People often ask me, “How does one become an audio engineer?” They see all sorts of cables, microphones, speakers, and impossibly complicated-looking consoles and to them, it’s all, or mostly, foreign. Like any profession, it takes time to grow and learn before you are likely to experience great success. Here are the top 5 things every audio engineer needs.





Know Your Terminology

While not all great audio engineers are musicians, the overwhelming majority are. Understanding basic music terminology and structure will infinitely help when you’re mixing a new band for the first time. In addition, there are audio terms that every audio engineer should know as well. Learning all these terms and phrases are essential to your success.

Good Ears

Great audio engineers need to know what good music sounds like, both to musicians on stage, and to audiences (HINT: It’s not the same). The ability to hear a mix and know exactly what can improve the sound is the mark of a great engineer. How does one learn what good music sounds like? There are some albums and tracks that are consistently selected as being excellently mixed. One of my favorites is Toto’s 1982 album, titled “IV”.

In addition, it’s incredibly important for audio engineers to protect their hearing. Being exposed to loud music for days, weeks, months, and years on end can take a tremendous toll on an audio engineer’s ears. During extended periods of loud music, I would highly recommend investing in hearing protection. While foam earplugs might do the trick, they will change the way the music sounds,

blocking certain frequencies while allowing others to pass through. Instead, look for products like the Etymotic ER-20’s, a good entry-level pair of earplugs, which are designed to reduce the sound level, while ensuring that the sound quality remains the same.

Education

This is where I’ll probably get the most grief. While most audio engineers (even some the great ones) have never had a formal audio education, studying audio can be immensely helpful. Live audio engineers should learn about effects, signal flow, mic placement techniques and more. There are several colleges across the country that offer degrees in audio engineering.

The important thing to remember here is that an audio engineering degree means almost nothing to potential employers. What matters is that you have the necessary knowledge and capabilities to be an asset to your company. So while attending a 4-year undergrad program might seem like a great idea, there are other ways to obtain the same information. Most of the information you need can be found in books or online. Look for opportunities as an intern, or shadowing positions. In addition to being great situations for networking, you might just find yourself…

A Mentor

Whether it’s a professor, friend, relative, or audio professional, every aspiring audio engineer should have a mentor (or group of mentors). Some of the best

opportunities for learning come when discussing past or current events with my boss or with more experienced audio engineers than myself. As we grow, our mentors and influences might change, but every audio engineer should have at least one person they can call on for help or ideas. Audio communities are great for this as well, and that is what I’m hoping to develop here at Sound Check.

Experience

Ah, yes. The obvious one. Audio engineering is ultimately a performance-based profession. It doesn’t really matter how many books you’ve read, how many classes you’ve taken, or how many famous people you can name-drop at social events. The only thing that really matters is whether or not you can do the job. And the best way to improve is to simply keep doing it. There are hundreds and hundreds of things that can go wrong when you’re working a gig. Inevitably, some of them will happen to you. The engineers with the most experience will be the best equipped to handle these issues as they arise. So let every stumble become a building block for future success, and never make the same mistake twice.