LITITZ, PA – Clair Global is supporting the Audio Accessibility Alliance (AAA), a think tank that aims to open conversations and create meaningful change around disability in entertainment technology and live event production.
More details from Clair Global (www.clairglobal.com):
Michelle Guadalupe Felix Garcia must be one of the few sound engineers on the planet to have been personally asked by Chris Martin to help Coldplay record at their studio.
How she got there is a story of pure determination and an ambition to raise awareness that has led to the formation of the Audio Accessibility Alliance (AAA), a Clair Global backed industry think tank that aims to open conversations and create meaningful change around disability in entertainment technology and live event production.
When Michelle, who is a blind sound engineer, contacted Live Nation about possible employment opportunities, it marked the beginning of a high-level industry wake-up call.
Live Nation’s Director of Production David Helberg, and VP of Concert Production Mike Marchetti, invited Michelle to The Conference: Live at Lititz in December 2024 with one question in mind; how can the live events and touring industry begin making our technical, backstage world more accessible?
Cue a specially arranged event at Rock Lititz where Live Nation, Clair Global, Cohesion, DiGiCo, Midas, Sennheiser and Tait assembled to speak with Michelle about developing a more user-friendly experience. After all, big change begins with peer collaboration.
“To have all of these multi-disciplinary creative minds in conversation was invaluable,” says Michelle. “It gave key players the opportunity to learn more about accessibility and to watch how a blind person can operate a computer, a console, and use ProTools.
“It was a learning curve for all involved; there was a lot of experienced people in the room, but most didn’t know that you can use ProTools with text to speech without even looking at waveforms.”
This was noted by Clair Global Account Executive Jason Vrobel: “It was very humbling to watch Michelle at work. She is extremely good with ProTools. The way she hears cues and moves at speed is quite something. I don’t think any of us would be able to do what she does.”
Jason now sits on the AAA Committee alongside Michelle and fellow audio engineer Ritchell Lim, mix engineer Jon Lemon, studio engineer Cory Wilkins, and Live Nation’s David Helberg.
During the conference, Clair organized a 3-hour personalized tour for Michelle. “They took me through the Cohesion wood shop, cabinet assembly, testing room and through every component from capacitors and diaphragms, to testing frequency ranges. It was so hands-on, they allowed me to touch everything, and every question was absolutely welcomed.”
Post conference, Rock Lititz donated a rehearsal space for Michelle to mix FOH for singer/songwriter college Hells, and Clair Global facilitated a recording session with Lititz local JJ, an 11-year-old aspiring rapper, who is also visually impaired.
JJ was brought to Clair’s attention through VisionCorps, a Pennsylvania-based non-profit organization that provides tools and training to empower individuals living with blindness and vision loss to attain independence. It was JJ’s dream to record a song, and with Michelle’s expertise and personal experience, a perfect opportunity arose to make it happen.
Michelle beams: “When Jason informed JJ that he was singing into the same Cohesion speakers that Kendrick Lamar uses on tour, he was so excited!”
Being around a young person who is so passionate about their aspirations hit Michelle on a personal level, as her own journey wasn’t straight forward.
“I’ve been interested in sound and music since childhood,” she says. “At 13, I taught myself to use an audio interface, and I used software for studio production, learning throughout the years. Then, when I was 17, I had a dream to play the piano with Coldplay and I began emailing their management to see if it was possible.
“I couldn’t believe it, but in October 2017 they invited me to play at their rehearsal in San Diego. I got to use an in-ear monitor for the first time and as we walked around the stadium, I felt the heat of the mixing board near me. In that moment, I realized that audio engineering wasn’t a hobby for me – I wanted to dedicate my life to it.
“The band are so humble and I’m so grateful, because without that initial request being met, I wouldn’t be here, doing this now.”
Michelle is from Mexico and with her parents’ encouragement, the family moved to San Diego to give her the best education in pro audio.
“English is my second language, and I moved to this foreign culture so I could fulfil my dream. We made all the necessary arrangements, I took an English test and then once I was accepted into college, my course educator said: ‘You should change your major because it’s really hard for sighted people to pursue a career in sound, so it’s going to be impossible for you.’
“That hit me like a bomb. But then it made me more determined to carry on.”
It will come as no surprise that Michelle, the young woman who convinced Coldplay’s management to let her play Chris Martin’s piano, graduated in 2022 with a Music, Recording Tech and Audio Design bachelor’s degree.
She continues: “I kept in touch with Coldplay, and the band’s manager asked if I’d like to come to their Malibu recording studio. Of course, I said yes! I listened to their album five months before it was released, but the most beautiful thing was that I didn’t feel like a fan. They treated me like an engineer because I had studied.
“Chris looked at me and said: “I want to record this; can you take over?” I was very impacted by that trust. He put me on their ProTools rig, and it was the most insane five minutes of my life….”
As impressive as Michelle’s story is so far, with a huge amount of work yet to be done in this space, accessibility is on the agenda indefinitely and will only become normalized through ongoing collaboration throughout the wider industry.
In closing, she says: “As an organization, AAA would like to have a broad focus across accessibility, but in this moment, we are speaking about blindness because that’s my lived experience. Clair Global has been such a facilitator and after understanding fully what the company does, I feel surer than ever that I want to tour in some capacity.”
