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Sound Editing with Music in Mind

Before audio post-production was even a possibility, composers would incorporate the emotion and the action of what they saw on the screen into their musical scores. They played the role of sound effects editor and composer, with a technique referred to as “Mickey-Mousing” where the composer would exaggerate a character’s movements with specific orchestration and musical motifs. Now that sound FX editors have taken this role in post-production, Mickey-Mousing is less common, so it’s key for sound effects editors to make cuts that work with the music in the overall mix for a film or tv show. Here are some considerations and tips that our team shared on their approach to sound editing with music in mind.

Consider the musicality of chosen sound elements for a build

“When designing sound effects of a musical nature, it’s very important to steer clear of anything with a defined pitch. It’s especially important to avoid any chords, whether arpeggiated (like an upward harp gliss) or played together (like a synth chord used as a steady for a magic beam). There is very little chance that you will happen to choose the same key and chord as the score, so most likely, these elements will need to be muted as soon as the music is added to the mix.
To avoid this, I always choose to use inharmonic instruments, such as chimes, cymbal, water-phone, etc., when I want to add a musical element. Their non-integer-multiple harmonics keep them from sounding like any particular pitch, which in turn keeps them from interfering with the tonality of the music. If you absolutely need to use a musical element, always be sure that you have a non-tonal backup element in place. That way, if your star element is muted in the mix, there will be something left to cover the action.”
– Kate Finan, MPSE

 

Here is a depiction of how harmonics work in periodic waveforms heard in music and tonal sound FX.

Here is a depiction of how harmonics work in periodic waveforms heard in music and tonal sound FX.

Think about the role that the score will play in the final mix

“Oftentimes, if the guide track provided to us for our sound effects edit includes music, it’s an indication that it’s an important musical moment in the show. This could be a montage or a song sequence. Knowing that music will take center stage helps us think about the sequence in terms of how sound effects will support the music. This may mean cutting less and focusing on what will cut through in the final mix. Or for a song, we may want to cheat some of our effects so they land on the beat and work seamlessly with the music.”
– Jeff Shiffman, MPSE

Be confident in bold builds when a scene shares heavy sound EFFECTS with the music

“It’s important to cut sound effects that are substantial enough that they’ll cut through in the mix once music is added. A lot of the time, music drives the emotion of the scene and therefore is fairly present in the mix, so if you cut a sound effect that is extremely subtle, it will very likely get lost. Make your choices clear and significant enough to not get buried.”
– Tess Fournier, MPSE

Focus on texture to support tonality

“Try to avoid using sound effects that have a musicality to them. You never know if something with a melody or tune will clash with what is going on in the score. This comes up a lot with things like magic effects, so I always try to go textural and nondescript, rather than musical or tonal.”
– Brad Meyer, MPSE

Notice how you’re using the full frequency spectrum

“During songs or music-driving scenes, make sound effect builds that are a bit more punchy and larger than normal scenes so it can cut through the score better if needed. That way your work won’t be lost in the mix!”
– Ian Howard, Re-Recording Mixer

 

This diagram illustrates the frequency spectrum as it relates to common musical instruments and the qualities that audio editors and mixers use to describe certain frequency ranges.

This diagram illustrates the frequency spectrum as it relates to common musical instruments and the qualities that audio editors and mixers use to describe certain frequency ranges.

Always benefit the progression of the story

“When mixing, remember that it is your job to help create harmony between the sound effects and music coverage.  In some cases, both parties will cover a moment or action in a similar way, and it’s essential to figure out whether music, sound effects, or a combination of the two will best serve the story.
Along the same lines, during songs or key musical moments, you can really enhance a scene by adjusting the sync of certain sound effects to hit on the beats of the music. This is especially powerful during title sequences and music video moments, where the music is driving the story.”
– Jacob Cook, Re-Recording Mixer

The bottom line is that there are multiple ways for sound effects to work with music in any given scene with considerations like atonality, sync, texture, and frequency spectrum. Keeping this in mind allows for a story to shine through action and emotion.

