May 20, 2025 • 29 mins
Ritchell Lim is a musician, singer, producer and sound engineer, devoted to her art and a natural at her craft. Ritchell is an extremely talented, highly intelligent, bright woman who is just launching herself into to a career as a sound engineer. And, she also happens to be blind.
Ritchell grew up playing the piano, and wrote songs every chance she got. She describes the studio as her second home and has experienced playing in parts of Asia and Australia. We shared a fascinating and educational conversation - hope you enjoy.
Listen to some of Richell's music on her Soundcloud page: https://soundcloud.com/user-540746094
And connect with Ritchell on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ritchelllimmusic/
Support Vision Australia Radio: https://www.visionaustralia.org/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:08):
Hi I'm Abby.
S2 (00:10):
I'm Simon, and welcome to. In Plain Sight, a program
where we highlight people who are making a positive impact
within their community and the disability sector.
S1 (00:19):
Shining a light on those who might otherwise be hidden
in plain sight.
S2 (00:24):
And we share these stories on a weekly basis with
you here on Vision Australia Radio.
S1 (00:29):
Kia ora everyone, that's hello and welcome in Mauri and
I'm from New Zealand, so I thought, why not start
with that today? How are you Simon?
S2 (00:38):
Kaya that's apparently. Hello and welcome in the local indigenous
language here in Western Australia. Well, this southern western part
of Western Australia. And hello and welcome to you, Abby.
S1 (00:52):
Thanks, Simon. And what's new?
S2 (00:54):
Nothing much new, Abby. Another day, another dollar, and we
just tick along. And we are in the month of May,
the merry, merry month of May. And, um, the year
is going along, I am enjoying the extended summer period
we're having here in Perth.
S1 (01:10):
I have some more cheery news though.
S2 (01:12):
Yes. Please tell.
S1 (01:13):
I just got my licence so watch out Perth. I'm
a bit old to be on my p-plates and it
was something I was hesitant to share on on air,
but it's a journey that I've been going through for
a long time now, trying to get to my licence. Um,
for a variety of reasons. It's been a struggle, but
anyone out there who's really trying and struggling to get
it keep going because I've done it, I can drive
(01:36):
and it's it's really exciting and it's just a moment
that I've waited so long for. So I'm very proud.
S2 (01:43):
You should be proud and congratulations. And that's what we're
all about here, acknowledging those achievements and acknowledging that there
are little struggles in everybody's life and perseverance is the key.
So well done to you, Abi.
S1 (01:57):
Thanks, Simon. Thank you.
S2 (01:58):
And, um, glad I'm not on the road.
S1 (02:01):
I have to be honest. I'm glad too, Simon.
S2 (02:05):
Yes.
S1 (02:07):
And in other news, this month it's May. As Simon
said before, uh, which is macular month. Now, macular month
in Australia is very important for a variety of reasons.
But the most important reason is that it's an estimated
that 1.9 million Australians have some evidence of macular disease.
S2 (02:27):
Yes. And we like to raise awareness a very common
way that people become vision impaired and or blind. And, Abby,
can you tell us a little bit about what the
macular is first?
S1 (02:41):
So the macular is the name given to the area
at the centre of the retina. So that's at the
back of your eye. And the region is only about
5.5mm in diameter. So the macula is responsible for your
detailed central vision. So that means activities such as reading,
driving and recognizing faces. It's also responsible for most of
(03:01):
your color vision.
S2 (03:03):
As it is connected to the optic nerve. The symptoms
of macular degeneration are very similar to the symptoms that
I have with my eyesight condition, which is to do
with the optic nerve. In most cases, macular degeneration is
age related disease, and it is something that can come
on gradually or quite suddenly and can be quite a
(03:25):
shock to people and quite distressing. So we like to
bring awareness to people about this disease. Now coming up
in our program today, we are going to be talking
to Rachel Lim. Now the only connection ritual has to
macular degeneration is that ritual had difficulty when she was
born with her retina and that left her being blind.
(03:45):
Ritual is a musician, a performer and a sound engineer,
and a very talented and interesting person. And she has
an album out on the streaming services available called Paradise
and really worth checking out.
S1 (03:59):
And we'll hear from Rachel now.
S2 (04:04):
Hi, Rachel, could you tell us a little bit about
yourself and tell us what you do?
S3 (04:08):
Sure. Of course. So my name is Rachel. Um, so
I am a totally blind musician, singer and sound engineer.
So a lot of what I do is based on songwriting,
singing and performing, which I don't do as much of
now since Covid and then lately have just been getting
into sound engineering. So running sound for church and also
for various venues and corporate events.
S2 (04:29):
Excellent. I really want to delve into, um, the sound
engineering aspect of your profession right now, because I find
it fascinating and I believe you mostly taught yourself. Is
that right?
S3 (04:39):
Yes, I'm self-taught, so I do have a degree, but
that's in music. So I graduated from Waapa with a
Bachelor of Contemporary Music. Voice was my major. And then, uh,
when I started getting into sound engineering, I decided not
to go back to school, but rather just to try
and teach myself. So it's been about three years now.
S2 (04:56):
Wow. And how old are you now, Rachel?
S3 (04:58):
I am 29. Going on 30.
S2 (05:01):
Okay. Wow. Okay. And I believe you were born in Indonesia.
Is that.
S3 (05:05):
Right? Yes, I was.
S2 (05:06):
So, do you speak any Indonesian language?
S3 (05:09):
I do, yes.
S2 (05:10):
Can you say hello and welcome in Indonesia?
S3 (05:12):
I can say hello. My name is Rachel. In Indonesian. Okay. Please. Hello. Namaste, Rachel.
S2 (05:17):
Very nice. I always find that interesting because I speak
no languages apart from fumble through English.
S3 (05:24):
Well, English was my first language anyway, so.
S2 (05:26):
Oh, really? Okay, so, Rachel, you have you always had
an interest in music and performing?
S3 (05:32):
Yeah, since I was three.
S2 (05:33):
Since you were three. So you're a bit of a natural.
S3 (05:36):
Yeah, you could say that.
S2 (05:38):
Now, I've heard you sing on the recordings and you
have a beautiful, very clear, very lovely voice. And I
can see why people really enjoy it. Have you always
found that ability to to sing like that?
S3 (05:53):
Yeah. So my mum actually discovered that I liked singing
when I was about two, when I started just randomly
singing a hymn in Indonesian, because I think I've heard
it heaps. Um, and yeah. So she discovered that and
then I had, I think it was an education assistant
from my primary school or kindy or something, who bought
me one of those, like toy battery operated pianos. And
(06:13):
so I started playing with that, and I heard a
song on the cassette tape one day, and then I
started playing it on the piano. So that's kind of
how my parents discovered my gifting for music.
S2 (06:23):
Wow. Now, you mentioned that you're totally blind. Is that right? Yes.
Can we ask how you became blind?
S3 (06:30):
Yeah. So I was born premature back in Indonesia. I
was born at 30 weeks. I was placed in an
incubator and due to excessive oxygen, um, because when they.
When they gave me oxygen, it was just, you know, pure,
pure oxygen. And I got too much of it being
underdeveloped and premature. Apparently. That's really bad for you. Um,
and so the consequence of that was that my retina
(06:51):
is detached, and I lost my eyesight when I was
about three months.
