LOS ANGELES, FEBRUARY 8, 2022―Born and raised in the Philippines, Jett Galindo grew up listening to Joan Jett (after whom she is named). Not only did she love the gritty sound of the singer’s voice, she also loved the music trailblazer for her success as a woman in a predominantly male-oriented industry. Today, Galindo brings her two biggest passions—love of music and support for female empowerment—to her professional life. This includes her roles as a Mastering Engineer and Vinyl Cutter for The Bakery, an audio production studio based in Los Angeles, and board member of Women in Vinyl, a non-profit organization that supports women in the vinyl record industry. Over the years, Galindo has worked on albums by the likes of Pink Floyd, Weezer and Barbra Streisand, and continuously turns to NUGEN Audio’s assortment of audio software and plug-ins to support her work.
“I’m a big fan of NUGEN products in general, but the thing that I love most―and is at the very top of my arsenal of tools, is the Monofilter plug-in, especially when cutting vinyl records,” she says. “The vinyl format was popularized at a time when music was very different, and the current vinyl revival is happening at a time when music has expanded in ways that are digital. There’s a lot of music out there that was created without the vinyl format in mind. Despite the vast differences of the formats, NUGEN’s Monofilter plug-in helps keep the sound in check.”
Galindo explains that there are several quirks of the vinyl format that an engineer must navigate through, such as how it handles sibilance and low-frequency stereo imaging, something that she says can be challenging in the vinyl-cutting process. “If not taken into consideration, low-frequency out-of-phase information may result in severely thin grooves that could potentially cause needle skips,” she adds. “With NUGEN’s Monofilter, I can address these concerns while lessening the risk of overprocessing and compromising the sound of modern music, especially in something digital-driven like EDM. The plug-in makes my life a lot easier; it has many functionalities that allow me to control that low-frequency crossover without sacrificing the musical experience. I can monitor the algorithm settings and switch as needed, depending on the music.”
Additionally, Galindo likes how NUGEN’s Monofilter has the phase correlation meter, which allows her to be mindful of the music. “It’s always at the top of my arsenal for all of my projects,” she says.
Galindo is also a fan of NUGEN’s new Paragon reverb software, which she uses to mix choral music, another passion of hers. A song she recently produced and mixed, “A Change is Gonna Come,” by Tonality, earned a GRAMMY® Award nomination for Best Arrangement (Instruments and Vocals). “That song was produced completely virtually,” she says. “There were a lot of things that I had to control on my end to make sure everything sounded good. Everyone had to record themselves individually in their homes, so I had to do a lot of noise reduction and timing adjustments. It was very important for me to make sure the reverb was perfect. I had to create an ensemble experience from nothing, so I had to completely rely on my plug-ins to ensure the choral experience translated to how they sounded live, and I accomplished this beautifully with Paragon.”
When it comes to her future plans, Galindo says Monofilter and Paragon will remain at the top of her list of go-to tools as she takes on various projects.
