19. Thriving in Audio Engineering w/Tangela

In this episode of 'The Music Executive,' host Cinnamon Denise welcomes Tangela, an Austin-based audio engineer with an impressive portfolio, including work on productions like Hamilton and Little Mermaid. 

Tangela shares her journey from church audio setups to college and professional sound engineering, emphasizing the importance of persistence and finding mentors. 

The discussion covers pet peeves in live sound, the significance of preparation and safety, and offers industry tips on getting and keeping a job. The conversation highlights Tangela's passion for audio and the importance of a positive attitude in the music industry.

Chapters

• 3:44 Pet Peeves in Audio Engineering
• 8:25 Getting and Keeping a Job in Audio Engineering
• 12:42 Loving What You Do

Transcript

For me, getting a job is about being persistent. I was always very persistent with jobs In the beginning. I wasn't very persistent. I'd send an email here and then be like, oh, well, they never responded to my email, so I guess, you know, they weren't interested or something. And I had to learn that it wasn't just about sending one email.

It was about constantly sending an email without being spammy. Okay? We're not spamming people here.

This is The Music Executive. A show where we talk about gig tips, music, business strategies, songwriting experiences, collabs, and even more with industry professionals. Let's get into it.

Welcome to the show. My name is Cinnamon Denise. That's cinnamon like the surprise. Denise. Like Denise, and I'm so. Excited to have this guest on the show today. Today our guest is an Austin based audio engineer who has worked on so many productions to include, but not limited to Hamilton in the Heights 42nd Street and Little Mermaid.

She works so many festivals in town and she's a member of Sound Girls and the Audio Engineering Society is who we have today. If you could pick one song to be your walkout song, what would it be? Oh man, that's a good song. My walkout song. Oh, there's this song. Oh my goodness. Okay, so there's this musical called Mean Girls to Musical, and I've been super in love with the song called I'd Rather Be Me.

And I feel like right now, that would be like the song, that would be my walkout song. Nice. That's just from the title. I'm like, okay, I gotta listen to this song. I gotta listen to it. Man, tan is an amazing individual, y'all. She has done so many projects, worked on so many things, and she's just really getting started.

We were talking yesterday about what she's planning on doing. So Tan, you wanna tell us a little bit about your background and where you're going? Yeah, so I started doing audio when I was like in junior high at church. Good old church girl, right? That's usually a lot of people's common intro to audio, and so I was able to start off there and really have a group of people who really let me kind of be free and figuring out what audio was supposed to look like for me.

We also had, when I got older and I got into college. Kept doing audio through churches, started doing more audio through university. Originally went to school to do audio and then I changed to math degree because I'm a nerd like that and it's great. And so over the years I just kept doing live sound. I kept trying to build a career doing that and whatever capacity I could.

And now, today, here I am still doing live sound and it's great, but now instead I've. Transitioned more into podcasting and that's been really great. And having my own podcast, which is just kind of crazy, but a lot of fun. So yeah. Nice. Well, so much information there. And the thing is, y'all sound girls, she's come, she's gone to the Omni Sound Project classes, which we haven't.

We have had the director of the Omni Sound Project on the show as well. The thing with is. She is a professional in-house audio engineer and she is gonna talk to us a little bit about some audio engineer pet peeves. So what are some pet peeves that you've experienced running sound? I just don't like rude people.

I think, I know that sounds like super lame, but if I'm gonna be honest, my number one thing is rude people, and that can include being overly arrogant. That can include. A plethora of things, but my biggest thing is that if you're gonna be in the world of live sound, especially, and just in the world in general, just as life tips, let's not be rude to each other like we we're all gonna have strength and weaknesses and that's fine.

We're not all gonna know everything all the time, and that's also fine. But realizing that sometimes you just gotta ask questions, but there's no need to be mean to each other. There's no need to be disrespectful. I think more times than not, people come into this space with that attitude and that arrogance and that rudeness, and they present that to the world as like, oh, well, I'm a sound engineer and that's how I, that's how sound engineers are.

