tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88592839704186026472024-03-14T01:33:36.322-07:00Mix Messiah ProductionsLeslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-12967913349619562472020-01-23T07:29:00.001-08:002020-01-23T07:29:22.983-08:00Panic versus ambitionAt the Recording Academy celebration honoring Dr. Dre, I ran into a colleague, Carl Beatty of Berklee, who had some advice for me.<br />
<br />
"Calm down".<br />
<br />
If you are an ambitious person like me, you're always rushing to get the next gig, worried about political in-fighting in your workplace or organization, distraught at what's happening in the world, and leveraging every opportunity that comes your way in a struggle for survival.<br />
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But Carl's words were not an admonition. They were a soothing balm. Yes, these days were are surrounded by strife, worry, politics, and protecting our own egos. We have a lot to do and what we do is important.<br />
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However, sometimes you have to <i><b>rest</b></i> in order to receive <b><i>clarity of purpose</i></b>. This was Carl's advice to me.<br />
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I have been reflecting on this, and have come up with a comparison of "panic" and "ambition".<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O-QIBAKx0oQ/Xim35OkCx1I/AAAAAAAAB7c/TCywI9S8lpQuhQnUxNG1mWrPBllM5NFaACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/panic%2Bv%2Bambition.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="On the left, a girl slides down a hill out of control. On the right, the same girl sleds playfully down the hill." border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="1280" height="201" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O-QIBAKx0oQ/Xim35OkCx1I/AAAAAAAAB7c/TCywI9S8lpQuhQnUxNG1mWrPBllM5NFaACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/panic%2Bv%2Bambition.jpg" title="Panic versus ambition" width="640" /></a></div>
<h2>
<br /></h2>
<h2>
Panic </h2>
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You're running out of money. You have no prospects. You're sliding down an icy slope full-tilt-boogie, ready to reach out for the first thing you can to stop the perilous fall. What will you break today: your arm? Your neck? Your ankle? WILL YOU DIE????<br />
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<h2>
Ambition </h2>
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You're sliding down an icy slope because you love the winter weather. You're well-equipped for the outing. The rush of adrenaline and the cold wind on your face is exhilarating. You made a plan to go down this hill and you're in control. Your destiny awaits you: you are prepared and confident in your skills and - even if you fall - you have a backup plan.<br />
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<h2>
Calm down.</h2>
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If you find yourself in a metaphorical free fall, you can afford to take time and reflect on the things that make you strong, your talents, your skills, what you can offer. If you found you have fallen, you still have your mental capacities and you're smart and creative enough to develop a plan to recover.<br />
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<h2>
Destiny awaits.</h2>
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Ambition is goal-driven, whilst panic is ... well, panic. Don't sacrifice your goals because you're in a free fall, ready to grab the first opportunity that comes your way. If you are in a position to do so, allow yourself a bit of time. Of course it's not easy, and I'm not saying you shouldn't work your ass off (you should)! But before you reach for that next branch or helping hand, ask yourself: is this a panic move, or can I afford to wait?<br />
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Use your imagination. Change your perception. Focus on your goals. Good luck out there, everyone.Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-86036619193377933892019-12-16T11:07:00.002-08:002024-01-17T06:08:31.138-08:00Leslie's year in review!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OTKqKXL3b6Y/Xfe1-QPTcrI/AAAAAAAAB3I/tWiZUhyAw6wsQK3u10tnuqWUahxU-S8PgCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Leslie%2Bat%2B5A.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OTKqKXL3b6Y/Xfe1-QPTcrI/AAAAAAAAB3I/tWiZUhyAw6wsQK3u10tnuqWUahxU-S8PgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Leslie%2Bat%2B5A.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leslie mixing <i>Leap of Faith</i> at 5A Studios, London</td></tr>
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<br />
2019 has been an incredible year for Mix Messiah Productions, I'm very proud of what I have achieved this year.<br />
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This year's theme seems to be <b><u>manifestation</u></b>, as so many of my dreams have come true - though not in ways I may have imagined, as is typically the case! From <b><u>award nominations</u> </b>to being welcomed as a new member of the <b><u>Recording Academy</u>; </b> from seeing the work of the <u>AES D&I Committee</u> flourish at the New York Convention to <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Women-in-Audio/Gaston-Bird/p/book/9781138315990" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">authoring my first book</a><b>, </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Women In Audio,</i> I have a lot to celebrate and wonderful colleagues with whom to celebrate!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Oqgsr_NvFUQ/XfexLzuwJcI/AAAAAAAAB2c/u7rl_ThukCw5kQBGrWyLD9iOMtfBKJzYwCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Exhibit%2BA%2BPics%2BSundance.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="634" data-original-width="960" height="211" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Oqgsr_NvFUQ/XfexLzuwJcI/AAAAAAAAB2c/u7rl_ThukCw5kQBGrWyLD9iOMtfBKJzYwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Exhibit%2BA%2BPics%2BSundance.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leap of Faith</td></tr>
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<h2>
Sound for film and television</h2>
<br />
In terms of sound for film, working on a movie that had its premiere at the <a href="https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2019/venice-classics/leap-faith" target="_blank">Venice Film Festival,</a> showed at the <a href="https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/lff/Online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=25309A30-949C-4D51-BB0A-A86DACD3EAE9&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id=F1B483A6-1679-4B4E-99F2-32CE796EA6BD" target="_blank">BFI</a> (British Film Institute) and has been accepted to Sundance has felt pretty good. Alexandre O. Philippe's <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10681070/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4" target="_blank"><i>Leap of Faith</i>,</a> a documentary on the making of <i>The Exorcist</i> featuring director William Friedkin and earned a nomination for Best Documentary on Cinema in Vienna. And just announced: the <a href="https://www.sundance.org/blogs/news/2020-festival-shorts-indie-episodic-special-events-announced" target="_blank">film is headed to Sundance</a> in 2020!<br />
<br />
<br />
I was also nominated for a <a href="https://emmyawards.tv/files/2019/05/Nominee-List-2.pdf" target="_blank">Heartland Emmy</a> alongside director Michelle Carpenter for the film, <i><a href="http://enoughwhiteteacups.com/" target="_blank">Enough White Teacups</a>. </i>The documentary chronicles the philosophy behind the Danish non-profit, INDEX: Design to Improve Life, and features some of the most amazing solutions to the challenges to sustainability we face today. My role was as re-recording mixer, polishing the sound for Michelle's film and adding some sound design to her amazing digital graphics.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yiQstMhTl6Y/Xfdo-KeiG9I/AAAAAAAAB1c/YiT0obqPl9Ig_nrj7_APknJQsLtcpLCCACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Leslie%2Band%2BDavid%2Bat%2BCoda%2BDSC_0227.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img alt="Leslie and David at Coda 2 Coda studios" border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yiQstMhTl6Y/Xfdo-KeiG9I/AAAAAAAAB1c/YiT0obqPl9Ig_nrj7_APknJQsLtcpLCCACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Leslie%2Band%2BDavid%2Bat%2BCoda%2BDSC_0227.JPG" title="Leslie and David at Coda 2 Coda studios" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leslie and David Liban at Coda 2 Coda Studios</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This year, we also wrapped production on <i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9542116/?ref_=nm_knf_t_4" target="_blank">A Feral World</a>, </i>a post-apocalyptic tale of survival and friendship between a young boy who befriends a mother looking for her lost daughter. The movie has followed the boy over 4 years as he matures into his teen years. Director David Liban flew out to London, England for the final mix with me (in 5.1 of course) at Coda 2 Coda Studios and I'm looking forward to seeing this film get shared far and wide! Congrats to David and the whole <i>Feral</i> cast and crew!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JzZRgIat98U/XfeyPGTxTYI/AAAAAAAAB2k/pW3V_SEQehUnt0DMpUVxhOqrklbwSQZFQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/three%2Bworlds%2Blayback.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1060" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JzZRgIat98U/XfeyPGTxTYI/AAAAAAAAB2k/pW3V_SEQehUnt0DMpUVxhOqrklbwSQZFQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/three%2Bworlds%2Blayback.jpg" width="211" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leslie with her Pro Tools rig with <i>Three Worlds, One Stage</i> on the monitor</td></tr>
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I also mixed <i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/threeworldsonestage/" target="_blank">Three Worlds One Stag</a>e, </i>a film by Jessica McGaugh and Roma Sur which - among other accolades - won the "Best Documentary" award at the Mumbai International Film Festival Global Indian Film Festival in Mumbai. The film chronicles how immigrants from Africa, India and Europe arrive in the United States to choreograph a dance which unites the three cultures on stage. The powerful stories of a classical Indian dancer who conquers injuries from a car accident, a Spanish flamenco dancer who brought her family to Denver, and a drummer who departs from his royal roots to teach students are very moving, and of course the music and dancing must be experienced first hand.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TvqqhNVuJNw/Xfe1e7WX2ZI/AAAAAAAAB3A/VrXmBDtDwUozuDGW1mZMlZ4wUcMgpybbQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Leslie%2BCorine%2BFullSizeR.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Leslie and Corine Dhondee stand next to a video monitor displaying Bradfor Young" border="0" data-original-height="363" data-original-width="640" height="181" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TvqqhNVuJNw/Xfe1e7WX2ZI/AAAAAAAAB3A/VrXmBDtDwUozuDGW1mZMlZ4wUcMgpybbQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Leslie%2BCorine%2BFullSizeR.jpg" title="Leslie and Corine Dhondee" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leslie and Corine Dhondee with Bradford Young on the monitor </td></tr>
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The film essay <i>Cinema is the Weapon</i> by <a href="https://www.corinedhondee.com/" target="_blank">Corrine Dhondee</a> chronicles the work and philosophy of cinematographer Bradford Young (<i>Selma, Arrival</i>). It has screened in my home city Brighton at the Scrapyard Festival, as well as the Atlanta Arts Centre, Georgia; Scrapyard Festival, London, 01Zero1, London, Bronzelens Film Festival, Atlanta, Urbanworld, New York, The Earls Court Film Festival outreach programme (UK), and Philadelphia, PA.<br />
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<br /></div>
Seeing the payoff of efforts by the Diversity and Inclusion Committee at the Audio Engineering Society Convention in New York felt really good. The first-ever hip-hop track was chaired by Paul "Willie Green" Womack, a colleague who I met for the first time at an the Central Region Audio Student Summit hosted by the AES Student Section at Webster University. At that time I told him AES was working on D&I and that's all it took for him to join - and he's really run with it!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H3LaYSx9U5U/XffR-S55-II/AAAAAAAAB4A/W9oWzNq4Ys0IuJh1wSiwjoOwLAA_AcT-gCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/AA%2Bin%2BAudio%2BWPOD3536.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="212" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H3LaYSx9U5U/XffR-S55-II/AAAAAAAAB4A/W9oWzNq4Ys0IuJh1wSiwjoOwLAA_AcT-gCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/AA%2Bin%2BAudio%2BWPOD3536.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">African Americans in Audio panel at AES NY: (Top row) Paul "Willie Green" Womack, Jay Henry, Prince Charles Alexander. (Bottom row): Leslie Gaston-Bird, Abhita Austin, Ebonie Smith</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We held a panel called "African Americans in Audio" that was very well received. Working with Women's Audio Mission and SoundGirls brought even more visibility for women and underrepresented groups to the forefront. Yes, we still have work to do but I've never been to a convention quite like this, and we have every reason to be proud.<br />
<div>
<br />
<h2>
Women in Audio has been published!</h2>
It is my great honor to announce that <i>Women in Audio</i> (www.WomenInAudioBook.com) has been published and should arrive in time for the holiday season. It features almost 100 profiles (and around 70 personal interviews) of women in music recording, hardware and software design, music recording, live sound, game sound, audio for virtual / augmented / mixed reality, radio, and film & television.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kcbREj6v5lY/XffMGu0H0pI/AAAAAAAAB3k/bsy2Iwky_NsQ5k3Eh3xV2h227pDBlAlVgCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Women%2Bin%2BAudio%2B9781138315990_cover.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Women in Audio Cover" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1300" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kcbREj6v5lY/XffMGu0H0pI/AAAAAAAAB3k/bsy2Iwky_NsQ5k3Eh3xV2h227pDBlAlVgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Women%2Bin%2BAudio%2B9781138315990_cover.jpg" title="Women in Audio Cover" width="259" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Women in Audio cover</td></tr>
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Sharing these stories with you is something I look forward to, and I am honored to have had so many women share their experiences with me. I posted my experience on my LinkedIn page, saying: "I feel that writing this book was akin to being chosen in an almost supernatural way. Some of these stories were banging on history's door, demanding to be told. In almost every instance, what could have been a simple interview revealed a door that opened another door, until I was falling down the rabbit hole of women's untold stories, adventures, innovations, struggles, and successes. A few times, I had to take long walks outside to take in the scope of this huge responsibility. The stories blew my mind. I hope the book does the same for you."<br />
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<h2>
... in conclusion</h2>
Altogether, it's been a wonderful 50th trip around the sun. I'm looking forward to 2020! And as I always say: remember to love loudly and love often.</div>
Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-25956325716683149222019-02-07T13:44:00.000-08:002019-02-07T13:46:38.108-08:00Three Worlds, One Stage"Three Worlds, One Stage" is the story of two filmmakers' vision to bring together performers from India, Africa, and Spain for a concert in which they combine their disparate forms of music and dance.<br />
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Directed by Jessica McGaugh and Roma Sur, it is on the festival circuit this winter and spring (2019). I had the honor of being the re-recording mixer for this film.<br />
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The film has won the "Best Documentary" award at the Mumbai International Film Festival Global Indian Film Festival in Mumbai.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q4Cr5CFmG6U/XFyl1kJ0mWI/AAAAAAAABs0/D6-TEEMscdsJHto_ZEXPJ04quxLQ4Kl8gCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/three%2Bworlds%2Blayback.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q4Cr5CFmG6U/XFyl1kJ0mWI/AAAAAAAABs0/D6-TEEMscdsJHto_ZEXPJ04quxLQ4Kl8gCK4BGAYYCw/s320/three%2Bworlds%2Blayback.jpg" width="212" /></a>Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-58977257414013139142017-09-07T11:05:00.003-07:002017-09-07T11:05:47.785-07:00MMP's work on Infinity ChamberI'm proud to have been part of the film Infinity Chamber, Available on Amazon September 26! You can bet I'll remind you! Thanks David Emrich and Postmodern Company for inviting me to join the crew. I had a blast editing sound effects along with Foley assistance by Josh Kern and Drew Jostad. <p> Here's a sneak peek: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-RauwcNchhk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-29724977212904311812017-03-31T07:52:00.000-07:002017-03-31T07:52:33.194-07:0031 Women in Audio: Ebonie Smith<br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Mix Messiah </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Productions presents: 31 Women in Audio, a series celebrating Women's History Month.</span></i></b><br />
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<h2>
Day 19: Ebonie Smith</h2>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8y2YtM7etIg/WN5qPPkDLsI/AAAAAAAAAsU/RyI7ETqz_iAO_0qqMhvQbXzRNrvSKpkaACEw/s1600/IMG_7378.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8y2YtM7etIg/WN5qPPkDLsI/AAAAAAAAAsU/RyI7ETqz_iAO_0qqMhvQbXzRNrvSKpkaACEw/s320/IMG_7378.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ebonie Smith (Photo Credit: David Divad (IG: @divad))</td></tr>
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<div>
<i>Today, we are featuring Ebonie Smith. She is "an award-winning music producer, audio engineer and singer-songwriter based in New York City. Ebonie is also the founder and president of Gender Amplified, Inc., a nonprofit organization that celebrates and supports women and girls in music production. Ebonie holds a master's degree in music technology from New York University and an undergraduate degree from Barnard College, Columbia University. She currently works as an audio engineer and producer for Atlantic Records." [Courtesy of http://www.eboniesmith.com/]</i></div>
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<b>Leslie Gaston-Bird:</b> What childhood experiences do you think led you to a love for the field of audio?<br />
