mac DeMarco “Salad Days,” Vivian Girls “Share the Joy”(Jarvis Taveniere), Black Mountain s/t (Colin Stewart), Wye Oak “Civilian” (John Congleton), The Dead Weather “Sea of Cowards (Vance Powell), Big Thief “Capacity” (Andrew Sarlo).

Anne can count on half of one hand the number of women who have risen to the top of the industry. While enrollment has increased in recording schools, she has not seen the results in studios. She says she has been fortunate that she has been supported and has had fantastic mentors.

Anne also volunteers her time with  Girls Rock Louisville that teaches young women and gender-nonconforming youth how to play instruments, write music and form bands, thus building confidence, self-esteem, and critical thinking.

Anne is excited to keep working, growing, and learning. Even after 20 years, you can always get better. Parting Advice is Be Yourself, Be Kind, Be Respectful. Keep learning and don’t be scared to stand up for yourself and others.

Must have Skills: Patience, an understanding of different styles of music, a good musical instinct, being able to be both creative and technical.

Favorite Gear: I’m privileged with the gear we have at the studio, but really I think you can make most things sound cool & exciting with any gear.

You can contact Anne through her website

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

Daniela Seggewiss – Time Flies When You Are Doing What You Love

The Blogs

How to Subcontract work

Me and My Guitar: Part One

Times Up! Time to Move Forward

SoundGirls News

Shadowing Opportunity w/ FOH Engineer Kevin Madigan

Shadowing Opportunity w/ ME Aaron Foye

Letter for Trades and Manufacturers

https://soundgirls.org/scholarships-18/

Accepting Applications for Ladybug Music Festival

Amsterdam SoundGirls Tour & Social

https://soundgirls.org/event/vancouver-soundgirls-chapter-one-year-anniversary/?instance_id=1285

SoundGirls London Chapter Social – June 17

https://soundgirls.org/event/glasgow-soundgirls-meet-greet/?instance_id=1272

Shadowing Opportunities

Telefunken Tour & Workshop

SoundGirls Expo 2018 at Full Sail University

Round Up From the Internet

Rock n Roll In Brazil: A SoundGirl Explains

20 Questions With Catherine Vericolli

Catherine Vericolli is the owner, engineer, manager of Fivethirteen Recording Studios in Tempe, Arizona. She is a lover of all things analog who has personally headed all console installations and outboard wiring at Fivethirteen since the studio’s first console and 2″ machine in 2006. She also co-edits Pink Noise Magazine and teaches classes at The Conservatory Of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Tape Op Podcast Episode 16: Susan Rogers

As an engineer Susan really got her start working with Prince from 1983 to 1988, including albums like Purple Rain, Around the World in a Day, Parade, Sign o’ the Times, and The Black Album. Her other studio sessions have included artists like Barenaked Ladies, David Byrne, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Rusted Root, Tricky, Geggy Tah, and Michael Penn. She is currently the director of the Berklee College of Music’s Perception and Cognition Laboratory, and is an associate professor at Berklee.

SoundGirls Resources

Directory of Women in Professional Audio and Production

This directory provides a listing of women in disciplines industry-wide for networking and hiring. It’s free – add your name, upload your resume, and share with your colleagues across the industry.

Women-Owned Businesses

Member Benefits

Events

Sexual Harassment

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

Jobs and Internships

Women in the Professional Audio

Me and My Guitar: Part One

When I was 11, everyone got a guitar at Christmas except for me. My dad had started taking lessons at the music store in town, and wanted the rest of our family to join in on the fun. He had asked me if I wanted one, but I said no. If everyone else was going to have one, I didn’t want one.

I felt a tinge of envy as my grandpa, brother, cousin, and aunt all unwrapped their new instruments on Christmas morning. My grandpa got an electric bass. My brother an electric guitar. My cousin got a classical guitar, and her mom got a ukulele. The living room was bubbly with strings being plucked and tuned and looked over. I avoided the instruments, stubbornly holding onto my original plan, which was that I absolutely definitely without a doubt did not want one.

With school off for the holidays, my brother and I did our usual routine: half the week with mom and then half the week with dad. My dad, who is an artist, was at that moment in time paying our bills by creating covers for syrupy romance novels. (He hilariously used himself and his girlfriend as the models for a number of them; since he was a long-distance contractor his clients were none the wiser.) Computers have always been slow at graphics, but in 2000 were remarkably slower. So in the downtime, he had while a Photoshop file would render or a new proof would print, he would practice his new guitar skills. He played Billy Bragg’s record Back To Basics loudly and practice his chord shapes and pentatonic scales along with it. Billy Bragg was a rockstar with an activist bent, singing in shouts over pulsating solo electric guitar. I could hear the rock n’ roll energy from my room across the hall while I was writing, reading, hanging out with my cat. It was magnetic, and it made me feel something I’d never felt before. And my dad sounded so excited and motivated to play along with one of his favorite musicians.

