The massive pro-audio company is to be officially sold to STG (Symphony Technology Group) for $1.4 billion. Unfortunately for those in professional audio, this privatising of Avid might be an end to the company in a matter of only a few short years…
I tend to procrastinate recording vocals for my original songs because I get so worked up about recording my voice perfectly. I worry about making sure my recordings are high quality: I’ve minimized outside noise, gain staged properly, warmed up my voice, am conveying emotion and proper pitch, and have enough takes to work with. […]
Look around the audio industry and you’ll find an abundant number of people who are passionate, motivated, inspired, dedicated, hardworking, and often obsessed with their craft! What are some of the reasons that make working in audio so great, and worth dedicating a career and a substantial amount of your life’s hours to?
The iconic Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin and John Lennon’s Imagine have been added to the USA Recording Registry by the Library of Congress. The recordings added to the registry are defined “as audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound […]
You may have heard the basic tips and tricks of podcast editing, or editing any kind of speech audio. Remove ‘ums’ and ‘ahhs’, breaths, mouth noises, pops and clicks, silences, etc. But sometimes we can take it too far and actually end up over-editing a podcast in pursuit of the perfect sound (tip number one: there’s no such thing as perfect). Here are three things I’ve learned which have helped me avoid doing just that.
Unfortunately, I’ve recently been reminded about the predatory behavior of some in the music industry. Quite regularly, artists reach out to me for my opinion on an agreement offered, a private message they received on Instagram, or something someone said to them that confused them. So I decided to put together a list of some common “red flags” that you should be aware of that can help you make better decisions. Of course, you should never sign an agreement without having a music attorney WORKING FOR YOU (meaning, they have YOUR best interest in mind and not the other party) look it over for you or make a decision without at least having a consultation with one. Did that make sense? In other words, hire a music attorney before agreeing or signing anything. And also, I am not an attorney so these are just my own opinions and thoughts.
Since graduating with my Master’s in 2016, one of the questions I’ve been asked most often is: “Was it worth it?”
It’s a perfectly valid question, and it’s true that the vast majority of people I know working in radio and podcasting didn’t actually ‘study’ it at university. I did, though, and my answer is always the same, without hesitation: “Absolutely. And I’d do it all over again.”
One of the biggest components of a stagehand’s job on tour is load in. We often joke that we’re not paid to run the show, we’re paid to load it in and out and fix problems.
There’s been a decided shift in hiring practices coming back from COVID. Shows and companies are more focused on transparency and trying to reach a wider pool of people, which is wonderful for both reducing the amount of nepotism and increasing the diversity of the industry. However, no system is perfect. I was talking with a friend and colleague not too long ago and he told me he was worried that he would get passed over for jobs because he was a white male.
Many classical musicians have been dedicated to their craft since childhood: they’ve spent thousands of hours perfecting their playing technique, studying theory and harmony and history of music, taking lessons with awe-inspiring (and occasionally fear-inducing) professors, and developing a richness of sound that can fluctuate deftly between dramatic passion and subtle nuance, to make even the most hardened of hearts shed a tear of emotion at such sonic beauty! How do we capture in audio the complex compositions of classical music and the natural resonance of these acoustic instruments, and do justice to the sound that classical musicians and singers have worked so hard to create? Goodbye overdubs and hardcore effects processing: classical music recording and production is generally all about finding the most flattering acoustic space to record in, and capturing the musical instrument or voice in a way that best brings out its natural sonic qualities.
It’s almost impossible for me to not think of things philosophically. That’s why when I experienced my first Sound-theory class at Abbey Road Institute, Johannesburg, I was blown away by the concept of sound being something that fluctuates up and down – in cycles.
I remember seeing a tweet a couple of years ago from Grammy-winning producer Finneas O’Connell about going to school for music production. He believed that it wasn’t necessary to succeed in the music industry. While he proves his own theory, my first instinct when I read this was to defend my own education. At the time, I was studying audio engineering at Berklee College of Music, and I knew it was one of the most valuable programs for audio education in the country. Now that I’ve stepped out of academia and into the professional world of audio post-production, I thought about O’Connell’s tweet again, and how my perspective on his opinion has evolved.
