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Career Exploration

Sound Engineering Technicians

Also called: Audio Engineer, Mixer, Recording Engineer, Sound Engineer

What they do:

Assemble and operate equipment to record, synchronize, mix, edit, or reproduce sound, including music, voices, or sound effects, for theater, video, film, television, podcasts, sporting events, and other productions.

On the job, you would:
  • Record speech, music, and other sounds on recording media, using recording equipment.
  • Confer with producers, performers, and others to determine and achieve the desired sound for a production, such as a musical recording or a film.
  • Separate instruments, vocals, and other sounds, and combine sounds during the mixing or postproduction stage.
On the job, you'll need:

Engineering and Technology

  • computers and electronics
  • product and service development

Communications

  • multimedia
  • telecommunications

Business

  • customer service
  • management

Arts and Humanities

  • English language

Basic Skills

  • listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions
  • talking to others

Problem Solving

  • noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it

People and Technology Systems

  • thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one
  • figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it

Verbal

  • communicate by speaking
  • listen and understand what people say

Ideas and Logic

  • order or arrange things
  • create new and original ideas

Attention

  • pay attention to something without being distracted

Hearing and Speech

  • tell the difference between sounds

Realistic

People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions.

  • Dependability
  • Attention to Detail
  • Adaptability/Flexibility
  • Cooperation
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Achievement/Effort

Operating system software

  • Apple macOS
  • UNIX

Presentation software

  • Microsoft PowerPoint

Music or sound editing software

  • Adobe Audition
  • Audio editing software

Video courtesy of CareerOneStop.

Job Outlook

The job outlook for this position is Below Average.

New job opportunities are less likely in the future.

Median Annual Salary: $60,670