Becoming a studio engineer can be a great way to combine your love of music with your technical skills.

To become a studio engineer, you’ll need to have several different skills. You’ll need to be able to work with software and hardware, as well as understand how music works and how to make it sound as good as possible. You’ll also need to be able to communicate effectively with other members of the team—whether that’s the band or the producer.

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in doing, here are some steps you can take:

• Invest time learning about music production and engineering by listening to music, reading books on the subject, and watching videos online. This will help familiarize yourself with terminology and concepts so that when you get started working in the field, it won’t seem like such a mystery anymore!
• Get some practical experience by volunteering at a local recording studio or producing your own music (you don’t have to release it publicly). This will give you an idea of what it’s like working in this industry day-to-day as well as give you an opportunity to apply what you’ve learned thus far into practice!
• When applying for jobs at studios

How To Become A Studio Engineer

An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer)^[1][2] helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, and reinforcement of sound. Audio engineers work on the “technical aspect of recording—the placing of microphones, pre-amp knobs, the setting of levels. The physical recording of any project is done by an engineer… the nuts and bolts.”^[3]

Sound engineering is increasingly seen as a creative profession where musical instruments and technology are used to produce sound for film, radio, television, music and video games.^[4] Audio engineers also set up, sound check and do live sound mixing using a mixing console and a sound reinforcement system for music concerts, theatre, sports games and corporate events.

Alternatively, audio engineer can refer to a scientist or professional engineer who holds an engineering degree and who designs, develops and builds audio or musical technology working under terms such as acoustical engineering,^{[citation needed]} electronic/electrical engineering or (musical) signal processing.^[5]

Contents

• 1Research and development
  • 1.1Education
  • 1.2Sub-disciplines
    • 1.2.1Audio signal processing
    • 1.2.2Architectural acoustics
    • 1.2.3Electroacoustics
    • 1.2.4Musical acoustics
    • 1.2.5Psychoacoustics
    • 1.2.6Speech
• 2Practitioner
  • 2.1Education and training
  • 2.2Role of women
  • 2.3Sub-disciplines
• 3Equipment
• 4Notable audio engineers
  • 4.1Recording
  • 4.2Mastering
  • 4.3Live sound
  • 4.4Broadcasting
• 5See also
• 6References
• 7External links

Research and developmen

Research and development audio engineers invent new technologies, audio software, equipment and techniques, to enhance the process and art of audio engineering.^[6] They might design acoustical simulations of rooms, shape algorithms for audio signal processing, specify the requirements for public address systems, carry out research on audible sound for video game console manufacturers, and other advanced fields of audio engineering. They might also be referred to as acoustic engineers.^[7][8]

Education

See also: Category:Audio engineering schools

Audio engineers working in research and development may come from backgrounds such as acoustics, computer science, broadcast engineering, physics, acoustical engineering, electrical engineering and electronics. Audio engineering courses at university or college fall into two rough categories: (i) training in the creative use of audio as a sound engineer, and (ii) training in science or engineering topics, which then allows students to apply these concepts while pursuing a career developing audio technologies. Audio training courses provide knowledge of technologies and their application to recording studios and sound reinforcement systems, but do not have sufficient mathematical and scientific content to allow someone to obtain employment in research and development in the audio and acoustic industry.^[9]

Noted audio engineer Roger Nichols at a vintage Neve recording console.

Audio engineers in research and development usually possess a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree or higher qualification in acoustics, physics, computer science or another engineering discipline. They might work in acoustic consultancy, specializing in architectural acoustics.^[10] Alternatively they might work in audio companies (e.g. headphone manufacturer), or other industries that need audio expertise (e.g., automobile manufacturer), or carry out research in a university. Some positions, such as faculty (academic staff) require a Doctor of Philosophy. In Germany a Toningenieur is an audio engineer who designs, builds and repairs audio systems.

Sub-disciplines

The listed subdisciplines are based on PACS (Physics and Astronomy Classification Scheme) coding used by the Acoustical Society of America with some revision.^[11]

Audio signal processing

Audio engineers develop audio signal processing algorithms to allow the electronic manipulation of audio signals. These can be processed at the heart of much audio production such as reverberation, Auto-Tune or perceptual coding (e.g. MP3 or Opus). Alternatively, the algorithms might perform echo cancellation, or identify and categorize audio content through music information retrieval or acoustic fingerprint.^[12]

Architectural acoustics

Acoustic diffusing mushrooms hanging from the roof of the Royal Albert Hall.