And it's like, that shouldn't be the standard. And if that's what you're used to, then maybe you should try to encourage people and to be a better example. To be kind and to be, I mean. I don't know. I just don't like people being rude and disrespectful. 'cause that's just unnecessary. It's unnecessary way to approach a job.

Now are you saying people being rude, like the people performing? Are you saying just everybody? All people. I've had clients who are rude to me and who were disrespectful. Obviously you have to check them in a kind way. Tell them, Hey, your behavior is unacceptable. This is my catchphrase, and it's what I say to my niece and my nephews as well.

I'm like, your attitude is, your behavior is unnecessary and unacceptable. I'm going to need you to take a moment and readjust. And I think that that mindset is just something that I constantly carry around with when I'm with clients, when I'm with other sound engineers who are treating me like I'm stupid because I'm a female or because.

I'm black or because they just, they're just having a bad day. Like there's whatever the reason, it's just no matter who you are and what space you're in, it's just not necessary to be rude and disrespectful to people. And I just think ultimately we would all get a little bit further, as you know, sound engineer in any of our relationships, whether that's sound engineer to musician, sound engineer, to other sound engineers.

I just don't think it really matters. It's just. Let's not have that mentality. Right. I totally agree with that. I, one, it's a lot of effort to be rude to people and it's a lot of effort to be on the receiving end of that too. It's exhausting. And do you have any other pet peeves? Not being prepared. I can't say people who aren't prepared.

Don't. I have had people show up to gigs. And they don't even know what they're doing. They're constantly on their phone. They're not in the moment of audio. And especially with these larger productions that I've been a part of, you have this team of let's say five to six individuals. And if somebody doesn't show up prepared and ready to work, it really hinders the group because then you have people trying to pick up that slack.

And so. For me, I just need you to be prepared mentally. I need you to be prepared physically. I need you to be prepared in the best way possible for you to be able to tackle that job. I've had people show up hungover from the night before and they've, and to me that's like asking for a lot of productions to me.

When you show up hungover or not focused and stuff like that, it can cause it could. Potentially lead to situations where people get injured and they get hurt because you're moving around heavy, large equipment and it's gonna take pairs to get a lot of that stuff put together. And so if you're not prepared mentally, physically, and in all ways for that job, then to me that is a huge pet peeve to me.

Yeah, and you bring up a good point, safety. Safety, safety, safety, people can get hurt. And not only is that a liability, but no one wants to get hurt and you know, not for dumb reasons either because you showed up unprepared, physically unprepared mentally. Now let's talk about getting and keeping the job as an audio engineer.

What is that like? Because so often, more often than not, you're trying to get a job as an audio engineer and you have to really know. If you're working at a club, the club owner, or you have to know the audio engineer and then you have to kind of be on call. And what is that like? For me, getting a job is about being persistent.

I was always very persistent with jobs In the beginning. I wasn't very persistent. I'd send an email here and then be like, oh, well they never responded to my email. So I guess, you know, they weren't interested or something. I had to learn that it wasn't just about sending one email. It was about constantly sending an email without being spammy.

Okay? We're not spamming people here, but just being regularly like, Hey, I just wanted to follow up. Hey, I sent an email a little bit ago. I just wanted to check in again, see if there's any openings, any positions. I also think that a large part of getting jobs is having somebody that's already plugged into a community of sound.

So I found my own mentors in that, in the different fields that I went into. Uh, and particularly like in live sound, I found a lady who was like, let me give you some advice. She sat me down and was like, I'm gonna tell you right now, the way that you dress doesn't. You know, persuade people to convince them that you want to do this or that and, and it was just a lot of things like that.

And so I think for me, getting a job is about being persistent and trying to find people who are willing to help you. And that can be difficult, but it not an easy field. Audio isn't easy, so you kind of gotta have that mindset and that attitude. As for keeping a job, I think the biggest thing is. Being willing and ready to work and being open When it comes to keeping a job, I think the biggest thing is being open to different possibilities.

There are a lot of times where you might not know every single little detail, but you have the skills to figure it out. So if you have the skills and the knowledge to figure it out and all you're missing is like, oh, I've never used, for example, let's say I'd never used the Yamaha CL five before, right?

