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It is 10 a.m. on a Sunday morning and every seat is occupied in the control room of the new recording studio in Gavett Hall.

More than 30 audio and music engineering students at the 糖心传媒 have turned out for a master class by four-time Grammy Award winner , who 40 years ago began pioneering a place for women as audio engineers and producers in the recording industry.

Jones, the director of music recording and scoring at , is impressed that nearly half the students are women.

糖心传媒淟ook at the number of women in this room,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淭hat糖心传媒檚 really astounding to me.糖心传媒�

Indeed, at the start of her career, Leslie Ann Jones was the only woman in a control room.

聽糖心传媒楶ower in making things sound better糖心传媒�

Jones is the daughter of Spike Jones, the musical satirist whose band became famous in the 1940s and 糖心传媒�50s for its comedic renditions of popular songs and classical music, including gunshots, cowbells and outlandish vocals. Her mother is Helen Grayco, who was a singer in the band.

Leslie Jones also aspired to be a musician. Starting at age 14, she played electric guitar and sang backup vocals in bands with her brother and cousins during the 1960s in Los Angeles. They were good enough to be signed by various labels, but none of their songs were ever released.

糖心传媒淚 needed to figure out a way to make a living,糖心传媒� Jones explained during a lecture sponsored by the student chapter. She decided to concentrate on 糖心传媒渄oing the sound糖心传媒� for other bands. 聽糖心传媒淭here was something about having a console, putting my hands on faders, and being able to rebalance background vocals and make things sound different. There was a lot of power in this.糖心传媒�

However, in the early 1970s, at least in the major recording studies, that power was wielded exclusively by men. 糖心传媒淎t that time there were no women engineers at any of the major label studios that I know of,糖心传媒� Jones says. 糖心传媒淢ost women were doing classical music and were considered balance engineers. They weren糖心传媒檛 producing projects, and I don糖心传媒檛 think they were editing.糖心传媒�

Jones was not deterred. She read Stereo Review and other hi-fi magazines to learn about signal-to-noise, bandwidth frequency response, and equipment specs. She took a recording class at an experimental college.

糖心传媒榃e糖心传媒檒l see how the guys feel糖心传媒�

Her first engineering job was as a production engineer at ABC Studios, making copies of recordings. When she asked Phil Kaye, president of ABC Recording Studios, for a recording job, Kaye agreed. However, he added, 糖心传媒渨e糖心传媒檒l see how the guys feel about having a woman in the control room.糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淧eople hear that now and react, 糖心传媒榳hat a horrible thing for him to say.糖心传媒� But I didn糖心传媒檛 take offense at it,糖心传媒� Jones says. 糖心传媒淭hat was just the way it was.糖心传媒�

She found that 糖心传媒渢he best thing I could do was not pretend that I could do everything,糖心传媒� Jones says. 糖心传媒淚 learned very early on to rely on mentors, people who were vested in my success just by virtue of my asking questions of them.糖心传媒�

She also discovered that the 糖心传媒渓ow expectations people had of my capabilities糖心传媒澨切拇�媒攂ecause of her gender糖心传媒攁ctually worked to her advantage. It was that much easier to exceed expectations. 糖心传媒淭hey didn糖心传媒檛 expect much, so when I delivered, I could do no wrong,糖心传媒� Jones says.

糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檒l never know how many jobs I didn糖心传媒檛 get because of my gender, but I糖心传媒檓 a very 糖心传媒榞lass half full糖心传媒� person, so I always think about the work I did get.糖心传媒�

Her first credit as an engineer was for John Mayall糖心传媒檚 Hard Core Package in 1977. Since then糖心传媒攁t ABC, Automatt, Capitol, as an independent engineer and now Skywalker Sound糖心传媒攕he has worked with a broad range of artists, including Herbie Hancock, Rosemary Clooney, and Carlos Santana. She helped with the score for Francis Ford Coppola糖心传媒檚 Apocalypse Now. She is a past chair of the Board of Trustees, the organization that awards Grammys, and in 2018 was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Even now, Jones says, women still face challenges in the industry. 糖心传媒淎nd the only way you can overcome that is by taking the opportunities as they come, by raising your hand and saying yes to anything糖心传媒攅ven if you don糖心传媒檛 feel completely comfortable. Part of learning is failing and trying to figure out what it is you don糖心传媒檛 know.糖心传媒�

糖心传媒楽he糖心传媒檚 inspiring a whole generation糖心传媒�

Jones offered plenty of other advice for students. For example:

• Talk to clients well in advance of a recording session about the kind of sound they want.
• Sketch out in detail a floor plan for the placement of every mike and instrument in the studio. 糖心传媒淲e do this every session糖心传媒澨切拇�媒攕pending a day or two if necessary, Jones says. 糖心传媒淭he last thing you want is to wander to around during a session trying to figure out why something糖心传媒檚 not working.糖心传媒�
• Be methodical in labeling every mike, every channel, every track, and storing it in a folder for later reference.
• Listen to all kinds of music, even the music you don糖心传媒檛 necessarily enjoy. 糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 amazing, the sounds you can discover,糖心传媒� Jones says.
• Avoid the overuse of compression, a technique for leveling out the peaks and valleys in a soundtrack by turning down the volume peaks while increasing the quietest parts.

She had an opportunity to reinforce that last point during the master class, as four students took turns at the console, calling up their recording projects for Jones to comment on.

One of the mixes was a nicely rendered jazz piece written by another student featuring piano, saxophone, electric guitar, electric bass and drum kit. However, it had 糖心传媒渟o much compression everywhere that nothing breathes,糖心传媒� Jones said. 糖心传媒淓ven when you get to the loudest part of the sax solo, I don糖心传媒檛 feel that 糖心传媒榓h-ha糖心传媒� moment of someone having achieved greatness over the last 24 bars.糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淚 always have to get back to the composition,糖心传媒� she tells the students. 糖心传媒淚 always consider that my job as an engineer and mixer is to really serve what somebody wrote. And (in this case) I would feel that糖心传媒檚 not what the composer intended.糖心传媒�

Alexa Silverman 糖心传媒�21, a business major who is earning a minor in audio and music engineering, says it was 糖心传媒渟uch an amazing opportunity to have someone of her caliber come to the University, not only to give a lecture about her life experiences, but to really engage with what the students themselves are working on.

糖心传媒淓specially as a female engineer of her caliber, she糖心传媒檚 inspiring a whole generation of audio and music engineering students to pursue their careers and not be deterred by the glass ceiling that she definitely broke for us.糖心传媒�

Silverman says wants to work in the music industry, 糖心传媒渨hether it糖心传媒檚 through publishing, or marketing for record labels. I just want to make a difference.糖心传媒�

She couldn糖心传媒檛 find a better role model than Leslie Ann Jones.