S2 (06:55):
Wow. Okay. Can you see anything at all?
S3 (06:57):
A little bit of light, but it has to be
quite strong.
S2 (06:59):
Okay.
S3 (07:00):
Yeah.
S2 (07:01):
Do you think that being blind has limited you at all?
S3 (07:05):
No, I don't like to think about it that way.
I always think that where. What one person might consider
a limitation. You know, for myself, I always believe in
creating solutions for problems where people might find, oh, there's
a limitation there. I don't think you'll be able to
solve that. I like to challenge that and create my
own solutions for myself.
S2 (07:23):
So do you think that you've always had a sort
of positive outlook?
S3 (07:26):
Yeah, I have, yeah.
S2 (07:27):
Wow. Because it comes across really strong. And I know
that everyone, not everyone, has that outlook. And we like to, um,
praise those people who can be positive and share that
positivity with others.
S3 (07:40):
Yeah. I think for me, being someone with a disability,
I never like to view myself as a hero. I
think a lot of people are like, oh my gosh,
you're so inspiring and you're such a hero. But for me,
it's really I'm I'm just a normal person who's unfortunately
lost a sense, but to me, that doesn't mean much.
You know, I still do most of the same things
that a normal person can do, with a couple of exceptions,
(08:01):
but most of the time, especially in this field of
working as a sound engineer, which is really not a
field for a blind person, I'll say that firsthand experience. But,
you know, I've I've found a way to create my
own solutions to the problems, the challenges, the accessibility problems
that I face. I have found a way to get
myself a job. I have found a way to even
advocate for more accessibility in the field, so that up
(08:23):
and coming engineers in the future who are blind or
have other disabilities don't have to feel like they're climbing
such a tall mountain. You know, we'll.
S2 (08:31):
Explore that in more depth shortly, because I'm very curious
to know, Rachel, you were already performing before you went
to Wapa, is that right?
S3 (08:40):
Yes, I've been performing since I was, well, semi professionally
since I was three, professionally since I was nine, eight, nine.
S1 (08:49):
That's a long time.
S3 (08:51):
Yes, a very long time.
S2 (08:53):
And you mostly perform what I would call devotional music.
S3 (08:57):
Gospel, Christian gospel Spore worship. Um, I mean, you know,
I do sing other songs as well. It's not always
my originals. I mean, I write Christian gospel, but I
don't always sing songs. I write because it depends on
where I'm performing at.
S2 (09:09):
Okay.
S1 (09:10):
I listened, um, the other day to this song, um,
a mother's sacrifice.
S3 (09:14):
Oh, yes. The Mother's Day one.
S1 (09:16):
Yeah. That you wrote. Oh, it was for Mother's Day.
S3 (09:18):
Yes, I wrote it for my mom.
S1 (09:19):
Oh. It's beautiful. I was listening to that on the train, actually.
Oh it's beautiful, beautiful song.
S2 (09:25):
Yes. The whole album that you've got available at the
moment called Paradise. Really lovely tracks on there and the
way you sing it really highlights the lovely lyrics that
you have created with your own accompaniment on the piano.
You also seems to be a very talented piano player.
S3 (09:42):
Yeah, I've been playing piano about as long as I've
been singing, so.
S1 (09:45):
Wow.
S2 (09:46):
Okay. And where do you want to take your performance?
Are you leaning more towards professional musician or more towards
professional sound engineer?
S3 (09:54):
Yeah, that's always been a big question for me because
I like both. It's really hard when you like two
things and you want to do two things. I think
growing up I always saw myself as a singer. And
we'll get we'll get into this. But it was mostly
also because I was because I was always interested in
sound since I was about 8 or 9 years old.
But I was always told I'd never be able to
be a sound engineer. So then I tried to channel
(10:15):
all of my interest into, you know, all of my
time investments and money investments into singing and music, which
I still love to do. But I also think that
it really depends as well. I mean, since Covid, like
I said, I performed less, so it is a bit
of a it's a rather unstable sort of career to
be in because you really only get paid when people
(10:37):
hire you or invite you to perform somewhere or when
you release something. But even now, with digital releases like Spotify,
they don't even pay you much anyway. Yep. Um, so
I was kind of hoping to be a sound engineer
who also just so happens to write their own songs
and sings, and that, I guess you could say, ah,
(10:58):
that's my other income stream.
S2 (11:00):
So how did you get this interest in being being
with sound and sound engineering and so forth?
S3 (11:06):
So being unable to see obviously I rely a lot
on other senses. And one of the biggest senses for
me was my hearing, which I discovered I had good
hearing and was able to almost people call it, have
like superhuman hearing because of music, actually. And in a way,
it was a bit of a blessing in disguise because,
(11:27):
you know, not being able to see when all of
my peers in kindergarten were learning colors, I couldn't learn colors.
So what I did was I would just listen to to,
you know, music being played on the piano or something.
And I listened to Beethoven or whatever. And I started,
you know, doing piano lessons at a very young age
and actually learning what all the different notes were called. Okay.
So I actually could then learn the sound of a
(11:48):
note and then also be able to identify that note.
And I discovered that the area of the brain that's
used to do that is the same area of the
brain that's used to learn colors because I couldn't learn colors,
so I focused that area on learning pitch instead. Yeah,
just relied a lot on my hearing when getting around.
So people some people laugh at this when I tell
them that I'm a bit of a bat because I echolocate.
S2 (12:09):
Yeah, but that's very common, especially people who have retina diseases.
S3 (12:16):
And so forth.
S1 (12:17):
Yeah, yeah. How do you do that?
S3 (12:19):
Um, different ways. If I have my cane, I'll tap
it on the ground just to kind of get a
sense of where I am and, you know, the obstacles
or some people around me click, I do click. I
will either click my fingers, which I'm pretty bad at,
or I'll, you know, do the sound, which also can
be a bit weird when there are people around, like,
what is she doing? Um, but that's that's my way
(12:40):
of being able to find things.
S2 (12:41):
People do it and you don't even notice they're doing it.
And you can see them walking around in space without
needing a cane or any other mobility device because they just.
S3 (12:54):
It's weird. I actually find echolocation more reliable than using
my cane, because using my cane, I mean, now that
they're smart canes and things, but I still have a
normal old fashioned cane which unfortunately, anything above the waist
it doesn't catch. So if you're not careful, you could
bang yourself on things. Right. Whereas I find that when
I'm using echolocation, I seem to avoid everything.
S1 (13:13):
So that's good.
S3 (13:15):
Yeah. Yeah.
S2 (13:17):
Yep. Yep.
S3 (13:17):
Yeah.
S1 (13:18):
Is that self-taught?
S3 (13:19):
Uh. Well. No. Well, yes and no, in the sense
that I've always had it, but didn't realize I did until, um,
a mobility instructor kind of was like, hey, I noticed
you're kind of tapping your cane. Are you listening out
for things? And it kind of just made me think
I'm like, oh, yeah, I guess I am. It's just
something I do without really thinking.
S2 (13:36):
Um, there's a lot about it on the internet, and
I can suggest to people if you're interested, there are
videos on YouTube and other places to, to to find
out about that. And it's quite fascinating how people can.