Common Sound Editorial Mistakes That Can Become Big Mix Problems

As a mixer, I see all kinds of issues cropping up that originated in sound editorial. And with my background in sound editorial, I’ve surely committed every one of them myself at some point. Here’s a list of some common problems we see on the mix stage. Avoiding these problems will not only make your work easier to handle and more professionally presented, but it will also hopefully save you a snarky email or comment from a mixer!

Sound Effects With Baked In Processing

As soon as you commit to an EQ, Reverb, or other processing choices with Audio Suite, your mixer’s hands are tied. Yes, you may be making a very creative choice, however, that choice can not be undone and often processed editorial simply needs to be thrown out and recut to make it mixable.

But what if you just have you present your creative vision in this way, be it for a client review or to get an idea across? In that case, your best move is to copy and mute the sound clip. Place the copy directly below the one you plan to process so it can easily be unmuted and utilized. In this case, your mixer has the option to work with the dry effect. Another alternative, if you’re dealing with EQ processing, is to use Clip Effects. Just be sure that downstream the mix stage has the proper version of Pro Tools or this information won’t be passed along.

processed clip with muted clip below.png

How about if the sound has room on it, but you didn’t put it there? I’ve gotten handclaps that sound like they were recorded in a gymnasium cut in an intimate small scene. That’s just a bad sound choice and you need to find a better one.

Stereo Sound Effects Used for Center Channel Material in Surround Or Larger Mix Formats

Sound editors, especially those that work from home, do not often cut in a surround sound environment. The result of cutting in stereo for a surround (or larger format) project, is the lack of knowledge on how things will translate.

One of my big pet peeves is when center channel material – actions happening on screen, in the middle of the frame – is cut with stereo sound effects. The result of, say, a punch or distant explosion cut in stereo when translated to the 5.1 mix is a disconnect for the listener. Ultimately, we as mixers need to go into the panning and center both channels to get the proper directionality.

Now, it’s not an impossible problem to solve when working in stereo. Just avoid cutting sound effects in stereo tracks that do not engulf the entire frame, provide ambience, or are outside of picture as a whole. Your mixer will thank you for it.

Splitting Sound Effects Build Between Food Groups

We have written extensively on the idea of using “Food Groups” in your editorial to keep things organized (see links below).

The dark side of this, however, is some editors can get carried away with these designations. The error to avoid here is to be sure anything that may need to be mixed together, stays together.

For example, if you have a series with lots of vehicles, it may seem to make sense to have a Car food group, as well as a Tires food group. The Car group would get the engine sounds and the Tires the textures, like gravel and skids. But when it comes time to mix, this extra bit of organization ends up making the job extremely difficult. If a car goes by from screen left to right, the mixer needs to pan and ramp the volume of those elements. If you group them all together in one chunk of tracks, it’s an easy move to group them. If you split them up among food groups, the mixer then has to hunt around for the proper sounds, then group across the multiple food groups. It’s simply too cumbersome. Not to mention that it takes the functionality of the VCA out of the picture. A solution, in this case, would be to simply have a Vehicle food group that encompasses all aspects of the car that could require simultaneous mixing.

Layering Random Sounds Into Food Groups

Speaking of food groups and functionality, the whole point of a food group is to be able to control everything by using one fader (VCA). That functionality also becomes void if sounds not applicable to that group are dropped in.

For example, if we have an Ambience food group with babbling brook steadys and a client wants all the “River sounds” turned down, the VCA for that food group makes it a snap. However, if an editor cuts splashes of a character swimming in that same food group, it suddenly ruins the entire concept. True, splashing is water, but that misses the entire point of the food group.

Single sounds layered in with long ambiences render the VCA useless

Single sounds layered in with long ambiences render the VCA useless

Worse yet, is when an editor simply places sounds in an already utilized food group because they ran out of room on other tracks. This only works as a solution for layout issues if you have an extra, empty food group.