<b>Ebonie Smith:</b> Originally, I wanted to go to the WNBA and spent much of my youth playing basketball. However, I had this latent interest in getting into music. My mother exposed me to music. When I was four, she bought my first album: Blacks' Magic by Salt-n-Pepa. In many ways I think that album set the tone for who I would become as a woman and a human being. Also, I adored listening to the radio in the car. It always had to be on. As a kid I developed a very emotional relationship to music and to sound. <br />
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<b>LGB: </b>What was your earliest experience with recording?<br />
<b>ES: </b>I started recording in college. I was an audio/visual technician at Barnard College while an undergraduate student. This was my campus job. It exposed me to the world of audio recording, and I have never looked back.<br />
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<b>LGB: </b>What questions do you DISLIKE being asked related to women in audio?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Photo Credit: David Divad (IG: @divad))</td></tr>
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<b>ES: </b>I dislike questions about obstacles, largely because I don't know how to answer them. There is always this assumption that I have struggled because I am a woman. Music is the most enjoyable thing I do in life, and my career has been pretty smooth. There is nothing that I have "personally" experienced that could be characterized as a struggle. Nevertheless, I would never negate the fact that there is gender-based inequality in the audio world or deny that women face challenges in all professional areas. However, questions about challenges and obstacles shouldn't overshadow the other myriad points I could address about audio and music production. Obviously, I prefer to be interviewed because of my work and my approach to my craft.<br />
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<b>LGB: </b>What questions would you PREFER to be asked related to women in audio?<br />
<b>ES: </b>I would prefer to be asked questions about what I'm working on. I love answering questions about my process. I love questions about the nonprofit I founded, Gender Amplified, Inc.<br />
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<b>LGB: </b>What female role models do you have, fictional or real?<br />
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<b>ES: </b>So many: my mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Frances, E.W. Harper. Issa Rae, Tamika Catchings. Julie Greenwald. Ann Mincieli (This is a super abridged list.)</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Photo Credit: David Divad (IG: @divad))</td></tr>
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<b>LGB: </b>What upcoming projects are you excited about?<br />
<b>ES: </b>Gender Amplified and Art Girl Army recently joined forces to get girls into music production and audio engineering! We are co-hosting a hands-on workshop in a professional recording studio, followed by an intimate discussion with artist/activist Genesis Be on how to combine production techniques and political activism in powerful ways. It will be held on April 8th, 2017. Visit GenderAmplified.com to learn more.<br />
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<b>Learn more about Ebonie Smith at:</b><br />
<a href="http://eboniesmith.com/">Eboniesmith.com</a><br />
<a href="http://genderamplified.com/">GenderAmplified.com</a>Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-16499516527781276612017-03-25T14:42:00.001-07:002017-03-25T14:42:08.394-07:0031 Women in Audio: Käti Rosehill<br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Mix Messiah </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Productions presents: 31 Women in Audio, a series celebrating Women's History Month.</span></i></b><br />
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Day 18: Käti Rosehill</h2>
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<b>Leslie Gaston-Bird: </b>What childhood experiences do you think led you to a love for the field of audio?<br />
<b>Käti Rosehill: </b>I would say it started when I was around 8 or 9 years old. My parents took me out to a garage sale, where I happened upon an old cassette recorder. I don’t know why I wanted it so badly, but it was only a few dollars, so they got it for me after some pleading. I used to spend many hours a day recording into it- pretending I was a famous vocalist, pretending I was a radio show host- basically anything my young imagination could think of. I loved the feel of the buttons, I loved re-setting the timer, I loved keeping track of how long each segment was so I wouldn’t accidentally record over anything precious. I had a notebook dedicated to it. Also my father used to play guitar for me, which eventually led to my first guitar at 16.<br />
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<b>LGB: </b>What was your earliest experience with recording?<br />
<b>KH: </b>I did my first “real” recording when I was about 22 years old, back when I was enrolled in the Music Technology Program at Clackamas Community College. We had to track a song for Audio Engineering 109, so I rallied up a couple of my band friends, stuck them in the studio, threw up some microphones, and went to town. We ended up doing a cover of Led Zepplin’s “Good Times, Bad Times.” I’m happy to say they're all enjoying varying degrees of success right now! Two of them even got signed to Rise Records. (Which I definitely had nothing to do with, but hey! Don’t forget who recorded you first, says I.)<br />
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<b>LGB: </b>What questions do you DISLIKE being asked related to women in audio?<br />
<b>KH: </b>I dislike being asked out on a date after the gig is over. But on a more serious note, I dislike being asked if being a woman makes it “challenging.” To me, that’s just kind of a boring question and also a no brainer. Of course it’s challenging. We make up less than 5% of the industry. I argue that I had to work twice as hard as the other students to even be acknowledged as "taking it seriously.” Even just working in the CD plant, clients who called over the phone would specifically ask for my male co workers and refuse to talk to me, even after explaining that the boys were busy, but I’m also a production worker. Sometimes people ask to “speak to an engineer”, immediately assuming that I’m not. Women are immediately at a disadvantage in this industry, just like they are in many other fields.<br />
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<b>LGB: </b>What questions would you PREFER to be asked related to women in audio?<br />
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<b>KH: </b>I love it when people ask me what particular field(s) of audio I enjoy doing and what I like about them. “Audio” is such a broad term: it could mean a great number of things, anywhere from a boom operator, to a live sound engineer, to a studio engineer, to a radio producer. I actually started out as a boom operator on small film sets here in Portland, but eventually worked my way into a studio, finding a much greater love for it. Mic technique on set is so important and very fun to learn, but you don’t get to press any buttons unless you’re the field mixer too, which I never was. I’m tall and strong- naturally I ended up a boom.<br />
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<b>LGB: </b>What female role models do you have, fictional or real?<br />
<b>KH: </b>Joan Jett stole my heart when I was about 17 years old. I'm still not entirely convinced we won’t be best friends someday. I admired her fire, and deeply appreciate how she paved the way for women like me to actually have opportunities in this field. I’m also a huge fan of Katniss Everdeen.<br />
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<b>LGB: </b>What upcoming projects are you excited about?<br />
<b>KH: </b>I can’t talk about it too much since it’s still in the works, but four Portland musicians from modestly successful backgrounds have recently come together to form a whole new group, including the ex-drummer of Millions of Dead Cops. They’re currently working on writing songs, and when we have enough material, we’ll be recording and mixing that here at <a href="http://www.cloudcitysound.com/" target="_blank">Cloud City Sound</a>.<br />
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<b>LGB: </b>Finally, be sure to tell me about anything you’d like to promote: website, recordings, films, etc.<br />
<b>KH: </b>I'd like to thank the chair of the music department at <a href="https://www.clackamas.edu/Music/" target="_blank">Clackamas</a> who recommended me for this job:<br />
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<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Leslie Gaston-Bird</div>
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Owner, Mix Messiah Productions, LLC</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://www.mixmessiahproductions.com/">www.mixmessiahproductions.com</a></span><br />
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Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-8051809440458681012017-03-21T21:01:00.001-07:002017-03-21T21:01:09.200-07:0031 Women in Audio: Terri Winston<br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Mix Messiah </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Productions presents: 31 Women in Audio, a series celebrating Women's History Month.</span></i></b><br />
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Day 17: Terri Winston, Women's Audio Mission</h2>
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<span style="font-family: tahoma; font-size: 18px;">I am breaking the format of the blog a bit, because today's blog isn't just about a woman in audio: it is about a movement, and the woman leading that movement is Terri Winston.</span><br />
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When I first met Terri, she was an associate professor at City College of San Francisco and I was an assistant professor at CU Denver. I wanted to be like her: Tenured! I remember it was 2006 and she was running a "<a href="http://www.womensaudiomission.org/" target="_blank">Women's Audio Mission</a>" booth at an AES convention with an assistant. She gave me a light blue t-shirt with the red WAM logo. I was inspired by her, and later that year I gathered together a group of women in Denver to talk about issues related to women in audio.</div>
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But WAM wasn't about getting together and talking, they were about <i>"Changing the Face of Sound"</i> (their motto). They got sponsors, built their own studio, began offering classes, and over the last 14 years have become a true force in training women for careers in audio. Terri eventually left her position at City College and is now running WAM full-time. This year, over 1,500 girls will receive audio training at WAM. WAM studios were built by women and they are run by women. They've even inspired other groups, like Soundgirls.org, which focuses on women in live sound and was born out of a panel hosted by the Women's Audio Mission.</div>
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Terri was kind enough to be featured in this blog, and I am truly honored. I'd like to urge you to <a href="http://wam.rocks/GiveToWAM" target="_blank">get involved and help WAM train over 1,500 under-served middle school girls this year! </a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma";"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><b>Leslie Gaston-Bird:</b> What childhood experiences do you think led you to a love for the field of audio?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma";"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><b>Terri Winston:</b> My Dad is a research scientist/mechanical engineer so I was around and comfortable with technology and science from a young age – his lab was my playpen – and he was always fixing things, the car, the television, the radio, so that was all big fun for me. Trips to the hardware store, one of favorite places in the world, all big influences on me. I was also a songwriter/musician from early on so audio was a natural way to combine both of these loves of mine. I definitely have my 10,000+ hours with tape recorders of all varieties from my childhood.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma";"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><b>LGB: </b>What was your earliest experience with recording?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma";"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><b>TW: </b>I was a musician and songwriter first, so my earliest experience was recording myself playing guitars and singing, back and forth on two cassette tape boom boxes, probably in middle school. Then in college, I was studying electrical engineering, and I started recording the bands I was in on various analog 4 tracks, bouncing a ton of tracks. We did a lot of overdubs. I am a guitar player so I was always tinkering with amplifiers, biasing tubes. We eventually were signed to Polygram, toured a bunch with the Pixies, Throwing Muses and that’s when I ended up working in proper recording studios. My biggest influence during that time was working with Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith Group). That’s how I got the engineering bug and learned what it meant to be a producer.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma";"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><b>LGB: </b>What questions do you DISLIKE being asked related to women in audio? “What’s it like being a woman anything” bugs me, it’s not like we are aliens or that different.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma";"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><b>TW: </b>What questions would you PREFER to be asked related to women in audio? It would be great if there was gender parity and it was no longer something to ponder or ask questions about. But I am OK being asked why I think there is such a big gender gap in audio because it does need to be addressed if we want to have any sanity in this world. It is crazy that there are so few women in this world creating the messages we hear in that soundtrack of our lives everyday.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma";"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><b>LGB: </b>What female role models do you have, fictional or real?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma";"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><b>TW:</b> Space was big when I was growing up so Sally Ride / Mae Jemison were up there for me. Then came Patti Smith, and more of a distant inspiration/mentor for me would be Leslie Ann Jones who paved the way for the rest of us.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma";"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><b>LGB: </b>What upcoming projects are you excited about? </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 18px;"><b>TW:</b> We just recorded the incredible Clarence Jones, the Civil Rights leader, and speechwriter/counsel to Martin Luther King, Jr. His amazing stories are being used in a composition by Zachary Watkins that will be performed/recorded by Kronos Quartet. We had tUne-yArDs in recently; Fely Tchaco from the Ivory Coast; we're finishing up an album with the amazing artist Diana Gameros; and a ton of Audio Books with Simon & Schuster/Macmillan/Hachette. Our next Local Sirens, Quarterly Women’s Music Series is also coming up on 4/26 – we’ve had such amazing performances from women artists in the San Francisco Bay Area. Upcoming classes in Wireless Microphones, Music Supervision in Film, Radio/Podcast Production.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 18px;">You can learn more about Women's Audio Mission through the following links:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 18px;">- <a href="http://www.womensaudiomission.org/">http://www.womensaudiomission.org</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma";"><span style="font-size: 18px;">- KQED radio feature: “<a href="http://wam.rocks/KQED2016" target="_blank">Women’s Audio Mission:Smashing the Glass Ceiling of the Studio World</a>” </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma";"><span style="font-size: 18px;">- San Francisco Chronicle “<a href="http://wam.rocks/SFChron2016" target="_blank">SF group gets girls into tech through music, sound engineering</a>” </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma";"><span style="font-size: 18px;">- Support WAM's fundraising efforts at </span></span><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 18px;"><a href="http://wam.rocks/GiveToWAM">http://wam.rocks/GiveToWAM</a></span><br />
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Leslie Gaston-Bird</div>
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Owner, Mix Messiah Productions, LLC</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://www.mixmessiahproductions.com/">www.mixmessiahproductions.com</a></span><br />
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Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-46498593531932500012017-03-19T20:30:00.001-07:002017-03-20T07:02:54.054-07:0031 Women in Audio: Brandie Lane<h2>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Mix Messiah </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Productions presents: 31 Women in Audio, a series celebrating Women's History Month.</span></i></h2>
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Day 16: Brandie Lane</h2>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Today, we speak with </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Brandie Lane, a </span></i><i style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">Sergeant First Class in the US Army </i><i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">who leads the Audio Branch of the West Point Band and former audio engineer at Sono Luminus.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>Leslie Gaston Bird: </b></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">What childhood experiences do you think led you to a love for the field of audio? (e.g. parents’ record player, making mix tapes, etc.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>Brandie Lane: </b>Both of my parents were college music professors, so a love for music was instilled in me while still in the womb. To get back at my parents for taking my drum away at age 2, I started playing percussion at age 10 and quickly developed a passion for music performance. As I grew older, I developed an interest in science and wanted to focus on a career field that allowed me to use my creative strengths in music and still involve a strong science/engineering component. The audio and recording field made the most sense. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>LGB: </b>What was your earliest experience with recording?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>BL: </b>I was a "late bloomer" with recording. I did not have any real audio background or experiences until I got to college. I arrived at University of Miami simply armed with passion and a lot of determination. I struggled to catch up to a lot my classmates who had started their own labels, set up their own dorm studios, and had been recording since high school. However, I remember my first time in the UM studio as an assistant. I brought a book to read because I figured a 5 hour session could easily become boring. However, after what seemed like 15 minutes, the band had recorded enough songs for a demo, my book stayed in my bag, and we broke down the session. I knew at that point I was in a field that would challenge me and keep my interest for a long time.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">LGB: </b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Please compare your leadership role now with past roles you had in other, perhaps larger companies / crews.</span><br />
