Women in Pro Audio: Cécile Segura Women in Pro Audio: Cécile Segura...

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In this month’s Women in Pro Audio series feature, we are incredibly excited to introduce you to the newest featured professional, Cécile Segura, a live sound engineer and production manager, residing in Glasgow. A compelling voice in the industry, Cécile is committed to socially engaged performances and advocates for and facilitates accessible, feminist, LGBTQ+, and culturally rich events.

Beyond her technical expertise, which includes roles as a front-of-house (FOH) sound engineer, technical/production manager, and sound designer, Cécile is also a monitor engineer, violinist, and, outside the audio tech world, a poet. Originally from Lyon, France, she has been based in Glasgow, Scotland, for eight years, and splits her time between live music and theater.

Cécile possesses an eclectic background, having studied Interaction Design at The Glasgow School of Art and classical violin at the Conservatoire in Lyon. Her work has garnered significant recognition, including funding from organizations such as Lesbians of Public Interest, broadcasts on the BBC and France Télévision, reaching the top 15 of the German charts in 2022, and receiving the Scottish Alternative Music Award in 2020.

Her Women in Pro Audio Journey

Cécile’s journey into the industry was not linear, but rather a pursuit to find a satisfying “fit.” She knew she did not want to be a recording engineer—”sitting on a chair to edit is the bane of my existence (ADHD much?), but I always wanted to be in this industry.” Her foundation was built on performance, starting with her first stage appearance soloing with an orchestra at age nine, followed by a classical violin education.

This led to a surreal experience, as Cécile notes: “I am incredibly fortunate that being a touring musician was my student job. It was quite surreal to fly and play black metal (on violin, yes!) for thousands on the weekend and then go back to school on Monday morning.”

After a turn through photography school and a UI/UX design degree from art school, the pandemic brought her touring life to a halt. Pro audio became her second career, one where her on-stage experience proved invaluable, as “It makes it easier to be in other people’s shoes when off-stage”.

Cécile credits her background with leading her to where she is now: “Art school has really played a part here. I wouldn’t be here without old classmates calling me to make a pirate radio and sound design their master’s theater play in Switzerland.” She continues: “We have this word in French ‘spectacle’ which to me implies sound-light-movement and a certain grandeur. Going through computing applied to arts and a massive willingness to make spectacles was finally my way of getting to technical sound and production roles.”

She learned everything on the job from “friends turned mentors,” who took a chance on her. Her growth is attributed to continuous self-education, constant interest (which she calls hyper fixation), experimentation, online videos, and a deep dive into philosophy and approaches to sound. While she views listing hurdles as challenging, Cécile sees them as opportunities to learn rather than hurdles, and points to overcoming and managing stress, as well as overcoming the fear of precarity. A fun fact she shared is that the first PA system she designed and mixed on was L-Acoustics.

Overcoming Challenges and Championing Women in Pro Audio

The decision to transition into pro audio was, in part, a move “to transition out of the spotlight and keep nourishing what I love doing.” However, Cécile’s identity has presented unique challenges. She notes that this decision means: “welcoming or being welcomed by a vast variety of artists, punters and venues that may be prejudiced in the face of someone questioning and affirming an identity.” While the experience has been mostly positive, she has unfortunately been refused work for “not corresponding to a venue’s image (read transmisogyny).”

Furthermore, Cécile faces a “glass ceiling” where she is precluded from certain jobs or tours in countries that have placed severe transphobic restrictions at borders—such as those in Dubai or the USA—due to the potential for, in her own words, “ridiculously disastrous consequences – or plainly being refused and deported (e.g., USA) – due to my identity.” The ongoing challenge is gaining and reaffirming respect and trust “at every turn of the page.”

When asked about the scarcity of women in the technical side of the industry, she states that while “Patriarchy and essentialism are two easy answers,” it is “essential to dismantle them”. She recognizes the increasing representation and growing gender-based support, but stresses: “Women are increasingly doing their part to alleviate this; we must also see men and people in positions of power advocating alongside them.”

The Joy of Immediacy and Lessons Learned

When faced with a challenge, Cécile employs what she calls the “technician 101” philosophy: “‘the house is burning but everything is fine,’ nobody else but you has to know.” She manages stress by taking “one element at a time in the order from the start of the chain.”

She recalls one particularly chaotic show where the production was three hours late, leaving her with only twenty minutes to load in, soundcheck, and open doors. With a corrupted show file and lopsided stage patching, “I started swearing in French,” but they successfully took “one channel by one channel on a fresh show file” and used the first song as a soundcheck. She emphasizes the importance of “softness” pre- and post-show, maintaining a calm environment by ritualizing her mornings, which she views as her own “system tuning,” listening to piano on vinyl (usually Nils Frahm) with coffee from her local roaster, without a phone or laptop. “On tour, I’ve found out wild swimming levels me out. Just last week, I was on the Isle of Mull, swimming with dolphins.”

Her favorite shows are “the ones I cry to and those where the stars have aligned!” She holds immense gratitude for the band VLURE and the profound, communal experience of welcoming Zaho De Sagazan, which she calls “probably the most I have danced and cried at a show!” She also reserves deep admiration for charities such as Wonder Fools, Civic Digits, Include Me 2 Club, and Citadel Youth Centre, which do “incredible work opening spaces and workshopping with young, disabled, queer and marginalized communities.”

Advice and Future Hopes

Cécile’s advice to women starting in the industry is direct: “Shadow, pester, shadow again, pester, and persevere and take all the covers you can.” She recommends working at a bar or music shop for repairs until a full-time position opens up, getting involved with friends’ productions, playing a frequency finder game, singing everywhere to find room resonances, and getting acquainted with free jazz. The best advice she’s received includes: “‘Keep it simple’ is one that took me a while to get,” and “‘there’s only one way to find out.’ I’m an empirical gal, but in this industry there’s not much time to think.”

She advises focusing on three key skills: “Being resourceful and dependable,” “acknowledging your privileges and using them for others,” and “Being accountable.”

Her love for her work comes from her passion for dancing—”I’m known as the person who dances at FOH” —and the “spontaneity and the immediacy of putting a show from the ground up and one-shotting a mix. That’s exhilarating!”

A moment of pride was being headhunted for a technical manager position after just two full-time years. Still, she feels “a lot of pride mostly for others,” specifically for people she has trained who have outgrown her mentorship. She hopes for a future in live events that prioritizes “Sustainability” and where “sick pay and income stability are guaranteed—like the French model or recently Ireland’s Basic Income for Artists,” and wishes for more engagement in local communities. Another of her wishes for the industry is to “Accommodate people with incredible ears and subpar health.”

Connect with Cécile

Cécile can be found on Instagram at www.Instagram.com/letthemothunfold and for her poems and thought pieces at www.instagram.com/tremblebrille. She also encourages support for Women in Live Music, urging others to “donate, subscribe, and meet up!”