Breaking Basic Rules In Order to Follow Another

There’s a basic hierarchy to rules of sound editorial. Some rules you just can’t break, plain and simple. Like crossfading two entirely different sound effects with one another. That’s a mixing nightmare, one that simply needs to be reorganized in order to successfully pull off the job. But sometimes the breaking of these rules comes with the best of intentions. I have two examples for you.

incorrect layout.png

In this case, the editor ran out of space in a food group and opted to use this crossfade, rather than break up the food group. It’s important to not only know the rules but even more important to know when to make an exception. In this case, there was the simple solution of moving this one sound into the hard SFX tracks, or simply adding a track to the food group (with permission from your supervisor or mixer), solving the issue and not creating any new ones.

Screen Shot 2021-01-26 at 1.27.30 PM.png

Here again, we have an editor with the best of intentions. An insect is on-screen moving in and out of frame from left to right. The editor thought that since the camera angle did not change, it did not warrant cutting the second chunk of sounds on a different set of tracks. Mixing this once again is impossible. As there is no time between the fading out and fading back in of the sound, there’s no magic way for the mixer to change an essential property, in this case, the panning. A proper understanding of perspective cutting would have avoided this issue.

Over Color Coding

Using colors to code your editorial is another topic we’ve covered extensively (see links below).

While color-coding your work is immensely helpful, here too lies a potential issue.

Let’s say you have a sequence in a swimming pool. There are steady water lapping sounds, swimming sounds, big splashes from jumping off the diving board. An editor may see this and think, it’s all water so I’m going to color all of these elements blue. The purpose of the color code is to delineate clips from one another to speed up the mixing process. When an editor liberally color codes their work one color, you end up with no relevant information at all. In this case, each of these categories of sounds should be colored differently from one another so that it’s obvious they are for different parts of the scene.

POOR LAYOUT FOR FUTZ MATERIALS

Materials that need special treatment, like sound effects coming from a television, need to stay clustered together within an unused food group or at the very least on the same set of tracks. I like to have my futz clusters live on the bottom-most hard sound effects tracks, color coding the regions the same to make your intentions absolutely clear. This allows the mixer to very quickly and easily highlight the cluster and set a group treatment, like EQ. Think of it as temporarily dedicating some tracks for this purpose and stair-step your work around them, being careful to not intermingle non-futz materials on those tracks for the duration of the necessary treatment, which is equally problematic.

Why go to the effort? If you sprinkle these materials throughout your editorial, it becomes a game of hunting around for the mixer to find what needs futzing. Odds are your mixer will need to stop mixing and reorganize your entire layout to fix the problem and make it mixable.

Bonus Issues

Post-production basics: Studio jobs (and how to get one)

If you’re looking to build a career in post-production sound (sound for picture/television, film, and web) there’s generally two routes: working for yourself, or working for a sound facility that specializes in post-production. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. If you don’t have a lot of experience, working for yourself could mean high competition for low-budget projects with a varying level of quality. At the same time, it can be an excellent experience to do all the sound yourself, learning how to solve problems and manipulate sounds at your own pace.

The main advantages of starting out at a facility are you get to work on higher quality projects with professionals, better credits, and you have the security of having a job. You’ll get exposed to a lot, and chances are, you’ll meet a lot of experienced people in the field. The main disadvantage is it can be a lot of grunt work, long hours, and time (possibly years) before you move up into hands-on roles like engineer or re-recording mixer.

The jobs at a post-production sound facility typically include

PA – A “production assistant” is someone who aids in daily operations. On an average day, you might be making coffee, answering phones or sitting at the front desk, stocking the kitchen with snacks, studios with supplies, running errands (picking up food, supplies, hard drives to and from clients), taking out trash. You may be one of the first ones to the studio in the morning and last to leave.  PAs don’t get to hang out in sessions much (unless it’s allowed off the clock) but there’s a lot you can learn just being around it. PAs are hired as employees. PAs may be interns who were promoted or people who applied from outside the company. PA jobs are in high demand, and studios get a lot of applicants since it’s the “foot in the door” job.

