Girls Twiddling Knobs

Send us Fan Mail What does it mean to keep making, caring and staying human when everything feels like it’s falling apart? In this final episode of the Girls Twiddling Knobs podcast, Isobel Anderson speaks directly and unfiltered to you, the listeners, with honesty, clarity and care. This is not a neat goodbye or a highlight reel. It is a reckoning. A permission slip. And a series of parting truth...

Send us Fan Mail In this deeply honest and reflective conversation, Isobel Anderson is joined by musician, educator and Radical Songwriting founder Rosie Bans to talk openly about the full journey of Girls Twiddling Knobs, from its beginnings as The Female DIY Musician to the decision to close the project after five years. This episode exists because this story was too complex, emotional and impor...

Send us Fan Mail n this Ask Me Anything episode of the Girls Twiddling Knobs podcast, Isobel Anderson answers listener questions spanning music careers, collaboration, production, business sustainability, sound art, and gender equity in the music industry. Recorded as one of the final episodes before Girls Twiddling Knobs comes to a close, this conversation is candid, thoughtful, and deeply reflec...

Send us Fan Mail The room glowed with warm orange light, a full house gathered to celebrate five years of Girls Twiddling Knobs and to witness a bold closing chapter. We brought a live panel to the stage to ask a deceptively simple question: are music technology skills truly crucial for women and gender-diverse artists? What followed was honest, funny, and disarmingly practical—stories about safet...

Send us Fan Mail 🎧 Listen on headphones 🎧 Some of this episode is recording in binaural audio. What does it really take to compose a work for a 12-piece post-minimalist ensemble—using vintage synths, robotic bells, and tape echoes? In this immersive episode of Girls Twiddling Knobs , we go behind the scenes of Time Loops , a bold and experimental project for Science Museum Group.  Follow Isobel...

Send us Fan Mail 🎙️ What if classical music wasn’t meant to stay in its box? In this episode of Girls Twiddling Knobs , we meet violinist, composer and loop pedal artist Rebekah Reid , who’s pushing the boundaries of what classical performance can be. Blending classical, jazz and electronic music, Rebekah uses live looping and improvisation to create layered, genre-defying performances that feel b...

Send us Fan Mail If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by music PR, you’re not alone! In this episode of Girls Twiddling Knobs , Isobel chats with Rachel White, music PR expert and founder of BRIC and House of DIY, to break down the real, actionable steps independent artists can take to promote their music effectively—without the stress. 🌟 Inside You’ll Learn: ✔️ What PR actually is and why it’s differ...

Send us Fan Mail What happened to jungle music? How did a genre born from Black British culture, reggae sound systems, and 90s rave scenes become dominated by white, male audiences—and where are the women who helped shape it? In this episode of Girls Twiddling Knobs , Isobel explores these questions with Julia Toppin, a lecturer, music entrepreneur, and self-proclaimed “Junglist Historian.” Julia...

Send us Fan Mail What does it really mean to be a producer, and why do so many women hesitate to claim the title? In this episode of Girls Twiddling Knobs , we sit down with Fran & Flora—an innovative violin and cello duo blending Yiddish, Romanian, and Transylvanian folk music with improvisation, electronics, and sound experimentation. We dive into their co-production journey on Precious Coll...

Send us Fan Mail Are you an artist or music producer dreaming of releasing your music on vinyl? In this episode of Girls Twiddling Knobs, Isobel Anderson sits down with Jenn D'Eugenio, founder of Women in Vinyl, to uncover the fascinating process behind pressing music onto records. Jenn shares expert insights on preparing your audio and artwork for vinyl, tips for selecting the right pressing...

Send us Fan Mail Celebrating 100 episodes of empowering women in music, Girls Twiddling Knobs host Isobel Anderson takes listeners on a reflective journey through the evolution of the podcast, revisiting its top five most popular episodes, including conversations with Kate Nash, Orla Gartland and Victoria Witjeratne.  Featuring listener Q&A, insights into key challenges for women in music tech...

Send us Fan Mail What do sound and knitting have in common? You’d be forgiven for thinking not much, but both have been constant companions across the life and career of sound artist and knitter, Felicity Ford also know as Felix. Join sobel as she visits Felix in her St Leonard’s home to talk about her journey into field recording, soundscape composition and using this skillset to document the pro...

