My job has taken me to many different places lately, where I’ve met many types of people and worked with many various organizations and labor groups. Often, I encounter people who would like to break out of their current role to work for the businesses or tours they’ve met along the way. Frequently there are questions of how to take the next steps to reach their goals. Here’s some advice.
Be eager and helpful
This will make a huge impact. You will leave a lasting impression; I guarantee it. This is your first step into new opportunities. Leave a positive impact by jumping in on any task. Help with the ‘bad’ jobs like feeder, decking, and barricade. Keep volunteering for tasks all day and when completed, ask what’s next; even better if 2 or 3 tasks can be passed to you at one time and you complete them all well the first time.
Listen and Respond
Listen to the directions given and respond, letting them know you understand what you are being asked. This is super simple to do. Statements such as “I got it, no problem, or anything else I should do?” provide responses that let the leader know you are listening and jumping on the tasks at hand. Of course, make sure, you are completing these tasks to the best of your ability and if you are not sure exactly what’s being requested, ask questions. Then follow through letting the leader know that the project is done.
Follow-through
Contact them, submit your resume, if possible, stop by the office to talk outside of a job site, seek them out separately from an event. We are going to be respectful of those we partner with. Sometimes you have to actively engage, question, and work your way toward the crews you want to be a part of. You will need to step out and ask for a meeting. Find an appropriate time to ask some initial questions onsite and follow up later. Get the person’s name, role, and ask a bit about their company and if time allows to tactfully ask about their hiring process. Then when you’re not in the middle of a show, ask for a meeting or employment opportunity. You’ve already made your impression. They’ve already experienced your work ethic, and you’ve proved you follow through. This has a considerable impact on the decision-making process and could give you better chances.
If they don’t hire you, ask for constructive feedback. Be prepared to hear what you don’t want to hear but take that feedback to improve and move forward. Also, be prepared for the company to have concerns about poaching you from their partner and burning a relational bridge with a group they rely on. This is a hard thing for companies to navigate. In the end, it is your choice who you work for, but companies and groups may need to tread lightly sometimes. Help them by tactfully making your intentions and plans know to all parties involved to not burn any relational bridges yourself.
Working For Free
You may have seen those ads on job boards. You know the ones. “Low/no pay,” “micro-budget,” “volunteer,” “passion project, no one is getting paid.” You may think, “Who would work for free? Who are the people taking these jobs?”
Competition is high in audio/creative industries and competing against many other people for the same job is a regular occurrence in the freelance world. Unfortunately, our first compromise is usually financial. There are those who are so hungry for work and experience that they will do it for low/no pay. And there are others simply willing to do a favour.
Of course, if you are in a position where you would consider working for free – the apparent upsides may outweigh everything else. Your first thought may be that this experience will lead to future, paid work from this client. Sure, it could but don’t base your decision solely on that unknown. You are not guaranteed paying jobs from that client in the future, and it is more likely they will keep coming back to you for free work.
For many students/recent graduates, that unpaid internship may look like your way into the industry, but you must be cautious as you can easily be taken advantage of. Here in Ontario, the only legal way employers can hire unpaid interns is if said intern “performs work under a program approved by a college of applied arts and technology or a university, or under a program approved by a private career college.” That being said, unpaid internships have been the norm for many years. There are some unpaid internships where you may be expected to do the work of a paid employee – this is where you will be taken advantage of. Internships can be an amazing experience, and a jump start to your career. Keep in mind though; you are not guaranteed a job at the end, so make sure you put as much into it as you get out of it.
We now reach this conundrum; if you are someone without much experience in the field, you will find it hard to get paying work. You want to work and need the experience, but you also don’t want to work for free, potentially devaluing yourself and the industry. Are there ways you can take on low/no pay work successfully?
My personal rule of thumb for doing free/low pay work is to make sure I’m getting something out of it too. Whether that is a non-monetary payment such as baked goods or a killer mixtape, or a trade of services. I think it is important to receive something in return for your work so that the client understands that your time and experience has value. At the very least, make sure you establish an agreement that allows you to keep your work and use the project for your personal reel, etc. If I ever take on a job for free, it can be a fine balance to negotiate paid work in my schedule as well. It is important to establish expectations like deliverables and deadlines first so that you are in control of prioritizing paid work.
