OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF PERFORMING ARTS, EDITH COWAN UNIVERSITY (ISSUE 38) December 2014 Anna Laverty: engineering success Sarah McKenzie gets sassy Page 3 Eamon Flack named Artistic Director of Belvoir Page 4 Plus Name Your Seat this Christmas! Inside WAAPA Issue 38 Page 1 PRODUCING THE RIGHT SOUND IN THE DECADE SINCE LEAVING WAAPA, PRODUCER/MIXER/SOUND ENGINEER ANNA LAVERTY HAS WORKED WITH MANY TOP INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL MUSICIANS AND PRODUCERS At 16, Anna Laverty’s love of music saw her Here she talks to Inside WAAPA about her (aged 15, 16 and 17) and I think Trevor Gaines start promoting and booking gigs in her home journey: (the then lecturer in Sound) remembered me. town of Perth. After high school, she successfully At what age did you decide you wanted to work I also spent every school holiday doing work applied for WAAPA’s Production & Design course, in music? experience at radio stations, small recording majoring in Sound. studios and SIDE, kind of wandering around the I have always been a massive lover of music. audio world albeit in a pretty unfocused way. On graduating from WAAPA in 2003, Anna But I think I decided I wanted to work in audio I think that initiative and enthusiasm really headed to London where she established the when I was about 14 years old, when I actually helped with my application. successful Soho indie club night, Hooked Up and realised what a sound engineer was. I knew that created her own label imprint of the same name. I wanted to be a sound engineer before they What are some of your fondest memories of In 2008 Anna joined London’s Miloco Studios, started making such a big deal about us having being a student at WAAPA? working alongside industy luminaries Ben Hillier to get a job! When I got the application decision letter (U2, Blur, Elbow, Patrick Wolf, and the Macabees) What led you to the Sound program at WAAPA? in the post I ran and hid in the corner of my and Paul Epworth (Adele, Azealia Banks, Foster parent’s wardrobe so that no one would see me I still remember finding out about the WAAPA the People, and Cee Lo Green). Working with if it was a ‘No thank you’, but thankfully it was course when I was in year 9 or 10 in high school, these highly respected producers gave Anna an acceptance letter and I came screaming and probably from an advert in Xpress or RTR or the opportunity to add an impressive roll call crying out of the bedroom. Luckily I was now a something (whatever reached the northern of international acts to her credits including WAAPA student so I wasn’t going to be the only suburbs of Perth) and suddenly thinking there Florence and the Machine, Bloc Party, Depeche completely over the top, dramatic person in my was something to really strive for. Mode, Travis and Jarvis Cocker. classes. I had studied music in primary and early high Since moving back to Australia, Anna has been My absolute favourite class was the History school but no one really understood that I didn’t involved in the production and/or engineering of Arts. I learnt so much about the world in that want to be a musician, I wanted to make music of many of Australia’s premier artists including class. Another highlight was in second year but not actually play it. I ended up dropping out Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Paul Dempsey, doing the sound operator role for the premiere of music class and really focusing on drama, not Kate Miller-Heidke, Paul Kelly, The Panics, Eagle of Nick Enright’s The Good Fight. It was the last acting but doing all of the lighting and sound for and the Worm, to name a few. show he wrote and he died very soon after, so the performances. I had a great teacher and she Now based in Melbourne, Anna has recently that was a bit of an honour. also steered me in WAAPA’s direction. finished producing the new EP for Dirt Farmer Also, meeting the guys I studied with was I didn’t think I had any chance of getting in and is at the production helm for the debut solo pretty special. We were a pretty tight group and I because I felt so young and inexperienced but I album from Jae Laffer, front man of ARIA winning still consider them good friends to this day. band The Panics. attended WAAPA’s Open Day three years in a row Page 2 Inside WAAPA Issue 38 Originally though I thought I wanted to be a singles over the next few years under the banner take us through some of the big names you live engineer, then I wasn’t sure. And then we of Hooked Up Records. have worked with and any cool moments you started learning about tape and that changed Eventually though my calling back to audio want to share with us? everything. came and I decided to go and do work experience Well, yes, over the years I have been lucky How did studying at WAAPA help you at a studio group called Miloco. I had no idea enough to be in the room and contribute when professionally? that they looked after so many studios, I just some of my favourite records were made. I have I sometimes do guest lectures at audio applied for their work experience program and also worked with some of my musical heroes colleges and they are great for teaching kids unbelievably they said yes! and I don’t have a lot of bad stories to tell. The how to use Pro Tools and Ableton etc but WAAPA I spent two weeks running around London recording world is such a good place to work. teaches you about electronics and studios and on buses dropping off hard drives, boxes of Unfortunately the hours are long and the pay is radio and theatre and dance. Practical stuff tea bags, clean tea towels and generally doing bad for a long time, but if you can get over that that will help you to actually get a job. I learnt nothing to do with audio, but all around me were and stick it out the rewards are massive. everything I needed to know to walk into a studio real live working sound engineers, actually doing I’m a massive Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and not break anything. And that’s a really good it for real. On my second last day the manager of fan so working on their last record ‘Push the Sky start! the studio asked me to go and help one of the Away’ was a bit of a dream. I’m also a huge The On graduating from WAAPA you headed straight producers who was packing up the studio to go Panics fan and I had the privilege of producing a to London. This seems like a very brave and to the US to start work on the new Depeche Mode beautiful solo record for the singer Jae Laffer a adventurous move. What motivated you to take album. It was Ben Hillier. couple of years back. My most recent favourite such a great leap and how did you establish Ben and I get on so well and he asked me though is The Peep Tempel’s new album ‘Tales’. yourself in your chosen field in another if I would look after the studio while he was The best thing about being an assistant country? away. Other engineers would be coming in and engineer for six years in both London and I was 19 when I graduated from WAAPA and I using it, he could see I knew how to handle Australia was getting to work with so many was dying to get out there and take on the world, mics and had a respect for the gear so he amazing producers – Nick Launay, Paul Epworth, so two weeks later I moved to London. I was wanted me to ensure nothing got broken. From Ben Hillier, Steven Schram, Fernando Garibay, managing bands in Perth at the time and one of then on I was an assistant engineer at Miloco Wayne Connelly to name a few – and coming to the bands moved over with me. and I had the pleasure of working with many realise that there are no rules. different producers and engineers and learning At first I started a club night in Soho called Any words of advice for WAAPA students? everything I needed to know to become a Hooked Up and I met so many people through This is just the beginning. Life, and the hard producer/engineer in my own right. that. I booked the bands, did the sound, DJ’d, work, starts when you graduate. Never stop took the door money and still managed to have You have worked with some amazing artists learning, never think that you know everything an amazing time. There were some bands that (Bloc Party, Florence and The Machine, Paul and ALWAYS be the last one standing. stood out so I decided to set up a record label to Dempsey, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds) as showcase their music. I released a bunch of 7” well as producers like Paul Epworth. Can you JAZZ VOCAL STAR GETS SASSY SARAH MCKENZIE NOMINATED FOR TOP INTERNATIONAL JAZZ VOCAL COMPETITION n 2008, in her final year at WAAPA, Sarah After recently graduating from Boston’s McKenzie set the tone for her future career prestigious Berklee College of Music on a full- by winning the Hawaiian Award for Most tuition scholarship, McKenzie came third in Outstanding Jazz Graduate and the Jack the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal IBendat Scholarship.