Architectural acoustics is the science and engineering of achieving a good sound within a room.^[13] For audio engineers, architectural acoustics can be about achieving good speech intelligibility in a stadium or enhancing the quality of music in a theatre.^[14] Architectural Acoustic design is usually done by acoustic consultants.^[10]

Electroacoustics[edit]

See also: Sound reinforcement system

The Pyramid Stage

Electroacoustics is concerned with the design of headphones, microphones, loudspeakers, sound reproduction systems and recording technologies.^[8] Examples of electroacoustic design include portable electronic devices (e.g. mobile phones, portable media players, and tablet computers), sound systems in architectural acoustics, surround sound and wave field synthesis in movie theater and vehicle audio.

Musical acoustics

Musical acoustics is concerned with researching and describing the science of music. In audio engineering, this includes the design of electronic instruments such as synthesizers; the human voice (the physics and neurophysiology of singing); physical modeling of musical instruments; room acoustics of concert venues; music information retrieval; music therapy, and the perception and cognition of music.^[15][16]

Psychoacoustics

Psychoacoustics is the scientific study of how humans respond to what they hear. At the heart of audio engineering are listeners who are the final arbitrator as to whether an audio design is successful, such as whether a binaural recording sounds immersive.^[12]

Speech

The production, computer processing and perception of speech is an important part of audio engineering. Ensuring speech is transmitted intelligibly, efficiently and with high quality; in rooms, through public address systems and through mobile telephone systems are important areas of study.^[17]

Practitioner

Live sound mixing

At the front of house position, mixing sound for a band

A variety of terms are used to describe audio engineers who install or operate sound recording, sound reinforcement, or sound broadcasting equipment, including large and small format consoles. Terms such as “audio technician,” “sound technician,” “audio engineer,” “audio technologist,” “recording engineer,” “sound mixer,” “mixing engineer” and “sound engineer” can be ambiguous; depending on the context they may be synonymous, or they may refer to different roles in audio production. Such terms can refer to a person working in sound and music production; for instance, a “sound engineer” or “recording engineer” is commonly listed in the credits of commercial music recordings (as well as in other productions that include sound, such as movies). These titles can also refer to technicians who maintain professional audio equipment. Certain jurisdictions specifically prohibit the use of the title engineer to any individual not a registered member of a professional engineering licensing body.

In the recording studio environment, a sound engineer records, edits, manipulates, mixes, or masters sound by technical means to realize the creative vision of the artist and record producer. While usually associated with music production, an audio engineer deals with sound for a wide range of applications, including post-production for video and film, live sound reinforcement, advertising, multimedia, and broadcasting. In larger productions, an audio engineer is responsible for the technical aspects of a sound recording or other audio production, and works together with a record producer or director, although the engineer’s role may also be integrated with that of the producer. In smaller productions and studios the sound engineer and producer are often the same person.

In typical sound reinforcement applications, audio engineers often assume the role of producer, making artistic and technical decisions, and sometimes even scheduling and budget decisions.^[18]

Education and training

See also: Category:Audio engineering schools

Audio engineers come from backgrounds or postsecondary training in fields such as audio, fine arts, broadcasting, music, or electrical engineering. Training in audio engineering and sound recording is offered by colleges and universities. Some audio engineers are autodidacts with no formal training, but who have attained professional skills in audio through extensive on-the-job experience.

Audio engineers must have extensive knowledge of audio engineering principles and techniques. For instance, they must understand how audio signals travel, which equipment to use and when, how to mic different instruments and amplifiers, which microphones to use and how to position them to get the best quality recordings. In addition to technical knowledge, an audio engineer must have the ability to problem solve quickly. The best audio engineers also have a high degree of creativity that allow them to stand out amongst their peers. In the music realm, an audio engineer must also understand the types of sounds and tones that are expected in musical ensembles across different genres—rock and pop music, for example. This knowledge of musical style is typically learned from years of experience listening to and mixing music in recording or live sound contexts. For education and training, there are audio engineering schools all over the world.