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Information about Audio Engineering

Audio engineering is a part of audio science dealing with the recording and reproduction of sound through mechanical and electronic means. The field draws on many disciplines, including electrical engineering, acoustics, psychoacoustics, and music. Unlike acoustical engineering, audio engineering generally does not deal with noise control or acoustical design. However, an audio engineer is often closer to the creative and technical aspects of audio rather than formal engineering. An audio engineer must be proficient with different types of recording media such as analog tape and Digital multitrack recorders and workstations (ex: Digidesign Pro Tools, Steinberg Cubase or Nuendo) Computer knowledge and with the advent of the digital age it is becoming more and more important for the audio engineer to be versed in the understanding of Software and Hardware integration from synchronization to Analog to Digital transfers.

Lexical dispute

The expressions audio engineer and sound engineer are ambiguous. Such terms can refer to a person working in sound and music production, as well as to a degreed engineer who designs professional equipment for these tasks. The latter professional often develops the tools needed for the former's work. Other languages, such as German and Italian, have different words to refer to these two activities. For instance, in German, Tontechniker (audio technician) is the one who operates the audio equipment, and Toningenieur (audio engineer) is the one who designs, builds and repairs it.

Advanced fields of audio engineering assume a degreed person in the role. Individuals designing acoustical simulations of rooms, shaping algorithms for digital signal processing and computer music problems, or performing institutional research on sound in general are most often graduates of an accredited college or university, or have passed a difficult civil qualification test.

Practitioners

Enlarge picture
An engineer at one of the audio consoles of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (Danmarks Radio). The console is an NP-elektroakustik specially made for Danmarks Radio in the eighties.
An audio engineer is someone with experience and training in the production and manipulation of sound through mechanical (analog) or digital means. As a professional title, this person is sometimes designated as a sound engineer or recording engineer instead. A person with one of these titles is commonly listed in the credits of many commercial music recordings (as well as in other productions that include sound, such as movies).

Audio engineers are generally familiar with the design, installation, and/or operation of sound recording, sound reinforcement, or sound broadcasting equipment, including large and small format consoles. In the recording studio environment, the audio engineer records, edits, manipulates, mixes, and/or masters sound by technical means in order to realize an artist's or record producer's creative vision. While usually associated with music production, an audio engineer deals with sound for a wide range of applications, including post-production for video and film, live sound reinforcement, advertising, multimedia, and broadcasting. When referring to video games, an audio engineer may also be a computer programmer.

In larger productions an audio engineer is responsible for the technical aspects of a sound recording or other audio production, and works together with a record producer or director, although the engineer's role may also be integrated with that of the producer. In smaller productions and studios the sound engineer and producer is often one and the same person.

In typical sound reinforcement applications, audio engineers often assume the role of producer, making artistic decisions along with technical ones.

Different professional branches of sound engineering

  • Studio engineer could refer to either a sound engineer working in a studio together with a producer or to a producing sound engineer working in a studio.
  • Recording engineer is a person recording a record differentiating from a ...
  • Mixing engineer who performs mixes of already recorded materials. It is not uncommon for a commercial record to be recorded at one studio and later mixed by different engineers in other studios.
  • Live sound engineer is a person dealing with live sound reinforcement. This usually includes planning and installation of speakers etc and soundmixing during the show. This may or may not include running the foldback sound.
  • Foldback or 'Monitor' engineer this refers to the person running foldback sound during a live event.

Education

Audio Engineers come from all backgrounds such as electrical engineering or Fine Arts; many colleges and accredited institutions around the world offer Degrees in Audio Engineering such as BS in Audio Production. A great number of production mixers are autodidacts with no formal training.

Equipment

Audio engineers in their daily work operate and make use of:

Studio Engineers of note

Stanley Tonkel

See also

External resources

Sound is a disturbance of mechanical energy that propagates through matter as a wave (through fluids as a compression wave, and through solids as both compression and shear waves).
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Electrical engineering (sometimes referred to as electrical and electronic engineering) is an engineering field that deals with the study and/or application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism.
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Acoustics is the branch of physics concerned with the study of sound (mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids). A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician. The application of acoustics in technology is called acoustical engineering.
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Psychoacoustics is the study of subjective human perception of sounds. Alternatively it can be described as the study of the psychological correlates of the physical parameters of acoustics.
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Acoustical engineering is the branch of engineering dealing with sound and vibration. It is closely related to acoustics, the science of sound and vibration. Acoustical engineers are typically concerned with:
  • how to reduce unwanted sounds
  • how to make useful sounds

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In architectural acoustics and environmental acoustics, noise control refers to the set of practises employed for noise mitigation. Within architectural acoustics these practises include: interior sound reverberation reduction, inter-room noise transfer mitigation and exterior
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Acoustics is the branch of physics concerned with the study of sound (mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids). A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician. The application of acoustics in technology is called acoustical engineering.
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Design, usually considered in the context of the applied arts, engineering, architecture, and other such creative endeavors, is used both as a noun and a verb. As a verb, "to design" refers to the process of originating and developing a plan for a product, structure, system, or
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Engineering is the applied science of acquiring and applying knowledge to design, analysis, and/or construction of works for practical purposes. The American Engineers' Council for Professional Development, also known as ECPD,[1] (later ABET [2]
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German language (Deutsch, ] (help info ) ) is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages.
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Italian}}} 
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Official language of:  European Union
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A digital signal processor (DSP) is a specialized microprocessor designed specifically for digital signal processing, generally in real-time computing.

Characteristics of typical Digital Signal Processors

  • Designed for real-time processing

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For the UK publication, see .


Computer music is music generated or composed with the aid of computers. It also refers to a field of study that examines both the theory and application of new and existing technologies in the areas of music, sound
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Sound is a disturbance of mechanical energy that propagates through matter as a wave (through fluids as a compression wave, and through solids as both compression and shear waves).
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Analog or analogue [1] may refer to:
  • Analog signal, a variable signal continuous in both time and amplitude

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A digital system is one that uses discrete values (often electrical voltages), representing numbers or non-numeric symbols such as letters or icons, for input, processing, transmission, storage, or display, rather than a continuous range of values (ie, as in an analog system).
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Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, usually used for the voice or for music.

The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording.
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A sound reinforcement system is an arrangement of microphones, electronic signal processors, amplifiers, and loudspeakers that makes live or pre-recorded sounds—usually music or speech— louder, or which distributes the sound to a larger or more distant audience.
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Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and/or video signals which transmit programs to an audience. The audience may be the general public or a relatively large sub-audience, such as children or young adults.
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Console may be:

In computing and video games:
  • Computer console, a physical device to operate a computer

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Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master
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In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering
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Post-production occurs in the making of audio recordings, films/movies, photography and digital art, videos and television programs. It is the general term for all stages of production occurring after the actual recording and ending with the completed work.
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Video (Latin for "I see", first person singular present, indicative of videre, "to see") is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.
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Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects.
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Advertising is paid, one-way communication through a medium in which the sponsor is identified and the message is controlled by the sponsor. Variations include publicity, public relations, etc..
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Multimedia (Lat. Multum + Medium) is media that uses multiple forms of information content and information processing (e.g. text, audio, graphics, animation, video, interactivity) to inform or entertain the (user) audience.
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