Intern – Interns often do the same duties as a PA but may get more opportunities because they aren’t getting paid. An intern might get to sit in on sessions or do occasional light work (like sound editing). Interns come and go more frequently than PAs, and there is no guarantee of getting hired. I know people who waited it out in internships for over a year (without pay!) before moving into a paid PA position. Unfortunately, some studios abuse the intern status, so it’s important to ask questions to make sure it’s not just a PA job without pay or opportunities to learn.

Assistant (also called A2, assistant engineer, or machine room operator)  – Assistants help support the technical operations of the studio. If an engineer or mixer has an issue, they call an assistant to help. Job duties might be troubleshooting computer or gear issues, setting up and testing mics, opening and splitting AAFs, prepping Protools sessions, file management/archiving, tape laybacks, quality control, and receiving/sending files to clients. The way assistants tend to move up is slowly getting opportunities at the studio – things like engineering sessions, doing sound editing, or small mixing projects (in addition to his/her normal job the rest of the time). Assistants are usually employees. If you’re an assistant, who can engineer, edit, handle your own tech support and know the day to day operations of a studio you’re genuinely an indispensable employee. An assistant could be a promoted PA or intern but may come from the outside.

Sound editor – sometimes sound editors are role-specific (dialog editor, sound designer, Foley editor) or sometimes a single sound editor covers all of those roles. Sound editors can be employees or freelancers. Sound editors are increasingly expected to know how to do detailed audio repair (using software like Izotope RX). The job “assistant sound editor” doesn’t really exist but there still is a hierarchy of editors. Entry-level sound editors may only do simple tasks like cutting background sound fx, edit recorded Foley, or light sound design. Lead editors get to do the heavy creative lifting. Editors can be trained and promoted from within or come from outside the company. Freelancers are expected to already have some editing experience/credits and possibly work off-site. Side note: A Music Editor (by title) is not an employee of a post-production studio. Those jobs fall more under music and with music editing companies.

Engineer – there are generally three types of engineering gigs in post-production: recording voice-over, ADR, and Foley. Some facilities have dedicated engineers, and sometimes engineering duties are part of other jobs. For example, a mixer may record VO as part of his/her mix session. Some engineers are hired freelance by the session or project and others are employees. Freelancers are expected to have engineering experience/credits already.

Sound supervisor – the sound supervisor oversees the sound process. He/she may be involved with scheduling or delegating work to sound editors. If there are questions (technical or creative) before the mix, the sound supervisor is the person in the know or who will communicate with the client to find out. Traditionally, the sound supervisor has a meeting or spotting session (watching down a project to take notes and ask questions) with a director or picture editor. The supervisor would also attend ADR sessions and the mix. Unfortunately, sound supervisor is one of the first jobs to go or gets combined into other positions if there are budget constraints. Some studios don’t have a designated sound supervisor, either – sometimes a lead assistant or lead sound editor handles similar duties but doesn’t hold the title.

Re-recording mixer – this is the person responsible for taking all of the elements of a mix (VO, edited dialog, recorded/edited ADR and Foley, sound design, music) and blend them together. Mixers are at the top of the hierarchy (in terms of sound jobs and pay) but along with that comes more responsibility – including being the point person with a client, which can be stressful at times. Re-recording mixer work is increasingly becoming freelance/contract, but full-time opportunities do exist. Freelancer mixers generally are expected to already have significant experience and credits and, in some cases, bring their own clients to a facility.

Important people to know behind the scenes:

Operations Manager – oversees day to day tasks and handles issues at the studio (with clients and employees). They are involved with other aspects of the business such as accounting, sales, scheduling, HR, etc. Usually, the studio owner is not the operations manager, so these two work closely together.

Scheduler – Scheduling coordinates client bookings and also books freelancers for sessions. Sometimes the scheduler is also the operations manager. It’s in a freelancer’s best interest to have a good relationship with the scheduler since he/she may have an option who to call for a session.

Sales – you probably won’t see a good salesperson at the studio all the time. It’s to your benefit to get to know the sales people, though, since they generally have a lot of relationships in the industry.

