Audio engineer

An audio engineer at an audio console.

An audio engineer is concerned with the recording, manipulation, mixing and reproduction of sound. Many audio engineers creatively use technologies to produce sound for film, radio, television, music, electronic products and computer games.[1] Alternatively, the term audio engineer can refer to a scientist or professional engineer who designs, develops and builds new audio technologies working within the field of acoustical engineering.[2]

Audio engineering concerns the creative and practical aspects of sounds including speech and music, as well as the development of new audio technologies and advancing scientific understanding of audible sound.[2]

Research and development

Audio Engineers who carry out research and development invent new technologies, equipment and techniques, to enhance the process and art.[3] They might design acoustical simulations of rooms, shape algorithms for audio signal processing, specify 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.[4][5]

Education

Audio engineers working in research and development may come from backgrounds such as acoustics, computer science, broadcast engineering, physics, acoustical 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, which then allows students to pursue a career developing audio technologies. Such courses give you a good knowledge of technologies, but do not have sufficient mathematical and scientific content to allow you to get a job in research and development in the audio and acoustic industry. [6]

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

Audio engineers in research and development usually possess a bachelor's degree or higher qualification in acoustics, physics, computer science or another engineering discipline. They might work in acoustic consultancy, specializing in architectural acoustics.[7] Alternatively they might work in audio companies (e.g. headphone manufacturer), or other industries which 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.[8]

Audio signal processing

Audio engineers develop algorithms to allow the electronic manipulation of audio signals. These can be processes at the heart of much audio production such as reverberation, Auto-Tune or perceptual coding (e.g. mp3). Alternatively, the algorithms might carry out echo cancellation on Skype, or allow audio tracks to be categorised or identified through Music information retrieval (e.g. Shazam).[9]

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.[10] For audio engineers, architectural acoustics can be about achieving good speech intelligibility in a stadium or enhancing the quality of music in a theatre.[11] Architectural Acoustic design is usually done by acoustic consultants.[7]

Electroacoustics

The Pyramid Stage

Electroacoustics is concerned with the design of headphones, microphones, loudspeakers, sound reproduction systems and recording technologies.[5] 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 in movie theater and vehicle audio.

Musical acoustics

Main article: 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); computer analysis of audio; music therapy, and the perception and cognition of music.[12]

Psychoacoustics

Main article: 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.[9]

Speech

Main article: 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.[13]

Practitioner

Mixing sound live

Producer, engineer, and mixer Phil Ek has described audio engineering as the "technical aspect of recording—the placing of microphones, the turning of pre-amp knobs, the setting of levels. The physical recording of any project is done by an engineer ... the nuts and bolts."[14] 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" 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 German, the "Tontechniker" (audio technician) is the one who operates the audio equipment and the "Tonmeister" (sound master) is a person who creates recordings or broadcasts of music, who is both deeply musically trained (in classical and non-classical genres), and who also has a detailed theoretical and practical knowledge of virtually all aspects of sound.

Education

Audio engineers come from backgrounds such as audio, fine arts, broadcasting or music. Some audio engineers working in production are autodidacts with no formal training.

Practitioners

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

In the recording studio environment, a sound engineer records, edits, manipulates, mixes, or masters sound by technical means in order to realize an artist's or record producer's creative vision. 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.[15]

Sub-disciplines

There are four distinct steps to commercial production of a recording: recording, editing, mixing, and mastering. Typically, each is performed by a sound engineer who specializes only in that part of production.

Equipment

Correcting a room's frequency response.

An audio technician is proficient with different types of recording media, such as analog tape, digital multitrack recorders and workstations, and computer knowledge. With the advent of the digital age, it is becoming more and more important for the audio technician to be versed in the understanding of software and hardware integration from synchronization to analog to digital transfers. Audio engineers in their daily work operate and make use of:

Recording engineers of note

Mastering engineers of note

Live sound engineers of note

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://careerplanning.about.com/od/occupations/p/audio_engineer.htm
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 wiseGeek. "What Is Audio Engineering?". Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  3. ↑ Daley, Dan, "The Engineers Who Changed Recording: Fathers Of Invention", Sound on Sound magazine, October 2004
  4. ↑ University of Salford. "Graduate Jobs in Acoustics". Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Acoustical Society of America. "Acoustics and You". Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  6. ↑ University of Salford, Acoustics. "Physics and music technology degrees". Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 National Careers Service. "Job profiles: Acoustics consultant". Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  8. ↑ Acoustical Society of America. "PACS 2010 Regular Edition—Acoustics Appendix". Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Pohlmann, Ken (2010). Principles of Digital Audio, Sixth Edition. McGraw Hill Professional. p. 336. ISBN 978-0-07-166347-2.
  10. ↑ Morfey, Christopher (2001). Dictionary of Acoustics. Academic Press. p. 32.
  11. ↑ Templeton, Duncan (1993). Acoustics in the Built Environment: Advice for the Design Team. Architectural Press. ISBN 978-0-7506-0538-0.
  12. ↑ Technical Committee on Musical Acoustics (TCMU) of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). "ASA TCMU Home Page". Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  13. ↑ Speech Communication Technical Committee. "Speech Communication". Acoustical Society of America. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  14. ↑ "Interview with Phil Ek". HitQuarters. 25 May 2009. Retrieved Sep 3, 2010.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Huber, D.M. (1995). Modern Recording Techniques. (5th ed.). Burlington, MA: Focal Press
  16. ↑ "Front of House (FOH) Engineer", Get in Media Entertainment Careers
  17. ↑ Davis, G., Jones R. (1990). Yamaha Sound Reinforcement Handbook. (2nd ed.) Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Corp.

External links

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