S3 (13:48):
Well, unlike blind mountain biker who literally competes. Yep.
S2 (13:52):
And I was just saw a thing today about the
blind skateboarder professional blind skateboarder.
S1 (13:59):
I sent Simon a video the other day, actually, and
to my mum, there's, um, uh, this guy who is
blind and he rides motorbikes up to 200km an hour.
And I was like, oh my gosh. But it's like
there's a guy behind him and he has a headset
that directs him, oh, how to turn and how quickly
(14:20):
to turn. And it was very it's very interesting.
S2 (14:22):
He also was a motorbike racer before he lost his eyesight.
S1 (14:27):
Yeah. Which I suppose would.
S3 (14:28):
Have I guess it helps.
S1 (14:29):
Yeah. Yeah.
S3 (14:30):
I can't imagine going that fast and. Yeah.
S1 (14:33):
Gosh. Yeah. Even with my license, I couldn't imagine going
200 kms an hour.
S2 (14:39):
Please don't go that fast on the road, people. And so, Rachel,
tell us about the obvious question. You mentioned it a
few times how a blind person does sound engineering. And
what were some of the barriers towards that?
S3 (14:55):
Sure.
S2 (14:55):
And why? Because people think, well, sound and you're really
good at listening. And you just told us how great
you are hearing. And you're a great musician, so you
must be good at doing sound engineering. Why is it
so difficult for a blind person to do.
S3 (15:07):
Mhm. Yeah. No, that's a fair question. And I actually
agree with these people that, you know, the whole art
of sound engineering is using your ears. So if you've
got good ears you should be able to do the job.
Unfortunately though a lot of the tools that are used
or the equipment that's used to affect your craft and
to actually physically do your job are not very accessible.
(15:30):
So when I first got into sound engineering, obviously the
first thing that I had to do was start learning
the theory, um, and start off with just some simple
YouTube videos, but then got into textbooks and things like that.
And what I've found consistent overall in general, whether video
or textbook is a lot of it, is very visual,
a lot of the understanding of the concepts, and I'm
talking very in-depth theoretical engineering concepts. You know, the representations
(15:57):
used to understand these concepts are all visual. They use diagrams,
pictures and other visual cues. So it makes it very
hard for someone who's blind. Because for me, I had
to create my own way of visualizing this. And sometimes
I had to actually ask friends who are maybe like
audio engineering professors and things like that, like, hey, how
do I visualize this? Because I'm not getting it. But also,
(16:19):
I think I had that gift in sound, or at
least I realized that I did when there was a
particular thing I'll never forget when I was learning just
the theoretical layout of your generic mixing board for sound, right.
Sound mixing board. Yep. And so they in this lecture video,
they had, you know, on the slide they had a
picture of the board and then they had labeled all
(16:41):
the components and they were basically going through each component,
you know, explaining what it did and whatever. And I
took notes on all of that, finished the video, uh,
looked at my notes for about ten minutes and then
memorized the entire thing in order. And it was then
that I realized, though I can't see for some reason,
I have a photographic memory, and ever since then it
just became easier and easier to kind of visualize things.
(17:03):
I mean, once you get the basic concepts, it's really
just building on those foundations. So then the next challenge was, okay,
now I want to actually be able to put this
into practice, because there's no point in learning all this
knowledge when you can't practice it. So I was like,
maybe I'll start with recording, you know, just like a
lot of home musicians like to record. So I was like,
I'm sure if you know, people kind of doing this
as a hobby.
S2 (17:23):
So you hadn't done any your own home recording at
this stage?
S3 (17:26):
No, I had not. Um, so I picked up a MacBook, um,
which again, was already a learning curve because I was
so used to using windows, and so I had to
learn how to use a MacBook with its inbuilt screen
reader called VoiceOver, which is actually inbuilt into all Apple products,
by the way, which is very handy. Um, so I
had to learn that just like it is with a
windows computer, I don't use a mouse, I use the
(17:47):
keyboard for everything. So I started really, really simple with
GarageBand and just fooled around with that a little bit
pressed buttons and see what it does. And then, you know,
got into using Logic Pro which is basically like Garageband's
Big Brother. It's got it's got more features.
S2 (18:02):
But.
S3 (18:02):
Basically. Yes. And then I kind of got thrown into
a project where I was in the middle of recording
an album at that time. So Paradise that Simon mentioned, um,
I was in the middle of recording that, and then
my friend got very busy and was just having trouble
trying to keep up with all the mixing and all that.
So I figured, all right, um, poor guy's really busy.
Let me see if I can maybe take over this.
S2 (18:25):
Do you have a physical mixing desk at home?
S3 (18:27):
No, I don't. So I was using the computer without
a mouse, just trying to mix everything. It got even.
It got even better because there was a song on
there that you know how it is with a musician's brain.
I'm like, ooh, actually, I don't like this song. I'm
going to ditch this song and I'm going to put
another song in there instead, which meant I had to
go record that song myself. Because. Because in the album
(18:48):
there are 13 songs, but 12 out of the 13 songs.
My friend had helped me record when he was freer.
And then, because I didn't want to do song 13,
I ditched it and I decided to replace it with
another song. I had to go record that myself. So
then there was that added like, okay, now I actually
have to do my own recording and editing. It was
just a big learning on the fly thing. Yeah, there
were many nights where I would just sit and cry
because I'm just like, ah, I can't edit. This is
(19:08):
not working. And you know how it is when you're
trying to cut a waveform representation on your screen and
you're trying to cut it and paste it and you
can't see what you're doing and you just have.
S2 (19:16):
To I don't know what it's like because I can't do.
S3 (19:18):
It. Yes, yes.
S2 (19:19):
Moving forward, how how did you go from doing that
recording of your own music to doing sound engineering at
a live event? So for your church or for your
other events that you mentioned?
S3 (19:32):
Yeah. So I have a friend who saw, I guess,
my journey a little bit and was kind of a
bit of a part of that. Um, and he was like, hey,
my church, which is a very small church, we're actually
looking for more sound techs. Would you be interested? And
I thought, oh, I don't know. I mean, theoretically, yes,
but I don't want to do something or like commit
to something that I might not be able to do.
(19:54):
But I thought, you know what? I'll just I'll just
go over to the church and have a look at
the desk. Worst case scenario, I can't do it and
that's fine. Right? So I go over and have a
look at the desk and realize, oh, this is actually
a very tactile desk. It's digital, but it's it's very tactile.
There's buttons and knobs for basically almost anything. And so yeah,
I just started labeling the desk with Braille using some
(20:15):
tactile stickers and things like that, just sticking labels everywhere
and markers then memorized. You know what each channel corresponds
to guitar keys, whatever. And then just just started doing it.
And that's I found that was the best way for
me to learn was instead of procrastinating, I'd be like, oh,
I'm not ready to do it. Just sitting down and
doing it.
S2 (20:32):
So you come across as someone who learns very quickly,
and also someone who can have the ability and skill
to teach yourself things in a pretty quick and efficient manner.
S3 (20:46):
Yeah. And I will say, like, I don't I'm not
going to come on here and say, oh, I, I
can do it all myself, especially when I use a
digital desk. Because I can't read what's on the screen.
