It’s a Girl’s World: The New Face of Audio

For many years the music industry was a job notoriously populated by men. Today, a whole generation of women engineers, producers, and recording artists are changing that paradigm. Names that come to mind are Sylvia Massy (Tool), Linda Perry (Christina Aguilera), Trina Shoemaker (Sheryl Crow), Ann Mincieli (Alicia Keys). We love their ongoing contributions to the industry and thank them for blazing a trail for all females who feel the calling to get behind the console and play a vital role in bringing great sounding music to the world.

Recording Connection is proud to be helping tomorrow’s female audio engineers and music producers pursue their passions and continue changing the face of the recording industry. Here are just a few of our female students from the past year and a glimpse of how they’re making it happen by growing their skills and contributing to today’s soundscape in various ways.

Alexa Cooper

Soon after she graduated from the Recording Connection apprenticeship program, Alexa found herself working in the world of touring musicians. “I was living in Vancouver doing the program, and even before I could finish…I got a job within a couple of months through the connections I made…I started working in live events and working with some really big names. I have set up AC/DC, I’ve set up a private show with Katy Perry, I’ve done Dave Matthews…I’ve worked with a lot of shows.” Alexa has parlayed the skills and connections she made from her time with her mentor Kaj Falch-Nielsen at Blue Light Studio (Vancouver, BC, CA) into a career working with some of the biggest names in music (including A$AP Rocky read here). When she’s not on the road, Alexa is working on building her own home studio and laying down her own music.

Alysse LeFevre

Alysse’s interest in music and recording started at a young age when her parents enrolled her in piano lessons. Since then she’s gone on to apprentice with the highly acclaimed Los Angeles recording studio The Lair, whose client list includes One Direction, Arianna Grande and Katy Perry. When asked about the relationship she shares with her mentor Larry Goetz, Alysse says, “Larry is super supportive.” and “He’s very protective. He wants to make sure I’m always comfortable no matter what situation I’m in at the studio. But definitely, you feel different when there’s 10 guys in the room, and you’re the short little girl in the corner that’s doing the dirty work. And they’re like “Who the heck is that girl? Like why is she here?” So, yeah, there’s definitely a different dynamic when you’re female and working in the field. But if you’re good at what you do, and you’re sociable and you’re nice and you can get along with a lot of people, I think you can overcome that.” Overcome it? Or flaunt it? More on Kayla Parker’s similar experiences here.

Lindsey Kappa

Lindsey Kappa has been writing and performing her own music since she was 14. But even at that tender age she had the foresight to understand that not everything in this life is a guarantee. “I knew when I was 14 that being a musician wasn’t always a guarantee. So I ended up going to a concert for my cousin’s band, and after the show he recommended, ‘Hey, why don’t you check out sound while you start trying to pursue your music career?’…It was something that I thought not only sounded awesome, but it was a way for me to still keep music in my life and doing it for living, both at the same time, getting the bills paid.” Since then Lindsey has been apprenticing with Chris “Frenchie” Smith at The Bubble Recording Studio in Austin, Texas, while producing her own music DIY style and connecting with local musicians. Speaking of goals, Lindsey seems to have a firm grasp on what she want to do. “The biggest thing that I want out of music, just in the music industry in general… [is] not only sing professionally but being able to go out there and say’ ‘Hey, I can engineer my own stuff, you know.’ I can not only make my own stuff and perform my own stuff but actually do the behind-the-scenes for it as well.”