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Sound Engineering Technicians

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

Where in the military? In the military: see titles from the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, or Navy.

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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.

Knowledge

Engineering and Technology
  • computers and electronics
  • product and service development
Communications
  • multimedia
  • telecommunications
Business
  • customer service
  • management
Arts and Humanities
  • English language

Skills

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

Abilities

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

Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions.
They do well at jobs that need:
  • Dependability
  • Attention to Detail
  • Adaptability/Flexibility
  • Cooperation
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Achievement/Effort

Technology

You might use software like this on the job:

Operating system software
  • Apple macOS Hot Technology
  • UNIX Hot Technology
Presentation software
  • Microsoft PowerPoint Hot Technology
Music or sound editing software
  • Adobe Systems Adobe Audition
  • Audio editing software

Education

Education: (rated 3 of 5)

Get started on your career:

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Job Outlook

Bright Outlook
New job opportunities are very likely in the future.
Salary
$60,500
$29,110
$124,690
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See more details at O*NET OnLine about sound engineering technicians.