How to get a studio job

The best way to get a foot in the door is through a recommendation from a connection. Most studios do not post job listings online and will hire by word of mouth. Sometimes it doesn’t go far past employees to find a few good applicants (between friends, roommates, and colleagues looking for work). Anytime you’re contacting a studio find a way you’re connected. Do some sleuthing to find out if you know someone who works there, has worked there or is friends with someone who works there. LinkedIn and Facebook can be good for this. Always contact your connection and ask permission to use them as a recommendation. Then, when you contact the studio manager, start with: “Pat Smith at XYZ Studio recommended I contact you. I’m looking for work as…” This intro can be the difference between getting an interview and a resume put in a cabinet.

It’s important to cater your resume to the position you’re applying to. If you’re trying for a PA position, include you have a car and are willing to do errands or that you have experience in the service industry. It’s not important to know what consoles you can operate (most post-production studios are on control surfaces, anyhow). For machine room operators, definitely include skills like IT/networking, soldering, computer or electronics (especially repair).

Don’t waste time on a demo (I’ve been asked once in 15 years for one). Again, this is because the quality of work isn’t always the most important factor. We don’t have control over the source material or deadline. Some gigs it is more important to work fast than it is to have pristine audio.

A studio or employer will be interested in your CV (list of credits/projects). They may check your iMDB page before a meeting, so it’s important to keep up to date. I highly recommend updating iMDB yourself whenever you work on a post-production project. There’s an option for “uncredited” if your name wasn’t in the credits. If you have time, add the entire sound department. This helps out your colleagues plus it’s not as obvious you were the one who added it.

Studios get so many applicants for every job they don’t have to pick the person with the most experience. They may pick someone based on temperament, or who the recommendation came from (was it, someone, the manager or owner knows and trusts?) They also look for applicants who show willingness to do the job they are hired for (not expecting an immediate promotion or to be mixing as an intern).

Why you have to start at the bottom

It might seem unbalanced to start as an intern or PA when you have a degree, Protools chops, or other relevant experience but what a studio is looking for goes beyond that.

Studios need people they can trust. If a studio can’t trust you to make a lunch order without errors and on time, why would they trust you with a crucial delivery of a master tape or hard drive? Confidentiality is also important at a studio because of high-profile clients or if the sound crew knows the winner of a tv show before it’s aired. Like any relationship, it takes time to build that trust.

Studios need to know the people they hire can do the work needed. A surprising number of people embellish on resumes. Even worse is when people have no idea they don’t have the proper skills or credentials for the jobs they are applying for. It takes practice to be good at any job, and a studio isn’t going to pay someone to learn on their most important client’s dime. I wouldn’t recommend applying for a job like sound editor or engineer unless you can show at least one prior job with the same title and no less than half-dozen credits. I wouldn’t apply for a re-recording mixer job without a dozen mixing credits and two years experience. You may only have one chance to get a meeting or interview, and it’s a risk to try for a job above where your experience and credits are.

Studios want employees who they feel comfortable representing the studio. Here’s how NOT to do it: At a studio, I worked at, an intern once gave his business card to a client when the mixer left the room. How do you think it looked to the client to get a card and offer to do business with someone who came in to pick up dirty plates?

There are also technical skills working in post-production that take time to learn. It takes experience to develop an eye for sync (can you tell if something is two frames out AND if it’s early or late?)

It might seem like a catch-22: How can I get work if I can’t get credits to show I can do it? That’s why the first couple of years in the field is an optimal time to camp out at a studio where you can just watch and learn as much as possible. My first studio job I learned so much I felt like I was still in school! Credits and opportunities will come in time if you are patient and open-minded to learning whatever is in front of you.

Giving Back to the Audio Community – Lenise Bent

Producer/engineer LENISE BENT is one of the first women recording engineers and has worked on many iconic records including “Aja” by Steely Dan, “Breakfast in America” by Supertramp and “Tusk” by Fleetwood Mac. She was also the first woman to receive a platinum album for engineering on Blondie’s AutoAmerican.