<b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">BL: </b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">I currently am a section leader and in charge of the Audio Branch of the West Point Band. This means I do a lot of scheduling and operations work, budgeting, and constantly ensure the studio is clean enough for guests to come through. However, as a leader in my organization, I help facilitate and support new ideas for projects and events that educate, train, and inspire America's future leaders at the United States Military Academy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Before I joined the Army, I was head audio engineer at Sono Luminus, a small classical label. My focus there was to ensure the client (usually a solo artist, composer, or chamber group) was happy and that the recordings captured their vision in the best and most accurate way possible. While I still focus on high quality recordings and live sound with the West Point Band, the client and the vision are both very different - and many times not only music or audio related.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">LGB: </b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">What questions do you DISLIKE being asked related to women in audio?</span><br />
<b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">BL: </b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The most interesting question that I've been asked is if I think women have better ears. My answer is that women's ears probably have a nicer shape? But in all seriousness, I feel every audio engineer, man or woman, hears differently. It's a personal decision how to describe and utilize how you hear and ultimately mix. You don't read about an album have a "feminine (or masculine) engineering style", so it doesn't really make sense that women can hear "better". Maybe there's a scientific study about women hearing certain frequencies, but that doesn't mean the mixes are going to be better. If the client hates your mix, they are not going to care that you can hear up to 23.7 KHz. Your sound/mix is going to showcase your engineering style and if that style is liked, then great. </span><br />
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<b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">LGB: </b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">What questions would you PREFER to be asked related to women in audio?</span><br />
<b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">BL: </b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Any question that empowers women to stay in the audio field. </span><br />
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<b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">LGB: </b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">What female role models do you have, fictional or real?</span><br />
<b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">BL: </b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">My mother will always be my personal role model. She was lovingly referred to as a "steel magnolia" and embodied the perfect combination of charm and a sharp tongue. No matter what, she treated everyone with respect, but did not accept anyone's excuses for not living up to their potential or not giving 100%. She passed away in 2010, but I know her legacy will live on through her thousands of students and hopefully through me. Professionally, I look up to any female in the audio field. There are so many incredible figures including (but not limited to) Leslie Ann Jones, Ulrike Schwarz, and Agnieszka Roginska and I'm always inspired when I get a chance to personally interact with them.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">LGB: </b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">What upcoming projects are you excited about?</span><br />
<b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">BL: </b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The West Point Band just finished a recording project for a nationally televised 4th of July event. The recordings feature all of the performing elements of the band, including the Concert Band, Rock Band, and Field Music Group. A lot of time and effort was put in to ensure that the event will be entertaining, have an incredibly high impact, and promote the American spirit. </span><br />
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<b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">LGB: </b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Finally, be sure to tell me about anything you’d like to promote.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">BL: </b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Please visit <a href="http://www.westpointband.com/">www.westpointband.com</a> and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!</span><br />
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Leslie Gaston-Bird<br />
Owner, Mix Messiah Productions, LLC<br />
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<a href="http://www.mixmessiahproductions.com/"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">www.mixmessiahproductions.com</span></a></div>
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Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-9292916556950197962017-03-17T13:55:00.001-07:002017-03-17T13:55:06.953-07:0031 Women in Audio: Lisa Nigris<h2>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Mix Messiah </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Productions presents: 31 Women in Audio, a series celebrating Women's History Month.</span></i></h2>
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Day 15: Lisa Nigris</h2>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Today, we speak with Lisa Nigris, Director of Audio Production at the Aspen Music Festival and School and Director of Audio Visual Services at the New England Conservatory.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>Leslie Gaston-Bird:</b> What childhood experiences do you think led you to a love for the field of audio? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>Lisa Nigris: </b>I started taking piano lessons around the age of 7 and voices lessons at 12. There was a bit of a revelation when my folks gave me a DX7 and I discovered that manipulating sounds interested me more than performing songs. In high school, my voice teacher mentioned that Berklee would be a good place to go to explore the various fields within the music industry. That was good advice.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">LGB:</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">What was your earliest experience with recording? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>LN: </b>My earliest experience with recording was holding a mic in front of my TV speaker trying to capture Kiss performing on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert. I learned about the need for isolation in recording that day … among other things. While at Berklee, we had to record a sound alike project. I chose the Beatles’ tune, "8 Days a Week". It was a humbling experience. Sounded awful, but I learned a lot about listening, and capturing the desired performance from an artist. A little later in my college career, I was interning at Blue Jay and realized that the repetition of studio work was not for me. I thrived on the pressure of live sound and live concert recording. This was a major revelation that guided my career.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">LGB:</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">What questions do you DISLIKE being asked related to women in audio? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">I’ll answer almost anything if it’s asked in a respectful way, especially if it’s a younger woman asking.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">LGB:</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">What questions would you PREFER to be asked related to women in audio? </span><br />
<b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">LN: </b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">I’d prefer to have conversations not be guided by my gender, so whatever questions you’d ask a man, you can ask me as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>LGB:</b></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">What female role models do you have, fictional or real?</span><br />
<b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">LN: </b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">My first professional role model was Robin Coxe Yeldham. She was an amazingly talented engineer and educator. She seemed to be able to balance work, home life, everything, with ease. I was privileged to have taken some courses Robin while at Berklee. </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">LGB:</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">What upcoming projects are you excited about?</span><br />
<b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">LN: </b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">At New England Conservatory, we’ll be opening our new building in September. We began the design phase of this project roughly 5 years ago. In addition to a new dorm and library space, the building will include a black box theater, large recording studio, orchestra rehearsal space, and a small stage area in the dining commons. The AV installation begins soon. I seriously cannot wait to see this dream become a reality before my eyes!</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">LGB:</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> Finally, be sure to tell me about anything you’d like to promote.</span><br />
<b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">LN: </b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">New England Conservatory presents hundreds of concerts in 5 concert halls throughout the year. Many of these events are free of charge. If you are in the Boston area, please come and hear some music! </span><a href="http://necmusic.edu/concerts-events" style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">http://necmusic.edu/concerts-events</a><br />
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Leslie Gaston-Bird<br />
Owner, Mix Messiah Productions, LLC<br />
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<a href="http://www.mixmessiahproductions.com/"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">www.mixmessiahproductions.com</span></a></div>
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Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-5981144486808473132017-03-15T15:40:00.001-07:002017-03-15T15:40:10.145-07:0031 Women in Audio: Gender Amplified<h2>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Mix Messiah </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Productions presents: 31 Women in Audio, a series celebrating Women's History Month.</span></i></h2>
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Day 14: Gender Amplified</h2>
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You can find out more about Gender Amplified here:<br />
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GenderAmplified/<br />
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http://genderamplified.com/.Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-50776601142766752312017-03-14T13:53:00.001-07:002017-03-14T19:01:30.471-07:0031 Women in Audio: Jan McLaughlin, CAS<h2>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Mix Messiah </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Productions presents: 31 Women in Audio, a series celebrating Women's History Month.</span></i></h2>
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Day 13: Jan McLaughlin, CAS</h2>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Today, we speak with Jan McLaughlin, President and CEO of Sounds Good, LLC. </span></i><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">Leslie Gaston Bird: </span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">What childhood experiences do you think led you to a love for the field of audio?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Jan McLaughlin</b>: My paternal step-grandfather was a musician. According to family legend, he played the violin and the </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">clarinet but I only ever <a href="https://soundcloud.com/soundsgoodtoo/ray-c-wilson-on-hammond-spinet" target="_blank">heard / saw him play a Hammond Spinet.</a> We spent hundreds of hours at that </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">organ playing/singing. It’s the hearing and creating something from nothing that thrills me. I’ve played </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">many instruments badly. My fingers are not fast enough and I can’t count to save my life. In order to </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">learn that, had to record and listen critically.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><b>LGB: </b></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">What was your earliest experience with recording?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><b>JM: </b></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Gramps had a wire recorder. He let me play with that. He and the fellas you hear singing on the <a href="https://soundcloud.com/soundsgoodtoo/manhattan-connection-wav">linked </a></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/soundsgoodtoo/manhattan-connection-wav">track </a>would load the Hammond on a pickup truck and roll down the hill to the local radio station every </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Sunday for a weekly broadcast. This recording was undoubtedly a rehearsal. My next recorder was my </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">own 4-track Teac used for rehearsals of singing/playing guitar: the only way to get better. Later, I had<a href="https://soundcloud.com/soundsgoodtoo/manhattan-connection-wav"> </a></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/soundsgoodtoo/manhattan-connection-wav">various-sized bands</a> with finally six members including drums, bass, saxophone, lead guitar and a </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">sound man. Before the sound man, we used my gear and I did the stage mix. Did some live recordings </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">from which only a couple sets survive despite the fire that ate most of the tapes and the recorder.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><b>LGB: </b></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Please compare your leadership role now </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">with past roles you had in other, perhaps larger companies / crews.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><b>JM: </b></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">I’m President and CEO of Sound’s Good, LLC the rental house for my production sound equipment. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Have been Queen of that domain from the get-go though only formalized it as a business entity--far too </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">late--in 2010 when I began to take the notion of being an entrepreneur seriously. Had long been a </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">hobbyist student of media/public relations/propaganda and as a result began to employ devices from </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">those play books. As I turned up the ‘Businesswoman’ heat, realized I would at some stage of </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">negotiations back down in fear. My solution was to hire an agent who gave me:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> • Distance from Money. Raised to believe that talking about money was unseemly. Had to get </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">over that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> • Time: “My agent will be in touch.” What that really meant was I took time to figure out how to </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">play it. One solution was to whisper to the woman decider, “Look, I’m the highest paid mixer in </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">television and I have a uterus like you. How cool is THAT?” Cinched the deal.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> • Chutzpah. In my mind, he was the pit bull in my pocket. Eventually I was able to internalize the </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">pit bull and take him out on command.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><b>LGB: </b></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">What questions do you DISLIKE being asked related to women in audio?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><b>JM: </b></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">I look forward to the day when nobody finds the fact that we’re women in audio remarkable.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><b>LGB: </b></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">What questions would you PREFER to be asked related to women in audio?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><b>JM: </b></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">I think there’s a lot of room to contemplate accommodation of maternity and motherhood. Breast </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">pumping time/space, child care and family leave for example. There’s a group of Local 600 camera </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">women who’ve organized to brainstorm such things and have already done great work though there’s </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">much more to be done: pregnancy is still technically a disability. Oy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><b>LGB: </b></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">What female role models do you have, fictional or real?