Who are you?
My name is Kayla and I live in the West End, Brisbane, Australia. I was born in Brisbane, I’m 22 years old and I’ve been in the industry since late 2019.
Describe the work you do
I am a live audio engineer, mostly working in production such as for festivals and PA companies, but I also love to mix a band in the Fortitude Valley venues here and there. Today I mostly dedicate my time to Eighth Day Sound in Sydney, and love it there!
What led you to your current work?
I did a CERT III music technology course in high school which inspired me, and the reason I chose that subject was because I wanted to do a music subject in senior school, but wasn’t smart enough at music theory to do classroom music.
What are you working on now or about to start work on?
I’ve just finished a run on Miss Lauryn Hill’s AU/NZ tour as one of the touring package system techs and then I did SXSW Sydney which I was super keen on!
What are the good things about your job?
To me, audio is the best job in the world even though it’s super bittersweet.
The best things include, but aren’t limited to: seeing great bands play, making lifelong friends who understand your lifestyle, getting to play with expensive/ cool gear for your daily job, the rush of a gig and the audience cheering.
One thing that massively stands out to me is the wide range of skills you get to learn in this job. It’s still crazy to me to get the chance to fly a PA up in the air or mix on the kind of consoles we get to use. Pretty great stuff.
What are the worse things about your job?
As I said, bittersweet… probably the worst thing to me is the expectation of how hard and how many hours we have to work with little sleep. Sometimes I very much worry about the safety standard of a tired crew, but also just the expectation of us saying yes to back-to-back days, overnighters, 20-hour days and all. Sometimes I wish it wasn’t as normalised as it is.
What, so far, has been your career highlight?
The best moment of my career so far was Jungle Love 2022, when one night a huge storm hit the festival. I was working for a friend mixing on a little round jam stage under a tent. Jazz bands and local acts would come and play together and the vibe overall was super chill. However, as soon as my shift started the crew came to me in a rush, saying the main stage had been rained out and all the headline acts were coming to play on this stage; and I had to mix them.
The two bands I mixed were Great Sage and Full Flower Moon Band – both red-hot Brisbane bands who I hadn’t seen live but had wanted to.
The feeling of being jammed in a tiny circus tent among punters during a thunderstorm, hunched over a little X32 desperately trying to see with my little head torch light was the greatest feeling ever. More so, the greatest feeling was hearing both of those bands for the first time and how electric their sound was. I wish I could re-live that night!
What is the most blatant example of sexism you have encountered at work?
Even though I said the normalisation of long hours is the worst thing about this industry, it’s definitely more the sexism. I have encountered countless moments of gender inequality as a female-identifying engineer, and I can’t single out one that was “the worst”, but I think the worst moments for me have always been the doubt from others because I’m a girl. Whether it’s someone saying “come on mate, even that girl could lift that – you should be able to” or “I need a man to come and do this task instead”. Because later on, I automatically assume anyone is doubting me because I am a woman.
More so, it hurts even more when I encounter industry females who are sexist towards other women! I remember a festival I did alongside another woman and she was the patch tech and I was the monitor tech, and we had a male at front of house. The stage manager (a woman) of the festival refused to ask either of us any questions about the on-stage audio, despite the front of house engineer and us two constantly saying “you have to ask those two as they’re on stage and I’m out front”. We felt ignored by her the entire two festivals we did with her.
She even asked him things like where would the monitors/side fill be placed, or the logistics of running cables onstage! Stuff like this is really disappointing to see.
What advice would you give to any woman thinking of a career in the entertainment industry?
Definitely go for it! Sexism will die out at least somewhat, and as long as you are a strong, kind yet stand-your-ground female, you will be okay. If someone is being sexist, tell them. Don’t let them push you over. And bond with other females and never tear them down if you can help it!
What is your career goal?
I feel lucky every day to have this job and am so grateful for the opportunities I have received so far. I think at the moment my career goal is to be a gun PA rigger and monitor systems tech, but also to work abroad. Not limited to touring, I’d love to live somewhere for a bit and get into their audio culture.