Lenise is a native of Los Angeles and comes from a musical and technical family. She studied piano and played flute in the Compton Festival Orchestra and at the age of eight was enrolled in the Screen Children’s Guild, working in film and television. This lead to studying film and TV production in college until one day she was invited to a recording studio. With her love of music, she was hooked, dropped out of college and enrolled in a recording school the very next day. Fortunately, her parents were supportive.

After graduating from Sound Masters Recording Institute (this was one of the only schools in Los Angeles at the time), she was hired as an assistant engineer at The Village Studios in Los Angeles, eventually working her way up to engineer. It was at The Village that Lenise furthered her education in audio recording, working with and being mentored by many legendary engineers and producers, most notably Roger “The Immortal” Nichols and Roger Linn. Lenise then became chief engineer for hit producer Mike Chapman, working with several artists including Blondie, Cher, The Knack and Suzi Quatro. Together they recorded in several iconic studios such as The Record Plant Sausalito, Air London and United Western, which is now United Recording and EastWest Studios.

Lenise’s first session as an engineer was April 1977 at the Village Studios (formerly The Village Recorder) Studio A. The equipment was a Harrison 3224 console, Ampex ATR 100 2 Track, Technics ¼ Track, and M-79 2” 24 Track tape machine. The Artist was Americana musician (and uncle) Willie Wilson. The Village encouraged all the assistants to use un-booked studios when they weren’t working on their own projects.

Lenise moved into post-production audio, beginning with creating the foreign music and effects tracks for the entire Disney cartoon catalog, and eventually specializing in recording and editing Foley. She has worked on several films and animated series, such as “Robo Cop,” “Street Sharks,” and “Extreme Ghostbusters.” She has traveled the world for Dreamworks supervising and producing the foreign dialogue and vocals for “Shrek,” “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron” and “Shrek 2”. This rekindled her love of recording music, and she is now engineering and producing up-and-coming musicians as well as seasoned artists. Currently, one of her projects, a blues/rock band called the Primal Kings, is all-analog, recording and mixing to tape and cutting vinyl.

Lenise believes in giving back to the audio community and is a sought-after lecturer at colleges throughout the country. She holds workshops and consults with singer/songwriters to learn basic recording techniques and is currently creating a workshop for recording and editing analog tape. She taught Production Sound, Post Production Audio and Studio Protocols and Procedures at SAE-LA and conducts “History of Audio Recording” presentations at The Grammy Museum. She also works in audio restoration and repair, including restoring the audio for the photo exhibit “Who Shot Rock n Roll” for the Annenberg Space for Photography.

Lenise is a long-standing voting member of NARAS and the Producers & Engineers Wing of the Recording Academy and is on the advisory board for the TEC Awards at NAMM as well as the executive committee of the Los Angeles chapter of the Audio Engineering Society. She also belongs to SoundGirls, Women in Music, ARSC (Assoc. of Recorded Sound Collectors), the prestigious Hollywood Sapphire Group, The Blues Foundation, and Women’s Audio Mission (WAM).

SoundGirls interviewed Lenise on her long career

What do you like best about your job?

I love working with musical creatives, inspiring and capturing their performances.

What do you like least?

The few times I got stiffed. Valuable lesson: always count your pay in front of the person paying you.

What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?

Fortunately, very few. I was told once that I wouldn’t be working on a project I really wanted because they preferred to work with a guy but I eventually got the gig, and it was great.

How have you dealt with them?

Honestly and professionally.

Advice you have for other women and young women who wish to enter the field?

To me being a recording engineer is a genderless skill, I think the individual who is passionate about recording and producing and does the hard work to learn well will succeed. I learned early on that on a session my required skills were why I was there, not because I was a woman. In the studio, I am an engineer/producer.

Yes, I realized that there might be obstacles when I started out, there were VERY few woman in the recording world at that time, so I made sure I did my job well and brought good energy on the project.

Be versatile. The more you know, the more valuable you are. Have a strong work ethic and be willing to do the jobs others aren’t, you will move up faster.

Value yourself. Working for free is being a volunteer and if that’s what everyone else is doing then okay. Otherwise, have your rate.