My dad would regularly ask my opinion on his work, often showing me variations on a piece he was working on. He’d turn layers off and on in Photoshop, showing me the options and discussing the ideas, colors, and shapes with me, what the client was looking for and what he was interested in. So one day I let myself into his studio under the pretense of feedback. He was playing along with his favorite song off Back To Basics, “A New England”—a record chock full of folk-rock hooks like “I don’t want to change the world / I’m not looking for New England / I’m just looking for another girl.” He was singing along in Braggs’ Cockney-ish accent. He stopped playing long enough to say, “Go get the acoustic guitar from the living room.” The moment I had been waiting for had come. Proud as I’d ever be, (I’m a Leo,) I couldn’t openly admit I wanted to learn what he knew. I was grateful he hadn’t mentioned my change of heart since Christmas. I went and got the guitar.

He left the CD playing and showed me the pentatonic scale he had recently learned. Then he turned the CD player off and showed me the three chords he was working on transitioning between A, D, and E. He told me what his teacher had told him: there are hundreds of songs you can play with just these three chords. The trick is just being able to press down and to strum in the rhythm of the song. And they were interchangeable—you could mix and match them in any order you wanted, and they would still sound great. I will master these if it’s the last thing I do, I told myself.

For the next week, I picked up my dad’s guitar for a few minutes every day before we got in the car to go to school. It hurt to press my fingers down on the sharp strings, but making pretty sounds was vastly more noticeable to me than the pain of callouses forming. I wasn’t sure why, but I was drawn to the instrument more every day that passed.

Finally, one Wednesday, my dad asked if I wanted to go to his guitar lesson in his place. I was so excited. I played it cool and said yes.

One of the Polaroids from the wall in Rob’s shop.

The teacher was a man named Rob. He had a very dry sense of humor, which was lost on me at the time, and had hundreds of polaroids around his store of all the different students and customers that had passed through. I felt like they knew something I did not. Something which I desperately wanted to know. I even felt a little bit entitled. All of this compounded into courage when Rob asked me to show him what I already knew. Truthfully, I was terrified to be put on the spot and to have my skills judged, but I wanted to know what they all knew, and I put my fear to rest for a one-half hour. I played my A, D, and E chords and showed him the pentatonic scale runs that my dad had taught me. Rob showed me how I could lift one finger up in my A and E chords to create a seventh chord. He showed me the same thing with my D chord, but it was different: with this chord I had to readjust my shape, so it became upside-down-looking. Rob told me that “Whoolly Boolly” “Wild Thing” and “Should I Stay or Should I Go” all used these exact chords and their seventh variations. We played through these songs for the remainder of my lesson.

After that day I absolutely definitely without a doubt wanted a guitar.

Round Robin – Rob and I playing some of my songs and some of his songs together at a local round robin. Around 2004.

My next lesson Rob showed my how to play “All You Wanted” by Michelle Branch, which was a huge hit on the radio at the time. I didn’t care too much for the song, but I was too nervous to tell that to Rob because I wanted to seem like I knew a lot about music. In spite of my lukewarm feelings about the song, once I had the chords learned, I became obsessed with memorizing it and playing it well. I couldn’t quite sing and play at the same yet, but the idea that I could eventually recreate the song in its entirely was so amazing to me that I forced myself to practice. All of the friends and family that came over for the next week were subject to listening to me try to do just that.

Once I got that down, I started writing my own songs. I showed them to Rob, who in turn showed me “Psycho Killer” by the Talking Heads to encourage me to play with new subjects and characters. He taught me about I-IV-V or 1-4-5 progressions, and traditional song forms based on their variations. He taught me the circle of fifths using Buddy Holly’s “Everyday.” He taught me diminished and augmented chords, using The Ink Spots’ “Java Jive” and The Beatles’ “Oh Darling” as unforgettable examples. I loved it all. I loved every moment of it.

I didn’t realize that I was at the beginning of a life-long relationship with the guitar and with Rob.

 

SoundGirls Expo 2018 at Full Sail University

Join us for the first SoundGirls Expo at Full Sail University. The Expo has been organized by the Orlando SoundGirls Chapter. SoundGirls will be hosting panel discussions and seminars. In addition, manufacturers will be on hand for demos and training.  More info and schedules will be announced soon. The expo is free, but you must register. We do need volunteers to help with this event.

You can register and volunteer to help here.

We would like to thank our current list of vendors and Full Sail University

How to Subcontract work

There are a number of good reasons to subcontract work. Subcontracting allows you to do more work than you could on your own, to spend less time on tasks you don’t want to do, or to hire someone to do a task better than you can.

What qualifies as subcontracting?