Working for free is a very polarizing subject. Even in speaking to friends and colleagues while writing this blog, I found we all had slightly different opinions. Have you done work for free? Would you again?
Women and the Grammy for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
The first person to win a Grammy for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical was Ted Keep for “The Chipmunk Song” in 1959, the year of the inaugural ceremony.
Sound engineering has come a long way since the days when creative usage of variable tape speed was a cutting-edge production technique. The audio engineer, in turn, has become more than just a technician. The quality of production can—and often does—make or break a record. For that reason, the Grammy for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical is a coveted and prestigious award.
Though audio has made many advancements, women’s representation is still playing at a low volume: Out of 415 nominations in this category, only ten women have ever been counted as nominees.
When we shuffle through the history of recorded music, it’s impossible not to notice that female engineers are mostly unaccounted for. Stories of Delia Derbyshire, Ethel Gabriel, and Cordell Jackson occasionally glimmer through to the surface, but they’re few and far between. Seeing as women have been systematically gatekept from STEM fields, this makes historical sense. Even so, it’s a bit shocking that there was a total absence of women in the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical category for 40 years until Trina Shoemaker was nominated for and won the first award in 1999.
Women only comprise about 3% of studio engineers today. Breaking into and advancing in the studio environment continues to be challenging for women, especially as the competition to get into the room is fierce even among men.
The good news is that our numbers are going up. The past decade has seen more female engineers receiving Grammy nominations than ever before. Women have been consistently represented in Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical for the past four years in a row. In 2019, three of the five projects up for the award have featured female tracking, mixing, and/or mastering engineers. Efforts are being made towards inclusivity; the Recording Academy launched a Diversity Task Force and hosted open forums in multiple cities, and a growing number of producers and studio owners have pledged to focus on diversifying their staff.
How’s that for a “step up?”
“BEST ENGINEERED ALBUM, NON-CLASSICAL”
Female Nominees / Winners Timeline
1959
No women nominated.
1960
No women nominated.
1961
No women nominated.
1962
No women nominated.
1963
No women nominated.
1964
No women nominated.
1965
No women nominated.
1966
No women nominated.
1967
No women nominated.
1968
No women nominated.
1969
No women nominated.
1970
No women nominated.
1971
No women nominated.
1972
No women nominated.
1973
No women nominated.
1974
No women nominated.
1975
No women nominated.
1976
No women nominated.
1977
No women nominated.
1978
No women nominated.
1979
No women nominated.
1980
No women nominated.
1981
No women nominated.
1982
No women nominated.
1983
No women nominated.
1984
No women nominated.
1985
No women nominated.
1986
No women nominated.
1987
No women nominated.
1988
No women nominated.
1989
No women nominated.
1990
No women nominated.
1991
No women nominated.
1992
No women nominated.
1993
No women nominated.
1994
No women nominated.
1995
No women nominated.
1996
No women nominated.
1997
No women nominated.
1998
No women nominated.
1999
The Globe Sessions (Sheryl Crow) – Andy Wallace, Tchad Blake & Trina Shoemaker, engineers
The Blue Room (Madeleine Peyroux) — Helik Hadar & Leslie Ann Jones, engineers; Bernie Grundman, mastering engineer
The Moorings (Andrew Duhon) — Trina Shoemaker, engineer; Eric Conn, mastering engineer
2015
No women nominated.
