Behind the pseudonym ‘Maud’ stands songwriter, singer and producer Kristine Hoff who grew up in a relatively isolated part of Northern Norway and studied electronic music at Kristiansand’s University of Agder. With her fully self-written, sung and produced debut album, Maud LP, being released May 21st, she is providing the music industry with something that is (unfortunately) rare – an all-female product.
Launching last year, Billboard’s Hot 100 Songwriters and Producers was yet another list to add to the misrepresentation of women in production with not a single female entering the Top 24. And with less than 3% of music producers being non-male, the music industry still hasn’t come very far in equality for female, and non-binary industry professionals and musicians.
Taking inspiration from Grimes, Wondagurl, Oklou, Ary, Sassy009, Maud feels the only way we can move forward for women in music and production is to completely normalise their position. As soon as we stop referring to them as ‘female-producers’ and ‘female-fronted’ but instead refer to them as just ‘producer’ and ‘musician’ (the same way we do their male-counterparts), only then will progress have truly been made.
“I already feel we’re doing a lot by just emphasizing the gender imbalance, and I have a feeling there are a lot more women working as producers now compared to just a couple of years ago,” Maud begins. “I see a lot of women sharing knowledge and building each other up, and that’s great. Organizations and initiatives working for female representation in the music industry, are also having a lot of progress. There are so many talented women working as producers.
“However, I think we at some point have to normalise women working as producers, and just in music in general. When we stop categorising or labelling a producer as female, we’ve come a long way.”
Agreeing that the future for women working in music production looks brighter, we discuss how the blame for the root of the issue could be how women are taught to perceive the industry from a young age.
“I believe in providing opportunities to women at an early age to explore music production and engineering. If younger girls learn from the very start that this is not a boy’s club, we’ve come a long way.”
With music playing a huge part in her life since she was a child, Maud quit music after high school. However, in this break, she rediscovered her love and started writing her own songs. With no pressure of intentions or ambitions to take the songs anywhere, she also started studying to be a journalist.
“But whenever I was taking breaks from the music, it kept pulling me back. I felt that something was missing inside of me when I wasn’t playing with others or writing songs. Eventually I pulled myself together and decided to focus on the music, by slowly learning myself how to produce my own songs.”
Her production career started in 2011 but, she didn’t start taking it seriously until 2016. With her production passion igniting from a difficulty to find someone to produce her music to a standard and sound she wanted, she says:
“It took me some time to realise that I actually could be in charge of all the creative processes of making my music just by being a producer. I don’t think anyone told me this growing up. I think I was just always told that I had to find a producer to work with, and no one really encouraged me to do this on my own. At some point I was so tired of looking for the right producer, that I decided to produce my own music.”
An article on Huff Post stated, “it will take many more women to consider a career in music production for the gender imbalance to right itself. But changing the perception of behind-the-board roles as the realm of men is also a much-needed step.”
With less than 5% of the people creating the sounds, music and media in the daily soundtrack of our lives being women/ gender non-conforming, we need to teach girls from a young age that they can work in this sector and they are worthy of placement. The normalisation of female producers is key to an equal industry and vital to encouraging other women to enter this career path. With organisations such as Women’s Audio Mission encouraging women to enter the world of audio and helping/mentoring them along the way, it’s great that we are taking steps to standardising all genders in music. But the final words of advice from Maud to any woman wanting to get into music production are:
“Just do it, trust the process, and never give up.”
Written by Jasmine Hodge
Featured image is from Louder Than War and second image is from Killing Moon