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><b>JM: </b></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">My first entrepreneurial role model was Joanie Cantor a businesswoman who moved to my little home </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">town when I was in high school. Joanie opened a high-end boutique of ladies clothing for the country </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">club set who until she arrived had to travel an hour to Pittsburgh to shop for clothes. My ‘study’ of her </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">was mostly unconscious but her influence was profound and lasting. From Staten Island, she brought </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">The New York Times to my attention and was the first outspoken, opinionated woman I’d met.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><b>LGB: </b></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">What upcoming projects are you excited about?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><b>JM: </b></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Currently brainstorming words for a dance-based performance with choreographer Toni Taylor with </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">whom I’ve worked in the past. Will do that until I begin work on season two of HBO’s “Divorce” </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Thomas Hayden Church. We had our camera test this week and it was </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">like the first day of school and the prom but without teenage anxiety. You’d be hard pressed to hire a </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">more professional collection of craftspeople and that, that is a joyous work experience.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><b>LGB: </b></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Finally, be sure to tell me about anything you’d like to promote.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><b>JM: </b></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">It’s my guess that Marc Webb’s “Only Living Boy in New York” will be a worthy motion picture. We </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">finished principal photography mid-November 2016. Callum Turner’s chemistry with Jeff Bridges, </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Kate Beckinsale, Pierce Brosnan and Kiersey Clemmons was palpable. Just heard from the ADR team </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">so picture’s locked. Hope to speak with the re-recording mixer soon. It was the first film and second </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">project I’d done keeping all the sound in the digital domain from the time it left the mics. Re-recording </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">mixer was happy with the first project so I’m thinking this will sound passable too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">-Leslie Gaston-Bird</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Owner, Mix Messiah Productions, LLC</span><br />
<a href="http://www.mixmessiahproductions.com/"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">www.mixmessiahproductions.com</span></a></div>
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Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-9620809613940845132017-03-13T14:25:00.001-07:002017-03-13T14:25:28.969-07:0031 Women in Audio: Caryl Owen<h2>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Mix Messiah </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Productions presents: 31 Women in Audio, a series celebrating Women's History Month.</span></i></h2>
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Day 12: Caryl Owen</h2>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Today, we speak with Caryl Owen, a Peabody-award winning Broadcast / Recording Technician formerly of National Public Radio.</span></i><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Leslie Gaston Bird:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What childhood
experiences do you think led you to a love for the field of audio</span>?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Caryl Owen:</b> My Mom played piano, and I spent
hours on the floor underneath it, listening to her playing. I still like the sounds
underneath a grand piano! I had a little pink and grey Columbia record player and
what seems to have been a complete set of Golden Books Records, but my real favorites
were our recordings of <i>Scheherazade</i> and
Richard Rodger's <i>Victory at Sea</i>.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>LGB: </b>What was your earliest experience with
recording?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>CO:</b> Well, it all started with recording favorite
songs off the radio onto cassettes using a cheap mic pointed at my clock radio's
speaker. I still have some of those atrocious sounding things! I learned how to
run a cheap PA mixer for the guys who had a garage band down the street in high
school, Mixed for my bands when I wasn't singing (and sometimes when I was,) played
around at college radio stations, shadowed a friend who was a monitor mixer for
Kiss, and eventually took a class at a little local recording studio where I ended
up running the office while teaching classes - sometimes I was only a week or so
ahead of my students; that's a good way to learn fast!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>LGB:</b> Please compare your leadership role
now with past roles you had in other, perhaps larger companies / crews. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>CO:</b> I've always worked for studios or stations,
but I've been teaching audio recording since I began working in the field. Mentoring
someone who has a deep desire to learn is one of the most satisfying things I've
done, I'm so proud to have helped some very talented people get started.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>LGB:</b> What questions do you DISLIKE being asked
related to women in audio?</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>CO: </b>Ask anything you like, I'll answer if
I feel it's germane to the conversation. Is being a woman in audio hard? Sure! Not
as bad as it was in the 70's, but there are still problems, I have a friend who
was sexually harassed by her boss in November of 2016.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>LGB:</b> What questions would you PREFER to be
asked related to women in audio?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>CO: </b>The same questions an interviewer would
ask any man.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px;">LGB:</b> What female role models do you have, fictional or real?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>CO:</b> Xena, Warrior Princess and Martha Stewart.</span><br />
Kick ass, and be perfect.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px;">LGB:</b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> What upcoming projects are you excited
about?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>CO: </b>I've just retired but have a couple of
prospects to consider. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Of the things I've done in the past, I'm
probably most proud of the many projects (and three Peabody awards) I worked on
with David Isay. Even after all this time, <i>Ghetto Life 101</i> sounds amazing, especially
when you consider that the original recordings were made to cassette by a couple
of kids, and the mix was all analog, multi-machine choreography. We figured it took
an hour to mix each minute of the final piece.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>LGB:</b>:</span> Finally, be sure to tell me about anything you want to promote.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>CO: </b>Nothing right now. My last show, To the Best
of Our Knowledge (</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://ttbook.org/">ttbook.org</a>) is in the
able hands of my last mentee, Joe Hardtke.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">-Leslie Gaston-Bird</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Owner, Mix Messiah Productions, LLC</span><br />
<a href="http://www.mixmessiahproductions.com/"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">www.mixmessiahproductions.com</span></a><br />
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Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-85004423309361539492017-03-12T10:39:00.000-07:002017-03-12T13:37:26.671-07:0031 Women in Audio: Karrie Keyes<br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Mix Messiah </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Productions presents: 31 Women in Audio, a series celebrating Women's History Month.</span></i></b><br />
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<h2>
Day 11: Karrie Keyes</h2>
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<span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I am breaking format from the blog a little bit today. Our featured Woman in Audio today is Karrie Keyes, and I’d like to take a little time to explain how I met her.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I had recently become Vice President of the Western Region of the Audio Engineering Society (October, 2016). My goal as a member of the AES Board of Governors is to help discover how to address diversity and inclusion in the organization. Right away, I began reaching out to as many women as possible. I first reached out to Terri Winston at Women’s Audio Mission (a future guest on this blog), and visited WAM in San Francisco. Being surrounded by women at their facility in San Francisco was transformative in ways that I will try to explain during my interview with Terri later this month. </span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">More recently, at an AES student event in Denver, a friend asked me if I had heard of <a href="http://soundgirls.org/">Soundgirls.org</a>. I looked them up and discovered another world of women in audio of which I was only peripherally aware. As it turns out, <a href="http://www.soundgirls.org/about-us/">Soundgirls.org was actually born from an AES Conference panel</a>, “<a href="http://www.aes.org/events/133/livesoundseminars/?ID=3277">Women of Professional Concert Sound” (San Francisco, 2012) </a>that was hosted by WAM and moderated by Terri. </span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Around the time I was getting my feet on the ground with my new AES position, I was planning a trip to LA for NAMM (the National Association of Music Merchants conference). I reached out to Zionya Nolan, a woman of color in audio (who I look forward to meeting in person!) to try to arrange a lunch date. She wasn’t going to be there, but suggested I reach out to Karrie, so I did.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Karrie subsequently invited me to be a panelist at a <a href="http://www.soundgirls.org/namm-mentoring-session/">mentoring session at NAMM hosted by Soundgirls</a>. From that event I met <a href="https://mixmessiahproductions.blogspot.com/2017/03/31-women-in-audio-catharine-wood.html">Catharine Woods</a>, <a href="https://mixmessiahproductions.blogspot.com/2017/03/31-women-in-audio-fela-davis.html">Fela Davis</a>, and <a href="https://mixmessiahproductions.blogspot.com/2017/03/31-women-in-audio-jett-galindo.html">Jett Galindo</a>. And the rest is history: from these connections I decided to start the “31 Women in Audio Blog”.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">At the mentoring session, I witnessed the powerhouse that is Karrie Keyes’ organization, Soundgirls.org. Their activities are gaining momentum and they are currently in the middle of<a href="https://www.generosity.com/education-fundraising/proud-and-loud-girls-are-breaking-the-glass-fader"> <b>their annual fundraising for their Live Sound Camps for Girls</b>. </a>Karrie explains, “we have some awesome rewards available and all proceeds benefit the camps. Over 70% of the girls attending our camps receive financial aid. ” (Mix Messiah Productions proudly donated a $125 AES Membership which has been snapped up, but there are other ways to support, please consider doing so). </span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">You can read more about Karrie <a href="http://www.soundgirls.org/traveling-the-long-road-karrie-keyes/">here</a>, but she was kind enough to answer a few questions just for me.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">She recalls that listening the radio and music lessons were the childhood experiences that led to her love for audio. Since started her professional career loading trucks and learned the trade by working shows. Eventually she became the monitor engineer for Pearl Jam. As she has emerged as a respected professional, she says that in her leadership roles with Pearl Jam and SoundGirls.Org involve the important aspect of listening: “Really listening to the artist to determine what they need sound wise onstage,” She says. “And with SoundGirls.Org, really listening to the challenges women face in this industry. ”</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">She doesn’t like being asked what it’s like being a female engineer. Instead, she would prefer “to be asked the same questions men are asked. To at least be given that respect.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">When I asked her about her role models, she replied, “Angela Y. Davis and the awesome women that are leading women led organizations. Laura Whitmore of Women’s International Music Network, Fabi Reyna from She Shreds and Mindy Abovitz of Tom Tom Magazine, Women like Beyonce, Madame Gandhi and Grimes that are taking control of their careers and art.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Karrie is still doing live sound. When asked about her upcoming projects, she says “I am looking forward to Eddie Vedder solo tour in June throughout Europe and am of course the next adventure with Pearl Jam.” </span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Also, SoundGirls.Org is hosting Live Sound Camps for Girls in the summer of 2017.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Finally, and just as exciting, SoundGirls.Org also has started a directory for women in music production. Women are <a href="https://womeninmusicdirectory.wordpress.com/?utm_source=SoundGirls%20Members%20List.">invited to add themselves to the database</a>.</span><br />
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<span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Thank you so much to Karrie for being an amazing powerhouse of advocacy for women in audio, for helping girls get into the live sound field! </span></div>
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-Leslie Gaston-Bird<br />
Owner, Mix Messiah Productions, LLC<br />
<a href="http://www.mixmessiahproductions.com/">www.mixmessiahproductions.com</a><br />
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Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-69970766723685317482017-03-10T16:30:00.002-08:002017-03-13T15:47:07.453-07:0031 Women in Audio: Erica Brenner<h2>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Mix Messiah </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Productions presents: 31 Women in Audio, a series celebrating Women's History Month.</span></i></h2>
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<h2>
Day 10: Erica Brenner</h2>
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<i>Today, we speak with Erica Brenner, a classical music producer formerly of Telarc who now runs her own production company, Erica Brenner Productions</i><br />
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<b>Leslie Gaston-Bird:</b> What childhood experiences do you think led you to a love for the field of audio?
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<b>Erica Brenner: </b>My mom was a music major, a pianist and a vocalist, and we had classical music on 24 hours a day. I took great pride knowing classical music when I was young. There’s a piece by P.D.Q Bach called the “The Unbegun Symphony” (a parody of Haydn’s "Farewell Symphony") which cobbled together a lot of classical works. Only one of my other friends and I could name all the pieces that were in there – a source of great pride! So I was basically immersed in music growing up.
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Later I became a music major. I was a flutist, and I came out to Cleveland and got a job in the Canton Symphony Orchestra. While I was here I met Elaine Martone, who was the director of production at Telarc Records who also played in the CSO. She asked me if I would ever be interested in editing for their record label. I hadn’t thought of the audio industry in any way, shape, or form until that moment. I trained on the job; I didn’t get any real schooling in audio at all. She wanted a classical musician to edit their CDs because she knew a classical musician would understand phrasing. In fact, I was given a lot of freedom to make edit decisions.
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<b>LG:</b> Let’s talk about how your role evolved at Telarc.
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<b>EB:</b> I was trained almost completely at Telarc. I was the recording work study student while I was a grad student at Yale and did a small amount of razor-blade editing, but otherwise, learned to edit at Telarc on a Sony 3000 digital editor. As I got proficient at editing, I was asked to start producing. In addition to producing, I became the Director of Audio Production, overseeing the scheduling of all audio post-production toward getting the final master to the manufacturer. In the “wheel of production” which involved graphics, the CD booklet notes, audio, visual conception, I took care of making sure “audio spoke” of that wheel delivered on deadline. There were 6 of us working in the audio department, in addition to owners Bob Woods and Jack Renner (the original producer/engineer team at Telarc), and Elaine, who became Exec. VP of Production and oversaw the entire production department. A very well-oiled machine. And then the record industry — as we all know! (laughs) — took a turn, and Telarc was sold to Concord music group. After Telarc was sold, they decided that the production department was no longer needed. So everyone got booted. Now Telarc still releases maybe 3-4 CDs a year, but in our hey day it was 3-4 or more per month!
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A few of the guys formed their own company; Elaine and Bob formed their own company; and I formed my own company. And what ended up happening is that we still work together. I am not an audio engineer, I’m a producer, so when someone says they need a recording, I coordinate studio rates, plan schedules and logistics like piano tuning, etc. and manage the session from beginning to end working everybody through the recording process itself, following the score and making sure everything is covered. But I always rely on an engineer to bring the audio expertise. It’s a very collaborative process between engineer, musicians, and myself. I usually prefer to edit my own projects. A lot of producers don’t but I love it. That’s where I started, I have most control over the project, and I can work so closely with musicians to get what they want.
