In this series, mica – music austria and Austrian Music Export have collected the experiences and perspectives of women in the music business. No matter the categories, quotas or breakdown, the goal is 100% of us working together in the struggle for feminism. This time in the interview: sound designer CHRISTINA BAUER from Lower Austria, who in recent years has worked for the Neue Oper Wien, Klangforum Wien, the Black Page Orchestra and the Salzburg Festival, among others.
What people/institutions/funding programs helped you along the way in the music business?
Christina Bauer: The Ernst Kirchweger House, the squat where I lived for a few years, set me on my path. There was a performance space where we organized concerts, films, and theater performances in the tradition of anarchist self-empowerment. The technical equipment was borrowed and kludged together, which was probably partially why no one else really wanted to deal seriously with the sound. I had already engineered in various rehearsal spaces, so I jumped into the pool. Soon afterwards, I met Dieter Kaufmann, who at the time was head of the Institute for Electroacoustics at the music university [in Vienna; now MdW]; he really got me thinking that contemporary music – which was already a big interest of mine – could definitely be a field of activity for me.
“You have to try everything, and above all, you can’t let anyone interfere with you.”
How and where did you get your experience in the music business? What were your biggest challenges, and how did you overcome them?
Christina Bauer: You gain experience by constantly trying things out. You have to try everything, and above all, you can’t let anyone interfere with you. That wasn’t, and isn’t, always easy or fun; the event branch is full of “cool sound guys” who are positive that they know the only right way to do things.
Did you have role models around you to look up to?
Christina Bauer: In my immediate circle at that time, there were no role models. But seeing Kim Gordon [bassist with Sonic Youth] in the Arena live for the first time – I think it was 1986 – really knocked me out, that inspired me for a long time.
“Having allies and confidantes can help you through every valley and every dark night, no matter how long. But that’s not just true of the music business.”
What role models do women in the music business have right now? What can you pass on to others?
Christina Bauer: I can just repeat the “usual” good advice, to trust your own taste and your aesthetic sense. More important than anything, though, is definitely your personal environment. Having allies and confidantes can help you through every valley and every dark night, no matter how long. But that’s not just true of the music business.
What role does age play for you?
“No one thinks anymore that I’m sitting behind the mixing board by chance.”
Christina Bauer: A big one, in a positive sense. No one thinks anymore that I’m the (usually much younger) sound guy’s girlfriend, and just sitting behind the mixing board by chance.
What questions do you get asked that a man would never be asked?
Christina Bauer: One thing I sometimes get asked that really amazes me is: “How does a woman get into this job?” I always answer that I actually work with my ears and my analytic brain, that I don’t hear with my sex organs. And then I always add: “Why, how do you hear???”
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Translated from the German original by Philip Yaeger.