Women in Pro Audio Vol. 3: KK Proffitt: Chief Engineer and Creative Talent of JamSync March 20,2013
[KK Proffitt is the chief engineer, musical editor and creative talent of JamSync. She has earned several degrees and honors in undergraduate and graduate school including a BA from Vanderbilt, completed coursework for the Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology at the University of Tennessee (where she was inducted into the honors society Phi Kappa Phi), Guitar Performance Studies and Arranging at Berklee, and a graduate degree in Software Engineering from Northeasterns State of the Art Engineering School. KK is an active member of the Audio Engineering Society.]
According tothis article, women account for 5% of producers and engineerswhy do you feel this is?
There aren't a lot of women in thestudio because a lot of men don't want them to be there. There areexceptions, but the invisible burqa persists, and I'm disappointed that therehasn't been much progress. My daughter designs games and women in games aremuch sharper and more up front than women in audio. I'm not sure they aremaking progress, either, but at least they're honest about it. Women in theaudio area try so hard to fit in when fitting into a mold that doesn't workfor them is really futile. I just built my studio, raised my children andignored the other stuff. I wish I had more time to spend at my studio, butmy elderly mother totaled her car last March and I've had to take overrunning the family farm (150 years old), selling her property, seeing to hermedical care, etc. It's one more reason why women like me have to take timeoff from career. After being mothers, we become caregivers. Everyone onlygets 24 hours a day and a lot of us are supposed to fit 48 hours worth of workinto that slot. Solve the child care/ caregiver issue, and you'd see a lotmore women in audio.As it is, many of the successful women audio engineerseither don't have children or go on sabbatical to have them.
Do you feel that, for whatever reason, that there are some elements of the pro audio field that women have a more natural predisposition toward than men? If so, which and why?
The only job where gender has been a factor is the one where I carried twins and then raised them to become a molecular biophysicist (my son) and a game designer (my daughter.) My mother was a biochemist, my grandmother was a magistrate, and my great-grandmother was superintendent of county schools, so the concept of being a woman with a career was not novel in my family. It was just confusing that the news, the school systems and nearly everyone I encountered on any job that involved technology seemed to reinforce a lifestyle ethic that was out of some dreary Kinder, Kche, Kirche belief. I ignored it, of course, but it certainly didn't help me to obtain clients or money to feed, clothe, educate and house my children. Fortunately, my children are smarter than I am and would rather be nibbled to death by ducklings than work in the music biz.
What's your take on the idea that even addressing this situationthrough a blog series such as thisis a step in thewrongdirection? It can be argued that discussing women in audio as if it's some sort of big deal further cements the troubling idea that men are normal, and women are different.
I tend to stay away from the female audio engineer ghetto. It does nothing to bring me business and frankly I don't mix or master with my gender-specific parts. I've had no mentors, male or female, but lots of men who have tried to discourage me or separate me fromthe simple business of audio by trying to make me feel special. I'm notspecial because I was born female. I'm simply good at what I do, when I'mactually allowed to do what I do. There is no doubt I would have made a lotmore money in the biz if I had been a male, but I have never wanted to be amale because I don't think of myself as male or female when I work. I justlisten and respond to the job at hand.
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Women in Pro Audio Vol. 3: KK Proffitt: Chief Engineer and Creative Talent of JamSync March 20,2013 