If I'm needing to adjust certain settings, I still need
someone to actually help me with that, but I can
direct them be like, okay, these are the settings I want.
Help me now actually do it on the desk.
S2 (21:05):
And just for other blind people or other people with
low vision out there who have an interest in music
or sound. You mentioned the program logic. Was it.
S3 (21:15):
Logic Pro?
S2 (21:15):
Logic Pro that is used on. That's an Apple product? Yes.
And you find that quite accessible?
S3 (21:21):
Yes. That's accessible. Um, obviously if you're not an Apple user,
I would recommend Reaper that I've heard, I've heard, yeah.
Reaper I've heard. That's really accessible. I haven't tried it,
but I heard it is um, another good recommendation that
works on both Apple and Windows. Reaper also works on Apple,
but another industry standard recommendation is Pro Tools. If you
want to actually go down that road. That's actually I
(21:41):
have a blind friend over in Mexico who, um, operates
Pro Tools. Like a pro. Yeah.
S2 (21:46):
So I had a blind friend here in Perth tried
to teach himself how to use that many years ago
with his mixing desk and so forth. He managed to
do it, but he did find it quite challenging because
back then it wasn't as accessible as it.
S3 (21:59):
And even now, there's still a long way, especially in
the live industry. There's a long way to go with,
you know, everyone's just like to me, oh, if you
can't use the desk, use the iPad app, because there's
always a companion app that comes with desks. So you can, like,
control the desk with the iPad. And obviously their logic being, well,
if you know how to use an iPad with VoiceOver,
you should be able to use the app right to
control the desk. I'm like, theoretically, yes, but unfortunately the
(22:20):
app developers did not develop an app that was accessible
with VoiceOver, sadly, so can't do that.
S2 (22:26):
And just on a side note, as someone with vision impairment,
I find it really difficult to listen to the computer
and listen to something else at the same time. So
let's say you're trying to mix music or do sound engineering,
and you're having to listen to the computer in one
ear and listen to what you're recording in the other ear.
(22:49):
How do you find that process?
S3 (22:50):
No, actually, what I do is I just put my
headphones on and it's it's really just it's it takes training. Um,
you just have to know that if, if voiceover is talking,
it's going to turn the music down. Um, and that,
you know, so if you want to listen to a
particular section that you edited, for example, you'd want to
play quite a bit before then, because then that way
voiceover will have a chance to talk for a few
(23:12):
seconds or so and give give you the relevant information
that you need before you get to that section that
you're actually trying to listen out for. So it's again,
it's just it's finding creative ways to kind of get
around things.
S2 (23:24):
Wow. And getting back to your music now you've got,
as I said, you've got an album that is available
on Spotify and Apple Music. You told me earlier that
you previously had a few other CDs that you created.
Is that.
S3 (23:37):
Right? Yeah, they're all on CD, unfortunately, so nothing digital.
I kind of wish I could digitize them. I'm just
not sure how to go about that now because I don't. Well,
I own I own the master to one of my albums,
but the other two. So I've got three before this one. Um,
the other two. I don't own the Masters. Two. Um,
but yeah. So I released my first album back in 2004,
(23:59):
so obviously that was like the era of the CD.
S2 (24:01):
Um, how old were you then?
S3 (24:02):
I was eight, that was my first experience in a
recording studio, and I realized, oh, I really like this, like,
whole recording thing. Um, yeah. And then in 2007, I
released my second, and then 2011, I released my third.
And all the copies are gone now because I've either
sold them or gave them away. Right. Um, and then
I decided fourth album, I'm going to do digital.
S2 (24:23):
Yeah, yeah. And what plans do you have at the
moment for your music career?
S3 (24:29):
For my music? Um, to be honest, I've been I've
been working on some songs. Um, but it's been a
little bit of a, of an uphill battle recently. Uh,
so since catching Covid, I've unfortunately come down with some
weird asthma and it's been rather difficult to sing in general.
So even just, um, being in a recording session, you know,
(24:49):
I can't really sing for longer than about 15, 20
minutes if I don't take my puffer. Um, so it's
been a little bit discouraging, but I just, you know, obviously,
I still believe, though, that, um, you know, being a Christian, I,
you know, believe that God has given me this gift
of singing. And so, um, I want to continue to,
to use it to tell stories. Um, it just means
(25:10):
I have to adapt to, to new ways of actually
doing that. So at the moment, I'm focusing more on
sound than I am on music, just trying to get
this sound stuff off the ground, you know, with my
new job and all of that.
S2 (25:21):
Yeah. So you're just in the beginning stages of a
new job.
S3 (25:24):
Yes, yes. I got hired by, um, an AV company,
so I am still sort of training on some new equipment,
but hoping to start running sound for some corporate gigs
and stuff in the future. That's excellent. Um, but also
behind the scenes, I'm volunteering as part of the Audio
Engineering Society Disability and Inclusion Accessibility subcommittee. Um, so.
S2 (25:47):
Well, say that again.
S3 (25:49):
A bit of a mouthful. So, so the Audio Engineering Society,
they have a disability and inclusion committee. And in that
committee they have an accessibility subcommittee. So I'm part of
the accessibility subcommittee of the Dei Community Committee. And so
our job is we're at the moment, we're trying to
work on creating some, some standards that manufacturers of hardware
and software ought to follow when it comes to implementing
(26:11):
accessibility into their products. So that's one thing I'm very
passionate about. Um, and another thing that I'm also doing
is myself and some of my other blind audio engineer
friends over in the States, over in Mexico. And I
think there's this other low vision engineer who's retired now,
but he's over in Adelaide, I believe, um, we we've
(26:32):
all founded a not for profit organization known as the
Audio Accessibility Alliance, AA, which also stands for Access All Areas.
But our job is to help create more inclusive and
accessible work environments and equipment. So we are working with some.
We've got the backing of some pretty good companies. So
Clair Global actually just released a press release today of
(26:55):
just the things that we are starting to do as
an organization, um, which will hopefully get other companies, organizations
and other people interested in accessibility involved. So I'm really
excited to see where this organization goes, and I'm really
stoked to be on the board for that.
S2 (27:10):
So you're a great example to everybody, Rachel, not only
for the blind community, but for the community in general.
So we have to finish up our conversation now because
time has run away with us, because it's such a
fun and interesting conversation. Anything you'd like to leave us
with before we finish up? Rachel?
S3 (27:27):
I think whenever people ask me, do you have any
words of advice for women or other people with disabilities
going into the field? I always say, you know, never,
never allow people to say no on your behalf because
that's something that I had allowed for myself for 12 years.
If I hadn't actually decided, no, I'm not going to
allow that anymore, then I wouldn't be here today doing this,
so always give it a go. Worst thing that will
(27:50):
ever happen is it doesn't work out for you and
that's fine. I think it was a blind chef who
actually said this. If you can't see the mountain and
you can't see how high it is, then you won't
be afraid to climb it. So I.
S2 (28:00):
Just. I like that one.
S3 (28:01):
Just. Yes, just just climb every mountain and knock down
every door and have fun.
S2 (28:04):
It's been an honor to meet you today, and it's
been a great pleasure to talk with you and hope
to speak to you again sometime on our program. Thank
you for coming in.
S3 (28:11):
Thank you so much for having me.
