For this episode, I sat down with Victoria "Kiki" Fajardo of Studio X, a women of color owned and operated recording studio in Oakland, Califas.
She is a recording and mixing engineer, an archivist in sound restoration and preservation. Her focus is in creating a great and comfortable recording and mixing environment where the creative process is collaborative and in the direction that you desire. Kiki shares that a focus in her career is to center and uplift women and QTPOC folks in a male-dominated audio world. She's passionate about using audio for preservation and storytelling, music healing and decolonizing sound. She is a militant native Cucapah, repping both Mexico and the Bay.
Kiki breaks down the obstacles she's faced as a femme engineer in the white male-dominated audio industry, from the aesthetic choices she makes to the opportunities that weren't offered to her on account of her gender. We talked about storytelling and connecting in meaningful ways with our elders, about forced migration from Méjico and growing up in the diaspora. Born and raised in the Bay, this audio baddie takes us back to growing up during the Hyphy movement and shares the ways in which gentrification is impacting her community as we speak.
And in true Kiki fashion, she shout outs the dope Bay Area female artists she's worked with along the way... and also gives us a glimpse into #FemmeFadeFriday. Follow ALL of these baddies: @ChhotiMaa@RockyRivera@VersoulMusic@KarlyMarieMusic
Check out @StudioX510 on Instagram and on their website directly for all your mixing, mastering, audio editing and podcast needs. Support Bay Area babes doing dope things. To book with Victoria directly, email her at: contactvictoriafajardo@gmail.com.
**Shoutout to Bay Area's own Monk HardToStop & EvaClear for producing the beats you hear in episodes for this entire season! Find them on Instagram @Monk_HTS @EvaClear_Music
