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Annlie Huang: Music Editor for Television & Mix Engineer

 

Annlie Huang is a Los Angeles-based music editor for streaming content at Marvel Studios and an independent mix engineer. She began her journey by obtaining a B.F.A. in Performing Arts Technology and a B.S. in Sound Engineering from the University of Michigan, and she has since become a consummate professional with vast experience ranging across the spectrum of film sound production and post-production. Her credits include Mulan, Frozen 2, Avengers: End Game, and most recently Moon Knight and She-Hulk. Even with her film and television work amassing, Annlie still takes on mixing projects for musicians she admires when moved. I first became aware of Annlie’s work and story when she presented at WAMCon LA in 2019 from a soundstage at The Walt Disney Studios, where she worked as a mix tech at the time. Her steady confidence and presence in that space stayed with me. With her newborn baby by her side, Annlie answered the following questions via correspondence just a week ago.

You have previously worked in ADR and re-recording and have most recently served as assistant music editor on many projects, including some of my family’s favorite Marvel shows! How have these past roles prepared you for your current work?

Probably the biggest benefit of having been in different roles is learning the different language & lingo that people use in different departments & crafts (and subsequently understanding what other people know & don’t know). So many of the crafts that go into filmmaking are so highly specialized that effective communication can be a bigger challenge than people realize. Once you’re able to translate between disciplines & departments, you kind of gain a new superpower that opens up a lot of relationships, ideas, and possibilities for better teamwork — and ultimately a cooler product.

Additionally, I think that in any collaborative process or art form, it always helps to know what the views, concerns, and work of other crafts are, and how they fit into the bigger picture. It’s like a sports team: I imagine a center forward might perform better at their role if they’ve tried out playing defense or goalie before and understand what the field looks like from all different positions.

I don’t know of many other art forms that require as much collaboration and as extensive a pipeline of different artisans, technicians & facilitators all coming together than that of film production. Ultimately, all the elements of a movie or TV show have to work together. The sound has to support the picture, the mix has to support the story, the color has to support the mood, etc.  Knowing what goes into other parts of the filmmaking process, and what their challenges, capabilities, limitations, and viewpoints are, makes it possible for me to perform my job in a more supportive & comprehensive way.

To be more specific, for example, it’s extremely helpful to me and my team that I have a deep and detailed understanding of what goes on during the re-recording process since ultimately everything we do in music editing needs to be delivered to the re-recording stage and flows down to them. Of course, you can be a great music editor with very little understanding of what happens after you pass the music off to mixing, but if you know what can be possible in the next step of the process, and how to set up your own work/sessions to make certain ideas possible, it opens up the door for a lot more creative conversation and cool ideas to be entertained.

When you spoke at WAMCon LA in 2019, I was so struck by your story path to a career in audio. I would love to hear a bit about that journey again.

I was classically trained from the age of 3 on violin & piano and performed competitively throughout high school. I didn’t have much of a life outside of school and music performance and by the time I went to college, I had come to really dislike the whole cycle of practice, performing, being judged and critiqued, and the pressure that came with it. So I took a 180º turn and pursued a pre-med track for 2 years before realizing that I still really missed music and being creative. I was lucky that the university I was attending had a Music Technology program, which was still not that common at the time. I thought “This is perfect, I can still work on music but not have to perform!” So I started taking freshman intro classes as a junior, and eventually transferred majors. I realized pretty quickly that I was completely out of my depth when it came to music production since I had had minimal exposure to popular/mainstream music and had no idea how to approach it or talk about it, (for context: I had no idea what the typical instruments of a rock band were or any of the parts of a drum kit. I couldn’t even ID a Beatles song at that point), so I gravitated toward the idea of working on sound for film since it can tend to be much more grounded in everyday life — and, of course, I had watched movies growing up. Unfortunately, my school didn’t have a sound-for-film program or any classes, so by the time I graduated, I still had pretty limited knowledge of how film sound really worked. I moved out to LA and started out in the very typical manner of being an unpaid intern for a small post-production facility (cleaning kitchens, and bathrooms, refilling coffee machines, doing supply runs, answering phones, sorting mail, etc.) before being hired on by them to do a little bit of everything: audio editing, video editing, subtitle timing, DVD authoring QC, ADR loop counts, etc. While working there, I came across a job posting for the international/foreign language department at Disney, which I was eventually offered. While in that department, I worked closely with the head of post-production sound for the studio, who eventually offered to take me on as a trainee in his department, which allowed me a path to join the Motion Picture Editors Guild — the labor union for film post-production — which is how I ended up on the re-recording mixing & ADR stages (still one of my favorite places to be in the world!). Eventually though, due to personal considerations around lifestyle & family planning, I realized that I couldn’t stay on the stage long-term, and looked at moving into audio editing. I settled on music after talking to various amazing colleagues & veterans in both sound (dialogue & sound effects) & music editing, and here I am!

