Olga Fitzroy, award-winning U.K. recording engineer, set for studio masterclass

Award-winning British studio professional Olga Fitzroy will take the mic next week for a special Women in Music Production masterclass.

Fitzroy, who has worked with the likes of Coldplay, Dua Lipa, Martin Garrix, Hans Zimmer, Natalie Imbruglia, and shaped scores for The Crown, Doctor Who and many others, is the main attraction at the Dec. 9 workshop, entitled “What to consider to get the best recordings”.

During the session, Fitzroy will share her top tips and skills that producers and engineers can work into their arsenals, from general recording principles, go-to techniques, seamless sessions and more.

The workshop is the product of an international collaboration between Music Production for Women (Australia), Saffron Music (U.K.), We are Moving the Needle (U.S.), Equalize Music Production (U.K.) and She Knows Tech (Spain).

“For me, it’s extremely exciting that we are collaborating in this way and I’m very much looking forward to us unifying our efforts more in the future to better support women in music and hopefully help to facilitate a more inclusive working space in the industry for all gender minorities”, comment Xylo Aria, founder of MPW and winner of the Top 50 East London Innovators award for her work.

“We are definitely stronger together”.

Olga Fitzroy

The session is free to attend, though guests are encouraged to make a donation of any amount which will also be forwarded to Care International to support women in Afghanistan.

Fitzroy made her own commitment earlier in the year to donate the proceeds of any education bookings for the rest of the year to charities supporting women and girls in Afghanistan.

“The right to learn and generate an income is one that so many of us take for granted,” writes Olga, who featured in the 2020 mini-documentary In Ctrl – A Journey into Music Production.

“I would have nothing if I hadn’t been allowed to study and work,” she continues. “I believe women and girls in Afghanistan deserve the exact same rights.” 

Born in Berlin, and fluent in German, Fitzroy is a former winner of Recording Engineer of the Year at the MPG Awards (in 2016).

Among her career highlights was working alongside the late Sir George Martin on the last-ever Beatles recording for the 2006 collection Love.

Despite the top-shelf talents of Fitzroy and many other female engineers and producers, there is “more work needed to reach inclusion in this business,” explained Dr. Stacy L. Smith in her 2021 publication “Inclusion in the Recording Studio?”

Among the takeaways, producers are the most challenged among the female music-makers in the research study, logging just 2% of production credits from songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart last year.

“Women producers — and particularly women of color — are virtually erased from the music industry,” Dr. Smith said. “Only 5% of the songs in our sample spanning nine years of popular music had a woman producer. Harnessing the opportunity to showcase women’s talent and their creative contributions is essential if the record business wants to reach equality.”

For more details on the session and to register, click here.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.