Hear Nebraska, Omaha Girls Rock host sound engineering workshops

Whether you’re an aspiring audio engineer or looking to brush-up on the basics, Hear Nebraska and Omaha Girls Rock have you covered.

Both nonprofit organizations will host sound engineering workshops this weekend. OGR’s “Beginning Sound Engineering” and HN’s “Music Mixing 101” workshops run back to back Saturday at 3724 Farnam St and Do Space, 7205 Dodge St, respectively. Sunday’s HN workshop “Live Sound 101” runs in two sessions at Vessel Live Farm.

Sound engineer Jon Ochsner (also of All Young Girls Are Machine Guns and Those Far Our Arrows) and Kait Berreckman co-organized OGR’s event. Ochsner says the organization aims to address the severe lack of women engineers in the business. Women’s Audio Mission — a San Francisco based, non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of women in music production — estimates that 5-percent or less of professional audio engineers working in sound production and recording are women.

“I would argue young women have not been afforded a picture of the field in which there are clear possibilities at hand for themselves in the studio or engineering booth,” Ochsner says. “That is a really wrong picture we need to correct.”

To that end, the free, all-ages workshop will address a wide variety of topics, including the aspects of an audio engineer’s job, the main components of a sound system, live versus recording equipment, basic mixing activities and contemporary women engineers and women’s audio organizations. Ochsner hopes the session’s wide scoop will encourage attendees to pursue audio engineering, or at least recognize that barriers into the art can be broken.

“Afterwards I hope everyone is able to see audio engineering fearlessly in a new, more accessible light, with less uncertainty about the notion that they belong in the audio world, doing audio projects and making music,” Ochsner says.

Hear Nebraska’s Omaha workshop, Audio Mixing 101, starts later in the day Saturday. University of Nebraska- Omaha Music Technology students and UNO Director of Music Technology Brett Leonard will facilitate the workshop. They’ll cover lessons in basic music production where participants will learn audio mixing tools and techniques — including dynamics processing, reverb, delay and EQ — through Audacity software.

Sunday, professional sound engineers Brenton Neville (Vessel Live) and Mark Wolberg will host HN’s Live Sound for Musicians in Lincoln. Participants will learn basic sound skills in various environments and how to successfully run a PA system in indoor, outdoor and DIY setting. Neville and Wolberg will also explain best practices for working with sound engineers during soundchecks.

OGR’s “Beginning Sound Engineering” runs Saturday, March 19 from 10 a.m. to Noon at 3724 Farnam St (RSVP here).

HN’s “Music Mixing 101” follows at Omaha’s Do Space, 7205 Dodge St, from 3 to 4:30 p.m (RSVP here).

HN’s “Live Sound for Musicians” runs in two sessions (1 p.m. and 3 p.m.) Sunday, March 20 at Vessel Live Farm in Lincoln (space is limited, RSVP here).

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Bonehart Flannigan, Aaron Parker at Zoo Bar

HN contributor James Dean stopped into Zoo Bar last night, where Jon Dell (Bonehart Flannigan) played a homecoming stop on his way down to Austin, Texas. Dell plays the Nebraska Exposed showcase tomorrow afternoon at Cheers Shot Bar, 416 E 6th St. Read our preview guide for Nebraska acts at SXSW here.

Gordon’s Aaron Parker opened last night’s show. See Dean’s photos below:

Bonehart Flannigan

Aaron Parker

Photos by James Dean

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SXSW: Day 1

Speaking of SXSW, our Chris Dinan arrived Sunday evening and already took to the streets with his camera yesterday. Our coverage of the weeklong music festival begins in earnest later this week, but see his first look below:

Badbadnotgood at Spotify House

Totem at Spotify House

Torey Lanez at Spotify House

KING at Spotify House

THEY. at Spotify House

Miguel at Spotify House

Bleached at Barracuda

photos by Chris Dinan

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Concert Round-Up

Tonight, Canadian pop singer Coleman Hell plays Reverb Lounge, 6121 Military Ave. His debut single “2 Heads” went double platinum in his home country, reaching as high as 15th on the Canadian Hot 100 chart. After a pair of EPs in 2015, Hell is set to release his debut EP this year on Columbia Records. The Toronto resident is also part of a songwriting/production/video design collective called sideways. Halifax, Nova Scotia artist Ria Mae opens the 9 p.m. show. Tickets are $15. RSVP here.

Tonight, Fort Wayne, Ind., band The Meat Flowers play Vega, 350 Canopy St. The three-piece rock outfit comes to Lincoln in the midst of a Midwest/West Coast tour in support of the brand new album it released over the weekend. Omaha’s Super Ghost and Low Long Signal open the 9 p.m. show. Entry is $5. RSVP here.

Also tonight, Lincoln’s Pure Brown and Night Push play Duffy’s Tavern, 1412 O St. It’s Dad’s Beer Night, which means cheap beer and no cover, so remember to donate to bands on the way in. Show starts at 9 p.m., RSVP here.

Head to our statewide calendar here for a fuller listing. If you don’t see your show or one you plan to attend, email us at news@hearnebraska.org, add it yourself via the “contribute” button on our website or add it in the comments. And keep those story ideas and news tips coming.