For her new podcast, Studio Radicals, Kate Hutchinson brings together visionaries with a unique approach to making, mixing and recording music for in-depth conversations. In episode one, we hear from London-based, Italian recording engineer Marta Salogni, who was cherry picked by Björk to record an album with her in Iceland. Salogni has an incredibly vivid, tactile way of describing her approach to her craft, referencing Tarkovsky, translation and reel-to-reel tape machines as she vows to make life easier for other female producers starting out. Next up is Ebonie Smith, an engineer who grew up singing in Memphis gospel choirs and has gone on to collaborate with Cardi B, Janelle Monae and Angela Davis. Smith founded Gender Amplified, an organisation to empower women and non-binary producers, and believes record making should ‘heal communities and elevate consciousness’. The series also includes Grammy-winning producer of boygenius and PJ Harvey, Catherine Marks, legendary synth pioneer Suzanne Ciani and Northern Irish composer Hannah Peel, among others.

‘Every woman has her own experience of sexism,’ says Hutchinson, as she wanders through a park near her home in Clapton, East London. I hear birds chirping in the background, down the phone. The music journalist and presenter of The Last Bohemians, a podcast about maverick women in the arts, mentions a Grammys report from earlier this year, highlighting the lack of women in songwriter, production and engineer roles. ‘Though things have improved a huge deal in terms of gender balance, there’s still a way to go. I didn’t want to labour that point though for the podcast, I wanted the focus to be on women and gender-expansive individuals doing amazing things. Bold, experimental, radical creative visions. Interesting people creating incredible sound worlds, telling immersive stories.’

Although the series involves many very pleasurable deep dives into the methods behind their work, Hutchinson hopes the chats will appeal to those broadly interested in music, not just ‘studioheads’. ‘We deliberately chose women from a range of ages, working in different locations and a broad range of genres: experimental, rock, reggaeton, pop, musical theatre,’ she says. ‘What really comes across is their egoless approach to creativity; not dominating or being arrogant but a spirit of collaboration. That’s where you get these exciting new frontiers. It’s a series that shows what happens when you don’t accept the lack of opportunities open to you and how being bold pays off.’

Episodes of Studio Radicals, a co-production between Kate Hutchinson and dCS Audio, are available on all the usual platforms; main picture: Olivia Sofia Ferrara.