Girls Twiddling Knobs

Send us Fan Mail If you’re someone who loves a good concept album, this episode is for you because Isobel is joined by musician and producer, Miss Grit, to discuss their new album Follow The Cyborg. Combining both grit and cleanliness in equal measure, Miss Grit’s music is an exploration of what it means to be human and then reframe this on our terms. But this doesn’t mean Follow The Cyborg was ma...

Send us Fan Mail Recording studios are wonderful spaces where real magic can happen, but it’s also so liberating to have the skills and set up to create music and experiment with your creative ideas from the comfort of your own home. Inside this Golden Nugget Episode we’re going back to #57 where Isobel chatted to musician and producer, Flaming June (AKA Louise Eatock), about how much more freely...

Send us Fan Mail Do you ever worry about how other people perceive you as an artist? This question is particularly loaded for women and gender expansive musicians because there’s so much tied up with how femininity should be presented and received (and even what it is). It’s for this reason that Isobel is sharing a Golden Nugget from EP#30 when she chatted with the amazing London based musician an...

Send us Fan Mail One of the biggest drains on many a musician’s time, self-esteem and mental energy is social media - you’ve probably found yourself both loving and hating it in equal measure. So today we’re going waaay back to episode #44 where Isobel shares her best tips for getting more intentional about how we use social media so it stops being a vanity scale and starts actually adding to our...

Send us Fan Mail People always wax lyrical about how much warmer or better analogue technology sounds, but what are the practicalities of recording in this format as opposed to digital? Inside this Golden Nugget episode, Isobel delves back to EP#07 when she chatted to engineer and owner of Analogue Catalogue recording studio, Julie McLarnon about how preparation really takes on a whole new meaning...

Send us Fan Mail Ever fantasised about starting your own recording studio? Wouldn’t it be so cool to pick out all the gear you want, decorate it exactly to your tastes and make it feel super welcoming for other women in music? Inside this Golden Nugget episode, Isobel delves back to EP#35 when she chatted to musician, producer and studio owner Majelen about how she and her partner set up their own...

Send us Fan Mail Ever found yourself having to argue the toss over whether women-only music spaces are necessary? Or if feminism is even an issue anymore all together? Inside this Golden Nugget episode, Isobel delves back to EP#16 when she described a very tricky debate that unfolded in one of her facebook post’s comment thread, why she believes in women-only music tech learning spaces and how she...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever wished you felt more confident with music tech? Perhaps self-doubt stops you sharing your ideas in the studio or even completing your home recording projects all together? Inside this Golden Nugget episode, Isobel delves back to EP#03 to dismantle some of the most insidious music tech myths that keep women second-guessing themselves and shares how to, instead, cultiv...

Send us Fan Mail Producing amazing sounding vocals can feel like a bit of a mysterious art. How do you make sure they sound punchy, but warm? Delicate, yet crisp? Inside this Golden Nugget episode, we’re going all the way back to EP#05 to hear LA based producer SJae’s top music production tips, including using delay instead of reverb on vocals. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS {00:00} Intro {02:10} Streamline y...

Send us Fan Mail Ever thought about taking some time away with JUST your music? Inside this Golden Nugget episode, we’re travelling back to EP#27 to hear how musician and DJ Nik Nak did exactly that. What came out the other side was a collection of recordings from Turkey and a whole new methodology of DJing with environmental sound. Maybe an artist retreat could be the beginning of new creative ho...

Send us Fan Mail Are you worried about financing your music making as we head into the next few months? Listen up because this Golden Nugget episode has some amazing advice inside. We’re going back to a conversation Isobel had in EP#58 with one of her students, Sam Crane, about how she was able to access £3,000 of support to record her music all thanks to her newly acquired home recording skills....

Send us Fan Mail Thinking of making a musical change of direction? This Golden Nugget episode is for you. Inside, Isobel takes you through a powerful exercise from EP#46 to get clarity on whether this is the right thing for you as an artists and what a musical change-up might look like for you as an individual. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS {00:00} Intro {02:02} When would you change direction in your music?...