2016
Recreational Love (The Bird and the Bee) — Greg Kurstin & Alex Pasco, engineers; Emily Lazar, mastering engineer
2017
Dig in Deep (Bonnie Raitt) — Ryan Freeland, engineer; Kim Rosen, mastering engineer
Undercurrent (Sarah Jarosz) — Shani Gandhi & Gary Paczosa, engineers; Paul Blakemore, mastering engineer
2018
Every Where Is Some Where (K. Flay) — Brent Arrowood, Miles Comaskey, JT Daly, Tommy English, Kristine Flaherty, Adam Hawkins, Chad Howat & Tony Maserati, engineers; Joe LaPorta, mastering engineer
No Shape (Perfume Genius) — Shawn Everett & Joseph Lorge, engineers; Patricia Sullivan, mastering engineer
2019
All The Things That I Did And All The Things That I Didn’t Do (The Milk Carton Kids) – Ryan Freeland & Kenneth Pattengale engineers); Kim Rosen (mastering engineer)
Colors (Beck) – Julian Burg, Serban Ghenea, David Greenbaum, John Hanes, Beck Hansen, Greg Kurstin, Florian Lagatta, Cole M.G.N., Alex Pasco, Jesse Shatkin, Darrell Thorp & Cassidy Turbin (engineers); Chris Bellman, Tom Coyne, Emily Lazar & Randy Merrill (mastering engineers)
Head Over Heels (Chromeo) – Nathaniel Alford, Jason Evigan, Chris Galland, Tom Gardner, Patrick “P-Thugg” Gemayel, Serban Ghenea, John Hanes, Tony Hoffer, Derek Keota, Ian Kirkpatrick, David Macklovitch, Amber Mark, Manny Marroquin, Vaughn Oliver, Chris “TEK” O’Ryan, Morgan Taylor Reid & Gian Stone (engineers); Chris Gehringer & Michelle Mancini (mastering engineers)
* When I was compiling data for this article, scrolling through the years where no women were nominated had a profound impact on me. I felt it was important to include them here. – AE
ROUNDUP:
Trina Shoemaker (Winner)
Imogen Heap (Winner)
Leslie Ann Jones
Emily Lazar
Shani Gandhi
Kim Rosen
Patricia Sullivan
Kristine Flaherty
Michelle Mancini
Amber Mark
5 Easy Steps To Becoming Rich and Famous While Working in the Sound Industry
Ok, well, you failed the first test. There’s no such thing as a get-rich-quick scheme gone right, and the internet savagely preys on poor, unsuspecting dreamers to feed their click-bait web of lies. Don’t do it! Scroll away….scroll away!! While I cannot provide you with riches and stardom (please see my stack of student loan debt for details), I can provide some insight on building a recognizable name for yourself in this industry. Remember that everything takes time, and everything takes continued effort, but Future You will thank Past You if the Present You puts in the work.
Pay Attention and Stay Alert
This step is possibly the most crucial step, and at the low, low price of $0, it’s pretty easy to achieve. Sound technology is ever and rapidly changing. Just when you’ve learned the latest console, it’s not the standard anymore. There are also many versions of the same thing, and learning those differences and how each is applicable in specific situations is vital.
One thing most sound engineers have in common is a love of gear talk. It’s a little bit annoying, but if you’re new to the industry, use this power for good. Stand near these people and absorb their conversations. Why does Engineer A prefer Sennheiser to Shure? Engineer B likes the CL5 for FOH, but the M32 for monitors. Why? Keep a small notebook or your notes app handy. When people in your world start using buzzwords that you don’t recognize, note them, and when you have time, go to the interwebz to research! Challenge yourself to learn something new every day, and you’ll be surprised at how quickly you’ll be able to jump in on the next Audio Battle of the Brains.
Join All The Groups
So, this is the digital version of Pay Attention and Stay Alert. My entire facebook feed is puppies, babies, and all the audio threads from the millions of groups I belong to. New to ProTools and need to learn some tricks? Join the Avid ProTools Users facebook group. Is your QL1 stumping you? Ask your friends in the Yamaha Digital Console Users Group. There’s a convenient search bar at the top of your facebook page, so even if you don’t know what to look for, start typing keywords, and something will pop up.
The thing about these digital groups is that some people are just full hot air, to put it nicely. You’ll have to learn how to separate the useful from the useless, and this happens by cross-referencing and fact-checking. Conversely, the more you hang out in these groups, the more you will start to notice the same names contributing to the conversations. You want to be one of those names. Don’t just join groups for areas where you need help, join for areas where you are a master.
Can you mix on any DiGiCo console with your eyes closed? You need to join that DiGiCo Users facebook group! Spread that knowledge! People in that group will start to recognize that you always have helpful advice, and will even starting tagging you on posts they know you’ll be able to help with.
