Wave Farm in Partnership with The Avalon Lounge

Applications Due: January 10, 2025

Wave Farm is pleased to announce a unique opportunity, in partnership with the Catskill, NY performance venue The Avalon Lounge, for 2025. Two individuals will be selected from an open call for a 40-week Mentorship Program (February - November 2025). Mentees will learn the ins-and-outs of presenting independent and experimental performance in a community setting. Each mentee will receive a stipend of $5,000 in conjunction with the program. They will work closely with mentors Liam Singer (The Avalon Lounge, Wave Farm) and Ben Seratan (Basilica Hudson, The Avalon Lounge) on a weekly-basis to develop skills in sound engineering and event management, including artist relations, curation, booking, promotion, streaming for radio broadcast, and documentation. Mentees will also participate in Wave Farm’s “All Things Audio” a monthly workshop series, designed to help attendees develop sound skills to share their stories through best practices for recording, editing, and live radio.

The details:

• Applications Due: January 10, 2025
• Notification: Mid to late January
• Stipend: Mentees receive a $5,000 stipend. Note that participants will receive a 1099-NEC
• Time Commitment: Mentees will be expected to commit approximately five hours a week for 40 weeks, February through November 2025. Please note: This is an in-person engagement. Applicants should be prepared to be physically in Catskill, NY one to two days a week, February - November 2025.
• Education: Additionally, mentees will be automatically enrolled in Wave Farm’s monthly workshops series “All Things Audio,” taking place the first Thursday of each month, 6 - 8 p.m., in-person at the WGXC Catskill Studio, February - November 2025.

Selection panel will use the following criteria in their review:

• Candidate is excited about working with the community. 
• Candidate appreciates a wide variety of music, and is willing to work with a wide variety of genres. 
• Candidate will benefit from hands-on learning, and has the ability to learn the skills to be developed in the mentorship.
• A history of producing events is not required, but will be considered an asset in the review process

Questions: Contact info@wavefarm.org

Please Note: Registration is now full. If you'd like to be placed on a waiting list, please contact info@wavefarm.org

Develop sound skills to share your story through best practices for recording, editing, and live radio.

• First Thursdays of the month, 6 - 8 p.m. February - November 2025
• WGXC Catskill Studio 393 Main Street Catskill, NY 12414
• Registration limited to 15 participants per session. No experience required.
• Instructor: Jen Kutler, Wave Farm Technical Director
• Questions: Email Meredith Kooi, meredith@wavefarm.org

February 6, 2025: Basic Audio Concepts 

Session objectives include an overview of common and useful terms related to acoustic, electronic, and digital ecologies, with a technical focus on audio transduction and microphone varieties. Additional topics for discussion include psychoacoustics—the branch of science studying the psychological responses associated with sound—with a focus on physical spatial considerations and panning/width in recording.

March 6, 2025: Filters

Session objectives include an introduction to common concepts related to filters in audio production, including frequency response, polar pattern, and equalization. Participants will also learn about The Fletcher Munson Curve, frequency masking, and infrasound, and how to apply these concepts to your work. We will also consider recording height and how to address unwanted plosives and sibilance.

April 3, 2025: Considering Loudness when Recording

Session objectives include strategies for achieving desired “depth” in your recordings. Topics include gain staging, dynamic range, compression, and the concept of distance in recording, including reverb and distortion.

May 1, 2025: Editing Bootcamp

Editing bootcamp! We will cover hotkeys, fades, matching takes, punching in/out, layering tracks, and bus processing. Participants will learn shortcuts for quicker and better edits, as well as bulk import/export strategies.

June 5, 2025: Creative processing

Session objectives include strategies for creating your own audio effects (FX). Topics include delays, filters, autopan, and time stretching. Participants will learn about sequences FX and FX automation in order to achieve the sounds you are imagining.

July 3, 2025: Multitrack Mixing

Session objectives include strategies for mixing multitrack sessions for full height, width, and depth without murkiness. The goal of this session is to understand how to make multiple tracks fit together in a mix. Attendees will participate in critical listening for frequency range, dynamics, and headroom.

August 7, 2025: The Physical Components of Recording Audio

Session objectives include an overview of crucial care and maintenance of recording equipment to ensure longevity of your tools, including a hands-on introduction to soldering and light electronic repairs.

September 4, 2025: The Intangible Components of Recording Audio

Session objectives include discussions about analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion and digital audio processing. Specific topics will include block size, sample rate, bit depth, compression, streaming, and physical media. Additional topics include how best to manage computer resources in large sessions, latency for high track count, and CPU intensive processing.

October 2, 2025: Understanding Monitoring Sources and Taking it to the Stage

Session objectives include a conceptual overview of possible monitoring sources: speakers, headphones, and subwoofers, as well as the impacts of the space or room on your recording quality. Additional topics will include techniques for recording live performance, including ringing out microphones, PA system safety, microphone techniques, and streaming.

November 6, 2025: Taking It to the Field

Session objectives include field recording tools, principles, refinement, and processing.

Jen Kutler is a multidisciplinary artist and Technical Director of Wave Farm. Kutler modifies found objects that are cultural signifiers of power, gender, queerness, and intimacy to create atypical instruments and sculptures. Her performances feature many of her instruments incorporated with immersive field recordings to explore common and discrepant experiences of familiar social tones in immersive sound and media environments. You can learn more about her at jenkutler.com.

Wave Farm programs are made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; the National Endowment for the Arts; the Greene County Legislature through the Greene County Cultural Fund; the Alexander and Marjorie Hover Foundation; and hundreds of other generous individual donors, including WGXC Monthly Supporters, who provide critical monthly support to Wave Farm's radio station WGXC 90.7-FM. A special acknowledgment to the Alexander and Marjorie Hover Foundation for their support of the the All Things Audio workshop series.