Send us Fan Mail Ever worry that making music is all too trivial in comparison to the serious challenges we're facing these days? Welcome to the first of a new feature here on Girls Twiddling Knobs - bite sized takeaways from the podcast archive showcasing a tip, technique or hit of inspiration that we're calling Golden Nuggets. Inside this first episode, Isobel delves back to EP#06 to s...

Send us Fan Mail The role of a music manager can be pretty tough; not only do you have all the hopes and dreams of your artists wheying heavy on your shoulders but you also do all the hard-ball industry negotiations and career strategising too - none of which you can ever be sure will actually work out. But as well as this, today's guest, Vanessa Threadgold, was also faced with an even bigger...

Send us Fan Mail After dropping out of studying drama and visual art, Mel Uye-Parker started picking up multi-track recorders, recording vocals in studios, writing songs for other artists and eventually studying recording and composition. Now, she’s an artist with over two decades under her belt and programme leader of ICMP’s Creative Music Production MA. Inside this episode Isobel gets to hear ab...

Send us Fan Mail The terms signal flow and signal chain are widely used in music production and audio engineering. But unless you’ve formally studied this area or spent time learning the ropes in a recording studio, you may not be as familiar with what they mean or how they work. Inside this episode, Isobel breaks down the basic components of both and how they relate to making music inside a DAW a...

Send us Fan Mail Not many producers enter into the industry at quite the rate or age that this week’s guest did, but at just 21 years old, Charlie Deakin Davies was already producing countless artists, winning prestigious awards and producing the audio for Balcony TV. Fast forward to now, and after two years working as one of Gary Barlow’s in-house songwriters and producers, Charlie has an establi...

Send us Fan Mail When Rookes started making music, she didn’t have a clear plan but over the course of the last few years she’s not only forged an impressive career as a music producer, but co-founded a thriving community of other women in music tech too. Inside this episode she talks to Isobel about how she started learning to self-produce as an artist and the allies that helped her cut her music...

Send us Fan Mail How might imposter syndrome affect your ability to record and release your music? Well, that’s probably pretty self explanatory. But inside this week’s episode actually looks at how recording and production skills may offer women a way of overcoming this tricky phenomenon. Isobel also unpacks what Imposter syndrome is, how it might affect people in the creative Industries and, mor...

Send us Fan Mail Senem Pirler is a New York based, Turkish born, sound artist and academic whose practice is all about connection; Whether it's humans, plants or seemingly inanimate objects, Senem has a knack of finding ways to question profound ideas around identity, belonging and being present in the world. Inside this week’s episode, Isobel gets the chance to hear how Senem started trainin...

Send us Fan Mail In 2020, Isobel launched one of the first and only music technology courses designed exclusively for women in music, focussing not only on the technical processes involved in recording, producing and mixing music from home but also the mindset blocks and societal pressures women face when embarking on such a task. In it’s fourth round of enrolment, Isobel has added some exciting n...

Send us Fan Mail Usually when we think about recording our music, we think about all the outgoings: the new recording gear we’ll need to invest in, or even the studio time we might have to book. But what if having recording and production skills actually opened up new revenue streams in your music and gave you more freedom and independence as a musician? Well, that’s exactly what happened for this...

Send us Fan Mail How many times have you said to yourself, “I’d love to have the freedom to record my music where and when I want, but won’t it just sound amateur if I do it myself?” It’s a common thought for many musicians that can leave you feeling totally reliant on other people to get your music out of your head and into the world. But inside this episode of Girls Twiddling Knobs, Isobel speak...

Send us Fan Mail Ask some women how they feel in music studios, music tech classes or dealing with live sound technicians and many will say they’ve had to work hard to feel confident. Many others will say that asserting their needs, opinions and boundaries in these spaces is still an ongoing struggle. And this can significantly influence not just how women creatively contribute and collaborate in...

Send us Fan Mail Now, what is a music producer? I mean what do they do? Or maybe most importantly, when have we earned the right to call ourselves one? Surely there’s some way we know for sure we’ve graduated from music tech dabbler to full blown producer, right? Well, not really, which may be one contributing factor to so few women being represented in this profession. And, that’s why inside this...