Volunteer
No, I am not suggesting that you give your services away for free. Dealing with all of the “Oh you have a studio wouldn’t it be fun if made a record for free” of the world is something we all deal with (which another blog subject entirely). I’m suggesting that you share your brain and a little time with the world. A few years ago, I was on the Sound Commission meeting at USITT (United States Institute for Theatre Technology), and the Commissioner said he needed some new people to step up and help with a few projects they were starting. I added my name to the list, and a few weeks later, I was contacted and asked to serve on the jury for the USITT Sound Commission’s Paper Submissions on Current Practices and Research in Sound. My job is to help get the word about this program out, read submitted papers, offer feedback, and vote on which articles I feel are worthy of publishing. I do not get paid for this job, but I think it’s enjoyable, I learn a lot every year, and I have aligned myself with the other jury members, who are all stellar professionals in this industry. Many websites look for contributing bloggers (SoundGirls), and this is also an excellent way to spread the knowledge while also boosting your name recognition.
Market Yourself
I am embarrassed to say that I have only just published my website, elisabethanneweidner.com (see what I did there?) about a month ago. I’ve got this neat little analytics app embedded into my website that tells me when people visit, and where they’re from. That small notification dings all the time, and sometimes I’m like, “Oh, Panama City, FL. That’s my mom…again.” Then there are times when I get dings from someone in Amsterdam, or London, or Ontario, and that makes me feel like I’m reaching a worldwide audience.
Website building, these days, is very easy, especially with the help of one of the many website builders like Wix, Weebly, or Squarespace that are available at a variety of price points—including free. I use Wix, and so far, it’s been great. I did upgrade to a paid version that included my domain. Once you get that thing set up, get your friends to help you blast it all over the World Wide Web. List your website EVERYWHERE. Put it on your Facebook, include it in your program bio, print it on your business card, make it part of your email signature.
One week after I published my website, I got a call from a production company offering me a job I did not apply for, and they said they obtained my CV from my site. That’s how you do it.
Networks, Schmoozing, and Conferences
You need to go to as many conferences as possible. They are an excellent way to network with other people in your industry, and they always have a lot to offer in the form of continuing education. Now, I know what you’re going to say—Conferences and travel are expensive. Yes, you are right. But there are many ways to help alleviate some of the financial burdens. If you work in education, there are often programs available for funding “Continuing Education” trips. Talk to your HR Department, and see if any financial support like this is offered at your company. SoundGirls provides annual scholarships for education and continuing education as well as the SoundGirls – Gaston-Bird Travel Fund.
If you live in Los Angeles or Las Vegas and only need to worry about getting a conference pass, seriously ask the internet. I have never once paid for a NAMM pass. I’m always able to get one from some friend that works for some company that is a vendor at NAMM, and SoundGirls offers members NAMM badges every year. You know all those Facebook groups you’re joining now? Ask in there! If that’s too creepy and forward for you, check out the list of vendors that will be attending the conference of your choice, and let them know you are interested in volunteering at their booth. Many vendors look for conference volunteers, and will only ask you to work a few hours for them in exchange for a conference pass. Once you’ve figured out how to get to the conference, talk to everyone, attend everything.
I was a late USITT bloomer, but when I finally went to the first one, I was blown away. I learned so much (and even got to test) a bunch of new gear, I got so many new ideas on how to improve my performance space and shop stock, and I met/networked with so many people. I still get emails from the sound designer friends that I met at that USITT passing along design contracts they were unable to take themselves. That’s what networking is all about.
Along the lines of conferences, participate in meet-ups. SoundGirls regularly has meet-ups all over the country, as does TSDCA, ASCAP, and a host of others. If you don’t know the people in those groups, they don’t know you, and they need to.
Here’s the most obvious, and my final piece of advice: Do a good job. When you go to work, do good work. Or even better, do great, fantastic, exemplary work. Word of mouth is always going to be the thing that humans rely on the most. As someone who does regular contracting, I can tell you that I will lean toward someone who was recommended to me by a trusted friend or colleague over McRandom person who sent 400 other companies and me their resume.
You need to be reliable, pleasant to work with, and good at your craft, but none of those things will matter if no one knows who you are. So get your name out there, and do good work. I hope to see you out in the world.
The Heart at the Beginning
How did you know you were a SoundGirl/Soundperson? How did that spark make you feel? Do you carry it with you still?