Send us Fan Mail Feeling stuck in your music production journey? Struggling with self-doubt or tempted to buy more gear in the hopes it will transform your sound? This episode is for you. In today’s episode of Girls Twiddling Knobs , we’re exploring how visualisation —a powerful mental tool used by top performers—can help you: ✨ Unlock your creative confidence. 🎛️ Overcome the pressure to rely on...

Send us Fan Mail Luckily, there’s far more conversations happening about musicians’ mental health these days. But how might gender impact our experience of things like depression and anxiety? And how might this differ in a music technology setting, specifically? Because, while this is something that’s often touched upon in wider conversations around gender and music technology, it’s rarely fully e...

Send us Fan Mail In a world that’s always online, how do we stay true to ourselves as artists? This week on Girls Twiddling Knobs , we tackle this question with the fiercely original electronic music producer Maria Uzor. Growing up as a Black artist in a predominantly White area of the UK, Maria often felt like an outsider. But she turned that feeling into a sound that’s bold, raw, and unmistakabl...

Send us Fan Mail What unique facets of our existence and identity does sound allow us to explore as women and gender diverse artists? This is one of the big questions that emerges inside this conversation with three of the five 2024 Oram Award winners. Whether it be through choreography, performance art, hacking or design, Lola De La Mata, xname and The Silver Field are all artists who have come t...

Send us Fan Mail Join Isobel for all the juicy details on what you can expect to find inside of Season 06 of the podcast, dropping on October 24th.  Listen and subscribe to the podcast: https://femalediymusician.com/podcast And share the podcast with a friend so we can spread the word, and making music technology a better place for women and gender diverse people. ---------------------------------...

Send us Fan Mail Join us for the first ever Live Girls Twiddling Knobs episode, recorded at Towner Gallery on August 2nd, 2024. inside, Isobel talks with sound and lino artist, Daisy Stewart-Darling about her new project Lino Waves: Soundscapes of the Living Coast, which documents the changing East Sussex coastline through field recordings and large scale lino works. We touch on critical acoustic...

Send us Fan Mail Following last week’s epic binaural finale episode, Isobel is back for one last music tech chat to bring Season 05 of Girls Twiddling Knobs to a close. This final wrap up episode is the perfect way to get a whistle stop tour of any episodes you might have missed and glean any final little golden nuggets from the last few weeks. This season, we've had some of the most amazing...

Send us Fan Mail Ready for a binaural sound adventure? We’re wrapping up S05 of Girls Twiddling Knobs with an extra-special episode where, together, we take an immersive binaural deep dive into the ecosystem that is NYX. NYX are often described as an electronic drone choir and are a group of women and non-binary vocalists and non-vocalists who use music technology to create dense, musical creation...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever questioned the way that music technology software is designed? And how the tech tools and gear we use might look and feel completely different if they were designed by different humans (i.e. not just predominantly white, cis, heterosexual men living in the West). Well, this question didn’t just bother today’s guest, producer and researcher, Josephine Zwaan. It led he...

Send us Fan Mail Feeling overwhelmed by all the recording software choices? Been using the same DAW for a while and feel like it’s time to switch it up? Haven’t started recording your music because you don’t have the right gear? If so, this episode is a MUST LISTEN because we’re breaking down the pros and cons of a variety of recording softwares and demystifying this often overwhelming decision. I...

Send us Fan Mail It’s not easy growing a career in the arts but it’s down right tough if you’re living with a disability too. In this episode, Isobel is joined by journalist, digital producer and disabled rights activist Meg Fozzard to discuss the challenges disabled artists can face, the things the industry can do better and strategies Meg has developed over the years to grow her career whilst ha...

Send us Fan Mail If you’ve ever wondered what music mastering is, how to get your music mastered or even get into mastering yourself, this podcast episode is for you because Isobel is joined by Weird Jungle mastering engineers Katie Tavini and Izzy McPhee. Between them, they’ve racked up credits with We Are Scientists, Bloc Party, Frankie Morrow, Ash, Waverly, Arlo Parks and so many more.  But wha...

Send us Fan Mail It’s common to hear people make the case for initiatives and spaces that help women become more confident with music tech. And many women will say they wished they had more confidence when it comes to music production, mixing and the whole recording process. But what if this pursuit for more confidence was actually further sabotaging the progress of women with music technology? Wh...