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Even though many of us still work together as a team on session, we are now separate business owners and that is a huge difference! Now, I have to do everything: I am my own accountant, my own marketer, my own business analyst. It was quite luxurious at Telarc (at least from my “employee” status at the time) to have so many “departments” that handled everything! I think everybody should have to own their own business coming out of college for a couple of years, whether you are a musician or a doctor, or baker, or anything, just to understand what is needed to do it. I wish I knew then what I know now about being in business. Relationships are huge. And really proactive communication. Communication has been transformed drastically with social media; it’s crucial that people understand the value of proactive communication and keeping relationships committed.
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When you find someone who you work well with it makes the process very streamlined. You can talk to someone and push back a little bit. And having the benefit of a partnership was something I valued. I didn’t realize how much I valued it until I lost my working partner, Tom Knab, who recently passed away. Or like Jack Renner and Bob Wood (owners of Telarc): as a producer/engineer team they were masterful. And that’s how I was trained.
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<b>LG:</b> What questions do you dislike being asked related to women in audio?
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<b>EB:</b> I think this has to do with women in the workplace, not just working in audio, but when I first started going out on sessions I was in my early 30s. I’ve always looked a little younger than I am and I have always been mortified by how many people — even women — would ask me how old I was. We would be having meetings and people would ask, “how old are you? Like, “Do you have any experience?” And I thought, “Would you ask a man this question”? I think [Bob] produced his first album when he was 27 or 28 and I doubt anyone ever asked him how old he was. I would like for all women, when they walk into a room, to be given the same benefit of the doubt as a man would be: that they can handle the task in front of them. That was the experience that I wasn’t very comfortable with.
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However, I felt like I worked at a company that valued everyone’s contribution equally. Telarc was a progressive company from that standpoint. Sometimes I'm asked what’s it like to work with so many men. I don’t think I have ever worked with a woman engineer. All the engineers I’ve worked with are men, but I am not directing men, I am directing the product. I have always tried to keep gender out of it.
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I feel lucky to work with the engineers that I have. It’s all about the music. It’s about what the artist wants to say. It’s not about me. I try to tell artists that they might hear me over the talkback telling them that things are out of tune, or not quite right, but just know that every time I hear something my thought is, “would the artist like what just happened”? If the answer is “no”, then I have them do it over.
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<b>LG: </b>What questions would you prefer to be asked related to women in audio?
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<b>EB:</b> For me, any time there’s the ability to have diverse points of view and different voices and perspectives, it is good. I guess I’d say having women and what I consider to be their relatable, empathetic point of view with artists can be a very positive thing in the recording environment. I think my approach, and other women I’ve seen produce, have a certain nurturing style with artists, although it’s not completely gender specific, because Tom Knab exhibited that, so it’s not that men don’t have these quality, but I would say that having different voices is always beneficial. And recording sessions are stressful because they can be very intense.
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<b>LG: </b>What female role models do you have, fictional or real?
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<b>EB: </b>Well, my mom’s passion and complete immersion in music has always inspired me; Elaine Martone learned how to be a leader among men and she is extremely bright and smart and passionate and committed to what she does. And she has just been somebody who’s always been a role model, and a great friend. And I am always in awe of the strength of Michelle Obama, “When they go low, we go high”!
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<b>LG: </b>What upcoming projects are you excited about?
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<b>EB: </b>I have been incorporating a lot of video work in my services. In order to pay the bills, you must diversify! I am excited about <a href="https://apollosfire.org/cds-shop/">Johann Sebastian Bach’s <i>St John Passion</i> performed by Apollo’s Fire Baroque Orchestra in Cleveland</a>. It’s a 2 CD set that just came out this week. It’s beautifully recorded by Tom Knab and it’s an amazing performance. I’m extremely proud to say that Tom and I worked on it as our last project together.
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You can learn more about Erica Brenner at http://ericabrennerproductions.com.
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<br />
-Leslie Gaston-Bird
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Owner, Mix Messiah Productions, LLC
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www.mixmessiahproductions.com
Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-69082571338863752882017-03-09T12:50:00.002-08:002017-03-09T12:52:00.009-08:0031 Women in Audio: Leya Soraide<h2>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Mix Messiah Productions Presenta: 31 Mujeres en Audio, una serie que celebra el Mes de la Historia de la Mujer.</span></i></h2>
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Día 9: Leya Soraide</h2>
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<i>Hoy, vamos a presentar Leya Soraide, una mujer que trabajo como una ingieniera de sonida en vivo. Le conozco gracias a soundgirls.org!</i><br />
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<b>Leslie Gaston-Bird (originally in English):</b> ¿Qué experiencias infantiles crees que te llevaron a un amor por el campo del audio?<br />
<b>Leya Soraide (respones in Spanish)</b>: Una de las experticias que marco mi infancia seria que toda mi familia se dedicaba a montar sistemas de sonido para iglesias y festivales pequeños , así que crecí viajando mucho, algunas veces cableando y obviamente ayudando a mis padres . Mi curiosidad era poder manejar la consola, me atraía mucho la cantidad de perillas y botoncitos.<br />
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<b>LGB: </b>¿Cuál fue tu primera experiencia con la grabación?<br />
<b>LS:</b> Mi primera experiencia de grabación fue debido a una tarea que me asignaron en la universidad ( UNITEPC) a la que asisto , ahí estudio Ingeniería de Sonido estoy en mi cuarto año, escogí grabar voces de dos adolecentes de mi ciudad que ganaron un concurso local de canto , fue una experiencia muy bonita al poner en práctica todo lo teórico que aprendí.<br />
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<b>LGB:</b> Por favor, compare su papel de liderazgo ahora con los papeles anteriores que tenía en otras empresas, quizás grandes / equipos.<br />
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<b>LS: </b>Por ahora estoy iniciando una organización llamada dB Girls – Bolivia, lo que buscamos es que nos formemos y actualicemos como profesionales en todas las aéreas: Sonido en vivo , Estudio de grabación , Radio, Cine , Tv. En mi país somos pocas las mujeres que estudiamos la carrera de Sonido y aun peor un porcentaje bajo las que ejercemos la carrera , tal vez sea porque aun hay machismo en nuestro medio.<br />
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<b>LG:</b> ¿Qué preguntas le DISGUSTAN que se les pida que se refieran a mujeres en audio?<br />
<b>LS:</b> No me gusta que me pregunten si una mujer puede hacer el mismo trabajo de un hombre , eso realmente me disgusta , tampoco que me agrada cuando me preguntan mi edad ( tengo 21 años ) , estoy muy consciente de que la experiencia viene con los años pero nadie nace sabiendo , por ahora voy formándome como persona y profesional , realmente detesto que me pregunte por qué mujeres que estudiaron la carrera de Sonido antes de mí , no lo ejercieron , realmente no tengo conocimiento de ello .<br />
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<b>LGB:</b> ¿Qué preguntas le gustaría PREGUNTAR acerca de las mujeres en audio?<br />
<b>LS:</b> Me gustaría preguntar como se interesaron por la carrera , sus proyectos y todo relacionado con el Audio.<br />
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<b>LGB</b>: ¿Qué personajes femeninos tiene usted, ficticio o real?<br />
<b>LS:</b> Mi personaje favorito es mi madre , es un ejemplo a seguir ella también sabe de audio , ella me enseño a soldar mis propios cables, otro personaje seria Karrie Keyes realmente la admiro mucho por su trabajo con Pearl Jam y con Soundgirls.org<br />
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<b>LGB:</b> ¿Qué proyectos próximos te entusiasman?<br />
<b>LS:</b> Bueno , ando entusiasmada con terminar mi carrera de Ingeniería de Sonido (UNITEPC) , también ando planeando hacer cursos sobre Sistemas y Redes digitales de audio.<br />
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<i>Muchas gracias a Elizabeth Leon por los traducciónes.</i><br />
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<i>-</i>Leslie Gaston-Bird<br />
Owner, Mix Messiah Productions<br />
<a href="http://www.mixmessiahproductions.com/"><i>mixmessiahproductions.com</i></a><br />
<br />Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-63967297749860606912017-03-08T15:00:00.003-08:002017-03-08T15:40:40.444-08:0031 Women in Audio: Piper Payne<h2>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Mix Messiah Productions presents: 31 Women in Audio, a series celebrating Women's History Month.</span></i></h2>
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Day 8: Piper Payne</h2>
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<i>Today, we are featuring Piper Payne, a mastering engineer in Oakland, CA, where she works on albums for independent artists and major labels. Formerly a mastering engineer with Coast Mastering in Berkeley, CA, Piper is now co-owner of her own mastering facility. She is the President of the SF Chapter of the Recording Academy and serves on the P&E Wing Steering Committee and the P&E Wing Advisory Council. She is also on the committee of the AES SF Chapter and is an active member of Women's Audio Mission. Piper is an audio professor and guest lectures often about mastering and recording. </i><br />
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<b>Leslie Gaston-Bird:</b> What childhood experiences do you think led to your love for the field of audio?
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<b>Piper Payne:</b> When I was in 1st grade I really wanted to play drums, but my dad wouldn’t let me learn drums until I learned how to play the piano (my parents are super structured). So I took piano lessons on the computer, and at the same time was learning how to build my own computer and program it with Red Hat Linux when I was 6 or 7. I’ve been into computers, robotics and things like that since forever.
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But the point is I’ve had a disciplined way of learning for a long, long time. When I was in 2nd grade I took drums, then fast forward… I thought I wanted to be a veterinarian for a while but I changed my mind when I figured out I might have to put an animal down. So I looked at percussion as a career. Then I decided I didn’t want that to be a burden to me financially. So I started a degree in Electrical Engineering.That’s how I got into audio, that’s how I got to put those things together.
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When I was taking drum lessons I did not know it was weird for a girl to be a drummer. When my grandpa taught me carpentry, I didn’t know that was weird. And I didn’t know it was weird for a little girl to build a computer. I didn’t have any specific experiences that made me become an audio engineer as a woman. I just did what I did, followed things that I loved and eventually ended up in audio.
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<b>LG</b>: What was one of your earliest recording experiences?
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<b>PP</b>: I was convinced my house was haunted so I would bug my house with little recorders to catch the ghost. (At that time those “Ghost Hunters” shows weren’t out). I had one of those mini cassette recorders. Do you remember the toys that were little microphones with a little spring in it and sounded like a spring reverb? I was fascinated by that.
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The first actual real recording I did was a Rolling Stones cover, “Bitch,” when I had access to the studios at University of Michigan. That was the first, big, 40-track recording I made. It was terrible. I haven’t listened to it since. I made that on the API Vision in the first studios at University of Michigan (around 2005-2006).
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<b>LG</b>: What is your group dynamic like?
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<b>PP</b>: I do work with a group. I am my own boss in terms of like my schedule, flexibility, kinds of projects I will deny (which is extremely rare). But I have a fantastic team of really capable and wonderful people who make sure what I do is as efficient and fair to my clients as possible. At this point I don’t think I could run this kind of operation by myself: Jonny handles all the business sales and is my agent for my mastering career; Audrey, a graduate of Women’s Audio Mission, handles my clients and my schedule; and my audio apprentice is Dee. They are the reason work gets done at my facility. In terms of the projects themselves, that’s reliant on group work and cooperation. If everyone in the chain does their job perfectly, the job is an A+. By the time it gets to me, if the project is compromised, I have to use my tools to fix things instead of maintaining the integrity of the project or for making it better. So that’s kind of group work.
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<b>LG</b>: What do you dislike about the conversation regarding women in audio? What would you prefer to talk about?
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<b>PP</b>: I would prefer the conversation be about the kind of work I’m doing as an engineer rather than as a female engineer. It bugs me when the first questions is “what famous records have you worked on?” I would prefer if people would ask me about my career and what it takes to be successful rather than the gear I have. There’s this weird expectation that I don’t know enough about gear. People say “What mastering DAW do you use” or something to try to trip me up … that doesn’t happen as much now but that does happen for a lot of young women.
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Bkok9H-q1XA/WMCM2QvQiLI/AAAAAAAAAn0/FT_wtEcfnxsvvzD4cI8GDM5pn8J5SI7TACLcB/s1600/PIPER%2BPAYNE%2BAT%2BWORK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Bkok9H-q1XA/WMCM2QvQiLI/AAAAAAAAAn0/FT_wtEcfnxsvvzD4cI8GDM5pn8J5SI7TACLcB/s320/PIPER%2BPAYNE%2BAT%2BWORK.jpg" width="320" /></a>I LOVE talking about challenging projects. If I ask Leslie Ann Jones about a challenge she had and overcome, I can learn about how to deal with that if it comes up for me. I love talking about sound, about presentation of records, and about the way records make people feel. I love physical or somatic reactions (when your body does something without your brain knowing) to music. I love talking about other awesome women in audio.
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<b>LG</b>: Who are your role models, real or fictional?<br />
<b>PP</b>. Hillary Clinton. Susan B Anthony. My mother.
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<b>LG</b>: What upcoming projects would you like to mention?