Is there an area of audio you would still love to explore?

I’m currently, I think for the first time in my life, in an area of audio that I think I can stay in for a long time. I love everything about the balance of the role of music editing, and I think it fits my personality and priorities really well. This comes after a LOT of exploration and misfits. As you mentioned above, I’ve tried out a lot of other roles to arrive here: boom op, production sound mixer, ADR, re-recording mixer, dialogue editing, music mix engineer, tracking engineer… Although I have limited to no direct experience in the roles like foley, live sound, or mastering, I know from theory & observation that I’m more than happy leaving those to other experts! I do still absolutely LOVE mixing music & re-recording mixing, but I end up pouring so much heart & passion into those that I like to keep it to select projects that I believe deeply in and am particularly excited about. I guess I should also mention that I’m married to an audio plug-in developer/DSP engineer, so I also get to have a front-row seat in the peanut gallery to the process of creating audio software, which is super fun & interesting!

I guess my one bucket list item in regards to audio right now is to learn to love playing again. I’d love to learn to play a band instrument & just play for fun, which is not something I did before, and I have some unlearning to do, in terms of withholding judgment & just enjoying the process & the music!

What piece of gear or plug-in have you found to be most essential in your work?

This is such a hard question… I have so many pieces of gear & plugins that I love, but I’d have to say I probably place the most value on a good pair or properly set up studio monitors. For mixing, we have the ATC SCM50s, which are an absolute game-changer. I really love critically listening to music & mixes on those (in addition to working on them). For music editing, I’m on a pair of Klein & Hummel O300s (now owned by Neumann), which are super smooth & pleasing. I love working on those since they’re less fatiguing when I’m mostly making content choices and not critical listening/mix decisions for that work.

When you have the time to take on an independent project, what are you most drawn to?

My love & passion for working in music/film is because I think it’s an extremely powerful medium. It has the power to make people feel and experience situations and emotions they otherwise wouldn’t have exposure to or be able to: from fantastical made-up universes that setup the subtext of parallel issues in our own lives, to gripping documentaries that brutally shed light on realities of our world, to feel-good comedies that help people get by from one week to another or bring people closer together. There are certain albums that have gotten me through the highest and lowest times in my life or made me feel deeply connected to someone radically different from me. Storytelling is such an important and essential part of communication and human connection, and I love the form it takes through the craft of music & film. So when it comes to taking on independent projects, I go absolutely bonkers over the artists and works that say something that I think the world should hear — whether the message is beautiful & gentle, loud & brash, heartbreaking, or uplifting. There are so many people with such interesting & unique things to say, that if I can help focus or enhance that message and shepherd it as acutely and potently as possible into the world through great, compelling, sound, that’s what I get really excited about.

Tell us about your audio community.

As I mentioned above, I’m quite lucky to be married to an audio badass. My husband is an all-around guru about most things audio and has encouraged and supported me aggressively as I found my own path. We talk about audio all day, from new gear and what studio upgrades we want, to new & old technologies, listening to old and new music together — both casually & critically — new plug-in features, differences between film audio & the music industry, room acoustics… etc. I rely on him for brutally honest mix feedback, fresh ears on music edit options I put together, and a second opinion on generally everything, while he asks me to beta test their company plug-ins and listen to his mastering revisions. Outside of that, I have a few select veteran colleagues in the film industry that have taught me basically everything I know. I’m forever indebted and grateful to them and they’ve also become dear friends. Lastly, there’s the amazing & wonderful world of women in sound! Through organizations like Omni Sound Project, Women’s Audio Mission, and Soundgirls, I’ve been able to connect with so many amazing and rad individuals who love audio & sound as much as I do! I absolutely love how supportive and positive the entire community is, and I’m proud to be able to say I’m an active member!