Banished. That’s where my kids would be when I recorded at home pre-pandemic. Not banished to their knowledge, just hanging with their grandparents for at least an entire day, at most overnight. The point is they would be gone, and I’d have sent our dog with them, too, if I’d had my way.
We all like to think we’re absolutely indispensable, especially in the theatre world. There’s the old adage “the show must go on,” so we push ourselves to get tours into theatres where they barely fit, come to work even when we’re not feeling well because who else can run the show? Once, an actress asked what the A1 and A2 would do if one of us were sick. I told her that whoever’s not sick would mix the show, so she asked what happened if we were both sick. I replied, “then whoever’s less sick mixes with a trashcan at FOH.” Thankfully neither of us ever had to do that, but everyone on the road has a war story of doing a show despite illness or injury, bragging how quickly they came back or how stoically they soldiered through.
The nominees for the BAFTA 2022 Awards have been announced, celebrating the best in film through the past year. The EE BAFTAs will take place on Sunday 13th March and will be broadcast on the BBC in the UK and around the world. Additionally, there is the EE Rising Star Award, which will be chosen by an online vote. […]
Happy New Year Soundgirls. If this is the year you’re going to take the plunge into podcasting, then here are a few tips I wish I had known when I first started. Many of the engineers I know in podcasting came from music or theater or production backgrounds, so it’s not unheard of to make the switch. You already know the basics of audio, so there’s tons of overlap, but there is quite a bit you need to pay attention to when working with the voice.
In the live entertainment industry, you will find yourself working new venues fairly often; in the beginning, it might be every week! It’s not easy being ‘the new crew,’ and it can feel somewhat daunting at first. I remember when I started out and I used to not be able to sleep and get stomach ache because I was so stressed out that I was not going to fit in or that I was not going to be able to make some friends or do a good job.
Getting any show up and running is hard. Layers upon layers of new information are being added to the piece once the actors move from the rehearsal space to the performance venue, and it’s all happening very quickly. As a show’s A1, I am hard at work preparing my script, generating paperwork, programming the console, and in some cases also working as a hand on the shop build and/or load-in. Design elements are coming together throughout the tech process. Ideas are tried, then retooled, and tried again. However, one thing that usually isn’t changing is the actual script of the show. Not so on new work!
My last blog covered tips for touring, but before you truly hit the road, you have to get through tech. Which is hectic and stressful as you try to combine speakers, lights, sets, and props into an actual show.
Within the past couple of months, life has started to pick up, and start dates for live events seem more and more like true beginnings and not the “fingers crossed!” of last year. But after a year and a half, the landscape looks a little different. People who had been on the road for decades suddenly had extra time at home and realized that they didn’t want to head back. Others who were on the cusp of starting their careers can finally see opportunities pop up and are ready to hop on the road.
We feel it. We live it. And we read, write, hear about it. We discuss the latest developments in the performing arts. In our industry, the entertainment industry, many make theatre their life, dedicating their heart and soul, their energy and precious time to it. Often to an extent so it absorbs us entirely. So, what is this thing called theatre? Going back to the basics, what does it entail and where does it come from?
A few years ago, I attended a user experience design boot camp. That course taught me that UX is so much more than designing visuals for apps and websites. UX designers conduct a lot of user research to determine how an app should function, implementing what they call a “human-centered approach” to their decision making; that is, an approach that ensures the final product serves the user.
When I was in high school, my family’s go-to TV show was NCIS. We’d put it on in the background over dinner, or watch reruns on the USA channel when nothing else good was on TV. By the time I left to go to college, I must have subconsciously taken in hundreds of episodes!
So you’re thinking of working in the UAE but don’t know whether it’s right for you? It can be hard to get a clear picture of what it’s really like before you go. This is partly because there are laws against criticising the government and people don’t want to say anything that could possibly be interpreted as negative. You might also find conflicting advice as laws can change very quickly and there are some confusing grey areas. Most sources in English about life in the UAE are written by well-off, ex-pat women and travel bloggers, and your experience as an event professional will have little in common with them (sorry!). Plus going for a few months, as is common in live events, is different from being a long-term resident.
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