There are various jobs that you can expect to find in the music industry that aren’t strictly related to producing or recording music itself. But rather the business model, products, software, and positions that make the production, sharing, and exposure of music to the masses possible.
In this article, we’ll cover a couple of these specialties and the importance of the roles they play as well as the skills, educational requirements, and experience you’ll need should you decide to pursue a career in any one of these fields.
Beginner Music Industry Jobs
Recording Studio Technician:
As the studio’s chief lab rat and über-guru extraordinaire on electronics and audio equipment, you’re the studio’s main go-to guy (or gal for all the women who happen to love tinkering with audio gear) for each and every single piece of equipment that shorts or goes awry for any strange and inexplicable reason during a recording session.
You will also assist in-house staff with testing and inspecting gear on a regular basis in order to detect potential signs of wear-and-tear or any other sort of damage to the equipment that could eventually cripple a session if left unattended.
Other Responsibilities:
Additional responsibilities include making sure that the tool shop is adequately supplied with all the tools and disposable items required to provide consistently reliable support and care for the equipment, as no studio in existence can have far too many heat shrink tubes, RCA transformers, or fresh sets of guitar strings!
Although you won’t need a formal degree nor certification to get involved in this line of work, you will certainly need to have extensive knowledge about electronics and electricity as well as practical experience (or training) and the ability to use a soldering iron.
Sound Designer:
Sound design can be best defined as the deliberate manipulation and application of recorded or otherwise synthesized sounds in order to complement visual performances or displays as realistically and seamlessly as possible.
Effective sound design is utterly immersive and non-invasive, and when perfectly executed, is virtually and indelibly fused with what the viewer sees onscreen.
Jobs related to sound design will often vary within the film, audio, music, and game industries, as professional sound designers may either work in-house as foley artists and mixers or for other companies specializing in sound design, although many contemporary sound designers will often work as independent contractors with their own home set-ups.
No Degree Required
There is no real formal degree or training required in order to get involved with sound design, but what is indeed required and highly encouraged is a keen sense of creativity and technical know-how, which will definitely involve having an understanding of key fundamentals in audio engineering, recording, mixing, and synthesis.
Of course, sound design sessions tend to be far more intricate and complex than an average recording session and can span well over 400 to 500 tracks within a single session (and sometimes more if there are multiple individuals involved in a project).
Know Your Production Equipment
In the film and game industries, having extensive knowledge of and skill with sound design, contemporary DAWs (such as Pro Tools, Sound Forge, or Ableton Live, for example), and handling a series of intricate and crucially important music and audio-related editing tasks falls under the umbrella of audio post-production, which comprises several different processes that are essential for carrying out audio post for any film, TV show, video game, or any other visual work or medium requiring audio or music of some sort.
These tasks include:
- Foley recording
- Music composition
- Editing
- Mixing (a.k.a. re-recording)
- Sound effects
- Automated dialogue replace
- Production dialogue editing
Becoming a successful audio engineer or producer can be a long and difficult road. Sometimes just getting your foot in the door as a studio tech or audio designer, can be a great way to gain valuable experience and contacts in the industry. Good luck!
