WHAT IS A SOUND ENGINEERING TECHNICIAN AND HOW DO I BECOME ONE?

A sound technician is essentially a creative audio engineer. They work on sound for live music concerts; they work in studios recording music, they work on soundtracks for films and video games, and they run the sound for theatre and other longer running live events in clubs and other performance venues. It is said by some that the sound technician helps create the sound design and thus might be considered more creative than an audio engineer, but in truth—these days those duties are often handled by the audio engineer. It really depends on the venue and how they choose to approach audio productions.

Regardless of title, sound engineering technicians and audio engineers both need to understand and be able to work with a wide variety of gear and software to record music in a studio or fill an arena or show venue with sound from a performance.

While it is often said you can’t teach creativity, you can teach technical and many times a thorough understanding of what your equipment and software can (and cannot) do can lead to creative breakthroughs.

In order to become a sound engineering technician, you should first decide on what you want to do. Do you want to travel and work live sound for a music group’s concert tour? Do you want to be a studio audio tech and record music from many different artists in the confines of a recording studio? Do you want to create soundtracks for films or video games? Or, do you want to do live events without the travel and become the “house” engineer for a club venue? It’s not that you can’t do all of these, but in the beginning it’s best to focus on just one of these as the gear, software and techniques vary between the four.

If Sound Engineering Sounds like You, here’s your next step:

Once you’ve decided which of these appeals to you the most, your next step should be to research schools in your area that offer courses in live concert sound, or recording studio audio engineering, or electronic music production, or concert and club live sound.

There are several reasons we recommend this approach. Sure, they are a gazillion YouTube video tutorials that can offer advice (both good and bad) on how to do this or that when it comes to audio production but here’s what an audio school alternative offers that tutorials don’t:

• Equipment and software access. The thing is you want to have access to a lot of equipment and software and one of the best ways to gain free access to this equipment and software is to attend a school that provides this access as part of their tuition.
• You need to see the big picture while you are learning the elements that make up the big picture. This is best done with some sort of structured curriculum that takes you step-by-step through the audio process. Watching a bunch of tutorials, in no particular order, can lead to confusion and leave you with gaps in your knowledge.
• Finally, you are going to need to have access to someone who knows what they are doing and can answer your questions and demonstrate how to do something—in other words, you’ll need a teacher or a mentor.

You have options in audio school or training programs that can help you become a sound engineering technician. Here’s what we offer:

• Six-month, hands-on audio engineering, music production and live sound programs.
• Each of these programs places you next to a working, professional sound engineering technician/music producer in their recording studio or in a concert venue.
• You will be learning one-on-one with this audio professional who will serve as your mentor throughout the six-month program you choose.
• You will be learning all this in the real-world: inside a recording studio or club or concert venue. You will learn the technical—all the technical, and the gear and software related topics you need to thoroughly understand to start building a successful career. Plus, you will get the added experience of seeing how it all plays out in the real world: How to get gigs, how to relate to clients, how to relate to artists, and how gain connections with others who are actively working in the audio and recording industry.
• As audio schools and audio school alternatives go, our tuition at the Recording Connection is purposely reasonable. We have relationships with recording studios, sound engineering techs and club venues in many major and minor cities throughout the United States.

Becoming a sound engineering technician can be a rewarding, stimulating, and gratifying career. If you have passion, love music and are not afraid of hard work, the Recording Connection can give you a boost towards finding and achieving your dream.