By Hanna Rantala
LONDON (Reuters) – Abbey Road Studios is opening its doors to women, hoping to inspire future generations of artists, producers and engineers with a week-long festival of workshops.
London’s famous recording studios have launched their “Equalise” program on International Women’s Day 2020. This year’s edition is online, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with technical know-how lessons, interactions with other music creators and industry tips. leaders virtually.
“Five percent of music producers and engineers are women, which is abysmal low,” Abbey Road Studios chief executive Isabel Garvey told Reuters in the venue’s Studio Three, where “The Dark Side of the Moon” by Pink Floyd and the final Amy Winehouse tracks were recorded.
“This program we’re running shines a light on all of these behind-the-scenes characters and helps young women understand the opportunities.”
The program, which kicked off March 1 and runs until International Women’s Day on March 8, features live masterclasses with female music industry personalities and panel discussions with emerging talent.
“It’s really important to have women in production so that young women can aspire to be and see that you can succeed and do well in that side of the industry,” said Ms. Brown, music producer, DJ and London radio host.
Garvey, 45, has been at the helm of the world’s oldest recording studio since 2014. After what she describes as a “deep and dark history of finance”, she carved out a career in music, rising to management positions in major music labels.
“My entry into the music industry was quite fortuitous in that it was quite a random start in the industry,” she said.
“I joined… when digital was 1 or 2% of the business… Today, we are more than 65% digital… Going through this transition was very interesting. It kind of created new roles without any preconceived idea of who should be in those roles.”
The “Equalise” program also includes one-on-one mentoring sessions.
“It’s never happened to me in my career to have an all-female team in the room: artists, producers, musicians, songwriters,” said Marta Di Nozzi, senior runner at Abbey Road Studios, about a festival session on creating new music. .
“It was awesome and for sure it’s something I would love to do again.”
(Reporting by Hanna Rantala; Editing by Giles Elgood)
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