I remember a workshop of yours in which you showed back-to-back clips of the brontosaurus scene in Jurassic Park with and without the score. It’s amazing what a difference the music makes! Do you have any other favorite examples of the score making this kind of impact? Something you’ve seen or something you’ve worked on?

Oh, man… I’m woefully indecisive and so, so bad at picking favorites. There are so many film & tv moments that totally just deflate if you take the music out, whether subtle or dramatic… music can really set the tone & emotion, so much, of anything!!!

With all that you have achieved, what dreams remain for you?

Well, I just started my own little family (last week!), which while not an easy task in any context, has its particular challenges in this industry. I’m so lucky that the team that I’m on is very supportive, but I really hope there’s a future where women don’t feel so much like they need to decide between career and family. Aside from that, I just look forward to working with great teams and inspiring individuals on projects that move people!

You can find her on Instagram as @shigwastudio and see her credits listed on IMDB.

Thank you, Annlie!

The Studio Side – An Evening with Bob Horn

SoundGirls Presents an Evening with Bob Horn.

Ali “A MAC” McGuire will be in discussion with Bob Horn about his career. Bob will deconstruct a track he has worked on explaining his workflow and process. The evening will end with a Q&A from attendees.

Bob Horn has mixed for multiple grammy award winning artists as well as some of the industries’ most famous including Usher, Timbaland, Lupe Fiasco, Brandy, Akon, Ne-Yo, Brian Culbertson, Nelly, Macy Gray, Everclear and more. In 2013, Bob won a latin grammy for mixing Beto Cuevas’ album “Transformación”.

Finding the Gems – Grace Banks

photo credit: Artemis Evlogimenou

Grace Banks is an independent studio engineer based in London, UK.  She has worn many hats in the field including recording engineer, mix engineer, musician, producer, and composer.  She is a multi-instrumentalist and has toured as a session musician in many bands.  She plays keys, guitar, electric bass, percussion, and sings.  She has also worked for the music label, Nonclassical, and Help Musicians UK, a charity that researches musicians’ needs, gives grants, and organizes competitions.

Banks grew up with a musical ear.  She started studying classical piano at the age of four, classical violin at the age of ten, and taught herself guitar.  She studied music theory through grade 8, too.

When I was a kid, I would make my dad play the piano so that I could record it on my tape machine, or I would get my toddler brother to perform into the mic.  I was fascinated by music and by capturing performance.

As she grew older, Grace would record guitar and vocal harmonies on a four-track tape recorder.  She began to perform at seventeen and was offered a place to study music production at eighteen.  Although she had the passion to succeed and her mentors recognized her gift, the adults in her life steered her away from pursuing a career in music. And like many aspiring musicians, Grace was encouraged to try a different field.  Grace began to work at an engineering firm having won a place to study Civil Engineering at university.

I figured, if I didn’t make music I would always feel envious of those who did.  And I couldn’t justify not trying, at least.

So, a month before Grace was supposed to begin university, she persuaded the music department to offer her a place.  She concentrated on composition, orchestration, and theory and graduated with first-class honours.

From Musician to Audio Engineer

She wanted to pursue studio work or a Masters’s in Composition after graduation but was unable to afford the education.  So she moved to London where she thought there might be more opportunities.

I wrote to recording studios but got zero responses.  I played gigs but, while the gigs I had done outside of London paid half a week’s rent, the ones in London wouldn’t give a free drink, let alone a fee.  I busked on the underground until, one day, a man stole my money.  I did a plethora of bitty jobs, before finding an office-based nine-to-five.

While working in an office by day, Grace was seeking out and studying with mentors in the evenings.

At gigs, I would head to the sound desk and ask to shadow the engineer.  A couple of them agreed, and I am indebted to them for their patience and encouragement.  At this stage, I was too terrified to touch the desk – so I would just watch and offer endless bar runs in the hope that they would invite me back. A year or so later, I got hired to tour as an instrumentalist.  I would hover behind the sound engineer and pester him with questions.  On my return, I set up a residency, booking singer-songwriters for a small basement bar – partly because I wanted a ‘safe’ place to get my hands on a PA and try mixing.

