With Yes All Witches currently open for grant submissions through October 31, 2020, it seemed like a good time to check in with the first-ever YAW winner and learn exactly what applying–and winning–the grant is like.

TK of Totally Knuts very kindly gave me an overview of their experience with Yes All Witches. I’m certainly happy they took the chance and applied, and can’t wait to see what other kinds of amazing wrock we get from Yes All Witches going forward.

The Application Process

When I first heard about the 2017 Yes All Witches grant, I was excited to hear about an opportunity where women and trans people would have the chance to receive a grant that would help further their musical endeavors. As a newly-out nonbinary person who had just started writing their own wizard rock, I thought it would be good to apply, even though I didn’t have a ton of experience at the time. I had never recorded a song, having no microphone, and I had never used recording software either. I video-recorded one of my songs (it might have been Expecto Patronum or Trans Wizard? I don’t remember) and sent it in with the application. One of the questions on the grant application was (and still is): How would receiving a Yes All Witches grant impact you and your art? What does your voice and your story bring to the fandom?

Those two questions really made me think. What did I want to convey with my music? I knew that I wanted more LGBT representation in my music for sure, as part of the wizard rock community. At the time, I had only listened to Tianna and the Cliffhangers music to get some LGBT themed wizard rock, and I wanted to contribute that kind of specific content as well. I felt that as a nonbinary queer person, I had first hand experience of noticing how little representation I had in the Harry Potter books, and also in wizard rock songs at the time.

About a month after the grant had opened its application survey, Steph Anderson reached out to inform me that out of all the applicants, I had won the grant! Since it was the first time the grant had ever been open, there were only a handful of applicants, but even so Steph told me that I had stood out the most as someone who had a lot of potential to add to the wizard rock and LGBT communities. We got together at that year’s Granger Leadership Academy (2017) and filmed the announcement video.

 

Winning the Grant

Right after GLA had ended and we had all gone home, Steph texted me with a suggestion to use the grant money for a USB-based microphone (Bluemic Yeti) that comes with Studio One recording software. I looked at the link she had included and thought it looked great! She ordered it for me and it arrived at my apartment on May 1st of that year. Steph made it clear that I could reach out to her at any time, which I greatly appreciated, having never worked with recording software or a microphone before. I asked if she had any ideas about where I could find drum or percussion tracks to use in a recording and she said that Studio One software actually comes with a ton of preloaded tracks – not just for percussion but also for a lot of different instruments and styles.

Once I figured out how to record a demo, I sent her the audio file for her to review and critique. She gave me helpful tips like how I can record multiple tracks to overlay on each other so that each sound is clear (one track for voals, one (or more) for ukulele, one (or more) for harmonies, and any other tracks for percussive instruments or the like). Then she gave me some advice that I have used in all of my recordings since: First, record a demo. Then, record individual tracks while listening to the demo through headphones (that way you get the timing right). Then, adjust audio levels and use filters when needed. Using two instrumental tracks can make ukulele or guitar sound fuller. I played around with the software and eventually got the hang of it! I’ve been using the same software and the same microphone for all my recordings ever since I got them.

I am so grateful to have been chosen for the Yes All Witches grant, and I can honestly say that I don’t know how long it would have taken me to record my songs and put albums out into the world if it had not been for the grant and for Steph. Winning the grant gave me the materials and motivation to start learning, creating, and producing musical content that represents LGBT people, and I can only hope that I have done it justice. Because of the grant, I have released four full-length albums, two EPs, launched a Patreon page, and am continuing to write inclusive wizard rock.

And I don’t plan to stop anytime soon.