Sound Girls Questions

NAME

AGE

PROFESSION

LENGTH OF TIME WORKING IN SOUND

What first drew you to a profession in sound? Did this stem from a love of music, or film and television?

Was your training and education in sound self-taught and/or through experience, or did you learn your field through high school and beyond?

Can you describe your respective industry (be it TV, film, music, theatre) when you first entered into it within sound engineering?

What were your first experiences like working as a sound engineer? Did you work on the road, freelance, or as a steady position?

Did you have fellow women audio engineers working with you, or were you mostly the only woman behind the scenes? Did you hold any affinities towards women musicians, or women directors or writers or actors, etc.?

Did you experience discrimination when you first started out from male peers or higher ups? Do you think there was a point that you began to be known for the work you’ve done rather than your gender?

Did you encounter male allies who believed in equality for women in the music, media and sound industry?

Were there any musical eras, genres, or acts that were female-centered that inspired you to pursue a career in sound? If you pursued a career in film or television, did any particular film or series inspire you?

Why do you think so few women pursued professions in sound engineering? Are there any gendered components of the profession that you believe hinders this specifically? The biggest issue I have found is the physicality of it, carrying heavy equipment.

For women who came up in the digital era, do you think this helps or hinders their careers? For example, a laptop can grant greater access to the technologies behind audio engineering, but the tech world is still a primarily male-dominated field?

Do you think open discussions about gender inequality in the professional fields and the rise of women aligning themselves with feminism has helped women become more determined to pursue male-dominated careers such as sound? Sound Girls for example was founded during this time of popular feminism, where Beyonce performs with an all-female band at the Super Bowl and aligns herself as a feminist at the MTV Awards, while other acts like Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift also align themselves with feminism. Is this a golden age of feminism for pop artists?

For film and television, have you seen a rise in women directors, screenwriters, and higher ups? Do you think this correlates to more open conversations about feminism and gender equality for women working in the industry?

Do you think that music subcultures outside of the mainstream have been more welcoming and open to women working as sound engineers? For film, did working with indie projects make a difference than a blockbuster, if you’ve had experience in both? Or for TV, was working in a non-traditional, non-network series different than the previous norm?

If there is a heightened awareness for gender equality, do you see an improvement for women working in sound on the horizon? What is the role of Sound Girls within this?