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<b>PP</b>: Upcoming projects: I just finished mastering the digital and vinyl release for Madame Ghandi’s new records. She is one of the amazing women leading the Future is Female movement. I just finished Geographer releases (Animal Shapes). I have a whole bunch coming in: a really cool a cappella record right now by Lisa Forkish, and a soundtrack for a documentary called “The Nine”, - a ripping doc about the plight of down-and-out people in the central valley of California. And I just finished the digital and vinyl soundtrack of the video game “Headlander”.<br />
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-Leslie Gaston-Bird<br />
Owner, Mix Messiah Productions, LLC<br />
<a href="http://www.mixmessiahproductions.com/">www.mixmessiahproductions.com</a>Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-46184385937496404552017-03-07T07:16:00.005-08:002017-03-08T03:50:38.947-08:0031 Days of Women in Audio: Jamie Angus<h2>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Mix Messiah Productions presents: 31 Women in Audio, a series celebrating Women's History Month.</span></i></h2>
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Day 7: Jamie Angus</h2>
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<i>Today, we are featuring Jamie Angus, Professor of Audio Technology at Salford University. She was one of the progenitors of the UK’s first music technology course at York in 1986. She worked on speech coding and recognition in the early 80s and has been active in audio and acoustic research from then. She is the inventor of: modulated and absorbing diffusers, direct processing of SA-CD signals, and one of the first 4-channel digital tape recorders. She has done work on signal processing, analogue circuits, and numerous other audio technology topics. </i><br />
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<i>She teaches audio and video signal processing, Psychoacoustics, Sound reproduction and audio and video coding. She has co-written two textbooks and has authored, or co-authored over 180 journal and conference papers and 4 patents. </i><br />
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<i>She has been awarded an AES fellowship and the IOA Peter Barnet Memorial prize for her contributions to audio and acoustics.</i><br />
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<b>Leslie Gaston-Bird:</b> What were some of your childhood experiences that led to your vocation?<br />
<b>Jamie Angus: </b>Well, I got music played to me at school when I was probably 7, including Peer Gynt’s “Morning Song” which I thought was just beautiful. I started learning to play the violin when I was about 7 as well. When we went to America the school had a big music program. so i joined the orchestra playing the violin. My mom loved G&S and my father loved Scottish songs. I also got taken to the Metropolitan Opera. And I remember we had a school visit - I have a YouTube thing on that - where we went to WOR Studios in New York which was live television-radio, and I was already into electronics by then because I had read a magazine - I was about 11 I think - and I was blown away with the stuff. One of the engineers showed me all the transmitter racks. So when they interviewing me, recording for a radio show, they said, “So what do you want to be when you grow up, honey?”, I said, “I want to be a radio engineer!”. And that’s what started me off. And I used to take apart old radios and televisions.<br />
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And I tried making my own speakers. They didn’t sound very good as you might expect, but they still sounded better the ones on my parents’ hi-fi. So I thought, "I need to learn about this". I read magazines and books that I could get a hold of, and I built more loudspeakers. When I was 17, I built a set of loudspeakers -- that was when I’d sort of sussed the design down a bit more. I built 4 so that I could have a quadrophonic system (in the early 70s) which was kind of freaky. When I left to go to a University in the UK two of the people I know asked if I was selling them. So I said, “yeah I guess I can cos I can’t take them over with me”, and they said, “well, would you sell them”? and I said “Erm, I have no idea, what would you buy them for?” And they said, “Four hundred dollars each.” And I thought, “Oh my God! Four hundred dollars!” so I used that money to buy a Nackamichi cassette recorder and things. I’ve already liked really good quality gear.<br />
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I went on to study electronics. And we experimented building circuits, trying them out and building amplifiers. When I got my PhD that was just when the microprocessor was invented. And I said, “this computer stuff looks like it might be important and DSP looks kind of interesting," so I decided to do a thesis on designing a DSP processor. I thought that would force me to have to learn microprocessors and DSP at the same time. That was in a Comms [Communications] department so I also learned about spread spectrums and curving. It was a very stimulating environment.<br />
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Then I worked at Standard Telecoms Labs, which nobody's ever heard of, but they invented optical fibers and I ended up working in the speech coding processing group for telephone terminals. They had an anechoic room so I could test my speakers out and learned some acoustic measurements as well as doing speech coding which links with audio coding and stuff like that. And then ended up going to University to teach after that.<br />
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One thing that happened to me when I went back to the UK was that I was not allowed to do music as a subject because I was doing sciences. And that angered me so much, as it did to one of my colleagues (Ross Kirk) at York University electronics department who had the same problem - he was a bass clarinetist in the same predicament as me. So we created the UK’s first Music Tech course in 1986 with Dave Malham and Richard Horton. There was no internet then: We were doing DSP on Atari computers, CD had just come out … back then everyone thought we were completely crazy. But nowadays people would say “well, DUH!!”<br />
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I was chuffed when my son got his music tech A-level in 2014. I thought, “Hey I finally got my revenge!”<br />
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<b>LG:</b> What is the same and different about working with a team of people when you’re a woman?<br />
<b>JA:</b> It’s still tough: I’m at the top of the pile so i’m more fortunate. I think it’s more that you are invisible as a woman or you are brought in as a token woman. And you had to be “one of the guys” in the 60s and ignore shit sometimes. But these days it’s a bit better. Even in the AES which is being earnest about trying to do it, they still screw up sometimes. I think that’s more a case of people just not seeing it. It’s still quite a lot of guys out there and that makes it a bit trickier to get in. But it’s a great place for women to be. I have said that in sessions: being an engineer is a great job for a woman. When I worked at Standard Telecom we had a software engineer who had gone off to have a baby and came back, so they gave her a private telephone line so she could use a modem, a dumb terminal at home, and fully flexible work patterns so they could keep her on and so that she could continue to work. I can’t think of any other business that could have been that flexible. They wanted her skills and they were willing to do the extra bit to make it happen.<br />
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<b>LG: </b>What do you like and dislike about questions regarding women in audio.<br />
<b>JA: </b>I don’t know that people ask me that question so much. I prefer to talk about the technical stuff. I don’t like people commenting on my clothing and stuff like that. I think, you don’t say that to guys, why are you saying it to me? But I like that people are interested in talking to me. I like talking about my posters, and being fired tech questions and we can have a nice technical discussion and gender isn’t in it all. i don’t like when people make a thing of gender one way or the other, but I recognize that you can’t pretend it doesn’t exit.<br />
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<b>LG:</b> Who were your female role models?<br />
<b>JA: </b>Marie Curie was a big one, because she overcame a lot of stuff. And she had to work pretty hard. She started with tons of material just to get a tiny fraction of stuff she could measure. And she screwed up the first time: the sample was contaminated and she had to go right back to the beginning and redo it all. Other role models: There weren’t many around … Wendy Carlos. I liked her because she is a musician but she is also technically competent. She and Bob Moog had a big partnership in the development of an analog synth. I wanted to build one. I couldn’t afford it, but I learned how to build one though! Other role models because of the way they did the science: Paul Ehrlich had an idea that if you could dye a bacteria you had a magic bullet. It took most of his life but at the end of his life he found the dye that could do it.<br />
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<b>LG: </b>What was your favorite past project? What about upcoming projects?<br />
<b>JA: </b>When I first read about diffusors, because of my PhD work I knew about the math involved in it so I clicked straight away what was going on, but I also realized that there was only a certain size that you could lift and put on a wall. People put lots of them together - that wasn’t a good idea. And because of the spread spectrum thing I knew I could maybe make it better by calculating it. So I tried it out theoretically using Excel. I remember the first time the results came out, I did a little jig down the corridor saying “Woo-hoo!” What I thought would happen actually happened!<br />
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Currently I'm investigating how you can get high quality amplifiers without needed a full switching one. People are going to Class D but not everyone likes the sound of them. I am looking at the audio signal more closely and saying, “can we do something more efficiently even though we’re using a circuit that’s not so efficient.” And that’s really interesting because of a few things: Maybe the switching ones aren’t as efficient as you think, and you can make a linear amp more efficient or as efficient. So that’s kind of neat. We call it “Green amplification”: Every home has amps and they’re all consuming power so if you can make it better you can save a little bit of energy worldwide.<br />
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Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-22776894663965152162017-03-06T04:00:00.000-08:002017-03-07T07:03:03.456-08:0031 Women in Audio: Jett Galindo<h2>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Mix Messiah Productions presents: 31 Women in Audio, a series celebrating Women's History Month.</span></i></h2>
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Day 6: Jett Galindo</h2>
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<i>Today, we are featuring Jett Galindo, mastering engineer at The Bakery (Los Angeles) whose credits include the </i>La La Land Original Motion Picture Soundtrack<i>. </i><br />
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<b>Leslie Gaston-Bird:</b> What childhood experiences do you think led you to a love for the field of audio?<br />
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<b>Jett Galindo: </b>I've always had a love for audio from growing up being surrounded by music. My family runs a music management business. When I was a kid, I would always hear my dad teaching a band play cover songs from the rehearsal studio in our home. My dad also encouraged me to tinker around with computers at a young age so I grew up being passionate about both tech and music. It all clicked when I realized I could do both by pursuing a career in the field of audio. I've never looked back since then.<br />
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<b>LGB: </b>What was your earliest experience with recording?<br />
<b>JG: </b>Back in the Philippines, I remember doing mix tapes from MTV using my dad's pro-audio tape deck. I started getting serious with recording when I went on a 2-month European Tour with my college glee club. Portable recording devices weren't accessible in the Philippines back then, so I had to carry around a heavy backpack with my laptop, a Tascam US-122, and pray that the venue we were performing at had a mic stand I could borrow for my condenser mic. It was a lot of effort but definitely worth it! This was around the same time I got started on my internship in a recording studio in the Philippines.
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<b>LGB: C</b>ompare your leadership role now with past roles you had in other, perhaps larger companies / crews. <br />
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<b>JG:</b> Prior to the Bakery, my role primarily focused on the audio production/engineering aspect. I focused on being the recording engineer of Jerry Barnes at Avatar, and then Doug Sax' right hand man at the Mastering Lab. Once I joined Eric in his venture of opening up The Bakery almost 2 years ago, Eric and I both had to wear many hats besides being mastering engineers. When not mastering or cutting vinyl, Eric works on studio electronics & maintenance while I work on website development. These are among several other responsibilities we share. Especially when you're in the audio/music industry, you have to make an effort to stay well-rounded and abreast of trends on music, technology, etc. to stay competitive.
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<b>LGB: </b>What questions do you DISLIKE being asked related to women in audio?
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<b>JG: </b>I'm always open to answering any questions about being a woman in the audio industry. But I do wish that we hear less blanket statements about being a woman working in sound. I've encountered circumstances where I've heard women being generalized--in one particular example, I've heard someone mention that women are less predisposed to working in sound because of our evolutionary characteristics. I've also heard the claim the women in general pay less attention to music. Situations like these make me more motivated to prove that women are just as capable as men in whichever career they choose to pursue.
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<b>LGB:</b> What questions would you PREFER to be asked related to women in audio?
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<b>JG: </b>I don't personally have any preference. The more questions and dialogue there is going on about women pursuing audio, the better!
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<b>LGB:</b> What female role models do you have, fictional or real?<br />
<b>JG: </b>I have a huge admiration for women who've paved the way for more women to pursue a career in audio/music/tech. I've always looked up to women like Imogen Heap, Leslie Ann Jones, Joan Jett, Marissa Mayer (Google), just to name a few.
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<b>LGB: </b>What upcoming projects are you excited about? If none, how about a favorite recent project?
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<b>JG: </b>I can't disclose upcoming projects just yet, but I'm incredibly excited with our work on the double LP of <i>Star Trek: The Motion Picture</i>, the original <i>Star Trek</i> film with music composed by Jerry Goldsmith, and produced by Bruce Botnick. The LP will be out on March 14th!
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<b>LGB:</b> Finally, be sure to tell me about anything you’d like to promote: website, recordings, films, etc. <b>JG: </b>You can know more about my audio & vinyl mastering work at <a href="http://thebakery.la/">http://thebakery.la</a> :) Also a shout-out to <a href="http://soundgirls.org/">Soundgirls.org</a> for their incredible work at connecting women audio professionals and aspirants all over the world.
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-Leslie Gaston-Bird<br />
Owner, Mix Messiah Productions, LLC<br />
<a href="http://www.mixmessiahproductions.com/">www.mixmessiahproductions.com</a></div>
Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-21964834072195374482017-03-05T04:00:00.000-08:002017-03-05T04:00:18.003-08:0031 Women in Audio: Anna Frick<h2>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Mix Messiah Productions presents: 31 Women in Audio, a series celebrating Women's History Month.</span></i></h2>
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Day 5: Anna Frick, Mastering Engineer, Airshow Studios</h2>
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<i>Today, we are featuring Anna Frick, Senior Mastering Engineer and Restoration Center Manager at Airshow Mastering in Boulder, Colorado. </i><br />
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<b>Leslie Gaston-Bird: </b>What childhood experiences do you think led you to a love for the field of audio? (e.g. parents’ record player, making mix tapes, etc.) <br />
<b>Anna Frick: </b>There have been quite a few experiences that, in hindsight, lead me to a career in audio. I spent a lot of time doing field recordings of my parents with my Fisher Price tape recorder. I wanted to show my dad how dumb he sounded yelling at football refs (it didn’t help). I’d make mix tapes from the radio and record myself. I used a mini-cassette player to capture my friends’ songs or capture our conversations.
I remember one time attending a big concert. We happened to have seats a few rows behind the soundboard. I remember looking at all the knobs and buttons and faders and thinking that whoever knew what all those buttons did must have the coolest job. Then I looked over the sound guy was playing a Gameboy. And I thought, yeah I want that job.
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<b>LGB: </b>What was your earliest experience with recording?<br />
<b>AF: </b>The first time I was ever in a recording studio was in high school. I decided I needed a good recording of my friend’s songs to take with me to college. Some friends of mine were in a band at the time and had just released an album. I got to talking to them about where they recorded it, called the studio and got my friend in to record. I produced the album, though I had absolutely no clue what I was doing. Taking it from conception to fruition was quite the education – everything from getting the best performance from the musicians, learning the process of how an album comes together in the studio to completing the artwork and burning CDs (we didn’t manufacture it). I was flying by the seat of my pants, but my desire to learn was insatiable. At the end of the project the engineer said to me “Hey, you’ve got a knack for this. You could make a career out of it.” That set the wheels in motion.
