It’s more than what you hear

Before H Sridhar won a Grammy for Jai Ho for his stunning music compilation of AR Rahman’s Oscar winning creation, sound engineering was considered a less commercially viable stream, atleast for Indians. However, sound engineering has always remained a lucrative career to pursue which juxtaposes creativity and technical skills well.

With the media world growing in every form – news, music, television and film – universities and colleges across the world have identified the wide scope this field has in offer for amateurs.

What’s the job?

From recording, manipulation, and mixing to the reproduction of sound, sound engineers creatively use technologies to give sound for films, radio, television, music, electronic products and computer games. To give you a basic idea, your favourite singer’s song that mesmerizes you every time you listen to it, is not the one that comes through his vocal chords directly. The song, along with the music is manipulated at various levels. The tempos are varied; the music is synced with the voice at important junctures, to give it the ultimate effect making it the masterpiece it eventually turns out to be. That’s the importance of sound engineers.

Institutes

New York University

Known for its 7,500 square feet music recording studio and their multiple research labs.

University of Miami

Special isolation rooms, sound chambers, and laboratories are everything that a budding sound engineering looks for .

University of Michigan

Their undergraduate programme funnels directly into the highly competitive graduate programme in media arts.

University of California

Great internship programmes and first hand understanding of the music industry.

Berklee College of Music

A variety of courses in music theory, electronic production, and mixing.

Stanford University

Access to some of the latest technologies in music production, recording, mixing, and editing

University of Hartford

Graduates can demonstrate proficiency in at least one instrument or in vocal studies as well.

School of Audio Engineering (SAE) Institute

Dedicated solely to audio and music engineering with over 30 studios and all of the latest audio engineering equipment

Texas State University

A major in sound recording technology and a minor in technology will provide the most solid base of education.

Job opportunities

Movies: For voiceovers, sound tracks and scenes

Television shows: Required in various departments prior to the final airing

Music: Live concerts, recording studios, and video albums, they are required everywhere

Meetings: Big corporate companies require audio engineers for managing audio equipment in seminars, meetings and lectures

Sports: They handle live telecasts, commentaries and many other functions

Recording studios: Recording studios require audio engineers mainly to operate microphones, software and mixers. It is one of the most lucrative jobs; besides money, it also brings recognition