Soundboard and, but I've used other digital consoles before. Like let's say I was, I know how to use the Allen and Heath Quc series or something like that. Okay, well I know how to run sound on the Allen and Heath. That is not that far of a leap to then transition myself into being able to use the Yamaha.

So being able to realize and transfer the skills that you already have, even if you haven't necessarily used something or know something prior, I think is a huge part of it. And also being always having a good attitude. People don't really wanna work with people who have bad attitudes. People don't wanna work with people.

Who are negative or being, you know, negative Nancy's and walking around just with a chip on their shoulder. People wanna work with people who are open, who are willing to get a job done, who's willing to work as a team player who's willing to fill in whatever holes needs to be filled in so that way you can get the job done like it's supposed to get done.

And I think keeping a job, that's the key to keeping it. So the thing about all those things that Tang has said, the main thing, even from the pet peeves to keeping the job, to getting the job is your attitude. This is all about your attitude. This is about the way you approach thing. Your attitude determines your altitude.

And so many times we think it's about what we know, and sometimes it is about what we know, and sometimes it is about who we know. Sometimes it is about what we know, and sometimes it is about who we know. But it's so important to be persistent and have a good. Attitude, y'all, what is the biggest takeaway that you have gotten from your career?

T Angela. Ah, love what I do. I know that sounds like kind of laman and super cliche, but I think sometimes I think because I've been doing it for so long that at one point I really did wonder like, do I really love audio or am I just doing it because it's what I've always done? In actuality, I genuinely just love what I do, and it took me a little while to realize that.

But now that I'm here and I'm doing the things that I'm doing, I realize that my biggest thing is that I love what I do. So no matter what happens, I'm always going to continue to grow and be better. And that's all I could really ask for of myself. And so that's, I don't know, that's my mindset on that, y'all.

You gotta love what you do. If you're spending so much, you're spending hours doing it, you have to realize, 'cause audio engineers work long hours. They're the first people there. They sit, you know, they're there through the show working. Like you have to be engaged through the show. And then they're there doing, stripping everything down, tearing everything down.

So that's the thing. And sometimes they're there during the week having to set up, prepare for things. It's a lot of work. Let me tell you, this episode is not about me, but I've run sound before, and that's when I found out that I didn't wanna run sound because I wasn't passionate about it. And the amount of work for me not being passionate about it, was not worth it.

So that's a good takeaway. Is there anything else you want to share? Audio is, there's a large umbrella under the title of audio. So to find what you're passionate about, just try different things, find what makes you happy in audio, and then go from there. I think a lot of times people, they enter into the world of audio and they're like, oh, I'm only gonna do this one thing and this one thing only.

And it's like, yeah, you could do that one thing and that one thing only, but what about all these other things? Or what about all these other. Ideas that could lead to other things. Angela, thank you so much for being on the show. Where can the audience follow you first? You can follow me on the website 'cause that has everything on it.

So beats in a bottle.com and it's beats like a music beat, not like the vegetable beat. Someone, somebody asked me that the other day, thought that was interesting. I was like, not putting beets in bottles. That's cool. But yeah, so beats in a bottle.com. Then you can also find me on Instagram at Let's Talk Audio Podcast and the Beats in a Bottle podcast.

My podcast is basically a podcast about minorities and audio. I interview them. We talk about their lives, their careers, how they've gotten to where they are and stuff like that. A lot of really great stuff. It's a really fun podcast. We about a lot of. Interesting topics, especially with like the different ladies doing different things in audio and not even just in terms of running sound, but even people who are organizing different organizations to support women in audio.

So it's been really cool. Nice. So y'all, you're about to hear part of an episode from the Let's Talk audio podcast. The guest was Amanda Justice. Thank you Tang so much for being on the show. Y'all. We'll talk soon. I remember reading an article where they were talking about writing a software that would allow an AI to hear the sound, mix it based off of frequency recognition, and then all that needed to be set up was like.

The band has to plug into the board the software's on the board, and then that's it. I guess my thing with that would be the only difference is the computer could only do it, right? And there are a lot of times that the only way to make things sound the way they should is to do things really wrong.

Don't forget to leave a rating of the show. Helps to make us better. Thanks so much y'all. Take care.