[KK Proffitt is the chief engineer, musical editor and creative talent of JamSync. She has earned several degrees and honors in undergraduate and graduate school including a BA from Vanderbilt, completed coursework for the Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology at the University of Tennessee (where she was inducted into the honors society Phi Kappa Phi), Guitar Performance Studies and Arranging at Berklee, and a graduate degree in Software Engineering from Northeastern’s State of the Art Engineering School. KK is an active member of the Audio Engineering Society.]
There aren’t a lot of women in the studio because a lot of men don’t want them to be there. There are exceptions, but the invisible burqa persists, and I’m disappointed that there hasn’t been much progress. My daughter designs games and women in games are much sharper and more up front than women in audio. I’m not sure they are making progress, either, but at least they’re honest about it. Women in the audio area try so hard to fit in when fitting into a mold that doesn’t work for them is really futile. I just built my studio, raised my children and ignored the other stuff. I wish I had more time to spend at my studio, but my elderly mother totaled her car last March and I’ve had to take over running the family farm (150 years old), selling her property, seeing to her medical care, etc. It’s one more reason why women like me have to take time off from career. After being mothers, we become caregivers. Everyone only gets 24 hours a day and a lot of us are supposed to fit 48 hours worth of work into that slot. Solve the child care/ caregiver issue, and you’d see a lot more women in audio. As it is, many of the successful women audio engineers either don’t have children or go on sabbatical to have them.
The only job where gender has been a factor is the one where I carried twins and then raised them to become a molecular biophysicist (my son) and a game designer (my daughter.) My mother was a biochemist, my grandmother was a magistrate, and my great-grandmother was superintendent of county schools, so the concept of being a woman with a career was not novel in my family. It was just confusing that the news, the school systems and nearly everyone I encountered on any job that involved technology seemed to reinforce a lifestyle ethic that was out of some dreary “Kinder, Küche, Kirche” belief. I ignored it, of course, but it certainly didn’t help me to obtain clients or money to feed, clothe, educate and house my children. Fortunately, my children are smarter than I am and would rather be nibbled to death by ducklings than work in the music biz.
I tend to stay away from the “female audio engineer” ghetto. It does nothing to bring me business and frankly I don’t mix or master with my gender-specific parts. I’ve had no mentors, male or female, but lots of men who have tried to discourage me or separate me from the simple business of audio by trying to make me feel special. I’m not special because I was born female. I’m simply good at what I do, when I’m actually allowed to do what I do. There is no doubt I would have made a lot more money in the biz if I had been a male, but I have never wanted to be a male because I don’t think of myself as male or female when I work. I just listen and respond to the job at hand.
PreSonus is committed to providing real solutions to music educators at all levels. Whether it’s recording a kindergarten class and uploading songs to Nimbit for parents to download, running live sound and recording a high school jazz band in performance, or outfitting music technology and audio labs for universities, PreSonus has the products and knowledge to support all educators. We are working with the National Association for Music Education, the Technology Institute of Music Education, and the NAMM Foundation’s Support Music Coalition to ensure our strategies meet the needs of the teachers in the field.
The mission of PreSonus for Music Education is to provide high-quality audio products and continued support to all music educators and students in order to promote learning reflective of current and evolving practices in the fields of music education and the music industry. We offer sessions at the major state music conferences, webinars through NAfME and the SoundTree Institute, and educator-specific product bundles with school pricing.
For more information on how PreSonus can support your school, please visit our website: musiced.presonus.com.
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Hey PreSonus!
My new CD, Mixture, was recorded with Studio One 2.5, has spent five weeks on the CMJ top 40 charts, peaking at number 9 alongside other jazz greats like Lee Rittenour, Chick Corea, Marcus Miller and Diana Krall. We’re getting many great reviews!
One of the powerful tools we used in producing this record is the PreSonus Studio One. My co-writer and co-producer Tom Rule used Studio One for his demo keyboard tracks at his home studio. When we brought the tracks in to my pro studio, Shadow Sound Studio, to finish adding real instruments and mix and master, I fell in love with many of the sounds included with of Studio One. In particular, we loved the stand-up bass sound that shipped with Studio One so much, that we actually left it on the record and never had a live bass player come and replace the MIDI. I have now made Studio One part of my studio tools and of course use PreSonus for my jazz band’s live performances.
PreSonus Artist Andrew Oye just wrapped up a suitably stompy score for this rough’n’tumble TV advert for Carhartt T-shirts. Per the norm, Andrew relied on PreSonus Studio One for the task at hand. The result is a gritty homage to the workin’ class alpha male, complete with ropin’ cattle, roofin’, layin’ concrete and wreckin’ stuff with sledgehammers.
This music makes me feel tougher than Mickey Rourke in Sin City. Please enjoy the following video while I go smoke a pack of unfiltered Marlboros and hit on your wife.
[This just in from all-around badass and PreSonus Artist Nikola Jeremić!]
Just wanted to tell you that you guys really are making AWESOME products, and most of my musician friends have started using them and a lot of them praise Studio One.
Last night I had a recording session at Belgrade Music Academy with a not-so-traditional string quintet called Infinity Quintet. These guys have cello, viola and three violins, instead of traditional quintet which has a double bass instead of the third violin.
I wanted to record them in an old-school way with just one stereo mic setup. I chose two AKG 414s in M-S setup, but get this: I recorded with nothing but a friend’s AudioBox USB and Studio One Free on my laptop, and for monitoring I used the PreSonus HD 7 headphones. I just told the band to sit down and play their asses off, and they did just that. We recorded cover versions of “Sweet Child Of Mine” by Guns ‘n’ Roses and “Black Magic Woman” by Santana, and we are all happy with the result.
I used this recording for my competition entry in “Traditional Acoustic Recording” for 134th AES convention in Rome. And, by the way, I’m using Studio One also for editing sound to picture for my competition entry in “Sound For Visual Media” also for AES in Rome.
Anyway, just wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU to you and all of the guys at PreSonus, your support means the world to me! 🙂
In Austin for SXSW? Check out this event!
PreSonus and Nimbit are proud to sponsor this showcase on Wednesday, March 13 at CTC Garden in Austin, which includes live performances from The Moth & The Flame, SIX60, The Royalty and The Rocketboys as well as a special screening of Butch Walker’s award-winning documentary “Out of Focus.”
We will be showcasing FanCheck.In, offering free downloads of the live performances!