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<b>LGB: </b>What questions do you DISLIKE being asked related to women in audio? <br />
<b>AF: </b>I try to avoid the “us versus them” type conversations. We’re all in this together. It should be gender-neutral. It’s a hard balance though. I really appreciate the camaraderie amongst the women I know in audio. There’s a solidarity there. But we can all geek out together, right?
I can’t deny that I’ve gotten some clients simply because the client would prefer to work with a woman, maybe because they prefer my communication style or because they’re an all-female outfit that wants to keep the girl-power going on throughout their project. There’s a lot of competition and I’m just getting started in my career, so I have to embrace the opportunity to stand out.
I think my goal ultimately though, is to not be a female leader in my field, but to be a leader who just happens to be female. So at some point, the gender conversation just has to go away and we have to look at each other as equals.
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<b>LGB:</b> What questions would you PREFER to be asked related to women in audio? <br />
<b>AF:</b> Bringing more women into the audio field is an effort to diversify the skill set of the profession. We operate differently than men in a lot of regards, especially when it comes to building relationships, problem-solving and communication. So, I’d like the conversation to be more about amplifying the strengths of both women and men so that we can work as a better team. That’s what’s going to move the profession forward – having a community that has all strength leads to more advancements in research and best practices.
I guess the questions we need to be asking then are how do get women excited about audio? How do we reach out to show young women what their options are? Careers in audio weren’t listed in the career counselor’s office when I was trying to decide what to do with my life. I just got lucky.
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<b>LBG:</b> What female role models do you have, fictional or real? <br />
<b>AF:</b> First and foremost would be my mom. She was adamant that I pursue a career in math and science because “we need more women in those fields, so it’s up to you to change that.” I admire any woman who is able to rise above the status quo, carve her own path and still stay true to herself throughout the process.
In the audio world, Leslie Ann Jones, Piper Payne, EveAnna Manley and about a zillion kick-ass female musicians.
I probably get inspired by someone new every day.
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<b>LGB:</b> What upcoming projects are you excited about? If none, how about a favorite recent project?
<b>AF: </b>This is always a hard question for me because a project doesn’t last long in my world. I can finish an album in a day and I don’t always know what my next projects are going to be. I’m just wrapping up an album for a Minnesota-based acoustic trio called The Last Revel. Their energy, songs and voices are just awesome. And they recorded the record all live while renting a cabin in the woods. And of course I always have to mention the Rise & Fall of Paramount Records. That project was just so intense and awesome and took about a year to complete both volumes. I don’t think it got nearly the recognition it deserved. It literally tells the history of the blues.
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<b>LGB:</b> Finally, be sure to tell me about anything you’d like to promote: website, recordings, films, etc. <br />
<b>AF:</b> You can check out more about me on Airshow’s website – airshowmastering.com or on our Facebook page. There’s a video of me talking about my approach to mastering, SoundCloud links to listen to some of my recent clients and other really useful information about everything from mastering to restoration.
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-Leslie Gaston-Bird<br />
Owner, Mix Messiah Productions, LLC<br />
<a href="http://www.mixmessiahproductions.com/">www.mixmessiahproductions.com</a></div>
Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-87491832891361278352017-03-04T08:07:00.002-08:002017-03-04T08:08:09.062-08:0031 Women in Audio: Catharine Wood<h2>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Mix Messiah Productions presents: 31 Women in Audio, a series celebrating Women's History Month.</span></i></h2>
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Day 4: Catharine Wood, Owner, Planetwood Studios</h2>
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<i>Today, we are featuring Catharine Wood, owner of Planetwood Studios in California.</i><br />
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<b>Catharine Wood:</b> "As a child, I was always into art and sports…my real interest in audio didn’t surface until after I’d taken an aptitude test at the Johnson O’Conner Research Foundation in San Francisco — which indicated very high aptitudes in Pitch, Tone and Rhythm memory. When combined with what I would later learn was “20/20” hearing, a shift from professional graphic designer to audio was very natural. This wasn’t until in my late 20’s. Prior to that, my interest in audio had been linked to music - listening to my parents’ record collection and, later, my own Beatles and Beach Boys cassette tapes in high school. In my early 20’s, I’d developed a love of singing, playing guitar & piano. Composing followed in my late 20’s AFTER my completion of a BA in Fine Art from Colorado College. I didn’t return to school for Audio Engineering (Full Sail’s Los Angeles Recording School </div>
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<b>LGB: </b>What was your earliest experience with recording? </div>
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<b>CW: </b>When I was 7 years old, living in New Canaan, Connecticut, my church took us on a field trip into New York City — to CBS Studios — to record a radio commercial. They had us sing “We’ve got love” in one note…and then showed us how doing that with different notes created harmony with overdubbing. I loved the entire experience — the unique “technology” smells of the studio…the “gear”…the large hanging microphone and headphones…which I’d never seen or put on before. I had very bad vision which had not received glasses yet - so everything was bright and white and magical in the studio. As a painfully shy kid who barely spoke in school — it was a feat to sing aloud…and hear a choir of myself in the overdubbing process — sounding great. It was quite a positive experience. I didn’t make it back to a professional studio again until over twenty years later…after I had begun composing my first songs.</div>
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<b>LGB: </b>Compare your leadership role now with past roles you had in other, perhaps larger companies crews. </div>
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<b>CW: </b>As a professional music producer, composer, multi-instrumentalist and engineer, I own and run a private studio in Los Angeles. As a Sole Proprietor and Independent Contractor, I handle most of the roles myself…Though I’d mixed, mastered and produced a number of projects prior to moving to Los Angeles in 2003, my first studio job in Los Angeles, after my LARS graduation, was as an Assistant Engineer and Dub Room Manager at an Audio Post Production “Mix House” for Commercials — and the technological skills I learned connecting and maintaining high end gear for that job - as well as all of the engineering duties - I used to eventually build my own studio. After many years working with various project studio setups, in 2014 I built a new facility on my property — from the ground up and based on my personal workflow — designing all walls, wiring, outboard gear signal flow…networking DAWs…the aesthetic and sonic design of the space is professional and competitive. My past experience working in varying capacities at corporate headquarters (print graphics at a prominent San Francisco ad agency, executive assistant to a Producer on the Warner Bros lot, and Print Production Coordinator for several magazines)…means that I bring a high level of corporate knowledge to my own operation.<br />
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My early years engineering on commercials lent exposure to world class campaigns and interacting with leading Advertising producers. I also had the benefit of having been the Director of Southern California for the West Coast Songwriters for a number of years, running their Hollywood Chapter events…which was very helpful in learning the various levels of Songwriter; from “newbie” to pro of the craft. The net result is an ability to communicate well in both art and business, create solutions and get things done…in all areas from estimating and budgeting projects, gaining new clients, making all hiring decisions on projects, negotiating contracts, studio maintenance, delivering projects ranging from film mixes to singer-songwriter albums, billing and projecting trends. As the demands of a Studio Owner and Professional Creative in the audio field are constantly changing, it is critical to pull skill sets from all previous experiences to move forward — even if it’s a high profile project that I’ve never done before…The answer, with few exceptions, is always Yes…and I figure it out. Even jobs with similar or even exact project descriptions end up being completely different when you take into account the artist, songs, genre, etc…so it’s ALWAYS something new and fresh…which is an aspect that I really like about my work. It’s rarely, if ever, boring. I should also note that my current volunteer work as a Professional Advisor to the Los Angeles Recording School Recording Arts Program as well as my newly elected position as an Alternate Board Member for the California Copyright Conference - provide vital, current information regarding trends and shifts in the industry. Also, as a Voting Member and Producers & Engineers Wing Member of The Recording Academy (aka The Grammys), I feel it a mandatory component of success to participate - and continue to hold leadership positions outside of my own business. Growth and learning are ongoing. </div>
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<b>LGB: </b>What questions do you DISLIKE being asked related to women in audio?</div>
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<b>CW: </b>This is a good question! I, personally, don’t have any specific questions that I’ve been asked that I particularly dislike — but, at the risk of sounding philosophical - given this interview’s “31 Days of Women in Audio” title (which I’m honored and grateful to be included in this fantastic group!); I simply perceive myself as an Engineer, Producer, Musician, etc… and don’t focus on the “prefix”…however genetically accurate. You’d never say “Male Engineer” or “Men in Audio”…and I would guess the term “Male Nurse” might correlate - as a term that feels equally redundant. I may be found in a 5% (and growing) gender in the Audio Engineering field - but my gender, as it relates to my profession doesn’t seem to pop up in conversations regarding my work. I do often get, however, “Wow, how cool! That sounds exciting!” when I’m meeting new people, telling them </div>
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<b>LGB: </b>What questions would you PREFER to be asked related to women in audio?</div>
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<b>CW: </b>These are such wonderful questions. To be honest, until the last couple years in radio and print interviews, I have never been asked questions referring to me as a “woman in audio”. Certainly at Audio Engineering school (2005), I was never referred to as a Woman or Female Engineer. I just was the #1 student in my class…100% attendance, 97% test average. I was the only female in my class - and I was also the only female engineer at my first big studio job - but that was never anything that got discussed, nor something that I thought much about. In my family, on my mother’s side, many of the men are engineers…Two of whom attended the Colorado School of Mines (as metallurgical engineers and geologists). I’ve always just been referred to as an engineer in my family - with no distinction between the different disciplines of engineering…so the questions I prefer to be asked have to do with AUDIO (not my being a woman). </div>
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<b>LGB: </b>What female role models do you have, fictional or real?</div>
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<b>CW: </b>My mother, her mother & her grandmother (and beyond…they were all trailblazers…literally…from the Mayflower to the Wagon Trains heading into the Wild West). My great-grandmother was a very independent spirit from Colorado who studied voice at the Institute of Musical Art under Frank Damrosch in the early 1900s in New York. The Institute of Musical Art later became Juilliard…and, as fate would have it, as I was researching the location of the CBS Studio I went to for my first recording experience - for this interview…49 East 52nd Street, as it turns out, was the first Juilliard School of Music location in 1926…just after my great-grandmother had attended. My grandmother was also an Art Major (and painter) at Colorado College - but played piano beautifully by ear and taught me fundamental chord progressions at a very young age. My mother was a Music Major at Colorado College, a lifelong choral singer and composed constantly when I was a teenager. I’d lay under the grand piano while she wrote…soaking it up. Though I have formal vocal training as well as years on drums, the majority of my instruments have been learned by ear (guitar, piano, bass) over the last twenty+ years — as needed. We have a long line of fearless artists with an unorthodox approach in my family. Leaders who make their own path.</div>
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<b>LGB: </b>What upcoming projects are you excited about? If none, how about a favorite recent project?</div>
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<b>CW: </b>I am in the middle of a large, year-long mastering project right now for a gifted, prolific Los Angeles-based composer. The artist is an avant-garde “modern classical” composer with deep eastern & western classical and jazz roots. The hybrid of sounds and the appreciative and gracious nature of this artist have been a joy to work with. I also have a massive composition project in the works - which has been an enormous undertaking for a few years and is nearing completion…And last year I was proud to produce Billy Lawler’s debut album, “Nostalgic”…which was recorded, mixed and mastered at my studio and considered for the 59th Grammy Awards in the first round of voting.</div>
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<b>LGB: </b>Finally, be sure to tell me about anything you’d like to promote: website, recordings, films, etc. </div>
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<b>CW: </b>I’m always looking for great projects to work on with talented people, fantastic budgets and a creative and commercial focus that contributes to my evolution as a producer/composer/engineer. Please feel free to check out my website at planetwoodstudios.com and drop me a line any time!</div>
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-Leslie Gaston-Bird<br />
Owner, Mix Messiah Productions, LLC<br />
<a href="http://www.mixmessiahproductions.com/">www.mixmessiahproductions.com</a></div>
Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-79521824760905443122017-03-03T04:00:00.000-08:002017-03-03T04:00:23.368-08:0031 Women in Audio: EveAnna Manley<h2>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Mix Messiah Productions presents: 31 Women in Audio, a series celebrating Women's History Month.</span></i></h2>
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Day 3: EveAnna Manley, Owner, Manley Labs</h2>
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<i>Today, we are featuring EveAnna Manley, owner of Manley Labs, manufacturer of professional audio gear including microphones, preamps, outboard mastering tools, and more. Leslie Gaston-Bird chatted with her by phone.</i><br />
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<b>Leslie Gaston-Bird: </b>"What was your earliest experience with audio?"<br />
<b>EveAnna Manley:</b> “I was looking for a job in the music industry, and I interviewed at Vacuum Tube Logic. I remember looking at the vacuum tube amplifiers and wondering, “What the hell is that? A receiver?” I didn’t have electronics training at school, so I didn’t get to play with circuits, and in physics class I only learned simple circuits. I took AP Physics in high school and college physics at Columbia. I loved physics and still do. I was just taking it for fun - my pre-med friends teased me about it!”<br />
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<b>LGB</b>: What about childhood experiences with music or audio?<br />
<b>EM</b>: I remember listening to music from 3 years old. I was into rock ‘n roll music, Top 40 music on the radio (like Chicago, Elton John, and so on). My first experience recording was with a Dictaphone. I would put the mic up to the speaker and record Casey Kasem’s Top 40 show. I studied music in college: sax, trumpet, clarinet. I was always a leader, whether it was playing first chair or serving as band president.<br />
