From 19th to 20th September, electro band Shiny Shiny are set to bring their ‘Music Technology Workshops for Women’ to Newcastle’s Sawtooth Studios. We had a chat with one half of Shiny Shiny, Melania Jack, about the inspiration behind the workshops, and why there should be more opportunities for local ladies to break into the music industry…
You’re bringing your Music Technology Workshops for Women to Newcastle this September. What inspired you to start these workshops?
Patty and I have both been working in the music industry for a long time in bands and more acoustic acts – when we made the transition into the electronic scene, we really noticed the lack of women involved. Early on we found it hard to find other female electronic acts to be share line-ups with, and learn with, we found that most of our female electronic inspirations were not based in Australia, so we went overseas.
That’s been great; touring and soaking up the sounds of the electronic scene elsewhere, particularly Berlin. But we think that Australia has a sound of it’s own, and female artists in Australia also have a unique sound, and we’d like to see (hear, I guess) more of it.
We were particularly inspired by the work of “female pressure” they do so much to promote women and educate venues/festivals/labels and audiences alike. They did a massive international study on the stats of women in the industry and their finding is that it’s not that there are no women out there – on the contrar,y they discovered more than they imagined, but that it’s about how they are (not) supported and promoted. So they decided to do it – they have festivals and events and a great Facebook page of women sharing their music and getting it out there. We want to be part of that movement here in Australia and think that providing an opportunity to learn, experience and experiment with the software and hardware in a supportive environment is a really important part of this movement.
How long does the course run for, and what can participants expect from the workshop?
This is a two day workshop, from 19th to 20th September. During the two days, we will be learning the foundations of Ableton Live and how to use it for writing, arranging and live performance. Ableton is such an amazing software because it’s not a linear mode of creating like most other software, it is super flexible and once you get into the basics there are endless possibilities for how to create with it.
Because staring at a computer screen for too long is not great for your eyes and brain, we also break things up with lots of other creative activities, and touch on a bit of songwriting and composition basics. Performance is also something we are really inspired by, so we get into that as well.
We do have a bit of a thorough application process so that we can really know where people are at, where they would like to get to – so that we can tailor the delivery to the individuals in the group, and make sure people get what they want out of it.
Having run many workshops over your career, do you think there is a big difference between the learning environment of women-only vs. unisex classes?
Yeah, we have facilitated both, and I think there is more of a difference when it comes to learning technology areas. A lot of women who have done our workshops express to us that they felt safer and more relaxed in a group of females, and I think this is because there has been a bit of a “boys do tech” vibe previously. This is changing, but I think if it means that our participants feel safer, then they can relax and focus and learn better, and that’s our main objective.
Do you think there’s a lack of representation of women in the music industry? In particular, the production side of things?
Yep, I think generally there is a lack of representation, and then particularly in the production side of things. It’s traditionally been that men have run the studios and labels, but that’s changing with technology becoming more accessible to everyone, so women have this chance now to be able to skip the middle man. Even if women know how the software and recording equipment works- they have that language and then can get straight to making stuff sound how they want it to, and have more control over their creative output.
When you’re not busy facilitating workshops, you’re working on your other projects with the Shiny Shiny Band. Tell us about the band’s latest experimental project, “The Ironing Maidens” show?
We really love the Ironing Maidens, they are a whole world of their own. We recently spent 6 months in Berlin touring the show, we got to really road test it in the real world out there. We also got to work with an amazing choreographer and director Diane Busttil, who whipped us into shape from a character and choreography point of view.. which was completely new to us, and gave the show a new dimension.
You use some rather interesting “instruments” in your Ironing Maidens show, in particular a hacked iron and ironing board – How did you come up with this idea, and how do you go about adapting these household items into musical controllers?
Well, actually I was editing a little film clip for a track we were doing for Shiny Shiny, called “Suburbia”, and I was making the old 50’s footage of a woman ironing- fit to the chorus beats. So I was looping it so she kept smashing the ironing board in time.. and I asked Patty whether she thought we could do that- make an iron play our bass drums in the live show. She got to work learning about hacking and we started designing the instruments. My specialty is pulling the irons apart (which is quite hard with modern irons!) and Patty’s is re-building them. We have made a couple into synths which we play live, and others into midi controllers, which trigger and modulate components of the music. When we went to berlin we had to pull them all apart and remake them there (because irons are so heavy in luggage!). We got to spend a lot of time at the fab lab in Berlin re-building new improved versions, which was great fun. Right now I just want one that pumps out from the smoke machine!! It’s such a fun project, we’ve learnt so much through it!
If you’re interested in getting involved with the “Music Technology Workshops for Women” from September 19-20th, visit Shiny Shiny’s website or Sawtooth Studios and book your spot!