S1 (28:15):
That concludes in Plain Sight for this week. Join us,
Abby Greene and Simon Chong at the same time next
week on Vision Australia Radio, VA radio digital and online
at VA Radio.com. You can also listen on demand by
searching for In Plain Sight wherever you get your podcasts,
or ask your smart device to play in Plain sight
(28:37):
by Vision Australia Radio. Thanks for listening.
Hi I'm Abby.
S2 (00:10):
I'm Simon, and welcome to. In Plain Sight, a program
where we highlight people who are making a positive impact
within their community and the disability sector.
S1 (00:19):
Shining a light on those who might otherwise be hidden
in plain sight.
S2 (00:24):
And we share these stories on a weekly basis with
you here on Vision Australia Radio.
S1 (00:29):
Kia ora everyone, that's hello and welcome in Mauri and
I'm from New Zealand, so I thought, why not start
with that today? How are you Simon?
S2 (00:38):
Kaya that's apparently. Hello and welcome in the local indigenous
language here in Western Australia. Well, this southern western part
of Western Australia. And hello and welcome to you, Abby.
S1 (00:52):
Thanks, Simon. And what's new?
S2 (00:54):
Nothing much new, Abby. Another day, another dollar, and we
just tick along. And we are in the month of May,
the merry, merry month of May. And, um, the year
is going along, I am enjoying the extended summer period
we're having here in Perth.
S1 (01:10):
I have some more cheery news though.
S2 (01:12):
Yes. Please tell.
S1 (01:13):
I just got my licence so watch out Perth. I'm
a bit old to be on my p-plates and it
was something I was hesitant to share on on air,
but it's a journey that I've been going through for
a long time now, trying to get to my licence. Um,
for a variety of reasons. It's been a struggle, but
anyone out there who's really trying and struggling to get
it keep going because I've done it, I can drive
(01:36):
and it's it's really exciting and it's just a moment
that I've waited so long for. So I'm very proud.
S2 (01:43):
You should be proud and congratulations. And that's what we're
all about here, acknowledging those achievements and acknowledging that there
are little struggles in everybody's life and perseverance is the key.
So well done to you, Abi.
S1 (01:57):
Thanks, Simon. Thank you.
S2 (01:58):
And, um, glad I'm not on the road.
S1 (02:01):
I have to be honest. I'm glad too, Simon.
S2 (02:05):
Yes.
S1 (02:07):
And in other news, this month it's May. As Simon
said before, uh, which is macular month. Now, macular month
in Australia is very important for a variety of reasons.
But the most important reason is that it's an estimated
that 1.9 million Australians have some evidence of macular disease.
S2 (02:27):
Yes. And we like to raise awareness a very common
way that people become vision impaired and or blind. And, Abby,
can you tell us a little bit about what the
macular is first?
S1 (02:41):
So the macular is the name given to the area
at the centre of the retina. So that's at the
back of your eye. And the region is only about
5.5mm in diameter. So the macula is responsible for your
detailed central vision. So that means activities such as reading,
driving and recognizing faces. It's also responsible for most of
(03:01):
your color vision.
S2 (03:03):
As it is connected to the optic nerve. The symptoms
of macular degeneration are very similar to the symptoms that
I have with my eyesight condition, which is to do
with the optic nerve. In most cases, macular degeneration is
age related disease, and it is something that can come
on gradually or quite suddenly and can be quite a
(03:25):
shock to people and quite distressing. So we like to
bring awareness to people about this disease. Now coming up
in our program today, we are going to be talking
to Rachel Lim. Now the only connection ritual has to
macular degeneration is that ritual had difficulty when she was
born with her retina and that left her being blind.
(03:45):
Ritual is a musician, a performer and a sound engineer,
and a very talented and interesting person. And she has
an album out on the streaming services available called Paradise
and really worth checking out.
S1 (03:59):
And we'll hear from Rachel now.
S2 (04:04):
Hi, Rachel, could you tell us a little bit about
yourself and tell us what you do?
S3 (04:08):
Sure. Of course. So my name is Rachel. Um, so
I am a totally blind musician, singer and sound engineer.
So a lot of what I do is based on songwriting,
singing and performing, which I don't do as much of
now since Covid and then lately have just been getting
into sound engineering. So running sound for church and also
for various venues and corporate events.
S2 (04:29):
Excellent. I really want to delve into, um, the sound
engineering aspect of your profession right now, because I find
it fascinating and I believe you mostly taught yourself. Is
that right?
S3 (04:39):
Yes, I'm self-taught, so I do have a degree, but
that's in music. So I graduated from Waapa with a
Bachelor of Contemporary Music. Voice was my major. And then, uh,
when I started getting into sound engineering, I decided not
to go back to school, but rather just to try
and teach myself. So it's been about three years now.
S2 (04:56):
Wow. And how old are you now, Rachel?
S3 (04:58):
I am 29. Going on 30.
S2 (05:01):
Okay. Wow. Okay. And I believe you were born in Indonesia.
Is that.
S3 (05:05):
Right? Yes, I was.
S2 (05:06):
So, do you speak any Indonesian language?
S3 (05:09):
I do, yes.
S2 (05:10):
Can you say hello and welcome in Indonesia?
S3 (05:12):
I can say hello. My name is Rachel. In Indonesian. Okay. Please. Hello. Namaste, Rachel.
S2 (05:17):
Very nice. I always find that interesting because I speak
no languages apart from fumble through English.
S3 (05:24):
Well, English was my first language anyway, so.
S2 (05:26):
Oh, really? Okay, so, Rachel, you have you always had
an interest in music and performing?
S3 (05:32):
Yeah, since I was three.
S2 (05:33):
Since you were three. So you're a bit of a natural.
S3 (05:36):
Yeah, you could say that.
S2 (05:38):
Now, I've heard you sing on the recordings and you
have a beautiful, very clear, very lovely voice. And I
can see why people really enjoy it. Have you always
found that ability to to sing like that?
S3 (05:53):
Yeah. So my mum actually discovered that I liked singing
when I was about two, when I started just randomly
singing a hymn in Indonesian, because I think I've heard
it heaps. Um, and yeah. So she discovered that and
then I had, I think it was an education assistant
from my primary school or kindy or something, who bought
me one of those, like toy battery operated pianos. And
(06:13):
so I started playing with that, and I heard a
song on the cassette tape one day, and then I
started playing it on the piano. So that's kind of
how my parents discovered my gifting for music.
S2 (06:23):
Wow. Now, you mentioned that you're totally blind. Is that right? Yes.
Can we ask how you became blind?
S3 (06:30):
Yeah. So I was born premature back in Indonesia. I
was born at 30 weeks. I was placed in an
incubator and due to excessive oxygen, um, because when they.
When they gave me oxygen, it was just, you know, pure,
pure oxygen. And I got too much of it being
underdeveloped and premature. Apparently. That's really bad for you. Um,
and so the consequence of that was that my retina
(06:51):
is detached, and I lost my eyesight when I was
about three months.
S2 (06:55):
Wow. Okay. Can you see anything at all?
S3 (06:57):
A little bit of light, but it has to be
quite strong.
S2 (06:59):
Okay.
S3 (07:00):
Yeah.
S2 (07:01):
Do you think that being blind has limited you at all?