Then, one day in a rehearsal studio, a member of staff saw that Grace knew how to setup and troubleshoot audio gear and offered her a job. After a few months at the studio, Grace moved house and heard rumors about a recording studio on the same street.  She sent a curriculum vitae (C.V), otherwise known as a resume, and coincidentally, the studio was looking to hire staff.  The recording studio was interested in her background in classical music mainly, her ability to read scores and experience as a multi-instrumentalist – had stood out and impressed them.  However, her primary asset was proximity to the studio, which meant she could (and did) come in at five minutes’ notice and lock up at any hour of the night.

Having begun applying for studio runner positions at 21, Grace finally got her foot in the door at 28.

The Challenges of a Studio Engineer

People starting out in studios are often expected to work for free

One of the studios I first applied to wanted someone who could be available, unpaid, seven days a week – in London, especially, that is not an option for some.  This kind of expectation precludes many from entry into this career

While dealing with these financial challenges, Grace often forfeited stability, relationships, comfort, and safety and she learnt to live on a shoestring budget.

I was homeless for a while – mostly couch-surfing with friends; government benefits tided me over.  There can be a lot of shame attached to benefits, but they are essential for social mobility and are the unofficial arts grants.

When I eventually got work at a recording studio, the pay was about half of the living wage; also, the work was piecemeal, and there were no contracts.  I found part-time, flexible jobs that I could fit around the studio.  Needless to say, I had almost no social life for a couple of years.

Grace took responsibility for her education, writing regular ‘study’ periods into her diary, using books, YouTube tutorials, online articles, and real-life mentors.  She made a list of skills she wanted to prioritize, such as drum-teching, guitar-teching, and mixing, with a sub-list of people who could help her improve each of them.  Once she figured out her game plan, she would introduce herself to those on the list and ask if she could shadow them.

Love for the Job

Grace has experienced both the touring artist and the studio engineering lifestyle and said that she loves both.  With touring, she enjoys the sense of camaraderie, the excitement of seeing new places and not knowing what’s going to happen from day to day.  On the technical side, she enjoys logical thinking and the goal-based nature of the work.  Unpredictability can be exciting, too; she could be called to Manchester one week, Portugal the week after.  She also loves how she is continuously learning.

Every session I do and everyone I work with teaches me something.

Best of all, she loves working with amazing artists and having the opportunity to capture their performances so that the magic can be witnessed by others.

It feels like finding a beautiful gem and holding it up to the light.

Gear

I have just acquired a MoogerFooger 12-stage phaser which I am really excited about. The UA 6176 is my home workhorse.  I have been doing a series of vocal mic shoot-outs with a friend who is also an engineer, which has been fun.  Also, the Roland RE-501 Chorus Echo: it’s another world, and you can get lost in it.

A Freelancer’s Survival Guide

In order to survive as a freelancer, Grace attends networking, technological, and industry events.  She has also built good relationships with studios that give her regular work. Additionally, Grace pursues engineering along with other jobs.  She still works as a session guitarist, which helps her recording work in many ways:

such as meeting musicians who might want a studio or engineer down the line, and improving my understanding of what musicians go through under pressure, how they communicate, and so on.

We asked Grace for tips for those SoundGirls and SoundWomen who wish to enter the field:

Grace’s long-term goals include more writing for and with other artists.

More on Grace – SoundGirls Spotlight Series

Find More Profiles on The Five Percent

Profiles of Women in Audio

Profile By: Michelle Naziri (“Miche”) is a Liberal Arts-Engineering Studies student at California Polytechnic State University, concentrating in Electrical Engineering and Sound Design. Over the summer Michelle worked as an intern for VUE Audiotechnik under VP Operations and SoundGirl, Sara Elliott. As an intern, she got to help with prototype experiments, reverse engineer speakers, fix amplifiers, and help assemble and test loudspeakers and subs for the Kendrick Lamar, DAMN tour. Most recently, Michelle received an internship with RagHouse Radio as an audio technician for SoundGirl April Duran for her show on Authentic Culture Network in Sunset Gower Studios. RagHouse Radio, empowering women in music, sports, and entertainment.