For some of us, our lives feel somewhat planned out. For others, spontaneity reigns. I fall into the latter! No matter how I try to decide the path to take, life loves to throw me as many curveballs as it can muster. (Most likely chuckling at me as it pitches) I used to fight it, but in the last few years, I’ve been able to get in the game and get excited about how I’m going to handle each new surprise as it explodes into my life. When it comes to sound, if I am completely honest, I had no idea it was even a thing until it was presented to me. Not even exaggerating! I’d never plugged in an electric guitar, rarely thought about music as being more than vocals, and never thought about the fact the there was a human at a booth making all my favourite shows possible.
Now, you may be thinking, ‘Well that’s not cool, our honorable profession deserves musical aficionados, dedicated by many years of developing our trade and skills!’. To that I say, kill the elitist inside your head! We all start somewhere. Some are born so very lucky to be within a musical family or surrounded by people who teach and demonstrate the magic of music at an early age. Me, well I guess I am just a late bloomer! And this is exactly what my blog series is about. Do you ever see phenomenal natural talent, or technical genius and wonder how did I get here?! Is this really what I should be doing because I don’t feel like I can compare. Have you just started out and felt as though you are entering a race 12 years behind everyone else? Do you get overwhelmed at all there is to learn so intensely that it makes you feel like you know nothing, so you decline gigs and hide in bed? Me too. For real, me too. However, these thoughts are rarely helpful! I aim to reconnect you with the magic of it all. The passion that brought you here and the character that will make you persevere, so you can realize it’s not a race at all. It’s a marathon where you decide the start, control the pace, and have full reign to choose the finish line. Those competitors can be your best allies if you keep your head in the game, ignore the sour Sally’s, and push out that useless self-doubt. We all have skills that brought us here, and sometimes the subtle ones that seem small, are the ones that can get you ahead.
My moment came after a tumultuous spring. I was planning on hitching to the Yukon from the Kootenays in British Columbia. A friend offered a ride but had to make a stop because they were working a Festival, for which they offered me an ‘in.’ I went with the intention of slacking hard and partying to great music, but in true character, I took to my job of driving a box truck easily and quickly and ended up ditching parties to re-strategize the camper shuttle load in the parking lot. At the end of the weekend, I was considering moving to the states to work with this company full time. Thankfully a friend told me about a small-time bc festival in 100-mile house called Hootstock. I was unsure if I was taking the right course of direction as I nervously attended, and my life was forever changed.
I found the magic under the last night’s moonlight. We were meant to jam by the fire, but we weren’t finished our shift, so we started a song under the canopy of the artist’s kitchen. Musician after musician trickled in to join, and before we knew it we had nearly every instrument imaginable! An electric fiddle, upright bass, a saw, a whole brass section, a melodica, and no joke someone was playing the stove and cast iron pans with metal utensils. It was so monumental that the wood stove campfire was dragged to where we were, and we danced and played until we no longer could! We tried to take video, but it was futile. That moment can never be fully depicted. That moment was for us, that was our magic, our cosmic message telling us we were okay, that THIS is what life is about, and that we were all on the right path. From here I went on to volunteer at six more small-time festivals working every and any job they would give me. I was hooked, that music sang me a song I’d waited my life to hear. That magic was taking me somewhere, and I had to find out where!
Janna Dickinson aka JDog broke into the industry last year, when she accidentally worked nine festivals! At the Last-ival, having worked every volunteer role through to stage-managing, she watched the techs and realized that she had finally found a job where her varied skill sets could finally all work in unison. She spent nearly two months couch hopping while hitching to every tech across BC that she had met at festivals who were willing to teach her anything. Her first gig was waiting for her when she returned! With a childhood free from live music, she had never played in a band or plugged in an electric guitar. She was learning it all from scratch! So, learning WHAT an XLR cable is called, let alone what it’s for! She returned to the same festivals this year with a new role and received honorable mentions at each one. Follow her on her journey of navigating such a complex industry as a complete novice, working solely on instinct, an ear and the drive to work at her passion no matter the odds. Unafraid to ask embarrassing questions on her quest for excellence, she carries with her goals of touring, teching/tuning, tv and teaching. Her freelance company is Penny Lane Audio & Production.
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