Back in 2017, I was having a bit of a professional crisis, and decided that I was going to get back into the music business after taking a brief hiatus to work in another field. I was a dedicated record collector and enthusiast at this point, and having heard about the vinyl pressing plant that had opened and subsequently closed in my hometown of Calgary, Canada, I was obsessed with the idea of manufacturing and how I could become a part of it. Through some pointed conversations and fact finding, I stumbled upon the Viryl Technologies crew, and began reading everything I could. That’s how I found the inaugural Making Vinyl conference, in Detroit, and with one week’s notice, decided to go and talk with everyone I could to see how viable my ideas were.

I came back with a tremendous amount of info and contacts, and decided that my path was more suited to lathe cutting and potentially plating. So I found the money, and started hassling the legendary Ulrich Sourissou, known to all of us as Souri – and I went to Germany in February of 2018 and trained on the Vinyl Recorder. Waited patiently (or not so much), and eventually received it.

After months of trying and failing, and reconsidering my impetuous nature. The second Making Vinyl conference was announced, and my dear friends from the first one, were wondering if I would be in attendance. I thought that I had no place being there, as at this point, I was a big fakey faker … only WANTING to make vinyl … but smarter heads prevailed and I found myself having to quit my job in order to attend the conference again.

The very first night, I was introduced to Noah Mintz and Kevin Park – of the mighty Lacquer Channel Mastering in Toronto. And by the end of the second day, we had collectively decided, that I would go back to Calgary, and start the process of re-locating to Toronto to give this a real shot.

I arrived in Toronto in January 2019, and have been here since. Working, learning and growing. It’s been fantastic. We were able to return to the third Making Vinyl in sunny California as a little trio! I was able to have way more meaningful discussion and networking conversations now that I was a real part of the industry.

So long story long, I wouldn’t be where I am – the only woman record cutter in Canada – without Making Vinyl.