New collaboration project Ninety is making waves - it’s an amazing video, a track and a Sample Pack, made from 90 samples collected from women and non-binary producers, and it’s raising money for education in audio production. We interviewed LNA (Liina Turtonen) who founded the project, and you can buy the track and Sample Pack now.
A group of determined female producers have set out to challenge the lack of awareness surrounding women in the audio industry. The result? “Ninety” – a huge collaborative project showcasing some of the women and non-binary producers making waves in the music scene!
“Ninety” is a YouTube video collaboration made up of over 90 samples collected from women and non-binary producers. All the revenue from the accompanying track and sample pack will go towards organisations that educate or promote gender minorities within the audio industries, such as Yorkshire Sound Women Network and Equalize Music Production. The idea for this project originated from YouTuber LNA’s 2019 project “22”, in which LNA created a track from 22 samples. This year, LNA (also known as Liina Turtonen) got together a crack team of experienced producers to take this idea further, resulting in a hypnotically fascinating electronica sound.
The track was produced by Xylo Aria, Drum & Lace, So Wylie, Lil Miss Beats, Ullie Swan and LNA, and was mastered by Katie Tavini – a skilled mastering engineer who has worked with the likes of Eméli Sande and Arlo Parks. The YouTube music video is made up of video samples sent in by the contributors, giving viewers a welcoming glimpse into the production process.
The collaboration is supported by the fast-growing 2% Rising, a community of women and non-binary producers, founded by Kate Tavini and Rookes.
LNA - Liina Turtonen
Liina is high-profile in the music industry, and runs an online learning platform called Equalize Music Production as well as her great YouTube channel called LNA Does Audio Stuff,
She says that it’s a well-known yet unfortunate fact that women are underrepresented and under-acknowledged within the audio industry. However, this project does an excellent job of shining a light on the talented women and non-binary people making the music scene a better place – and it’s about time too!
We asked her to tell us more about the project.
What gave you the idea
I really wanted to do something active that really shows to the gender minorities in this industry that they are not alone, that together we are louder and also to show to the rest of the industry that we are here and we are visible.
Where are the producers from
They are all around the world, which is so amazing! And you will see this also in the music video.
Where did you begin with creating the track and what were the biggest challenges in making it
I think it was actually surprisingly easy. It took me only a couple of days, as most of the 5 other producers did the hard part of flipping samples and making the stems out of them. I just put them all together as one, so I was mostly arranging. There is another video where I talk through the work process and show how the track was made.
What kind of samples are there in the pack
Everything! It’s such a vide range of sounds that it’s fascinating to try to figure out where they originated.
What are the most unusual samples
One of the samples was someone’s pet bird chirping. The cutest sample I can think of!
The global team behind the track is:
Liina Turtonen: “LNA“: Finnish origin, UK based artist, experienced producer, and university lecturer. Runs fast growing Youtube Channel LNA Does Audio Stuff and online learning platform, Equalize Music Production .
Xylo Aria: Indian origin, Melbourne based artist and producer. Founder of Music Production for Women, Winner of the 2020 Top 50 East London Innovators Award and named in the She Said So Top 100 Alt Power List for work on Music Production for Women
So Wylie: New York based music producer, composer, and sound designer
Lil Miss Beats: Classically trained musician and producer who now makes lo-fi beats
Ullie Swan: French singer-songwriter, music producer and video maker
Drum & Lace (aka Sofia Hultquist): electronic trip-hop composer from Florence, Italy.
Katie Tavini: mastering engineer from Manchester, working in Brighton. Credits include We Are Scientists, Emeli Sandé, Nadine Shah, Arlo Parks and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.