Aamir Khan is not the only one who went home grinning after 3 Idiots. With all that Boman Irani bashing, finally, our parents have decided to support us in whatever WE choose as our field of endeavor. The Big M knows that you want to cash on that before they change their minds.

So, we decided to present a ‘hatke’ field as OUR CAREER OF THIS MONTH – Sound Engineering. To give you an accurate account, we decided to jam the studios. Ravi Pratap, a lecturer at SAE Technology College and an assistant sound engineer in Spectral Harmony Studios; along with Prithvindra Paul, a freelance in the field of audio post production, were our mentors.

Who is a Sound Engineer?

The sound engineer plays a major role in the music industry. The main job of the sound engineer is to shape the sounds and tweak them accordingly so that they sound nice, polished and enhanced. For example, if you want to brighten up the vocals or create space between the instruments you know exactly who to look out for. Sound Engineers come in many guises and none of these are mutually exclusive, a good sound engineer will have a balance of most of these skills.

A Midas X18 - The mixing board allows the sound engineer to mix the various sounds - guitar, bass, drums, vocals - so that they are in balance

A Sound Engineer is not a DJ or Music Composer

Our mentors couldn’t have emphasized more that people have a misconception that by becoming a sound engineer they can be music composer. A sound engineer deals with the technical aspects of the sound. Paul adds, ‘when we say technical, people think of DJ. A DJ mixes compiled music, whereas, a sound engineer makes music out of raw sound.’ Wow! That sounds creative. In geeky terms, a studio is the lab and a sound engineer is the scientist who experiments with various sounds to enhance the creativity of a composition.

Can I be a sound engineer?

If you have an ear for different types of sounds and fair idea of how they react with each other, plus an appetite for the nitty-gritty of music, then, according to our mentors, you can be. “Youngsters aspiring to make a career out of this field should have an ear for different genres of music. As they say, the more the better. Moreover it is not only important just to listen to music but also hear between the lines to understand the intensity …for example, the timbre of a certain instrument and how it is tweaked according to the nature of the song”, illustrates Pratap. Apart from having a sensitive ear, a sound engineer should be able to nurture interpersonal relationships and should be socially active. In the words of Paul, “if you want to be in the industry, you have to be the industry.”  A good engineer will be able to mix a variety of different styles well. A good sense of pitch, timing and rhythm as well as a knowledge of electronics and acoustics works in your favour.

So I have the talent, but how to go about it?

Live sound engineers make sure that the instruments and vocals at concerts blend together

Pratap suggests that it is always better to have a personal home setup which requires a good configuration PC, a pair of good speakers, a decent entry level sound card and a pair of speakers or headphones. If you have enrolled for a course in a particular institute they provide special placement assistance to the candidates. If you have not done a course you can directly approach the studios to start off. Many institutes have sprung up in recent years which provide specialized courses in this field, SAE being one of the leading institutes.

Show me the money

Paul informs that with a plethora of channels and broadcasting stations coming up in the industry, there is a huge potential and demand for such a job. Salary ranges from 15000-70000 according to the level of skill and the quality of work and experience.

Article by Kirti Tarang