In the future, Michelle hopes to continue working in radio, speaker production, and live mix for bands at concerts and festivals.

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Top 10 Tips to Improve Your Mixes

Make sure your mixing environment has some proper acoustic treatment

Every room has its sound. Your speaker monitors should be placed at the center of the room, right next to a wall, with a small distance from it. The positions of the speakers and your ears should be at an equal distance and form a perfect triangle. The next thing you should do is adding some acoustic treatment to the room. There are plenty of ways to do that. Check online for more detailed acoustic treatment solutions.

Have a reference track you know pretty well

You should have several different songs that you have listened to on pretty much every playback device, and you know how it sounds in every type of environment. This will help you understand how the room that you work in sounds and should put you on the right track toward your desired mix.

Mix at low volumes

I know that you want to hear that beefy low end and sizzling highs. And that’s fine I do too. There is time for that. But in order to make quick progress, first in order is to put the right sounds at the right spots. Mixing at SPL around 79dB to 82db is more than enough. After 8 hours spent on mixing at around 82dB to 85dB our ears became useless and with every increment by 3dB, you shorten your ears’ work hours by double.

Take frequent breaks. Try not to mix for longer than 1 hour without taking a break.

Mixing is a time-consuming job. We often spend time listening to the same 3-4 minutes for hours. And guess what happens… Our ears adapt to the sounds we tend to make better. We are getting unable to hear the things we wanted to fix or change back when we started. I cannot stress enough how important is to take frequent breaks. Trust me on this; you don’t want to start all over again the next day.

Master your stock plug-ins before you invest in other brands’ software.

Every Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) platform has built-in plug-ins. Most often they are not the best but will help you understand how compression, EQ, reverb, limiter and other components (depending on the DAW) are working. Spend some time working and understand what they do and how they do it before investing in some expensive 3rd party plug-ins.

Try not to overuse EQ. Don’t go drastic if not needed

Those are the mistakes every beginner does.  Often I hear tracks with ear-piercing highs and with squashed dynamics at the most complex parts of the songs. So my first advice is to find what stops the high frequencies from standing out in the mix. Most often you will find that the problem is in the low end. Maybe you should first try to decrease the low end, and if that doesn’t do the trick, then you should try to increase the top end.

Be gentle with compression

My second piece of advice is when you want to add compression to your music, always start from the loudest part of the track. Select it and play it on repeat. Start adding compression depending on the volume, speed, and complexity of that part. And once again be gentle. For the quiet parts, automatization could work just fine.

Reference mixes on multiple speaker systems as possible

You should listen to your mixes thru various playback devices. Of course, the first thing that you are going to listen thru your mixes are your monitor speakers or headphones. My advice at the beginning is to go switch frequently between them. Because those are the referent devices with the flattest frequency response and are build to pinpoint every unwanted sound. Then you should move to the consumer playback devices such as laptops, phones, earbuds, cars, etc.

If what you hear satisfies your expectations then you can try to enjoy your work on some audiophile equipment. I prefer valve amplified speakers or a good pair of planar magnetic headphones.

Take a 24-hour break then re-listen to the final mix before sending it to client

Now you are finished with your mix. You are happy how it sounds. You have listened to the same track for more than a hundred times. All you have to do now is to depart from it for 24 hours. Give your brain a chance to forget what exactly happening in the track. After 24 hours come back at it. It’s very much possible that you will need to make some final adjustments. Now you are done. Play it to everyone.

It’s not the tools that matter, it’s the engineer.

Back in the day when mixing first came up, it was referred to “balancing.” In my opinion, that is a much more appropriate term to describe our job as mixing engineers. Our job is a form of art, and our obligation is to put every sound right where it belongs.

Guest author: Paul Schoff from SoundMaximum. An audiophile from Detroit.

The Studio Side – Ariel Rechtshaid – Feat Grammy Award Winning Producer/ Engineer/ Songwriter

 

Join us for a moderated discussion, Q&A, and Ariel Rechtshaid will be breaking down his production process with a surprise mix.

Ariel Rechtshaid is a record producer, audio engineer, mixing engineer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. His production, songwriting, and mixing credits include Adele, Solange Knowles, Brandon Flowers, HAIM, Vampire Weekend, Madonna, and more.

 

 

 

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