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10 girls, 7 days, 6 tracks: How we made a female music camp

IN THE RUBRIC "COMMUNICATIONS" WE TELL ABOUT GIRLS, who came up with a common cause and achieved success in it. But at the same time we expose the myth that women are not capable of friendly feelings, and can only aggressively compete. "Parallel Residence" - a women's music camp, which this year opened in the studio of Powerhouse Moscow. Ten girls from Russia and neighboring countries with two mentors and a sound engineer worked for seven days to create new tracks. We talked to the founders - musician, producer and creator of the blog about girls in the music "Parallel" Eugenia Nedosekina (Jekka) and program director and manager of the studio Powerhouse Moscow Xenia Carlo - how women in music are still hampered by impostor syndrome and why important comfortable space for self-expression.

Anya airapetova

Idea

Evgenia: I have long wanted to bring the magazine "Parallel" offline. Still, communities are better when there is physical communication, so I started with parties and get-togethers to test how much it is needed. At the same time, I always follow similar foreign initiatives and projects that support women in music in order to learn from experience, to see what can be applied to us. I watched sheWrites - this is a project founded by two female producers, Violet Skies and Charlie McClin, from the UK. They started off small, just gathered a few producers and songwriters, and organized a songwriting camp - a camp where everyone wrote music.

Soon they began to make them more and more, not only in London, but also in other European cities, and then in general in Los Angeles. I wanted to do something the same, because there are few such projects in Russia or they are held behind closed doors, and it is very difficult to get to the Red Bull Music Academy - I myself have been served eight or nine times and have not yet reached. I wrote to sheWrites and asked if they wanted to make a camp in Russia, but they were busy organizing their projects and Russia was not part of their plans, and they were not really sharing methods. But I wanted to do this camp, in spite of everything, and turned to Ksyusha with the idea of ​​spending it in Powerhouse.

Kseniya: I work in the club Powerhouse Moscow - I am engaged in a program of events and I manage a studio, in the past I worked in tours and at festivals. When Zhenya spoke about the idea of ​​making a musical residence just for girls, to provide them with a comfortable place for self-expression and support their musical endeavors, I realized that this is a project that is as close as possible to me and to our team. When you are in the center of the music industry, you begin to feel an imbalance of forces that you want to at least try to correct. And secondly, projects that strengthen the music community and support young musicians are a central part of the Powerhouse philosophy. I would not argue that we did something completely unique, but as far as I know, our project is Russia's first purely female musical residence.

"Are there boys who are whipped into technology?"

Evgenia: In the world of residence are organized in different ways - they themselves come up with the rules that follow. "Parallel Residence" is a space for girls, focused on collaboration and creating joint compositions. The main goal is to create something joint in seven days. Therefore, we divided the participants into groups. It is also a space for personal growth, getting out of the comfort zone and working with confidence and skills. It seems to me that the residence is not so much about the result (or finished tracks), but about the process and mutual support. In the music industry, in principle, few women - those who took the path of a producer or sound engineer, even less.

According to a study by Annenberg, which analyzed the 600 most popular Billboard charts for 2012–2017, only 22.4% of the performers are women, only 2% are among producers, and 12% are among songwriters. In Russia, such figures do not even count. Of course, with the development of technology, everything is gradually changing, but women in technical areas are still catastrophically low for a variety of reasons - because of the stereotypes that have been established since childhood, the lack of role models, and just the confidence that you can also go into this region. Some people manage to conquer their fears, but not everyone, and the impostor syndrome is still common. I really want to change it and make the girls believe in their own strength more and not be limited to the choir or singing.

During my musical career, unpleasant situations happened to me more than once just because I was a girl. Now this is almost not happening, but the sediment, as they say, has remained. You have to sweat a lot more so that you will not be called a "singer" and will not be asked if you write your own music. Now the intonation of the conversation is changing, because the Internet allows you to put in the place of anyone who shows condescension or disrespect for other people's work. But Russia, in my opinion, is still very far behind.

Kseniya: Unpleasant situations happened to me both as a musician and in other positions. At some point I worked as a technician in a long and difficult tour, and I was asked a couple of times: "And who are you sleeping with from the group?" I said: "Yes, no matter how it is with anyone, I just work as a technician." And it was in Canada, and at first I didn’t understand what it was about, and then it turned out that even in the Canadian backwoods there are people who think that a girl can’t just want to work as a technician and be a pro. Not to mention how things are for girls in the musical and technical sphere in Russia. Unfortunately, I know literally three female sound engineers - they all know their business very well and they all met with a condescending attitude toward themselves and surprise.

The participants of the residence told how, for example, they come to the site, and they are asked: "Who is the head of the group?" The girl says: "I am the main one in the group." And they say to her: "Pf, well, do the boys have any, who are whipping away in the technique?" Or the girls ask the sound engineer to somehow definitely set up the sound, and he says: "I have been working on this site for ten years, I know better than you how it should be." Unfortunately, such situations accumulate in the mind and affect the confidence of the musician in himself and his work.