Be trustworthy.

Do not say you can do something if you can’t.

Leave gender out of it. You are an audio professional; your gender is secondary. Dress appropriately.

Save your money. There was a time when being a recording engineer was a very lucrative career. Times have drastically changed. Be mindful of your audio opportunities. Join a union, work for a company that provides benefits and a pension. Start saving for retirement NOW. I know it sounds cold and unartistic, but it’s reality.

Don’t sleep with your clients or co-workers. Just don’t.

Have good social skills. You can be a ProTools wizard and know everything audio, but if no one wants to be in the same room with you for more than five minutes, it doesn’t matter. Be an asset to the project and the production team, not a liability.

Must have skills?

ProTools, basic recording techniques, signal flow, knowledge of electronics. Learn your gear and mic placement. I encourage learning what good audio sounds like. Have excellent social skills and hygiene. Remember that you are providing a service.

Favorite gear?

Neve 8068, 80 series consoles, Neumann U67,  LA2A, 1176, DBX160 (Great on female vocals) limiters and compressors, EMT 140 plate reverb, Izotope RX 6, Burl converters, Prism converters, Altiverb. There is so much great gear out there that I love!

Do you ever feel pressure to be more technical or anything else than your male counterparts?

No, I don’t think more, but I better be at least as good. I prefer to be better. : ) When I started, I knew if I was more technical and did my job really well I’d have more credibility and work.

Is there anything about paying your dues you wish you would have paid more attention to that came back to haunt you later in your career?

Yes, I wish I had better electronic knowledge. When I started out studios had maintenance departments, and assistants and engineers weren’t required to know how to solder or build mic cables, etc. Good stuff to know.

When the DAW came along were you an immediate adopter?  Or did it take you a long time to convert?

I was already doing post when it came along (SoundTool!), and it was a welcome tool for fixing audio right away. I was working on Foreign M, and E’s (Music and Effects) tracks so if there was any English it was so easy to remove it. Also editing foley was a breeze, everything could be synced so easily. The foley artist still had to have good sync though, still, do.

What part of analog engineering practices have you maintained?  

I still record to tape. The main thing I apply to digital recording is the style of recording, making commitments to performances and moving forward, like recording to tape. I like to work quickly and in the moment while the emotion is still high and not wait until later when I can’t remember what nuance I liked. I record and comp, boom.

What are your favorite plugins?

I like the UAD bundle and Altiverb. I try a new plug-in on every project so I can learn it. I admit that I don’t use many plug-ins as I am usually in a studio with the outboard gear that I’m used to. The most important thing about plug-ins is to understand how to use them and why you are using them. I’ve received tracks that I’m hired to mix, and there will be five or six plug-ins on one track!

Do you have a few stories you can tell that have taught you valuable skills? Whether industry people skills or tech skills?

Here’s a good one…do not get stoned, high, drunk, etc. during a session. I was working with the group The Band, and we were recording basic tracks to 2” tape. I’m not a pot smoker but their keyboardist Garth Hudson kept insisting that I take a hit of his pot, that it was different and would help me really focus. After several refusals, I finally took that hit just to get him off my back. We had done three takes of a song, and now it was time to comp the track.  Robbie Robertson and the others decided they wanted the first verse from take 2, the first chorus from take 3, the bridge from take one, and well you get it. Remember this is 24-track tape, folks, totally destructive audio, razor blades and splicing tape, requiring focused experience and skill in the finest of times. Thankfully, the group took a long dinner break, allowing me to spend all that time juggling take-up reels, going back and forth, as I put the track together. Yes, there was major panic. When they returned from dinner, I had just finished. We played it back, and it was all good except the bridge was upside down. They all laughed like crazy except for Robbie who was not amused. I was amazed I got it as right as I did. Ugh.

More on Lenise

 

Find More Profiles on The Five Percent

Profiles of Women in Audio

On Diversity in the Industry

These are a few of the questions I am asked on a regular basis.

Have things improved since you started in the industry?

