PROFILE
Fernanda Starling
By Maxime Brunet
F
rom the mountains of Brazil to the hills of Los Angeles, Fer-
nanda Starling has come a long way for her career in audio.
Starling was raised in a working middle-class family in
Belo Horizonte, Brazil during the ‘80s. “Beagá” – as it is known
to locals – is the sixth-largest city in Brazil. She recalls hav-
ing a happy childhood, splitting her time between the city and her
maternal grandparents’ farm in the countryside. One of her favourite
toys was her grandmother’s cassette recorder, which she used to
record ambient sounds and sound effects.
Beagá is a cultural capital in Brazil, known for giving birth to
the progressive-jazz-folk “Clube da Esquina.” In the shadows of this
popular music scene, several metal bands formed, including the
legendary Sepultura.
Starling spent her teenage years going to a variety of concerts
and eventually started learning how to play bass. In 2002, she formed
her first original band with two other musicians. They recorded their
demo with André Cabelo, a well-known local audio engineer and
owner of Estúdio Engenho. This was Starling’s introduction to the
world of professional audio.
“For the following one-and-a-half to two years, I kept bumping
into André at live concerts,” she recalls. “One of those nights, he men-
tioned that his studio was so busy that he was thinking about getting
an intern. Even though I was already working as a journalist full-time,
I didn’t think twice about taking this internship.”
In 2004, after several months of assisting on recordings, Starling
began taking on her own clients. Although she studied journalism
in university, she wishes she had the opportunity to study audio
engineering: “I wish I knew more about audio engineering before
applying for journalism/communications, but the reality in Brazil is
different from North America. Back when I started, there were no
universities offering a bachelor’s degree in audio … There are a few
private audio schools in Brazil, most of them in São Paulo or Rio de
Janeiro, but they just offer short-term certificate programs.”
As an avid learner, she still chose to complete an intensive cer-
tificate course called “Fundamentals in Audio and Acoustics” at the
Institute of Audio and Video in São Paulo. She worked in Brazil until
2009, recording artists at Estúdio Engenho and also working for the
Federal University of Minas Gerais school of music, where she was
responsible for recording and mixing classical albums as a member
of an all-female research group.
Eager for a change and to increase her audio skills, Starling came
to the United States in 2010 to complete a one-year certificate in
Independent Music Production at the University of California – Los
Angeles campus extension. After graduating, she found herself gravi-
tating from studio recording to film and television audio.
Since moving to Los Angeles, her main audio jobs have con-
sisted of Pro Tools recordings for TV, as well as assisting other audio
engineers with their mix work, both in the studio and for broadcast.
Her credits include working as an assistant audio engineer and Pro
Tools operator for the multi-Emmy Award-winning sound engineer
and playback mixer Pablo Munguia on shows such as Celebrity Family
Feud, The Grammy Awards, American Music Awards, BET Awards, and
MTV Movie & TV Awards. She has also served as post-production
sound editor and assistant mixer for Peter Baker at Threshold Sound
+ Vision. There, she worked on the 5.1 mixes for numerous projects,
such as Dio’s Finding the Sacred Heart – Live In Philly 1986, Trace Adkins’
Live Country!, Alan Jackson’s Keepin’ It Country Tour!, and Heart’s Live
at the Royal Albert Hall.
These days, Starling keeps busy as a freelancer and also works as
a Pro Tools operator/recordist for the L.A.-based Music Mix Mobile
(M3), a bicoastal Grammy, Emmy, and TEC Award-winning remote
facilities company that specializes in recording and mixing for
broadcast. Her recording credits with M3 include the MTV Movie
& TV Awards, iHeartradio Music Festival, and KROQ Almost Acoustic
Christmas, amongst others.
Besides these main gigs, she’s also worked as a “one-man-band”
since 2013, providing field recording and mixing for more than
20 independent short and feature films, commercials, and docu-
mentaries. Recently, Starling worked as production sound (boom
and mixing) and post editing and mixing on the Daytime Emmy-
nominated digital drama series Conversations in L.A.
Asked if she prefers working in the studio or in TV, she notes
that she loves recording musicians and prefers music-based work
opportunities but does not distinguish between the studio and
broadcast.
When she is not busy working, she enjoys going out and playing
pool. She has made it one of her new year’s resolutions to start play-
ing in bands again, as she says that she misses playing live music.
Starling kicked off 2020 assisting Pablo Munguia on some annual
award shows, starting with the Grammys in January and then mov-
ing on to Celebrity Family Feud in February. As a self-proclaimed audio
addict, she plans to continue chasing her audio mixing dreams in
America. Given the opportunity, she would also love to introduce
her Brazilian musician and engineer friends to their Los Angeles
counterparts so they could exchange experiences and collaborate.
Maxime Brunet was introduced to audio at the age of 17 through community radio. She now works as a touring FOH engineer, splitting her time between Los
Angeles and Toronto. She developed an introduction to sound class, The DIY Audio Tech Workshop for Women+, which she has taught throughout Ontario.
20 PROFESSIONAL SOUND