Let’s put an end to microaggressions in the recording studio and music industry!

During this workshop, you will explore, in a safe environment, how to react when facing or witnessing microaggressions in music technology education programs and workplaces. We designed scenarios inspired by real stories that, unfortunately, tend to repeat themselves in recording studios and music performance settings. In small groups, you will be encouraged to discuss how the people involved in these scenarios could best protect themselves and their coworkers while aiming to put an end to situations that are unacceptable. Then, a volunteer from each group will share the solutions that were proposed with all attendees. When appropriate, we will provide constructive feedback and advice. You may want to read and/or watch the references below before attending this workshop.

Online presenter: Amandine Pras
Onsite facilitator: Katie Ambrose
Safety net professor: Jude Brereton

References

Brooks, G., Pras, A., Elafros, A., & Lockett, M. (2021). Do we really want to keep the gate threshold that high? Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, 69(4), 238–260. (Video).

Pras, A., Brereton, J., & Ambrose, K. (2023).  Unveiling the Female Ear – Challenging obsolete audio perception science and normative critical listening. 2023 Audio Engineering Society International Conference on Audio Education, September 6-8. (Video).

Sokil, A., & Pras, A. (2025). Signal Flows: Feminist Approaches to Open Paths in Audio Education. In M. Silverman and N. Niknafs (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Feminism and Music Education. (Video).

Dr. Amandine Pras is the director of research and innovation at the Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP), where she graduated from the sound recording and music production program in 2006. When living in Canada and the USA between 2007 and 2021, she engineered and produced albums of alternative jazz and contemporary music with cutting-edge musicians such as Jim Black, Quatuor Bozzini, Luciane Cardassi, Terri Hron, Tony Malaby, Andy Milne and Satoshi Takeshi. Her creative work also includes the making of video documentaries about experimental projects that she conceptualizes and leads, like A Home Away From Home (2018) that she directed with New York-based and Kolata-based improvisers in West Bengal (India), and We’ve all walked on the moon that she started editing from Bamako (Mali) recording studio footage at the Bergman Estate in Fårö (Sweden) in Spring 2024. Since she started her PhD thesis at McGill in 2008, her research has explored the interconnections between the evolution of recording technologies and the transformation of music performance and production practices from a global perspective. For the past eight years, she has drawn upon her academic and practical skills to carry out interdisciplinary partnerships with acousticians, anthropologists, computer scientists and sociologists to enhance audio education access and equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in sound engineering programs and workplaces. For instance, she coordinates professional audio training workshops for the members of the West African Audio Network in Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal, and she mentors participants of Women in the Studio National Accelerator in Canada. Moreover, to end the divide between art and tech that is detrimental to both EDI and innovation in the creative industries, Dr Pras and her collaborators are developing Audio4all, a pedagogy that decolonizesDr. Amandine Pras is the director of research and innovation at the Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP) where she graduated from the sound recording and music production program in 2006. She is also a codirector of the Arts Graduate Program and SACRe laboratory at PSL University. Her creative work includes the production of alternative jazz, experimental and contemporary music recordings, and the making of video documentaries about research projects with musicians and studio professionals that she conceptualizes and leads. Since 2020, she has mentored participants of Women in the Studio National Accelerator in Canada. When she held teaching and research positions in academia, she carried out collaborative and interdisciplinary partnerships to enhance audio education access, and equity, diversity and inclusion in sound engineering programs and workplaces, such as the West African Audio Network funded by SSHRC in Canada (2018-2024), and AUDIO4ALL funded by the University of York in the UK (2023-2025).