What is a Sound Engineer?

A sound engineer operates and maintains sound equipment used for television, film, theater and concerts. Sound engineers are hired by a client to make sure audio effects for an event, recording, or performance meet established standards. This is a growing field, with an increase in opportunities for employment projected into 2016 by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. There are several different types of sound engineers who specialize in different aspects of the job. Audio equipment technicians set up and operate speakers, microphones, mixing boards and other recording equipment. Audio equipment technicians work at concerts, news conferences, sporting events and other presentations. Sound engineering technicians are responsible for the machines that record, mix and reproduce music and other audio. A sound engineering technician would work in many of the same venues an audio equipment technician does. A sound engineer works closely with producers, performers and directors to make sure ...  more

Working closely with the producer, the sound engineer is often inseparable from, but not quite as ‘senior’ in the recording studio pecking order, as them. The engineer works on the technical side of a recording and tends to be the quiet one with the furrowed brow, sitting patiently fiddling with knobs while the producer is enthusiastically exhorting the bassist to take it ‘once more from the top’ through the studio intercom.  more