Many of them have accumulated complexes due to similar stories, which appeared on the residence. We had girls who cried: it seemed to them that they could not do anything, that they were not talented. She just collected a whole track arrangement, did a lot of work, but at some point she stopped - fears started to come out.

Selection of participants

Evgenia: Ksyusha and I compiled a questionnaire with questions to fill out. We looked at how detailed the answers were, how much the person aimed at the collaboration, and not at personal gain, and, of course, listened to the music sent. A residence is not a school of music making, public relations or promotion, vocals, and so on. This is a place where people can try something new and learn from their colleagues. Therefore, for those who wanted to be taught something in the "teacher - student" mode, the residence was also not quite suitable. We wanted to pick and very diverse musicians to push different parties and see where it all leads.

Kseniya: We received 125 applications and were a bit shocked by this, we spent almost two days on the audition. The process was very difficult: there were moments when the heart was just bleeding from the heart - we understood that we have a lot of singers or a lot of producers. We needed to make interesting combinations that would make the girls push each other to leave the comfort zone and in the future would help to create some interesting union.

Zhenya and I set ourselves a task - be sure to bring participants from other cities. As a result, three girls from Naberezhnye Chelny, Murmansk and Minsk came to us. We did not think about the age of the participants when we selected them, and only in the finale of the residence it turned out that someone was twenty-one, and someone thirty-two. If it somehow influenced, it is only positive. In the process there was no feeling that the difference in age or in the background matters. More important for us was the motivation of the participants, so that the person wanted to show himself, because this is a very intensive format, and we, of course, did not want the situation to arise in two days: “Oh, well, this guys is not mine. I think gone. "

Residence

Evgenia: During the residence, Ksyusha and I were more likely moderators-counselors - we made sure that everything was connected, everything was in place, everyone ate on time, tried to help somehow, if any friction arose. It was important to reveal all the participants, to achieve a situation when they had already relaxed, became friends, were not afraid to fool around and tried something new. It was exciting to listen to the first demo tracks that made the girls - it was very cool.

Kseniya: We both threw some ideas to the participants: Zhenya is well versed in music programs, and I recorded a bass and guitar part in one track. The coolest moments in this residence for me were moments of universal unity - when there were common jokes and memes, when we had dinner all together or with the help of one of the participants did voice meditation - and, of course, the final day with a general performance.

For example, the residence also had a very cool friendship with Svetly Matveeva, the vocalist of the Wooden Whales group, and Alina Yevseyeva, Lucidvox singer / guitarist. Despite the close genres of their projects and performances at approximately the same festivals, the girls did not know each other before, and here they literally found each other. As a result, they came up with a bunch of jokes, which they constantly made fun of, and generally helped to maintain chill and positive.

Watching participants rethink themselves, their background, is fascinating and inspiring. For example, multi-instrumentalist Alina Petrova with a conservatory education and an absolutely stunning classical base created the track with Anya Makeeva, who sings modern electronic soul, and Anya Owl (ANSV), which makes quite rave music - they have a very fresh synth-pop track. One of the most popular tracks of the participants themselves, which turned out to be the residence, is “Fox Dog” with the rap of Polina Frolova and the arrangement of Ksenia Kruchinsky and Rita Medzhovich. An excellent collaboration came from Anya Zhdanova from Minsk, Rita Medzhovich from the Fedor Garden and Ani Makeieva - a mixture of folk songs, hip-hop and glitch. And the most sticky song, it seems to me, turned out to be Rita Marinina, Sveta Matveeva, Alina Yevseyeva and Ani Zhdanova.

Master Classes

Evgenia: For the residence, we have planned three master classes: for the note - the sound engineer Daria Pisarenkova, for the sound synthesis - Maria Teryayeva and for the songwriter and the overcoming of creative blocks - Yana Blinder. The latter turned out to be the most unusual and very useful, since it was not so much about some kind of mastery as about the psychological and emotional state and self-acceptance. The company, which provided us with a very large number of synthesizers for the residence, invited her colleague to hold a master class on sound synthesis using the example of Arturia instruments. It seems to me that absolutely all master classes were useful. And about the synthesis, and about the legendary synthesizer Buchla, and about the reduction. Plus Dasha listened to the draft tracks and gave comments, and Yana charged everyone with incredible energy. Separately, I want to say about the sound engineer of Powerhouse studio Sasha Basian, who helped the residence participants at all stages and he really was interested. I think it was not so easy to join the girl group, but he became a full-fledged part of the residence, and it was very comfortable and easy to work with him.

Future plans

Evgenia: I intend to hold residences four times a year. I think that once a year is very little, because I want to give the opportunity to participate in them to the maximum number of people. And I plan to hold residences not only in Moscow, but also in other cities - I think it is very important to decentralize such things, because not everyone has the opportunity to come to Moscow, besides, I want people to then be able to organize such projects on the ground. Therefore, now I am looking for partners in other cities who are willing to help the project and who want to change the world around them. The most difficult thing is finding a site. Even in Moscow, not everyone is ready to allocate several rooms for a week or require a large rent. But I think everything will work out.

