
SoundGirls.org was co-founded by Keyes and fellow audio engineer Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato around seven years ago. It supports women working in professional audio and music production by highlighting their success and providing a place for them to connect, network, and share advice and experiences.
Our goal was mainly to find other women in audio. We had been working in audio for 20-plus years and we were tired of people going, I've never seen another woman do this', , says Keyes. So we built a website and found other women, because we knew they existed! We offer support and guidance for people starting out and have amazing women blogging for us. We do workshops and meetups and it just keeps growing. Now we're trying to figure out what we can do for our community in this time of need.
Keyes and Pell met online through SoundGirls.org and although the pair have never met in person, they have developed a strong bond.
We keep trying to meet, but our tour schedules never seem to line up, Keyes laughs. Becky is amazing. She used to blog for SoundGirls.org and she's a huge supporter. We've bonded and just stay in touch online.
I didn't realise there were many other women doing this, adds Pell. It's fantastic to have this place where we can come together and support each other. It was hugely inspiring to me, and a bit of a fangirl moment. Pearl Jam is one of my favourite bands, so to discover that the monitor engineer was a woman was really exciting!
Keyes has been with Pearl Jam for 30 years. Her big piece of advice to any engineer is be nice to your support bands. Pearl Jam was my support band when I was out on tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, she recalls. I was asked if I would mix Pearl Jam for a half hour slot by the road manager. I said yes and we've been together since then. You never know what's going to happen. So be nice to those departments.
Pell notes that any monitor engineer will tell you the job is 50% technology 50% psychology. When she started working with Westlife, technology was starting to come into its own, but was not as refined as it is today. In their earlier days, the screaming level coming out from the audience was just nuts, like any boy band very young girls with high pitched voices. Technology has improved and progressed since then, and the band have honed their craft. I can make them much more comfortable on stage now; they can hear themselves and actually enjoy the performance thanks to the improvements in technology.
But as important as the technology is trust. It's everything, Pell adds. The band need to feel heard. They need to feel that you've got their back because they're totally reliant on you. You need to be on your A game for them. We all have different ways of doing things and different modes of mixing. With Westlife, the guys just liked the sounds that I made, and we seem to click. So much of it is down to relationships and not assuming that you know what they want. It takes time to build up that kind of relationship.
Both Pearl Jam and Westlife use a mixture of wedges on stage and in-ear monitoring, which makes for a more complicated set up. Both rely on DiGiCo consoles to give them the capacity and flexibility they need, with Keye's using an SD5 and Pell and SD10, SD5 or SD7, depending on availability in different territories.
The SD5 has been amazing, says Keyes. I love the sound and the power it has, and I can set it up however I need it to be. I've set mine up pretty much to run as an analogue console. My main job is to be paying attention to the band, so I have I pretty much have everything I need on the surface.
I like to keep things fairly simple, so I only use additional processing if it's really necessary, adds Pell. I'm a big fan of getting the gain and EQ right, so I tend to use parametric EQs on the vocals and across all the output mixes. I like the multiband compression and the dynamic EQ that the DiGiCos have on board these days. The multiband compression is very sensitive and just lets me smooth out any slightly barking frequencies or anything when they're really belting.
The SD7 has been my usual package, But I agree with Karrie about the fact we're supposed to be looking at the guys, not at the desk. I love the way you can lay things out however you want and use them - and the fantastic processing power. I find DiGiCo's very intuitive to use and you can tailor them to your workflow and the way your mind sees things. That means you can look at that stage, rather than the console.
This is particularly handy, as both engineers have developed their own short hands with their bands.
Last time we were doing a run of baseball stadiums, Eddie invited some baseball players to the show, smiles Keyes. He introduced me to a pitcher, or a catcher, and he was explaining to them that just like they have hand signals, that me and him have signals too!
More often than not it can just be a glance and you'll lock in with what it is that they want, says Pell. Some of [Westlife] like to be a bit cheeky with me and give me the oh my God, I can't hear anything!' look, and then go haha, I'm just joking'.
The overarching piece of advice both engineers have for when the industry opens up again is to have a good attitude.
Attitude is everything in this industry, says Keyes. If you go to work, you have a good, gung-ho attitude and work as a team: you're going to get it done and you volunteer when you're done doing whatever you need to be doing. If you're generally in a good mood, people are going to want to be around you and continue to work with you.
It doesn't matter what age you are and how long you've been in the business - if you're a pain in the butt to work with, people
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
09/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/04/2026
Purpose Built Monitoring From Live Production to Master Control to OTT, Across On Prem and Cloud Environments
At the 2026 NAB Show (April 19-22, Las Vegas Con...