Anytime you pay someone else to do part of a job you are hired to do; you are subcontracting. If you’re hiring an assistant for a gig (and you are paying – not the client), you are subcontracting. Whether you’re paying a sound editor or a mastering engineer, when the client is writing you a check that covers everyone’s costs, you are subcontracting.

Tips for subcontracting

The most important part: let your client know. Be transparent about the fact that you’re hiring help. Generally, if there’s a good reason for it, there won’t be a problem. If you’re working an event, you don’t want anyone asking, “who’s this and why are they here?” If a client is asking you a question about work someone else is doing, you don’t want to be caught off-guard not knowing the answer because of someone they don’t know about.

Put your subcontractor’s deadlines and rates in writing. It doesn’t have to be a formal contract – even a simple email like, “Thanks for helping with this project. Like we talked about, my budget is xx, and I’ll need a Pro Tools session from you by Friday morning.”

Pay people fairly and pay on time. If you wouldn’t want your boss keeping half of your pay and doing none of the work, don’t do it to other people.

Don’t undercut yourself. It takes time to handle logistics, communication, and other tasks to keep your subcontractors working and your clients informed. Keep track of these hours so you can work it into your budgets.

Be available for questions and help. When someone is working for you, they want you to be happy with their work. Some people need more support than others to get the work done.

Don’t subcontract lightly. If you’ve made a commitment to a client then subcontract because a better gig came along, it can reflect poorly on you (unless it was planned/discussed before committing in the first place).

Know when you should pass the gig to someone else vs. subcontracting. If you’re not going to be involved, someone else is doing all the work, and they’re not using your gear or studio it might be easier (and less liability) to have them work/get paid directly.

Hourly or task rate?

The only time I subcontract at an hourly rate is if the client is paying hourly, too. If I need an assistant for a 4-hour gig and it goes into overtime, I want myself and my assistant to get paid fairly for our extra time. Most of the time when I subcontract it’s a set price to complete a task by a certain deadline. They can work whatever hours and pace they want (day or night) as long as the work is done when I need it. I have a pretty good idea (based on experience) how long it would take me to do a task so I usually set rates based on what I would reasonably expect to get paid to do the same job.

The reason I don’t do hourly for tasks is if someone takes 8 hours on something that would take me 4 hours, it’s coming out of my pay (not the clients). Plus, when you have an hourly rate for a task, there’s no incentive to work faster. In fact, some people may work slower. When you have a task rate, there’s incentive to work faster. If someone gets a job done in half the time than planned and the work is done well, they earned it!

If there’s a problem with material that causes the work to take longer, I may go back to the client to authorize an additional charge (before doing the work). When I subcontract, I also budget 5-10% for “misc charges” to cover anything unexpected that comes up which can include subcontractor overages.

Who to hire

Subcontracting taxes in the US

In the US, if you pay someone over $600 in a year (total), there’s some tax paperwork needed:

W-9 form Form W-9 – IRS.gov Ask for this when you ask for an invoice.

In January of the following year, you’ll have to issue a 1099-MISC form. One copy needs to go to the worker and another to the IRS. There are a few ways to do this:

A 1009 form has to be sent to your worker by January 31. The IRS copy has to be received by February 28 (for physical mail/USPS) or March 31 for electronic filing.

Any time you send a W-9 or a 1099 your social security number is revealed. For protection, you may want to get an EIN number (Employer Identification Number) which is free from the IRS. You can do this online, and the process is very simple. https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/apply-for-an-employer-identification-number-ein-online

Resources:

Get an IRS EIN Number to Protect your SSN on W9’s for Self-Employment Income

The difference between subcontractors and employees

Shadowing Opportunity w/ FOH Engineer Kevin Madigan

SoundGirls Members who are actively pursuing a career in Live Sound or Concert Production are invited to shadow FOH Engineer Kevin Madigan.

The experience will focus on FOH Mixing. This is open to SoundGirls members ages 18 and over. There is one spot available for each show. Call times are TBD and members will most likely be invited to stay for the show (TBD).

Graham Nash

David Crosby

  • June 17 Mayo Performing Arts Center Morristown, NJ
  • Sept. 15 Palace Theatre Manchester, UK

Please fill out this application and send a resume to soundgirls@soundgirls.org with Kevin Madigan in the subject line. If you are selected to attend, information will be emailed to you.

