The initiative, No Fixed Mix, offers females and non-binary participants workshops and lectures to help them pursue a career in sound

Suzanne Ciani - Synth Hero

Sound design and music production facility String and Tins has launched the second iteration of its female-led programme No Fixed Mix.

The initiative aims to improve gender balance in tech sound roles, and centres on a series of workshops providing tips, tools and resources to help participants pursue a career in sound.

The No Fixed Mix programme was created by String and Tuns audio post production manager Eimear Ní Ghuaire. The first one was held two years ago and included three workshops on the audio industry - production, sound design and music - aimed at any woman seeking a career in sound design.

The programme has been expanded this year to incorporate foley, field recording and long-form too. There will also be more assignments to help the students develop their showreels, as well as a wider variety of lecturers/hosts.

To apply for the programme, interested female or non-binary applicants must be at least 18 years old and are required to email a single-page CV along with a single piece of sound work they’ve created to nfm@stringandtins.com.

The work can consist of audio-only sound design, a collage of interesting field recordings, sound design to a picture, or a piece of music with unusual instrumentation that should last between 10 seconds to 1 minute.

Successful participants will be provided with a free 12-months subscription to Pro Tools (worth £299) and iZotope Stutteredit 2 (worth £171) to enable them to develop their audio post-production skills.

Eimear Ní Ghuaire, audio post production manager, String and Tins, said: “As far as I’m concerned, 2021 will be the embodiment of ‘onwards and upwards’ and we’re hoping that No Fixed Mix will help bring a little extra light in the coming months as we move into brighter times. I have no intention of being a programme in ‘unprecedented times’, we come as we are, Zoom or no Zoom, pandemic or none, we must strive for equality across all platforms, under all circumstances.”

Mike Bamford, co-founder of String and Tins, added: “No Fixed Mix’s inaugural programme was a bigger success than we could have hoped for and the response to our call out for applicants was huge. Since then, many of these women have gone on to find jobs in their preferred sound-related fields. This can be accredited purely to their own efforts, but we hope that our programme has given them some insights which have been useful in getting their foot in the door in the industry.”

The deadline for applications for No Fixed Mix is midnight on 21 March 2021.

PICTURED: Synth pioneer Suzanne Ciani