09/04/2026
Purpose Built Monitoring From Live Production to Master Control to OTT, Across On Prem and Cloud Environments
At the 2026 NAB Show (April 19-22, Las Vegas Con...
09/04/2026
New advances meet surge in demand for broadcast-grade IP migration as C-band spectrum auctions approach
LTN announces major enhancements to its purpose-built g...
09/04/2026
Hitomi Broadcast has expanded its sales team with the addition of Nicola Milburn as Technical Sales Manager. In this role, Nicola will work with customers and p...
09/04/2026
Revolutionary combined solution brings sub-second latency, resilient delivery, and workflow orchestration to global broadcasters and digital platforms
Layercak...
09/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/04/2026
Yospace exceeded 10 billion dynamically stitched ads in a single month, reaching 11.6 billion as ad-supported streaming surged. Driven by a packed global sports...
09/04/2026
Bitmovin has expanded its Live Encoding and Observability solutions to provide true end to end, real time insights across live streaming workflows, from encodin...
09/04/2026
Leyra has announced the launch of Icelandic public broadcaster R V's streaming service on Samsung and LG Smart TVs. R V is the first public broadcaster to d...
09/04/2026
3Play Media, a global leader in video accessibility and localization, today announced an AI Dubbing solution purpose-built for YouTube creators. The company, wh...
09/04/2026
Big Blue Marble, a provider of broadcast-grade, cloud-native video solutions, has been recognized as an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Managed Services Provider (MSP...
09/04/2026
The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) has officially launched its revamped global streaming service, PDC TV, in collaboration with Cleeng and sports technolo...
09/04/2026
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) pioneer, today announced a raft of new AI agents for its AI Assistant to accelerate decision-making and autom...
09/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/04/2026
New Charging, Connectivity, and Mounting Solutions Now Available
LAS VEGAS, APRIL 8, 2026 Pliant Technologies will highlight a range of new accessories at th...
09/04/2026
As live production continues its shift to IP, the challenge is no longer adoption it's reliability. At NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2033), Media Links will demon...
09/04/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, launches its new AI-powered add-on for its StudioPro p...
09/04/2026
The Hive Group has published a new white paper, No Safe Harbor: Why the FCC's Upper C-Band Auction Demands Early Action from Broadcasters ahead of NAB Sho...
09/04/2026
Saranyu Technologies today announced the renewal of its Optimizer VoD subscription with VisualOn. The announcement coincides with NAB Show 2026, taking place Ap...
09/04/2026
RT Sport has announced Brian Fenton will join its Sunday Game GAA punditry panel for the 2026 Championship, featuring across video, audio, online including the...
09/04/2026
Doireann N Ghlac in returns as presenter, with the first episode airing this Friday at 8.30pm on RT One and RT Player
The beloved walking series Tracks & T...
09/04/2026
A timeless story of grit, faith and rebellion takes center stage as Samson: A Ty...
09/04/2026
New technique for synthesizing branched molecules could accelerate the development of future medicines Scripps Research chemists solve a longstanding problem in...
08/04/2026
The deadline to enter the 18th Annual SVG College Sports Media Awards in association with NACDA is rapidly approaching! Submit your entries to this year's c...
08/04/2026
The Pittsburgh product helps lead more than 100 annual ESPN broadcasts as part o...
08/04/2026
Dynamic ad insertion, AI-based technologies, programmatic advertising are some o...
08/04/2026
Seven Fellows Selected for Second Year of Residency in Honor of Social Justice L...
08/04/2026
On March 7, Bad Bunny made history with his first-ever performance in Asia, taki...
08/04/2026
El 7 de marzo, Bad Bunny hizo historia con su primera presentaci n en Asia, subi...
08/04/2026
New channel strip plug-in revealed
The latest plug-in to be added to the Fuse Audio Labs line-up emulates a selection of vintage hardware units, combining c...
08/04/2026
Guitar & bass multi-effects software overhauled
Blue Cat Audio's flagship guitar and bass multi-effects software has recently received a significant upd...
08/04/2026
PanNoir mixer integration, Dolby Atmos Renderer & more
Merging Technologies have just launched Pyramix 16, the latest major update to their renowned DAW sof...
08/04/2026
Applicable Products Part number Description
QUARTZ-22-LTE (EU) Dual Port Dual SIM LTE Router (EU)
QUARTZ-COMPACT-11-LTE (EU) Single Port Compact LTE ...
08/04/2026
The September 19, 2025 YEP Newsletter highlights a group visit to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, where participants explored exhibits showcasing the art...
08/04/2026
The L3Harris HBTSS satellite is proven on orbit, successfully demonstrating trac...
08/04/2026
Image Credit: NASA. Artist rendering of a space communications satellite in orbit, representative of the resilient, multiband infrastructure supporting mission ...