S3 (07:05):
No, I don't like to think about it that way.
I always think that where. What one person might consider
a limitation. You know, for myself, I always believe in
creating solutions for problems where people might find, oh, there's
a limitation there. I don't think you'll be able to
solve that. I like to challenge that and create my
own solutions for myself.
S2 (07:23):
So do you think that you've always had a sort
of positive outlook?
S3 (07:26):
Yeah, I have, yeah.
S2 (07:27):
Wow. Because it comes across really strong. And I know
that everyone, not everyone, has that outlook. And we like to, um,
praise those people who can be positive and share that
positivity with others.
S3 (07:40):
Yeah. I think for me, being someone with a disability,
I never like to view myself as a hero. I
think a lot of people are like, oh my gosh,
you're so inspiring and you're such a hero. But for me,
it's really I'm I'm just a normal person who's unfortunately
lost a sense, but to me, that doesn't mean much.
You know, I still do most of the same things
that a normal person can do, with a couple of exceptions,
(08:01):
but most of the time, especially in this field of
working as a sound engineer, which is really not a
field for a blind person, I'll say that firsthand experience. But,
you know, I've I've found a way to create my
own solutions to the problems, the challenges, the accessibility problems
that I face. I have found a way to get
myself a job. I have found a way to even
advocate for more accessibility in the field, so that up
(08:23):
and coming engineers in the future who are blind or
have other disabilities don't have to feel like they're climbing
such a tall mountain. You know, we'll.
S2 (08:31):
Explore that in more depth shortly, because I'm very curious
to know, Rachel, you were already performing before you went
to Wapa, is that right?
S3 (08:40):
Yes, I've been performing since I was, well, semi professionally
since I was three, professionally since I was nine, eight, nine.
S1 (08:49):
That's a long time.
S3 (08:51):
Yes, a very long time.
S2 (08:53):
And you mostly perform what I would call devotional music.
S3 (08:57):
Gospel, Christian gospel Spore worship. Um, I mean, you know,
I do sing other songs as well. It's not always
my originals. I mean, I write Christian gospel, but I
don't always sing songs. I write because it depends on
where I'm performing at.
S2 (09:09):
Okay.
S1 (09:10):
I listened, um, the other day to this song, um,
a mother's sacrifice.
S3 (09:14):
Oh, yes. The Mother's Day one.
S1 (09:16):
Yeah. That you wrote. Oh, it was for Mother's Day.
S3 (09:18):
Yes, I wrote it for my mom.
S1 (09:19):
Oh. It's beautiful. I was listening to that on the train, actually.
Oh it's beautiful, beautiful song.
S2 (09:25):
Yes. The whole album that you've got available at the
moment called Paradise. Really lovely tracks on there and the
way you sing it really highlights the lovely lyrics that
you have created with your own accompaniment on the piano.
You also seems to be a very talented piano player.
S3 (09:42):
Yeah, I've been playing piano about as long as I've
been singing, so.
S1 (09:45):
Wow.
S2 (09:46):
Okay. And where do you want to take your performance?
Are you leaning more towards professional musician or more towards
professional sound engineer?
S3 (09:54):
Yeah, that's always been a big question for me because
I like both. It's really hard when you like two
things and you want to do two things. I think
growing up I always saw myself as a singer. And
we'll get we'll get into this. But it was mostly
also because I was because I was always interested in
sound since I was about 8 or 9 years old.
But I was always told I'd never be able to
be a sound engineer. So then I tried to channel
(10:15):
all of my interest into, you know, all of my
time investments and money investments into singing and music, which
I still love to do. But I also think that
it really depends as well. I mean, since Covid, like
I said, I performed less, so it is a bit
of a it's a rather unstable sort of career to
be in because you really only get paid when people
(10:37):
hire you or invite you to perform somewhere or when
you release something. But even now, with digital releases like Spotify,
they don't even pay you much anyway. Yep. Um, so
I was kind of hoping to be a sound engineer
who also just so happens to write their own songs
and sings, and that, I guess you could say, ah,
(10:58):
that's my other income stream.
S2 (11:00):
So how did you get this interest in being being
with sound and sound engineering and so forth?
S3 (11:06):
So being unable to see obviously I rely a lot
on other senses. And one of the biggest senses for
me was my hearing, which I discovered I had good
hearing and was able to almost people call it, have
like superhuman hearing because of music, actually. And in a way,
it was a bit of a blessing in disguise because,
(11:27):
you know, not being able to see when all of
my peers in kindergarten were learning colors, I couldn't learn colors.
So what I did was I would just listen to to,
you know, music being played on the piano or something.
And I listened to Beethoven or whatever. And I started,
you know, doing piano lessons at a very young age
and actually learning what all the different notes were called. Okay.
So I actually could then learn the sound of a
(11:48):
note and then also be able to identify that note.
And I discovered that the area of the brain that's
used to do that is the same area of the
brain that's used to learn colors because I couldn't learn colors,
so I focused that area on learning pitch instead. Yeah,
just relied a lot on my hearing when getting around.
So people some people laugh at this when I tell
them that I'm a bit of a bat because I echolocate.
S2 (12:09):
Yeah, but that's very common, especially people who have retina diseases.
S3 (12:16):
And so forth.
S1 (12:17):
Yeah, yeah. How do you do that?
S3 (12:19):
Um, different ways. If I have my cane, I'll tap
it on the ground just to kind of get a
sense of where I am and, you know, the obstacles
or some people around me click, I do click. I
will either click my fingers, which I'm pretty bad at,
or I'll, you know, do the sound, which also can
be a bit weird when there are people around, like,
what is she doing? Um, but that's that's my way
(12:40):
of being able to find things.
S2 (12:41):
People do it and you don't even notice they're doing it.
And you can see them walking around in space without
needing a cane or any other mobility device because they just.
S3 (12:54):
It's weird. I actually find echolocation more reliable than using
my cane, because using my cane, I mean, now that
they're smart canes and things, but I still have a
normal old fashioned cane which unfortunately, anything above the waist
it doesn't catch. So if you're not careful, you could
bang yourself on things. Right. Whereas I find that when
I'm using echolocation, I seem to avoid everything.
S1 (13:13):
So that's good.
S3 (13:15):
Yeah. Yeah.
S2 (13:17):
Yep. Yep.
S3 (13:17):
Yeah.
S1 (13:18):
Is that self-taught?
S3 (13:19):
Uh. Well. No. Well, yes and no, in the sense
that I've always had it, but didn't realize I did until, um,
a mobility instructor kind of was like, hey, I noticed
you're kind of tapping your cane. Are you listening out
for things? And it kind of just made me think
I'm like, oh, yeah, I guess I am. It's just
something I do without really thinking.
S2 (13:36):
Um, there's a lot about it on the internet, and
I can suggest to people if you're interested, there are
videos on YouTube and other places to, to to find
out about that. And it's quite fascinating how people can.
S3 (13:48):
Well, unlike blind mountain biker who literally competes. Yep.
S2 (13:52):
And I was just saw a thing today about the
blind skateboarder professional blind skateboarder.
S1 (13:59):
I sent Simon a video the other day, actually, and
to my mum, there's, um, uh, this guy who is
blind and he rides motorbikes up to 200km an hour.
