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Category: Teaching

WCA #293 with Heidi Trefethen

WCA #293 with Heidi Trefethen – Live Sound, Recording, French Horn, Struggles with The Mormon Church, Session Mindset, Sexism and Learning to Evolve

Heidi Trefethen is a French Hornist, multi-instrumentalist, educator, and sought-after sound engineer, Heidi Trefethen shuttles back and forth across continents frequently, in roles both onstage and off. As a hornist, she has performed in numerous ensembles and venues in Italy, the UK, Bosnia, Thailand, Guatemala, Israel Turkey, and the US, including the LA Philharmonic, the JazzUp Festival in Italy, Cleveland’s Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall and SFJAZZ’s Miner Hall.

As a live sound engineer, she has worked with the likes of Shawn Colvin, Meshell N’degeocello, Odetta, Ellis Paul, Joan Baez, Joan Armatrading, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Holly Near, John Stewart of the Kingston Trio, Dar Williams, Al Stewart, Jane Siberry and Lucy Kaplansky, often at the legendary Freight and Salvage in Berkeley, CA. Heidi can be often seen behind the sound boards at SFJAZZ where she was recently recruited as a FOH and A2 engineer. 

As a recording engineer, she studied at the California Recording Institute’s intensive sound engineering program. An internship at the historic Coast Recorders and a job at Rocket Lab mastering house had her working side-by-side with technical heavyweights John Cuniberti, Dan Alexander and Michael Romanowski. Heidi’s engineering credits include Tammy Hall’s “Blue Soul,” Jessica Jones and Mark Taylor’s “Live at the Freight” 2011, Lucy Kaplansky’s “Kaplansky Sings Kaplanksy,” 2000, Michael Burles’ currently “Untitled Recording” 2017, Nestler and Hawtin’s “Duality” 2014, co-engineered with Bryan Bell, Herbie Hancock’s first engineer, and full production of Anne Rainwater’s solo piano recording of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

In this episode, we discuss:

  • SF Jazz
  • French Horn
  • Freight & Salvage
  • Teaching
  • Learning to Evolve
  • Mentoring
  • Women’s Audio Mission
  • Covid’s Effect
  • The Audio Pro Advantage
  • The Importance of Recording & Music
  • Overdubbing at a Young Age
  • Education
  • Open Mic Nights
  • Live Sounds
  • Producing
  • Session Mindset
  • Communication Style
  • Struggles w/The Mormon Church
  • Empathy
  • Women in Audio
  • Sexism
  • Bay Area
  • Speaking Italian
  • Making a Living
  • Not Working for Free

Links and Show Notes:

Credits:

  • Guest: Heidi Trefethen
  • Host: Matt Boudreau 
  • WCA Theme Music: Cliff Truesdell 
  • Announcer: Chuck Smith
  • Editing: Anne-Marie Pleau & Matt Boudreau
  • Additional Music: The License Lab

WCA #291 with Greg Gordon

WCA #291 with Greg Gordon – Great Landlords, Glee Club, Relationships, Early Days of Internet Audio, Online Mentorship, Pyramind, and the Letter I

Greg Gordon is a the Founder/Director at PYRAMIND.com, as well as a producer, educator, and entrepreneur. Greg has worked with HTC Vive, Microsoft Studios, Insomniac Games, SONY, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Disney, Blizzard, Zynga, Amazon, Samsung, HP, Nvidia, GoPro, LifeBeam, The Battery SF, Brandcast and many more. His music production credits include Rob Garza (Thievery Corporation), Giorgio Moroder, K Theory, Rain Phutureprimitive, The Bronx, Merl Saunders & Jerry Garcia (The Grateful Dead) and Rocker T & Joan Baez.

In this episode, we discuss:

  • Relationships
  • Great Landlords
  • Glee Club
  • Early Days of Internet Audio
  • Game Soundtracks
  • The Letter I
  • The History of Pyramind
  • Downsizing
  • Online Mentorship

Links and Show Notes:

Credits:

  • Guest: Greg Gordon
  • Host: Matt Boudreau 
  • WCA Theme Music: Cliff Truesdell 
  • Announcer: Chuck Smith
  • Editing: Anne-Marie Pleau & Matt Boudreau
  • Additional Music: The License Lab

WCA #282 with Björgvin Benediktsson

WCA #282 with Björgvin Benediktsson – Alternative Studio Income Strategies, Book Recommendations, Creating Online Content, and Audio Issues

Björgvin Benediktsson is audio engineer, musician author, and entrepreneur. Björgvin helps home studio musicians learn how to make a bigger impact with their music by teaching them how to produce themselves.

In this episode, we discuss:

  • Audio Schools
  • Audio Issues
  • 4 hour Work Week
  • Helping
  • Teaching
  • Learning
  • Alternative Studio Income Strategies
  • Creating online content
  • Book Recommendations
  • Content Creation Audio Hub

Links and Show Notes:

Credits:

  • Guest: Björgvin Benediktsson
  • Host: Matt Boudreau 
  • WCA Theme Music: Cliff Truesdell 
  • Announcer: Chuck Smith
  • Editing: Anne-Marie Pleau & Matt Boudreau
  • Additional Music: The License Lab

WCA #279 with Kevin Ward

WCA #279 with Kevin Ward – Teaching, Learning, Seizing Opportunity, Migrating to California, Team Building, and Faith

Kevin Ward is a producer, engineer, mixer, teacher who has worked with Vince Gill, Willie Nelson, Judy Collins, Dolly Parton, Boots Randolph, Jerry Springer, Vassar Clements, Sam Bush, The Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, Rhonda Vincent and Richie McDonald of Lonestar. Kevin is also behind MixCoach.com where he teaches people to mix in different styles and genres from rock and Jazz to full orchestra and pop-country. Kevin is currently the Technical Director at Crosspointe Church in Anaheim, California.

In this episode, we discuss:

  • Teaching
  • Learning
  • Seizing Opportunity
  • Moving to California
  • Religion in Pro Audio
  • Worship Sound
  • Team Building
  • Pareto’s Principle
  • Parkinson’s Law

Links and Show Notes:

Credits:

  • Guest: Kevin Ward
  • Host: Matt Boudreau 
  • WCA Theme Music: Cliff Truesdell 
  • Announcer: Chuck Smith
  • Editing: Anne-Marie Pleau & Matt Boudreau
  • Additional Music: The License Lab