 

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

Daniela Seggewiss – Time Flies When You Are Doing What You Love

The Blogs

Times Up! Time to Move Forward

How to Write About Women in Sound

Murphy’s Law

SoundGirls News

Shadowing Opportunity w/ ME Aaron Foye

Letter for Trades and Manufacturers

https://soundgirls.org/scholarships-18/

Line Check! Experience Sound Check a Grammy Nominated R&B/Pop Artist

Accepting Applications for Ladybug Music Festival

https://soundgirls.org/event/vancouver-soundgirls-digico-sd12-training/?instance_id=1304

https://soundgirls.org/event/melbourne-soundgirls-chapter-social-2/?instance_id=1286

Amsterdam SoundGirls Tour & Social

https://soundgirls.org/event/vancouver-soundgirls-chapter-one-year-anniversary/?instance_id=1285

SoundGirls London Chapter Social – June 17

https://soundgirls.org/event/glasgow-soundgirls-meet-greet/?instance_id=1272

Shadowing Opportunities

Telefunken Tour & Workshop

Round Up From the Internet

Calling All Crows is fighting against sexual violence in the live music scene. Work with them to design a sexual violence prevention campaign for your next tour. Programming includes: fan volunteers at each show raising awareness about sexual violence and asking other fans to support the campaign; trainings before some or all of your shows for volunteers and venue staff; pre-show trainings with band + 25 fans in select cities; messaging from stage and social media; partnerships with local rape crisis centers; text hotline; and more.

 

Fever Ray is Smashing Boundaries with her Female Crew

In an industry that continually struggles with gender diversity, Dreijer is smashing boundaries, breaking free of the patriarchy and creating an enterprise that is driven by women and individuals not bound by gender. According to her team, who shared their uncensored thoughts before taking the stage in London, the results are radical. It’s so nice to play with strong women that give you the freedom to express yourself.

 

Roadie Free Radio Interviews Jason Sprinzen, author of the forthcoming book about legendary sound and lighting company, SHOWCO.

 

SoundGirls Resources

Directory of Women in Professional Audio and Production

This directory provides a listing of women in disciplines industry-wide for networking and hiring. It’s free – add your name, upload your resume, and share with your colleagues across the industry.

Women-Owned Businesses

Member Benefits

Events

Sexual Harassment

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

Jobs and Internships

Women in the Professional Audio

Shadowing Opportunity w/ ME Aaron Foye

SoundGirls Members who are actively pursuing a career in Live Sound or Concert Production are invited to shadow Monitor Engineer Aaron Foye. Aaron is currently on tour with Willie Nelson.

The experience will focus on monitor mixing. This is open to SoundGirls members ages 18 and over. There are two spots available for each show. Most call times will be at 11 am (TBD) and members will most likely be invited to stay for the show (TBD).

Please fill out this application and send a resume to soundgirls@soundgirls.org with Willie Nelson in the subject line. If you are selected to attend, information will be emailed to you.

 

Murphy’s Law

I love meeting people in the industry to talk about the events and situations they have encountered. My favorite topic is to talk about the odd or strange things that have happened and hearing about how they overcame those situations. Our industry is so dynamic, no two shows are ever the same and our partners in this industry have all had some interesting experiences.

I get the most out of learning about how people have problem-solved different situations in the past or how they have overcome something unexpected. It’s truly fascinating to hear how they defeated barriers they have encountered over time.  I was recently talking to someone about these same topics, and they commented on it all just being like Murphy’s Law. If you don’t know what Murphy’s Law is, it’s often summed up with the common adage of what can go wrong, will go wrong. I found this outlook very interesting and thought to myself – we’ve all been there.

The equipment stops working; the team wasn’t notified of a drastic time change, the truck is three hours late, and more.  Some things we can quickly recover from, others will cause us hours of extra work to correct, but in the end, the show will go on. We continuously work to overcome everything that goes wrong for the good of the show. These are the things we like to complain about, but they never stop us from doing it again.  Every situation, once experienced and conquered, turns into a great story, often shared during happy hour. I’ve written about some of the situations I’ve had to work through such as an artist not showing up and not having a proper budget for a building; each situation being overcome in diverse ways with skills I have learned over time.  We’ll never know the answers to everything, but we can often use our previous experiences to overcome new obstacles.

In the beginning, some of these will seem like show stoppers, your blood pressure might go up and anxiety may kick in, but you will get through it. With time those issues get easier and new ones pop up, but as you gain experience, problem-solving gets faster and it’s easier to tackle the new ones because you have a better foothold than you did before. Problems that arise often kick-start our adrenaline. Some of us thrive on the challenges that Murphy’s Law seems to provide. It’s an adventure to overcome the obstacles, to adapt to the changing situation in seconds, and to create a solution so the event can move forward. Eventually, we have gained enough skills where these issues don’t seem as big as they once were.

Murphy’s Law gets the best of us from time to time, but if we keep learning through these issues, we’ll only get better for the next show. I also think we might be trained a bit like Pavlov’s dogs; coming back for more food whenever the bell rings.  There is something within the event world that keeps bringing us back time and time again. Maybe we’ve been conditioned like Pavlov’s dogs, but instead of a bell and food, we hear gig and think something along the lines of, oh this will be fun!

So, here’s hoping Murphy’s Law doesn’t kick in for your next show, but your Pavlov’s senses keep you coming back for more.  What can go wrong, will go wrong – but hey let’s do that again and learn from the last time!

 

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