And I was like, oh my gosh. But it's like
there's a guy behind him and he has a headset
that directs him, oh, how to turn and how quickly
(14:20):
to turn. And it was very it's very interesting.
S2 (14:22):
He also was a motorbike racer before he lost his eyesight.
S1 (14:27):
Yeah. Which I suppose would.
S3 (14:28):
Have I guess it helps.
S1 (14:29):
Yeah. Yeah.
S3 (14:30):
I can't imagine going that fast and. Yeah.
S1 (14:33):
Gosh. Yeah. Even with my license, I couldn't imagine going
200 kms an hour.
S2 (14:39):
Please don't go that fast on the road, people. And so, Rachel,
tell us about the obvious question. You mentioned it a
few times how a blind person does sound engineering. And
what were some of the barriers towards that?
S3 (14:55):
Sure.
S2 (14:55):
And why? Because people think, well, sound and you're really
good at listening. And you just told us how great
you are hearing. And you're a great musician, so you
must be good at doing sound engineering. Why is it
so difficult for a blind person to do.
S3 (15:07):
Mhm. Yeah. No, that's a fair question. And I actually
agree with these people that, you know, the whole art
of sound engineering is using your ears. So if you've
got good ears you should be able to do the job.
Unfortunately though a lot of the tools that are used
or the equipment that's used to affect your craft and
to actually physically do your job are not very accessible.
(15:30):
So when I first got into sound engineering, obviously the
first thing that I had to do was start learning
the theory, um, and start off with just some simple
YouTube videos, but then got into textbooks and things like that.
And what I've found consistent overall in general, whether video
or textbook is a lot of it, is very visual,
a lot of the understanding of the concepts, and I'm
talking very in-depth theoretical engineering concepts. You know, the representations
(15:57):
used to understand these concepts are all visual. They use diagrams,
pictures and other visual cues. So it makes it very
hard for someone who's blind. Because for me, I had
to create my own way of visualizing this. And sometimes
I had to actually ask friends who are maybe like
audio engineering professors and things like that, like, hey, how
do I visualize this? Because I'm not getting it. But also,
(16:19):
I think I had that gift in sound, or at
least I realized that I did when there was a
particular thing I'll never forget when I was learning just
the theoretical layout of your generic mixing board for sound, right.
Sound mixing board. Yep. And so they in this lecture video,
they had, you know, on the slide they had a
picture of the board and then they had labeled all
(16:41):
the components and they were basically going through each component,
you know, explaining what it did and whatever. And I
took notes on all of that, finished the video, uh,
looked at my notes for about ten minutes and then
memorized the entire thing in order. And it was then
that I realized, though I can't see for some reason,
I have a photographic memory, and ever since then it
just became easier and easier to kind of visualize things.
(17:03):
I mean, once you get the basic concepts, it's really
just building on those foundations. So then the next challenge was, okay,
now I want to actually be able to put this
into practice, because there's no point in learning all this
knowledge when you can't practice it. So I was like,
maybe I'll start with recording, you know, just like a
lot of home musicians like to record. So I was like,
I'm sure if you know, people kind of doing this
as a hobby.
S2 (17:23):
So you hadn't done any your own home recording at
this stage?
S3 (17:26):
No, I had not. Um, so I picked up a MacBook, um,
which again, was already a learning curve because I was
so used to using windows, and so I had to
learn how to use a MacBook with its inbuilt screen
reader called VoiceOver, which is actually inbuilt into all Apple products,
by the way, which is very handy. Um, so I
had to learn that just like it is with a
windows computer, I don't use a mouse, I use the
(17:47):
keyboard for everything. So I started really, really simple with
GarageBand and just fooled around with that a little bit
pressed buttons and see what it does. And then, you know,
got into using Logic Pro which is basically like Garageband's
Big Brother. It's got it's got more features.
S2 (18:02):
But.
S3 (18:02):
Basically. Yes. And then I kind of got thrown into
a project where I was in the middle of recording
an album at that time. So Paradise that Simon mentioned, um,
I was in the middle of recording that, and then
my friend got very busy and was just having trouble
trying to keep up with all the mixing and all that.
So I figured, all right, um, poor guy's really busy.
Let me see if I can maybe take over this.
S2 (18:25):
Do you have a physical mixing desk at home?
S3 (18:27):
No, I don't. So I was using the computer without
a mouse, just trying to mix everything. It got even.
It got even better because there was a song on
there that you know how it is with a musician's brain.
I'm like, ooh, actually, I don't like this song. I'm
going to ditch this song and I'm going to put
another song in there instead, which meant I had to
go record that song myself. Because. Because in the album
(18:48):
there are 13 songs, but 12 out of the 13 songs.
My friend had helped me record when he was freer.
And then, because I didn't want to do song 13,
I ditched it and I decided to replace it with
another song. I had to go record that myself. So
then there was that added like, okay, now I actually
have to do my own recording and editing. It was
just a big learning on the fly thing. Yeah, there
were many nights where I would just sit and cry
because I'm just like, ah, I can't edit. This is
(19:08):
not working. And you know how it is when you're
trying to cut a waveform representation on your screen and
you're trying to cut it and paste it and you
can't see what you're doing and you just have.
S2 (19:16):
To I don't know what it's like because I can't do.
S3 (19:18):
It. Yes, yes.
S2 (19:19):
Moving forward, how how did you go from doing that
recording of your own music to doing sound engineering at
a live event? So for your church or for your
other events that you mentioned?
S3 (19:32):
Yeah. So I have a friend who saw, I guess,
my journey a little bit and was kind of a
bit of a part of that. Um, and he was like, hey,
my church, which is a very small church, we're actually
looking for more sound techs. Would you be interested? And
I thought, oh, I don't know. I mean, theoretically, yes,
but I don't want to do something or like commit
to something that I might not be able to do.
(19:54):
But I thought, you know what? I'll just I'll just
go over to the church and have a look at
the desk. Worst case scenario, I can't do it and
that's fine. Right? So I go over and have a
look at the desk and realize, oh, this is actually
a very tactile desk. It's digital, but it's it's very tactile.
There's buttons and knobs for basically almost anything. And so yeah,
I just started labeling the desk with Braille using some
(20:15):
tactile stickers and things like that, just sticking labels everywhere
and markers then memorized. You know what each channel corresponds
to guitar keys, whatever. And then just just started doing it.
And that's I found that was the best way for
me to learn was instead of procrastinating, I'd be like, oh,
I'm not ready to do it. Just sitting down and
doing it.
S2 (20:32):
So you come across as someone who learns very quickly,
and also someone who can have the ability and skill
to teach yourself things in a pretty quick and efficient manner.
S3 (20:46):
Yeah. And I will say, like, I don't I'm not
going to come on here and say, oh, I, I
can do it all myself, especially when I use a
digital desk. Because I can't read what's on the screen.
If I'm needing to adjust certain settings, I still need
someone to actually help me with that, but I can
direct them be like, okay, these are the settings I want.
Help me now actually do it on the desk.
S2 (21:05):
And just for other blind people or other people with
low vision out there who have an interest in music
or sound. You mentioned the program logic. Was it.
S3 (21:15):
Logic Pro?
S2 (21:15):
Logic Pro that is used on. That's an Apple product? Yes.
