Audio Recording Engineers

One way to learn more about this field is to read publications that focus on audio recording. Mix Magazine Online (https://mixonline.com) offers articles about education, technology, and production. Other publications that provide useful information on the industry and audio recording techniques include MusicRadar (https://www.musicradar.com/electronicmusician), and the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society (https://aes2.org/publications/journal).

Any experience you can get working in or around music will provide excellent background for this field. You could take up an instrument in the school band or orchestra, or perform with your own band. You might also have the opportunity to work behind the scenes with a music group, serving as a business manager, helping set up sound systems, or working as a technician in a school sound recording studio or radio station.

Write or call record companies or recording studios to get more information; local studios can usually be found online or in the classified telephone directory, and others can be located in the music trade magazines. The Recording Academy (the organization responsible for the Grammy Awards) is one source for information on the industry. Numerous books and music trade magazines that cover music production are available at bookstores or libraries. You should also learn how to use recording and editing software.

Talk with recording engineers about their careers. Ask your music teacher or school counselor to help arrange an interview.

High school students who are active in the technical operation of a broadcast station, are involved in a school club or community organization with the purpose of learning about broadcast engineering, or who have a general interest in broadcast engineering can become a youth member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE). Youth members receive access to information on educational training, careers, and scholarships; receive the opportunity to participate in a mentorship program; and have a chance to participate in a local SBE chapter career exploration program. Visit https://sbe.org/membership/sbe-youth-membership to learn more.