What we’re doing: music producers and recording engineers
As a music producer and recording engineer who happily works in audio engineering, I think it’s interesting to note that the latest statistics estimate that only about 5 percent or less of recording engineers are women. So while I know this serious underrepresentation needs to be discussed, it’s also important to me that we recognize and increase the visibility of women working in this sector.
Female recording engineers are harder to spot as the job involves a rather low profile behind the glass of the studio control room. However, I have come across some very successful and competent ladies, including Leanne Ungar (designer and producer of many Leonard Cohen albums) and Mandy Parnell, who recently mastered the latest album Biophilia from one of the most innovative and successful female musicians, Bjork. Female mastering engineers are even rarer to find, but Lodge Mastering in New York is successful and staffed by women (and men). Also, US based Silvia Massy Shivy, a highly creative and in-demand engineer, was the only woman to make it into Howard Massey’s compendium of great producers “Behind the Glass”.
From time to time my favorite creative recording magazine Tape Op will also interview a woman about her recording and engineering career or her work as a female musician. For example, it was here that I met Terri Winston, founder of the Women’s Audio Mission. The work of the Women’s Audio Mission in San Francisco, USA, is proactive in training girls and women in music production and audio engineering and seems to be a popular resource. An interview with the founding engineer revealed that many top male producers and studio owners donated studio equipment for the innovative project which is encouraging.
And I also came across the Smart Women’s Recording Club in London, UK, who are also doing great work to help women access and succeed in the field of music recording and production. They have produced a useful free downloadable guide on producing your first CD and working in a recording studio with an engineer as your artist. They also run workshops for female musicians to make them more confident in the studio and get the sound they want. I have seen testimonials on the website that the workshops are also enticing more women to pursue careers in music production.
Therefore, positive progress and action is being made by many women and men to ensure that more than 5 percent of women are capable of being competent recording engineers. So I can only hope that if the small percentage that are already active in the music production industry can work hard and develop our craft so that we can be more visible and heard. I strongly believe that the more we hear and see women surviving and thriving in the field of audio engineering, the more women, especially young women, will think of these fields as a career option. And the diversity of voice and sound in the good, and the representation of these diverse sounds and voices of female musicians and recording engineers is a good thing IMHO.