We are developing an inclusive pipeline to advance a community of music producers and audio engineers through state-of-the-art STEAM education, community building, and the power of storytelling. Gender Amplified endeavors to give voice to a subculture of women and gender-expansive people utilizing music technology to create music and express their unique identities.
Ebonie Smith, Founder & President of Gender Amplified
We are providing a platform to grow a tight-knit community of artists and collaborators. Gender Amplified organizes in-person events & music production camps to provide music producers the critical opportunities to connect, collaborate, and empower each other.
We curate inclusive & accessible studio environments to experiment with cutting-edge technology and produce best-in-class work in partnership with leading industry professionals and technology companies.
We equip producers with the knowledge, connections, and experience they need for successful careers in the contemporary music industry. By developing a diverse skillset and toolkit, music producers can pursue career-building resources and opportunities to further promote and distribute their creative work for music placements in film, TV & advertisements.
We are building a new model to reimagine the creator economy and future of music - that puts artists first. Through visionary organizing and advocating for our community's unique needs, Gender Amplified aims to promote the value & vital role that producers and audio engineers play as stewards of the creative and technical process of music making.
Music Production Camps
Ctrl Room Series is a production-intensive camp designed to bring women and gender-expansive music producers, songwriters, and audio engineers together to create and collaborate in community.
As the flagship artist development program, Ctrl Room Series is a premier curated experience for selected artists to further develop their craft and explore cutting-edge techniques in partnership with leading audio professionals and companies.
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Hyperballad Music – Brooklyn, NY
We’d love to get to know you better! Gender Amplified embraces passionate and driven producers, songwriters, audio engineers, and everyone in between aiming to build a more equitable future in the music industry. There are many ways to get involved!
Join our team as a volunteer
Apply for our Ctrl Room Series production camps
*Our applications are rolling, so you are always welcome to apply to be considered for our next camp.
In Fall 2006, Ebonie Smith was a rising senior at Barnard College. Just returning from a semester abroad in Cameroon while working in Africa at recording studios, Ebonie had a final year of academic rigor and the looming 100-page senior thesis requirement.
During this time, Ebonie purchased some music production equipment and spent hours in the dorm room between classes learning how to produce music and recording her friends. Ebonie thought… ‘If only I could just do this. I wish that I could produce music for my coursework requirements.’ In the wake of her frustration, what followed was a bright idea: ‘I could write my senior thesis on music production.’
Ebonie immediately enrolled in the only two music production classes at Columbia – her enthusiasm for classes instantly re-established, and started to learn as much history on music production she could. Focused on hip hop, she started to learn much about the cultural significance of music technologies and their influence on the development of hip hop music - identifying the names of several key male producers over and over again, and never coming across any names of female music producers. This seemed odd.
After consulting her thesis advisor Kim Hall about this issue, Ebonie proposed for Barnard College to create a conference called Gender Amplified: Women and Technological Innovation in Hip Hop. She felt that women’s lack of visibility in hip hop music production was both an academic and a feminist discourse. Given this, Barnard College seemed to be the perfect place to spearhead the Gender Amplified movement.
Planning an academic conference, producing music and writing a senior thesis simultaneous was no walk in the park, but so many wonderful partners came on board to help bring the vision to fruition. Tachelle Wilks (founder, Femmixx.com), The Barnard Center for Research on Women, The Africana Studies Program, and Dean Vivian Taylor (campus coordinator, The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship) all provided a tremendous support system. We accomplished much with this initial event in 2007.
However, the movement continues on. Gender Amplified is much bigger than hip hop. The forthcoming Gender Amplified Music Festival will do more than ask questions about women in music production. Since its origins, Gender Amplified Inc is a platform to advance and foster a community for women and gender-expansive individuals in music production. We are building a legacy.
Welcome to this wonderful world of sound making! We’re excited to have you join us! While our Ctrl Room Series camps are currently geared toward up-and-coming producers rather than beginners, we are working on offering more educational programming - stay tuned! You are always welcome to reach out to info@genderamplified.org to get plugged in.
At the moment, Gender Amplified, Inc. is based in NYC and host events exclusively in the Northeast. However, we plan to expand our impact to new locations. If you’re interested in getting involved, please reach out and we’d love to hear from you.
The funds we collect from donors go toward our Diversity, Inclusivity, and Belonging (DIB) initiatives and events programming. Many of our panels, workshops and camps are entirely free to attendees and it’s made possible by the generous donations from our partners and community! Your funds help to make this all possible.
Our allies across the gender spectrum are welcome to support our mission as key partners to impact change in the currently male-dominated music industry. Sign up for our newsletter and come to our events! If you’re a producer or engineer, become a mentor or volunteer with our team! Email us at info@genderamplified.org to learn more.
