Meet the MusicWorks Panelist: Laura Dickens

We're partnering with artist and producer Joanne Pollock for Equalizer, a new series of audio production workshops designed to offer a safe and encouraging environment to women and non-binary people who are interested in learning the ins and outs of audio production. Curated by Pollock, the Equalizer workshops are designed to encourage and inspire women and non-binary artists to get into the behind-the-scenes production work, whether it’s for their own music or to develop skills to support the work of other artists. This season will offer hands-on fundamentals of electronic production in the studio and live.

To kick off the 2018 series on February 4, we'll be bringing in Toronto-based composer and electronic musician Laura Dickens for an instructional on Ableton Live. This workshop will provide a basic overview of the layout of Live and an introduction to a few of its most powerful software instruments. 

Dickens is a composer and electronic music artist. She graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor’s of Music in clarinet performance, and studied Music Technology at New York University. She has written scores and created sound design for award-winning films seen around the world: The Audience, directed by Rory Gory, winner of best feature at the Brooklyn Girl Festival, and The Yellow Room, directed by Assal Ghawami, shown at Cannes Courtes Métrages. She studied audio post-production and recording at the Banff Centre in Alberta, and she is currently working at Moog Audio in Toronto helping artists build studios and make new sounds. Dickens was a participant in the EQ program at the CMC for women in electronic music, and released a synth-pop EP, when all the animals are dead, under her alias, LEUCROCUTA. She teaches workshops on Ableton Live and sound design at the Toronto Public Library, for TWIM (Toronto Women in Music), and at SKETCH Working Arts.

Get to know her better with our little Q+A...

Q: If you could spend a day with anyone in music, who would it be, and what would you do?

A: Björk — I feel it would hopefully start with us trying to create some new sounds, but then we'd end up learning a lot about calligraphy...

Q: If you could be any movie or TV character, who would you be?

A: Yea, it's probably Daria Morgendorfer. Or maybe May from the 2002 movie May. I wish it was Mary (Parker Posey) from Party Girl.

Q: If you were a city, town, or village, which one would you be and why?

A: A city — every part of me feels alienated from all my other parts.

Q: What are your three favourite foods?

A: Spaghetti, Ramen, noodles.

Q: What are the best and the most challenging parts about your career in music?

A: The best part is making a sound or a track, and then maybe even collaborating in the production or mixing stage. The most challenging aspect is the ahem... "career" part.