In an industry dominated by men, SoundGirls turns up the volume when representing women and other minorities in the audio industry. This registered student organization aids in many of the music and audio-involved events held on campus. From equipment setup to video and audio edits, they can do it all.
SoundGirls is an international organization aiding women in the audio industry through community support and professional development. They offer hands-on experience for their members, such as cable soldering sessions, music and DJ workshops, and recording opportunities. Music production on campus has gained them a lot of attraction; they’ve DJ’d the McRave, where student artists can showcase their skills, karaoke nights, and the Silent Disco held by MUB Board.
This year, they are working with the Huskies Pep Band to produce an album with some of their top hits. Jos Olson, the Vice President, and Stella Licari, member and future E-board member, emphasized the work the team has put in. Logistics, such as microphone selection, stage setup, and room selection, were chosen by the students. Olson states the recording is done, and now they just have to, “mix it and make it sound clean… [which takes] a good amount of work.” Once finished, the pieces will come out on Spotify, so keep your eyes open.
Behind the scenes, the close-knit members of SoundGirls bond through more personal activities. They hold movie nights and work on video projects such as “Keeping Up with the SoundGirls,” which is a reality TV show produced by the students. Inspired by this, at one point the members wanted to put a spooky spin on it and produced a spin-off called “Creeping Up with the SoundGhouls.”
Licari laughed about the experience. She says, “past SoundGirls have tried to make a horror film, but they never finished it. There’s a bunch of footage in our Google Drive [that we used] to set the premise of ours.” The film features students being possessed in a speaker circle. Olson says, “it was just as chaotic as it sounds,” and can be found on their YouTube channel.
SoundGirls is DJing Club MUB on Mar. 8 from 9:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. in the MUB Ballroom. In conjunction with SLI’s late-night programming series, Club MUB is a club-like atmosphere with music and blacklights. Mocktails will be served, and SoundGirls will amplify the experience with their mixing expertise.
For more information about SoundGirls, visit their Involvement Link page or email them at soundgirlsmtu-l@mtu.edu. You can find some of their work at SoundGirls MTU on YouTube or their Instagram page @soundgirlsmtu.