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<b>LGB</b>: How would you compare working for someone versus owning your own business?<br />
<b>EM</b>: I started out first at a company called Vacuum Tube Logic of America (owned by David and Luke Manley). I made coffee, tea and PCBs (printed circuit boards). I learned how to solder. I’m a natural leader, in any kind of social group, and I trained other girls to stuff circuit boards. That company was running by the seat of its pants! This was all before computers: they had no purchasing system in those days. So we would self-kit our parts. They’d say, “build 30 of these” and then you had to count your own parts. So if you looked in the bin and there were no resistors you had to ask someone to buy them. So one day I took a ruler and a marker and created a purchasing system with part number, description, P.O., date, etc. And then I developed an inventory system. David Manley and I got married in the early 90s. David struggled with alcoholism and I ended up buying the company after he left in 1996. The transition took place within several years and I learned things, created systems, implemented systems, and got into the job by doing it. I saw something that needed to be done and took care of it. The hardest part about owning a small company is you can’t afford to hire experts, so you HAVE to learn how to do this shit yourself. It is creative: I might solve problems in a different way than what we typically consider to be “creative”. But you are always in a catch-22: you’re too small to hire so you have to learn to be a versatile person.<br />
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<b>LGB</b>: When the topic of “women in audio” comes up, what do you like to talk about, and what rubs you the wrong way?<br />
<b>EM</b>: When I’m working I am not thinking “am I male or female”. I have tasks I need to do and I do them, for example, when I am out beta testing. When I started at age 20 I probably faced more discrimination for being YOUNG. But now I don’t get problems from guys in the industry at all. Probably because they can’t get rid of me. (laughs) I’m one of the guys - we’re all geeks. I always wonder why there aren’t more women but it is not like you see a ton of female pilots, either --- certain professions seem male-dominated. And there doesn’t seem to be a reason for that. When I see STEM and STEAM programs now, there is more emphasis and there are efforts to get girls into these fields. Geekiness has become more socially acceptable and that’s cool. There shouldn’t be any gender limitations - or any limitations at all. I’m an embracing person. The most important trait of all is not gender but honesty. I hired a female circuit-level engineer who misrepresented herself, and I also had a male who had the character flaw of not speaking up when he didn’t understand the work. So I would caution anyone: don’t be afraid to say “no, I don’t know”. Because bullshitting is dangerous. It’s important to be truthful. It’s okay to be humble and truthful and ask for clarification. Then you have an opportunity to learn something new! Don’t be so defensive. Most people are happy to share and contribute to your personal growth.<br />
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<b>LGB</b>: Who are your role models, fictional or real?<br />
<b>EM</b>: Important role models that I had? Probably my first boss, Terry Jones. I worked at a picture framing shop in high school. He was a small business owner. I learned by observing him and applied that to how to run my own business. He didn’t directly teach me, but I learned from him and his wife Patsy how to enjoy life. Work hard and enjoy life. He was my bon vivant from Atlanta. And my late stepfather Al Dauray who owned Ampeg. He sold it to Magnavox in 1972. He was a business man with Unimusic -- it’s all in the History of Ampeg book. I remember hearing the stories of the late 60s when the Rolling Stones took the Ampeg amps out. He met my mom in the 70s, after his first wife had died. He sold Ampeg and the money he got he put into stocks and borrowed money from family and he was scrambling for all those years after that. So we grew up in an unstable environment. That was a major influence on my life: I didn’t want to live with that kind of financial chaos.<br />
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<b>LGB</b>: What new projects are you working on?<br />
<b>EM</b>: Working on right now: at the NAMM show we previewed our new microphone, the Reference Silver, successor to the Reference Gold and Reference Cardiod. This is our first mic in 27 years! It uses the David Josephson C3 capsule (developed for the C37A tube mic). It’s a capsule with a rich middle tonality recalling the original Sony mics from the 50s. A bunch of LA engineers say the Sonys are their favorites. We are building a new mic with and that middle tonality is great for woodwinds and brass. Combining that with our latest switching power supply custom designed for vacuum tubes. What a tour de force. And it has this interesting metal finish on the body. It was hard to do, but it’s great. It looks like reptile scales. My crew was mad at me but I insisted!<br />
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I’d like to add that audio business is not always competitive. I am always reaching out to Josh Thomas of Rupert Neve, Erica McDaniel of Universal Audio, John Jennings of Royer, Paul Wolff... these guys are total best friends even if we are in the same field. They are my peers. And they reach out to me, too. It’s a wonderful industry for that. We often interface and help each other.”<br />
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<i>You can learn more about Manley Labs’ new, Reference Silver microphone at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/manleylabs/">https://www.facebook.com/manleylabs/</a>. Their homepage is <a href="http://www.manley.com/">http://www.manley.com/</a>.</i><br />
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-Leslie Gaston-Bird<br />
Owner, Mix Messiah Productions, LLC<br />
<a href="http://www.mixmessiahproductions.com/">www.mixmessiahproductions.com</a></div>
Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-80942323293845182742017-03-02T04:00:00.000-08:002017-03-03T06:40:01.634-08:0031 Women in Audio: Lorna White<h2>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
Mix Messiah Productions presents: 31 Women in Audio, a series celebrating Women's History Month.</span></i></h2>
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Day 2: Lorna White, Technical Director for "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me"</h2>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lorna White (rear of stage) mics up Paula Poundstone as Tom Hanks gets ready to host the NPR show, "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me". (Photo Credit: NPR/Andrew Gill)</td></tr>
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<i>Today, we are featuring Lorna White, a Chicago-based Broadcast Engineer and Technical Director for National Public Radio's popular radio quiz show, "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me". Leslie Gaston-Bird, a former co-worker of Lorna's at NPR, chatted with her by phone.</i><br />
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<b>Leslie Gaston-Bird:</b>"What was your earliest experience with audio?"<br />
<b>Lorna White:</b>When I was a kid, my family used to go camping and we couldn’t take the record player, so I would sit with the microphone in front of the speaker and make mix tapes. In 8th grade we did a project with puppets we made. Two of my friends did a variation of the Tidy Bowl man so I recorded the toilet bowl flush."<br />
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<b>LGB:</b>What about childhood experiences with music or audio?<br />
<b>LW</b>: I've always been musical. My folks had a Hammond B3 with a Leslie speaker. I took organ lessons at age 5. And when I was in high school, I was picked to become the high school accompanist for the choir. It was a small, rural high school and the girl who was doing it graduated. My mom took me out and bought me a piano. That was one of my fondest memories. I was a piano major in college but hated practicing. I would rather to record people who didn’t mind practicing, so my piano professor took me to the Illinois state radio station WGLT and I started filing papers. That was my first introduction to NPR.<br />
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<b>LGB:</b>How do you like being with a smaller crew compared to the large staff of techs we had at NPR in the 1990s?<br />
<b>LW:</b>Being with 40 techs was great - about a third were women. The competition for the good gigs was tough, and the stronger personalities usually won out. And I didn’t have much of a strong personality at the time. When I found out that Chicago bureau was opening I acted because I had wanted to move back to the Midwest. So I was ready to come back and be in charge of my own work atmosphere and represent NPR and do interesting things back in the Chicago area. My daughter was 2 years old and I was the first DC tech to have a kid - the first one to be pregnant and go through that at NPR.<br />
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<b>LGB:</b>What do you hate/love about answering questions related to women in audio?<br />
<b>LW:</b>I’m fortunate in that Robert Neuhaus (WWDTM engineer) and I get along really well and he respects my opinion.so i don’t feel i have an issue. But I do notice that when we go to a theater to work, and if we walk in at the same time, they gravitate towards him, a tall man. But he deflects questions to me and it becomes apparent that we both know what we’re doing. The majority of the (comedy show) writers are men. And it’s "guy talk". Sometimes the news stories are pretty juvenile, but it's their job to figure out if there's anything in the story they can use without being obscene about it. And I do feel uncomfortable for the women writers that they have to go along with the boys club thing. But they respect my input and if I say “You can’t say that on the radio,” they listen. It’s different than doing a recording studio session.<br />
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<b>LGB:</b>What fictional or real role models do you have?<br />
<b>LW:</b>Manoli (Wetherell) Farm was my big hero [another NPR tech - LG]. When I was in college and started to get board shifts "babysitting" <i>All Things Considered </i>I would her name in the credits. And now she is one of my friends.<br />
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<b>LGB:</b>What upcoming projects would you like to mention?<br />
<b>LW:</b>It’s all downhill after Tom Hanks! (laughs) But we’ve got shows coming up all the time. Dallas, Texas is coming up, as well as another live show in Chicago’s Millennium park. That's an outdoor show. We had Chance the Rapper there two years ago and the audience was 20,000. Outdoors is always challenging but fun and good PR for NPR. And we are coming up on 20th anniversary next January, so we want to do all dream gigs. I would love to have Brad Paisley (musician). Politicans great - Barack Obama would be great to have on again! He was a senator last time he was on our show in Chicago. Joe Biden would be great, too. Or Ice T - we had him join by phone once.<br />
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-Leslie Gaston-Bird<br />
Owner, Mix Messiah Productions, LLC<br />
<a href="http://www.mixmessiahproductions.com/">www.mixmessiahproductions.com</a>
Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-40206596715461604582017-03-01T04:00:00.000-08:002019-03-29T11:00:10.859-07:0031 Women in Audio: Fela Davis<h2>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
Mix Messiah Productions presents: 31 Women in Audio, a series celebrating Women's History Month.</span></i></h2>
<br />
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Day 1: Fela Davis, 23 dB Productions</h2>
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<i>Today, we are featuring Fela Davis, a New-York based audio engineer and co-owner of 23 dB Productions. Together with co-owner Denis Orynbekov, she has worked with MeShell Ndegocello, Christian McBride, Ron Carter and Swiss Chris, among many others.
Leslie Gaston-Bird and Fela chatted by phone. </i><br />
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<b>Leslie Gaston-Bird:</b> "What was your earliest experience with audio?"<br />
<b>Fela Davis:</b> "I went to Full Sail. And I was self taught. It wasn't like my father or uncle inspired me or anything -- in fact, my parents have no idea what I do. I didn't know audio engineering was a thing. I didn't find out about it till 8th grade when I saw a career placement brochure that listed “audio engineering”. I thought it was something to look into.<br />
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<b>LGB:</b> What about childhood experiences with music or audio?<br />
<b>FD</b>: I played trombone, and I loved music, although I couldn’t afford it (it’s expensive as a kid)! Kids today have YouTube. But I didn’t want to be a musician. I wanted to be a toymaker, I wanted to do something with my hands. I was always into electronics, stereos, VCRs -- I was the only one who knew how to program it! I also knew that I wanted to be successful and interested in what I was doing.<br />
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<b>LGB:</b> What is it like running your own company?<br />
<b>FD:</b> I never felt wanted at most gigs I did. And not in a bad way - but I never feet comfortable. It always felt like I was never good enough, or there should be someone else doing it. And I would go to audio workshops to hear “golden ears” and I would come away unimpressed. There was a chasm there between what was promoted and what I heard, and as an engineer, I have to be realistic about what I hear.<br />
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Smaller studios needed help so I got the gigs at the little studios. They’re not killing it, they’re not balling, but they have a nice living. And I had also worked for big stuff. And being one-on-one with the client was good. There is always a disconnect between you artist when middle men like accountants are in the way. And once I proved I was worthy, and then stuff started to happen. Christian McBride got in touch with me. Then I got hit up by a 3-time Grammy award winner.<br />
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My advice is do what the f--- you want to do. So yes! YOU ARE WORTHY! Nepotism is a problem. I can’t think of anyone better to hustle for than yourself. And having a good partner is key, someone who is just as committed as you.<br />
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<b>LGB: </b>What do you hate/love about answering questions related to women in audio?<br />
<b>FD:</b> I want to say: Anybody can do it. I don’t care if you have kids, whatever you want to do you have to sacrifice anyway. Audio, lighting, whatever. I’m from South Carolina doing audio. No one expects that! And I'm on the higher end of people that do it. But in terms of questions I'm asked, nothing really gets on my nerves - I’m glad someone is asking. The first 12 years of my career no one asked me anything. Guys don’t ask much; girls are more like family. But women who want kids sound defeated before they even start. Kids don’t kill your dreams.<br />
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<b>LGB:</b> Yes, it seems to me that fear is more about parenting, not about audio. What fictional or real role models do you have?<br />
<b>FD:</b> Janelle Monae. She said “I want a black female engineer”. Artists don’t always realize the power they have in the industry to change things. That’s how many careers got started: the FOH guy at the Apollo, India Arie, and Quincy Jones all said, “I want a black engineer”. And we are hard to find.
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<b>LGB:</b> What upcoming projects would you like to mention?<br />
<b>FD:</b> I'd like to let everyone know about the<a href="https://www.23dbproductions.com/?lightbox=dataItem-izbomxkx"> workshop on drum and recording techniques next month with Swiss Chris.</a><br />
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To learn more about 23 dB Productions, please visit<a href="https://www.23dbproductions.com/" target="_blank"> 23dbproductions.com</a><br />
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-Leslie Gaston-Bird<br />
Owner, Mix Messiah Productions, LLC<br />
<a href="http://www.mixmessiahproductions.com/">www.mixmessiahproductions.com</a>Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8859283970418602647.post-34064909827499705932017-02-26T03:57:00.000-08:002017-02-28T07:23:34.315-08:00Mix Messiah Productions presents: 31 Women in Audio<h2>
</h2>
During Women's History Month, we will be profiling 31 women who work in the field of audio engineering. This will be a daily feature so be sure to like us on Facebook and Twitter, or visit our website at <a href="http://mixmessiahproductions.com/">mixmessiahproductions.com</a>. Leslie Gastonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04005181193594060238noreply@blogger.com