And you find that quite accessible?
S3 (21:21):
Yes. That's accessible. Um, obviously if you're not an Apple user,
I would recommend Reaper that I've heard, I've heard, yeah.
Reaper I've heard. That's really accessible. I haven't tried it,
but I heard it is um, another good recommendation that
works on both Apple and Windows. Reaper also works on Apple,
but another industry standard recommendation is Pro Tools. If you
want to actually go down that road. That's actually I
(21:41):
have a blind friend over in Mexico who, um, operates
Pro Tools. Like a pro. Yeah.
S2 (21:46):
So I had a blind friend here in Perth tried
to teach himself how to use that many years ago
with his mixing desk and so forth. He managed to
do it, but he did find it quite challenging because
back then it wasn't as accessible as it.
S3 (21:59):
And even now, there's still a long way, especially in
the live industry. There's a long way to go with,
you know, everyone's just like to me, oh, if you
can't use the desk, use the iPad app, because there's
always a companion app that comes with desks. So you can, like,
control the desk with the iPad. And obviously their logic being, well,
if you know how to use an iPad with VoiceOver,
you should be able to use the app right to
control the desk. I'm like, theoretically, yes, but unfortunately the
(22:20):
app developers did not develop an app that was accessible
with VoiceOver, sadly, so can't do that.
S2 (22:26):
And just on a side note, as someone with vision impairment,
I find it really difficult to listen to the computer
and listen to something else at the same time. So
let's say you're trying to mix music or do sound engineering,
and you're having to listen to the computer in one
ear and listen to what you're recording in the other ear.
(22:49):
How do you find that process?
S3 (22:50):
No, actually, what I do is I just put my
headphones on and it's it's really just it's it takes training. Um,
you just have to know that if, if voiceover is talking,
it's going to turn the music down. Um, and that,
you know, so if you want to listen to a
particular section that you edited, for example, you'd want to
play quite a bit before then, because then that way
voiceover will have a chance to talk for a few
(23:12):
seconds or so and give give you the relevant information
that you need before you get to that section that
you're actually trying to listen out for. So it's again,
it's just it's finding creative ways to kind of get
around things.
S2 (23:24):
Wow. And getting back to your music now you've got,
as I said, you've got an album that is available
on Spotify and Apple Music. You told me earlier that
you previously had a few other CDs that you created.
Is that.
S3 (23:37):
Right? Yeah, they're all on CD, unfortunately, so nothing digital.
I kind of wish I could digitize them. I'm just
not sure how to go about that now because I don't. Well,
I own I own the master to one of my albums,
but the other two. So I've got three before this one. Um,
the other two. I don't own the Masters. Two. Um,
but yeah. So I released my first album back in 2004,
(23:59):
so obviously that was like the era of the CD.
S2 (24:01):
Um, how old were you then?
S3 (24:02):
I was eight, that was my first experience in a
recording studio, and I realized, oh, I really like this, like,
whole recording thing. Um, yeah. And then in 2007, I
released my second, and then 2011, I released my third.
And all the copies are gone now because I've either
sold them or gave them away. Right. Um, and then
I decided fourth album, I'm going to do digital.
S2 (24:23):
Yeah, yeah. And what plans do you have at the
moment for your music career?
S3 (24:29):
For my music? Um, to be honest, I've been I've
been working on some songs. Um, but it's been a
little bit of a, of an uphill battle recently. Uh,
so since catching Covid, I've unfortunately come down with some
weird asthma and it's been rather difficult to sing in general.
So even just, um, being in a recording session, you know,
(24:49):
I can't really sing for longer than about 15, 20
minutes if I don't take my puffer. Um, so it's
been a little bit discouraging, but I just, you know, obviously,
I still believe, though, that, um, you know, being a Christian, I,
you know, believe that God has given me this gift
of singing. And so, um, I want to continue to,
to use it to tell stories. Um, it just means
(25:10):
I have to adapt to, to new ways of actually
doing that. So at the moment, I'm focusing more on
sound than I am on music, just trying to get
this sound stuff off the ground, you know, with my
new job and all of that.
S2 (25:21):
Yeah. So you're just in the beginning stages of a
new job.
S3 (25:24):
Yes, yes. I got hired by, um, an AV company,
so I am still sort of training on some new equipment,
but hoping to start running sound for some corporate gigs
and stuff in the future. That's excellent. Um, but also
behind the scenes, I'm volunteering as part of the Audio
Engineering Society Disability and Inclusion Accessibility subcommittee. Um, so.
S2 (25:47):
Well, say that again.
S3 (25:49):
A bit of a mouthful. So, so the Audio Engineering Society,
they have a disability and inclusion committee. And in that
committee they have an accessibility subcommittee. So I'm part of
the accessibility subcommittee of the Dei Community Committee. And so
our job is we're at the moment, we're trying to
work on creating some, some standards that manufacturers of hardware
and software ought to follow when it comes to implementing
(26:11):
accessibility into their products. So that's one thing I'm very
passionate about. Um, and another thing that I'm also doing
is myself and some of my other blind audio engineer
friends over in the States, over in Mexico. And I
think there's this other low vision engineer who's retired now,
but he's over in Adelaide, I believe, um, we we've
(26:32):
all founded a not for profit organization known as the
Audio Accessibility Alliance, AA, which also stands for Access All Areas.
But our job is to help create more inclusive and
accessible work environments and equipment. So we are working with some.
We've got the backing of some pretty good companies. So
Clair Global actually just released a press release today of
(26:55):
just the things that we are starting to do as
an organization, um, which will hopefully get other companies, organizations
and other people interested in accessibility involved. So I'm really
excited to see where this organization goes, and I'm really
stoked to be on the board for that.
S2 (27:10):
So you're a great example to everybody, Rachel, not only
for the blind community, but for the community in general.
So we have to finish up our conversation now because
time has run away with us, because it's such a
fun and interesting conversation. Anything you'd like to leave us
with before we finish up? Rachel?
S3 (27:27):
I think whenever people ask me, do you have any
words of advice for women or other people with disabilities
going into the field? I always say, you know, never,
never allow people to say no on your behalf because
that's something that I had allowed for myself for 12 years.
If I hadn't actually decided, no, I'm not going to
allow that anymore, then I wouldn't be here today doing this,
so always give it a go. Worst thing that will
(27:50):
ever happen is it doesn't work out for you and
that's fine. I think it was a blind chef who
actually said this. If you can't see the mountain and
you can't see how high it is, then you won't
be afraid to climb it. So I.
S2 (28:00):
Just. I like that one.
S3 (28:01):
Just. Yes, just just climb every mountain and knock down
every door and have fun.
S2 (28:04):
It's been an honor to meet you today, and it's
been a great pleasure to talk with you and hope
to speak to you again sometime on our program. Thank
you for coming in.
S3 (28:11):
Thank you so much for having me.
S1 (28:15):
That concludes in Plain Sight for this week. Join us,
Abby Greene and Simon Chong at the same time next
week on Vision Australia Radio, VA radio digital and online
at VA Radio.com. You can also listen on demand by
searching for In Plain Sight wherever you get your podcasts,
or ask your smart device to play in Plain sight
(28:37):
by Vision Australia Radio. Thanks for listening.
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