String and Tins Announces 2022 ‘No Fixed Mix’ Programme for Budding Female Sound Designers

In celebration of International Women’s Day 2022, music and sound design company, String and Tins’ No Fixed Mix programme returns for a third year to help create greater accessibility to audio engineering and sound design careers for women. 

The programme provides female attendees a snapshot of the audio-post industry from String and Tins’ unique perspective along with tips, tools and resources, arming applicants with the confidence they need to accelerate their career in sound-engineering. 

Four workshops will take place on weekday evenings throughout May and June, which will be a mixture of online and in-person sessions at their Fitzrovia studio. Creative assignments will be set to be completed between sessions. 

This year, the female-led programme will cover a wide variety of topics including; an overview of the audio-post industry, sound design insights, composing to picture and mixing for the big-screen. BAFTA nominated Kate Davis and Head of Sound at Directors Cut Films, will also be giving a guest lecture.

In order to apply for this year’s programme, interested female or non-binary applicants must be of at least 18 years of age and are required to email their single-page CV along with a single piece of sound work that they have created to the email, nfm@stringandtins.com. The work submitted 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 in duration. More details can be found here.

With the aim of encouraging women to consider a future in sound design, this year’s No Fixed Mix programme has been made possible thanks to the generous support of sponsors, HHB Communications, AVID, iZotope and NUGEN Audio. 

Successful participants will be provided with a free 12 months subscription licence to Pro Tools, the industry standard DAW (worth £299), VisLM, a premium loudness monitoring software (worth £377) and the entire iZotope Music Production Suite (worth £860), so that they can continue to develop their audio post-production skills.

Eimear Ní Ghuaire, Production Manager at String and Tins, comments: “The last couple of years have been, in many ways, a circuit breaker for routine. There have been plenty of challenges, but the speed at which people have adapted is astonishing. It makes you think, when the pressure is truly on, change can happen. Last year, we took the workshops online and stepped it up a notch by expanding the course content and inviting guest speakers. Five new faces joined us over Zoom, where workshops ran from May through to July, and we had curated lectures from our own engineers, as well as re-recording mixer Kath Pollard and the foley team from Molinare. This year we’re excited to be back in the studio and have some workshops in person including an incredible guest speaker. If you’re interested in sound and haven’t yet found a way to get a foot in the door, we’d love to hear from you. This programme is all about creating opportunities.”

Marisol Cao Milan comments: "No Fixed Mix is an initiative that I never tire of applauding. This project dedicated to women in the sound industry, provides technical tools as well as professional tools to navigate the industry."

Helena Spychala adds: “I really enjoyed taking part in No Fixed Mix, the workshops were extremely well planned and meeting people working in the field inspired and motivated me to develop my skills further. The assignments were all fun and allowed me to be creative but also taught me how to follow specific guidelines and work to a deadline.”

Isabella Lau, says: “No Fixed Mix provided me with a great set of technical tools, a wealth of industry knowledge and better-tailored engineering skills that have really given me the opportunity to reflect on how to improve all aspects of my audio work. The programme has really allowed me to accelerate my growth, bolstering my confidence in fulfilling my career ambitions.”

The deadline for applications for No Fixed Mix is 00:00 GMT on Sunday March 20th.