Sara Carter

Sara Carter

Sara Carter is a Recording, Mixing & Mastering Engineer with 18 years of audio experience, including 7 years at Maida Vale Studios. During that time, she worked on BBC sessions for the likes of KT Tunstall, Corinne Bailey Rae and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, to name just a few. We recently caught up with Sara, and heard all about what first sparked her interest in the world of audio, as well as her thoughts on NUGEN.

"I set up a small 16 track studio at home and began to record local bands for fun."

My mum was a singer in the ’60s, and I remember being fascinated by the equipment we had stored at home; things like microphones, Vox combo amps, speaker cabinets and reel to reel tape machines. I was encouraged to take up the guitar as a teenager in the 80’s, and I taught myself to play along to the pop songs of the day. As time went on I wanted to find a way to record myself practising along to CD’s, and this led to the purchase of a 4-track TASCAM recorder. I loved it - this was a whole new level of music creation that I felt really comfortable with, so I set up a small 16 track studio at home and began to record local bands for fun.

"One day I might be recording a live event with Rod Stewart at Abbey Road or ABC at the Royal Albert Hall, and the next I could be scrabbling around in the bowels of a theatre, looking for props to recreate the sound of a person walking in a suit of armour!"

In the year 2000, I finally decided to pursue an actual career in audio. I went to the SAE Institute in London, and then in 2004 I joined the BBC as a sound engineer, working on all the major BBC radio networks as well as mixing music for festivals and for sessions at Maida Vale Studios. Working at the BBC was a wonderful experience.

Every day I felt so lucky to be a part of an awesome team creating fantastic radio, whether it be a documentary, comedy show or drama, or one of the countless music sessions I worked on with many of my favourite artists. One day I might be recording a live event with Rod Stewart at Abbey Road or ABC at the Royal Albert Hall, and the next I could be scrabbling around in the bowels of a theatre, looking for props to recreate the sound of a person walking in a suit of armour! Every day was an adventure.

"I quickly learned how beneficial NUGEN plug-ins would be for mastering."

When I started to consider offering a music mastering service for my budget-conscious mixing clients, NUGEN Audio’s name and reputation kept coming up in my research. I quickly learned how beneficial NUGEN plug-ins would be for mastering. I started using MasterCheck to easily audition how different streaming services would affect my masters with data compression and loudness normalisation. Having this knowledge up front meant I could go back to a mix or master and address any potential issues which might arise, before uploading the music for streaming.

You can find Sara on Music Mix Pro, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Follow the rest of our Women In Audio series here.