She’s at the Controls

Sound Engineering, Production and Gender Ventriloquism in the 21st Century

by Helen Reddington

Book cover: She’s at the Controls

Extent: 224 pages

Publisher: Equinox Publishing

Subjects: Gender & Sexuality, Music & Performing Arts

Series: Music Industry Studies

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(February 2021)

ISBN: 9781781796511

Price: $32.00

In stock

She’s at the Controls gives a socio-historical examination of the roles of women studio professionals in the UK music industry based on interviews conducted over six years with 30 female studio practitioners at different stages of their careers and working in different genres of popular music including reggae, hip hop and pop. The edited interviews are preceded by an in-depth exploration of the often unseen and unacknowledged gender rules of music industry practice (both personal and technical) that underpin popular music etiquette. A range of supporting material from academic works to technical publications and popular music journalism is used to expand and critique the discourse.


She’s at the Controls gives a socio-historical examination of the roles of women studio professionals in the UK music industry based on interviews conducted over six years with 30 female studio practitioners at different stages of their careers and working in different genres of popular music including reggae, hip hop and pop. The edited interviews are preceded by an in-depth exploration of the often unseen and unacknowledged gender rules of music industry practice (both personal and technical) that underpin popular music etiquette. A range of supporting material from academic works to technical publications and popular music journalism is used to expand and critique the discourse.

  • By (author) Helen Reddington

"She's At the Controls is essential reading. Helen Reddington reshapes our knowledge of sound engineering and music production in the twenty-first century, foregrounding the power and limits of feminism in a male-dominated industry while offering hope for a more egalitarian future." Golden, Audrey, Louder than War, June 18, 2021