Producer Jack Antonoff is well known for working primarily with female artists: his production discography shows a series of long-term creative partnerships with some of pop music’s most talented and successful women, most notably Taylor Swift, with whom he’s collaborated across 12 albums, beginning with 2014’s Grammy-winning 1989.
Having also produced records for Lorde, Lana del Rey, Sabrina Carpenter and many more, Antonoff has previously spoken out against “misogynist” assumptions around his collaborations with female artists – but his support of women in the industry extends beyond artists and into the recording studio, where Antonoff has leaned heavily on the talents of Laura Sisk, a recording engineer he’s worked with consistently across multiple projects for over a decade.
Antonoff heaped praise on Sisk during a recent episode of the Tape Notes podcast, where the producer and solo artist discussed the making of the latest Bleachers album with host John Kennedy and answered several questions from Tape Notes' Patreon members.
“You’ve done so much to help women artists be empowered,” one listener asked. “How does that commitment translate into the technical side of the studio, specifically with engineers and producers, where women are still so underrepresented? What are the best ways to tackle that gap?”
"In our little world, it’s me and Laura making all the albums"
“I’ve made all my albums with Laura Sisk pretty much since I started,” Antonoff responded. “In our little world, it’s me and Laura making all the albums.” When asked how his partnership with Sisk began, Antonoff said: “I started working with Laura because she’s the best engineer I’d ever worked with, period. I met her when I was making the first Bleachers album and I never had met anyone that good, and that was that.”
Now one of modern pop music’s most celebrated recording engineers, Sisk has engineered dozens of albums produced by Antonoff, including projects for Lorde, Lana del Rey, The 1975, Diana Ross, Sabrina Carpenter, Clairo and more. She also worked on I Knew It, I Knew You, a Randy Newman-influenced song co-written and co-produced by Taylor Swift and Antonoff that features in the upcoming Disney Pixar film Toy Story 5.
Outside of her creative partnership with Antonoff, Sisk has accumulated a substantial catalogue of work – prior to their meeting, she was already a respected professional engineer, having worked with P!nk, Shakira, Fall Out Boy and Sigur Ros, and since becoming the prolific producer's go-to studio collaborator, she's also found the time to engineer projects for FKA Twigs, Jon Batiste, St. Vincent and Maren Morris.
"The numbers are going backward": New report finds that 2025 saw "no progress" for women in music
Despite engineers like Sisk leading the charge for female representation in the recording studio, music production remains a heavily male-dominated field: a recent report from USC Annenberg found that the percentage of women credited as producers in songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End chart fell from 5.9% in 2024 to 4.4% in 2025, and that more than 90% of 1400 songs evaluated across the charts in the previous 11 years did not feature a female producer.
“That lack of representation is very real and the stats are stunning,” Antonoff admits. When asked how those working in the music industry should attempt to tackle the problem, he says: “It’s as simple as who you hire and who you work with – that’s how this shit changes.”
For more interviews with artists and producers like Jack Antonoff, check out Tape Notes’ YouTube channel or subscribe to their Patreon, where members can access full-length video episodes, exclusive offers, merch discounts, artist gear lists and behind-the-scenes content.
Tape Notes also runs a monthly giveaway offering one Patreon member of their Extended Players Premium tier the chance to win a bundle of music-making gear. This month, the prize is a collection of Roland gear that includes the BOSS RC-500 loop station, the Roland T-8 Aira Compact and one year's membership to Roland Cloud Ultimate.
