I was excited to start the Creative Mixing unit as for the longest time I wanted to learn more about sound post-production.
Aside from gaining technical skills, I got a better understanding of the importance of level balancing, the role of surround sound in the industry, the future of mastering, and the visual stereo imaging concept. This knowledge made my mixing process more mindful and conscious.
After learning more about Dolby’s systems and history I found it hard to focus on the movie in the cinema, instead, I listened to how the mixing engineers panned a ball hitting a tennis racket in the surround system.
When I was looking for a mixing engineer to research for blog 9, I tried to find a woman among them. I did find a few names but there was not a lot of information on them. The biggest female mixing engineer I discovered was Dr Susan Rogers, so I watched and read plenty of interviews with her, and tried to find out more on Berklee’s website and online journals such as Sound On Sound. Even then, most of the questions were about Prince. “How was Prince in the studio?”, “Did he dress extravagantly every day?”, “How did it feel to work with a hypercreative like him?”. It confused me, as I know she’s done a lot of mixing and producing, wrote a book on creative neuroscience and is teaching at the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world.
I heard a few interesting approaches like listening and hearing through someone else’s ears. She would ask what exactly a person likes about a song, listening to it later through a new set of knowledge. But at work, she prefers not to know what the song is about so that she would listen to it like the audience, with no context.
However, even after hours of listening to her interviews, I still couldn’t find more about her techniques and approaches, which made me go with Mark Spike Stent instead.
After completing blog 9, I went to research the state of gender balance in music production and post-production, which didn’t sound promising at all.
The study titled “Lost in the Mix” highlights the severe underrepresentation of female and nonbinary individuals in key technical roles within the music industry, particularly in the top 50 streamed songs across various genres. Only around 5% of tech credits in these songs were attributed to women and nonbinary people. The report, conducted by We Are Moving the Needle, Howard University, Middle Tennessee State University, and Jaxsta, examined data from 2022, encompassing 1,128 songs across different metrics such as streaming, Grammy-winning albums, and industry playlists. Among the findings, it was noted that women and nonbinary individuals were more commonly found in assistant roles rather than key technical roles, possibly indicating a pipeline for future advancement but also suggesting a potential glass ceiling. At the Grammy Awards, only 7.6% of technical roles were filled by women and nonbinary individuals, with just one woman winning in a technical category.
After finding out these numbers, I went from feeling like giving up to feeling angry and more persistent a few hours later. I reached out to as many London-based music studios as I could find, sending them my CV and asking for an apprenticeship.
Technically speaking, writing this blog and conducting the research led to me taking action on progressing my career.
References:
Ableton. “Susan Rogers on Prince, Production and Perception | Loop.” Www.youtube.com, 17 Apr. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgBZHIUUn8Q.
Corcoran, Nina. “Women and Nonbinary Producers and Engineers “Vastly Underrepresented” in 2022’s Top Songs, New Study Finds.” Pitchfork, 12 Apr. 2023, pitchfork.com/news/women-and-nonbinary-producers-and-engineers-vastly-underrepresented-in-2022s-top-songs-new-study-finds/. Accessed 26 May 2024.
Jordan, Benn. “Why Aren’t There More Female Music Producers? – YouTube.” Www.youtube.com, 25 Feb. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ipb81z46kI.
Lazar, Emily, et al. Lost in the Mix. Apr. 2023. (https://w1.mtsu.edu/media/fix.pdf)
Musician’s Hangout. “WOMXN & AUDIO LIVE HERSTORY and Q&A.” Www.youtube.com, 5 Dec. 2020, www.youtube.com/live/3pPVwWE0A1g?t=180s. Accessed 26 May 2024.
Psych Mic. “Letting out Your Inner Child | Music & Psychology with Dr. Susan Rogers.” YouTube, 23 Dec. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyM5mbNEpWs. Accessed 26 May 2024.
Red Bull Music Academy. “Susan Rogers on Engineering Prince | Red Bull Music Academy.” YouTube, 8 Dec. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ON0nQCQF08&t=993s. Accessed 26 May 2024.
Rogers, Susan. “Susan Rogers: From Prince to Ph.D.” TapeOP, May 2017, tapeop.com/interviews/117/susan-rogers/.
—. “The Listener Profile: How We Perceive Music.” Www.soundonsound.com, Sept. 2023, www.soundonsound.com/sound-advice/listener-profile-how-we-perceive-music.
Why Are There Only a Handful of Female Mixing and Mastering Engineers? 3 Apr. 2022, www.reddit.com/r/mixingmastering/comments/tv479r/why_are_there_only_a_handful_of_female_mixing_and/. Accessed 26 May 2024.