The climate has changed since I first got into the audio industry as a student (in 1999). Back then, you’d go to an audio trade show (like AES or NAMM) and the women who generally got attention were “booth babes” (women dressed in skimpy clothes and taking photos with guys visiting their booth). Today, women working the floor and attending conventions are generally knowledgeable of the products they are selling or buying. You’ll meet interesting women who are engineers, mixers, product designers, product managers, software developers.

How often did you meet other women in the field back then?

It used to be rare to see female engineers or mixers in audio magazines or speaking publicly.

I didn’t meet or interact with a professional female engineer until my last year of college. I remember spending a lot of time observing my professor, Martha DeFrancesco, a classical music producer. I was intrigued about how she communicated and interacted during sessions because I really didn’t know how I should act or carry myself. It’s a balance for any producer to offer input and lead a session without being too aggressive or authoritarian – especially a female producer. Martha was a great role model for how to do that effectively.

Do you believe the film industry is sexist?

I think there’s a big difference between lack of diversity and sexism. I view sexism as saying a woman doesn’t deserve a job or opportunity as much as a man. In the US, that would be called “sex-based discrimination.” While this may be happening in some roles in the film industry, I generally don’t see it on the audio side. The audio industry (for film/tv) isn’t necessarily sexist; there’s just a lot of guys!

That’s not to say I haven’t experienced sex-based discrimination. I was asked at an interview once if I was married or planning on having kids soon (illegal!). A studio owner once told me he’d never hire a female assistant again because he had to fire the last one (illegal!) In instances like that, I could have easily reported it and got them in trouble, but it’s a catch-22 when you want (or need) a job. That’s the real battle that women and marginalized people face in the industry: when to speak up. Sometimes the higher road is to move on. You have to pick your battles and some aren’t worth fighting – not because you won’t win but because some opportunities (or difficult people) aren’t worth the effort.

Why are there not more women in top jobs? Is there a glass ceiling?

Most people who are getting into our field today have an equal opportunity if they are willing to put in the time/effort plus have the temperament and necessary skills (such as technical, business and social) to be employable. It could look biased if you compare across all levels of experience but someone entering the field today can’t compare themselves to someone who’s been in the field 30 years. Being realistic about it: If you’re looking for someone with 25 years of experience in the audio industry (in roles like engineer or mixer), there’s a 99% chance it’s going to be a guy. But, if you’re looking for someone with 10-15 years of experience, there’s maybe 90-95% chance of being a guy. That may not seem like a big difference, but as our big-name industry veterans start to retire (say, in the next ten years), there’s going to be qualified women moving into some of those top-tier jobs. In time, that circle will continue to grow. In 15 years, the look of the industry (and the dynamic) could be very different – and that’s when someone getting in the field today will be qualified for those top-tier opportunities.

What are your thoughts on helping/recommending other women who need work?

Some would argue that we (as women in the field) need to help other women get jobs but isn’t that a form of bias, too? I don’t recommend friends or family unless I’m positive they are the best person for the job, so why would I prioritize someone just because of their gender or race? When I meet a woman who needs help finding work, I treat her exactly the same as a man; I ask, what is her experience level? How is her attitude? How open is she to learning? Does she seem like a good match for any professionals/facilities I have a relationship with already? I’m happy to recommend someone for a job or internship when I think the relationship will benefit both parties.

With that said, I think there’s a huge benefit to being visible and accessible to other women (when it seems appropriate) and that can lead to opportunities. Maybe it’s as simple as an email exchange, meeting for coffee, introduction, or letting someone sit in with you on the job for a day. In some cases, that support may be assistance with job placement or an internship/mentorship.

The more women share stories and knowledge it’ll allow other women who are interested in the field or who need assistance to come forward for that support. That’s the great thing about organizations like Soundgirls.org or Women’s Audio Mission that bring us together. They’re openly saying, “yeah, there are women working in the field and they do the job just as well as anyone else.” Not only can we find each other, but we are becoming a support network to each other in ways other than just “help me find a job.” In the end, that kind of support makes us unique – and that could attract more women to the field, too.

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