Sunday sit-down with… Lisa Murphy

In 2019, a US study of artists, songwriters and producers featured on 700 popular songs (recorded between 2012 and 2018), found that only 2.1% of music producers were women.

This was supported by another survey later that year – this time by the UK-based Music Producers Guild, a charitable organisation that promotes and represents individuals in the music production and recording profession – which estimated that just 6% of its members were women.

In November of last year, Lisa Murphy began a six-month project called Women In Music Production, with the hope of supporting more women into work as music producers. Four female, aspiring music producers from the North East were chosen to take part: Cortney Dixon (you may remember she was last month’s HLN Meets The Musician interview), Abby Hillyer, Holly Rees and Grace Alexander. Together, they were given the chance to attend weekly development sessions, work on recording and producing projects at professional studios and learn first-hand from some of the best in the business.

Why did you start the Women In Music Production project?

There really aren’t many women working in technical roles in the music industry. In fact, research undertaken in 2019 identified only 2.1% of women named as ‘music producers’ on over 700 popular records they studied.

As a woman working in music production, I felt that there was an opportunity to share my knowledge, experience and contacts with other women in the North East who wanted to learn more and access work in this area. The intention was to hopefully identify and break down barriers to women accessing work in technical roles, such as recording, mixing and producing in my local music community.

For women now, it’s sometimes difficult to find your place when you don’t see any role models within the industry doing what you want to be doing. You sometimes don’t feel accepted in a studio environment. Of course, that’s not to say that all women are having bad experiences – and we are moving in the right direction to improve the representation of women in the music industry. But it’s a slow process. That’s why projects like these are important to highlight the talent of female music makers in our region and support them to develop their practice.

What are some of the biggest myths about music production you’d like to bust?

Well, firstly – that being talented at music production has absolutely nothing to do with gender! The success of women in the music industry, however, is reliant on more opportunities being given and the appropriate support to help them grow.

How did you get into music production?

I started out as a musician as a child, (I’m a keyboard player). I’ve always been a bit techy and geeky and I found out when I went to Sixth Form that I could merge the two! I studied Music Technology at A level and then went on to complete my degree at university in Leeds. I then studied for my PCGE and have taught music technology, alongside working as a music producer, ever since.

As a music producer, I work with artists and bands in a variety of ways – it can be from the early concept of a piece of work, where you’re involved in shaping a song or album sonically from the start with recording, sound design, even writing and playing parts to create the final product. Or, sometimes, I’m involved at the mixing stage to bring together pre-recorded or programmed parts into a professional product for release. I love both approaches. It’s always so interesting, working with creative people. Every day is definitely different!

I have run a couple of professional studios in the North East, but last year I set up my own studio, called Production Room, to record, produce and teach from.

There were four, female, aspiring music producers selected to be involved, to access weekly skills and knowledge development sessions, recording and production projects at professional studios and guest workshops from prominent local music producers. In the documentary, you’ll hear directly form these producers about their experiences over the last six months: what we did, who we worked with and what they’ll be doing next as producers.

What else are you working on at the moment?

Right now, I’m working on production projects in my studio with local artists and bands, to get as much new music from the region out as possible over the coming months. I’m also delivering music production workshops for Sage Gateshead and We Make Culture for their Women In Music projects too – which is something that I really love doing.

I also teach some music production modules on higher education courses in the North East, so I’ll have plenty of marking to be getting on with as the academic year draws to a close!

We’ve got our fingers crossed for you too, Lisa!

If you’d like to learn more about the Women In Music Production project, or about routes into developing skills and knowledge in music recording, mixing, songwriting with technology or production, visit the project’s website for more information and links to resources.

Be sure to check out the Women In Music Production mini-documentary from Friday 28^th May too