Kseniya: I hope that Parallel Residence has a great future and it will be held several times a year. The number of applications we received indicates that there is a request for such projects. For me it was a completely unique experience - inspiring and warm.

Participants of the residence:


Alina Yevseyev

Lucidvox

One of the coolest moments: when we were working on the track "Bakkarat", we began to improvise and sing gospel songs - infinitely divided the word "Jesus" into four voices. It was wonderful - incredible freedom, the coolest girls are singing with you and everyone is happy. Feeling - as if you are open to the whole world!

Alina Petrova

kYmatic

I really liked to feel the energy of other girls, how they turn my musical thought to their side or come back to me. It was interesting to overcome the boundaries of each other, to let in new people and their ideas about music, to open up. I sang along, invented bass lines on a moog, wrote down and invented a guitar line, helped prescribe backing vocals, shape the structure of the song, create an arrangement. She played a lot on acoustic instruments: bells, pipa, erhu, maracas. Having made two compositions, I realized quite clearly that writing a good song is very, very difficult, for me this is a valuable discovery.

Anna Makeeva

annamakeeva

In addition to the creative process itself, I remember our laborers' meetings with the girls and Sasha Basian (who gave excellent advice on mixing), when we talked, listened to music, shared experiences, danced, went to concerts at Powerhouse. The residence turned out to be a great opportunity to meet new talented musicians who eventually became my friends. A Powerhouse has become a native place.

Anya Zhdanova

anazhdanova

Initially, I wanted to move away from the usual role of a singer songwriter and delve into producing others. So it came out in the work with the first group: I think there I was responsible more for the drama of the track and production. In the second track, I read rap with girls and wrote music. We shook our familiar “phlegm” coolly, taxiing into some completely insane ending with dirty guitars, glitchy synths and grasshoppers. I think everything that was created without regard to their habits, and it became an unforgettable experience of the residence - to forget who you are, and to make new things while listening to the rest.

Anya Sova

Ansv

The first joint track began with my ideas. I was pretty nervous and just put on ideas, and the girls got hooked on what they liked. I think it turned out to be a pop in a good sense of the word, because for Ani and Alina, with whom I did it, it was a novelty. The idea of ​​the residence, among other things, was that the musician create something not peculiar to him, and the girls succeeded. And I managed it in the second track with another group - there I sing.

Rita Medzhovich

"Fedor's garden"

While we were doing the first track, all of my group completely forgot that we were planning to leave the comfort zone and do something new, so I invented harmonies, bass, vocal melody, sang and barked (it was probably the only new, because in the end we made a tool from my barking and wrote it in a bit). The track eventually turned out to be a real mixture of the three of us, a little bit of each - no more, no less. But in the second group, we went wild and I realized all my innermost dreams about pop music: rap and r'n'b, the whole track on one bass note - tonic (and also in major), drum'n'bass insert - in short, just class!

Rita Marinina

americanpurple

On the first day of work on the second track, we jam the instruments several times for ten minutes, not stopping and not agreeing about anything other than a specific set of tools that we will use, and then we listened to the recordings and discussed where we want to move on. True, nothing came of it (except for very pleasant recordings, which I still listen to), and I had to start all over again to get out of the impasse. Then, for the remaining two days, the track several times shed the skin of the next genre, after which we managed to find a balance that everyone liked.

Polina Frolova

Mix / ontape

At some point, Ksyusha and I got excited about the idea of ​​percussion in the track and realized that there was excellent acoustics on the stairs between the studio and the Powerhouse bar. We sat down on the steps: it was incredibly cold; we took with us a laptop, a microphone, a sound card ... and another bucket, sticks and ratchets. And they clapped, stomped, beat in a bucket, beat on the walls and wrote it all down. Cooks, waiters, participants of the residence passed by, and everyone asked: "Girls, everything is okay? Do you have enough space?" И это было просто супервесело и стоило своих результатов!

Ксения Кручински

maad-maselle

Больше всего мне запомнился момент джема, который случился после нашего знакомства. После него не осталось никаких сомнений, что я в нужном месте в нужное время. Именно там мы все открылись и перестали бояться и стесняться. Насколько это удивительно, как музыка объединяет и помогает общаться, на своём языке.

Света Матвеева

Деревянные Киты/Cetacea

С первой группой мы сразу приступили к делу, как только успели познакомиться. Притащили в свою студию классный синт, стали накручивать всякие звуки. Then they chose the option they liked, prescribed a bass, threw a sketchy cue ball. Then I recorded a part of the voice, which sounds in the chorus. I remember that everything happened spontaneously, at some point we went into the spirit and began to record everything. Then they could not understand for a long time what to throw out. All took turns sitting at the arrangement, thought and copied.

Watch the video: Never Enough Cover ft. Cimorelli (March 2024).

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