Nicole Lexi Davis

TEXT GENIE DAVIS

VISUAL DANIEL YOO

As a performer, songwriter, and studio sound engineer, NICOLE LEXI DAVIS lives, breathes, and loves music. 

“There’s nothing like capturing a beautiful moment when the vibe is just right and finding the perfect sound. There’s also nothing like polishing up a great recording with some good editing and mixing… nothing else really compares to that for me,” she says. “There is something magical and ethereal about capturing a great moment in sound.” 

Combining her work as a musician with life as an audio engineer is the perfect mix for Davis who, at 28, is somewhat of an anomaly in the recording studio world – she’s young and female in a male-dominated profession. 

“My favorite part of performing is getting to connect with other people. It’s a lot of fun to share my music with others when they enjoy it,” she relates. “But I honestly like recording and mixing audio even better. When I was 20, I got the privilege to intern and study under Craig Parker Adams at Winslow Court Studio in Hollywood. He’s an incredible engineer, and he taught me so much of what I know. Eventually I went from being a fly on the wall, helping out, to taking on my own gigs and clients as a sound engineer there and elsewhere.” A recent project at Winslow Court for Davis was working on a seven-CD box set compilation of Frank Zappa’s The Roxy Performances. The complete collection totaled nearly eight hours of re-mastered live music. 

The moment when Davis realized music was her path was while performing with her brother in a duo called Sodium Free at a local coffee shop. Davis was 17, and attending community college. 

“That little era was when I realized for sure that writing songs and performing was more than a hobby for me. I already loved to play, and would practice piano as well as guitar for hours every day in the music hall on my college campus. One day it just clicked – nothing could top the feeling of writing and playing – it was natural and fun,” she recalls. “Honestly, I didn’t care how hard it would be, I just had the desire to keep going and learning and trying, and so I did. If I could do it all again, I would definitely still choose music because it’s what I love and a part of who I am.” 

As a performer and songwriter, her instrument is the piano. “I’d always gravitated towards keyboards, and would fiddle around on any piano I encountered. I started formally learning piano fairly late, just before I turned 16, even though I had an interest in music for pretty much all of my life. As a preschooler, I’d sit on my grandmother’s lap and watch her play and then try to copy her. It just kept calling to me until I picked it up. About a year after I started to play piano, I also learned the guitar, which is just as important to me in its own way, even though it’s not the instrument I’m best at.” 

She describes the piano as where she feels “at peace and free. It may come off as a little corny, but it feels like home to me.” 

Being paid for performing and as an audio engineer were both seminal moments for Davis. “The first time I got paid for performing a gig, I got a small cut of the bar-take at the end of the night at a local pub. It was also one of my first booked sets at over an hour long. I felt super excited and remember feeling so happy that my name was up on that little marquee outside the bar.” As to audio recording, she says “The first paid gig that I had was recording for Steve Earle. It was very exciting. It was a great feeling to be really doing it, I felt like it was for real now, and an incredible experience, I was a big fan of his. In a way, it was an even more incredible experience than performing.” 

Davis definitely feels that being a woman in the music industry is a different experience than that of a man. “There was a really firm expectation to be ‘cute and fun’, especially when I was very young and starting out. I got a lot of unwanted advice from booking agents and club owners on how to be more ‘presentable.’” In the world of recording, she notes, “It can be more of a struggle in general in this business at times, because it is a male-dominated industry in positions of power. I feel that it’s beginning to change for the better… more and more women are coming out and speaking up and breaking away from the mold of what women are ‘supposed’ to do,” she asserts. “I think we just have to keep standing up and speaking up for both ourselves and those who aren’t in the position to be heard.” 

Her advice to girls just starting out? “The most important thing is to believe in yourself. That is really a game-changer. Once you do, things change. If what you’re doing makes you happy, you’re on the right track.” She believes that “the universe responds to the energy we put out, so manifest positivity in your life and keep trying no matter what. Persistence, practice, and patience are key in any career, but especially in the arts. Anything is possible if you believe that it is.” 

For girls interested in audio engineering, she adds, “Learn as much as you can on the tech side. Pay attention to the interaction with clients. And pay attention to what elements sound good in the mix, what calls to you, what you really like about the recording. Try to find a sound similar to what you want – it’s really a matter of pressing buttons. Press the right button, press it fast – and follow your intuition.” 

Her personal philosophy is to “do my best to stay in today, to stay present. No one can do that perfectly, but I have learned from experience that if I am spending too much time on ‘what-ifs’ or ‘should haves’, I am missing out on the now. Life will never be perfect, but having an attitude of gratitude makes what I have and where I am at enough for today.” 

That’s the way to capture a beautiful moment indeed.