Why I got a degree in audio engineering
News
I am pretty excited to be finally releasing some of my new music this month! But I also wanted to share some of what I have been up to the past few years to catch people up — The overview is I got my degree in audio engineering and writing a ton of new music! Back up a few years: after taking a bit of a break from my last full length album, I felt very strongly that I wanted to do something different but I didn’t know what that would mean exactly, but I knew that there was this growing drive and interest in learning more music production skills so I could more fully express myself in the music making process, from production to mixing to mastering. I also wanted to be able to release my own music and not rely only on studios as it felt cost prohibitive to release music more frequently that way.
During a moment of job and life transition in 2018, I decided to take some audio engineering classes at Santa Rosa Junior College which started a three year journey of earning my AA in Audio Engineering this spring 2021. I joined a really great community of students and teachers/mentors at SRJC, all were a huge part of my ability to learn and feel supported and inspired. I also got involved with some kick ass Bay Area based groups like Women’s Audio Mission and Soundgirls.org, that are dedicated to shifting the gender inequality in the audio industry through training, mentorships and scholarships. (women and gender non-conforming individuals are still less than 5% of the audio industry!)
I built up my existing home studio and got hard core into Ableton, (after using protools for years) opening up a totally new way of composing for me. I started writing/composing daily, participating in writing challenges like #jamuary to get better at composing and to connect with other producers around the world. Getting this degree was not without hardship and challenges — going to school at night while keeping a full time job, working through intense anxiety, sleep issues, isolation and stress during Covid shutdowns, and earlier this year getting forced abruptly out of my living situation in the middle of the semester and having to move.
I am happily settled in Petaluma now and super excited to have time to release some of this new music I have been working on and excited for this new musical chapter in my life.
I feel extremely grateful for the people that have supported me on this journey, I would not be where I am without you: And special thanks to SRJC teachers Jake Stillman, Dave Greenberg, Len Del Rio. Love and appreciation to Patrick Superstixious Ballard, Paul Oneto, Sarah Bird, Eki’Shola, Christina Bowles, Sarah Ali, Eli Torres, Ben Joseph Koler, Casey McConkie and all the many, many rad musicians and audio people I met and got to work with through the SRJC program.
And thanks to Soundgirls.org for supporting me as a scholarship recipient and both SoundGirls and Women’s Audio Mission for their amazing communities and support they offer women engineers and producers.
Music coming soon!
XOXO Brindl
