Look around the audio industry and you’ll find an abundant number of people who are passionate, motivated, inspired, dedicated, hardworking, and often obsessed with their craft! What are some of the reasons that make working in audio so great, and worth dedicating a career and a substantial amount of your life’s hours to?
For the love of music
Most people love music of some kind, and working in recording or live sound gives you the opportunity to work with it every day. Some sound engineers begin as musicians but don’t want to pursue a performing career, and others find that audio may offer a more stable income working in music than working as a musician – though many people are able to do both. Being paid to listen to music is a dream for many people!
Flexing your creative muscles
Getting to sculpt sound, making creative decisions on musical arrangements or sound design, deciding where elements should sit in a mix, develop new audio software and hardware – audio engineering can be an endlessly creative field. An advantage for many people is developing the skills to be able to produce their own music or creative content.
Creating content or experiences that move people
Sound is a powerful tool for telling a story or creating a mood or atmosphere – a film without sound wouldn’t have half the emotional impact. There’s a great satisfaction to be felt when a client is thrilled with their finished song and it goes out into the world to be enjoyed by many listeners, or you’ve perfected a live mix and everyone in the audience is jumping euphorically to the beat!
Working with interesting and inspiring people
Working in this creative industry, you may get the opportunity to do sound for musicians you greatly admire or work closely with a variety of film industry professionals, or people innovating in the field of audio. You’ll likely often meet a variety of different people on projects or events, and be able to share your knowledge as well as learn from them.
Variety in the job
In many roles in the audio industry, no two days are the same: you might be working in different venues or locations, working with a variety of music or film genres, solving diverse problems, or working with varied equipment and people. There are continuous advancements being made in audio technology which will motivate you to keep learning… you’ll probably never be bored!
Combining art and science
Audio is a fantastic avenue to explore artistic and creative aspects alongside technological and scientific elements. You can develop a unique skill set that allows you to bridge those two sides, and facilitate communication between people in the artistic and scientific fields.
Diverse career paths
There are many career paths to explore within audio – recording studios, live sound, film, broadcasting, podcasting, theater, research and development, education… the list is endless. There’s always a possibility to train further, transfer your skills and try working in a different field of audio if you need a change.
Travel and work in different locations
The possibility to travel and explore new places is an exciting drawcard for several roles in the audio industry. Whether you’re an audio engineer on a cruise ship, touring with a band or show, or filming on location, you may have the opportunity to see places you wouldn’t have otherwise visited, and get to know a variety of exciting locations and people.
A huge thank you to members of the excellent Soundgirls and Hey Audio Student Facebook groups for sharing what they love about working in audio. I highly recommend joining these groups for terrific audio tips, interesting discussions, and inclusive community support from fellow audio professionals and students.
Image attribution: Image by storyset on Freepik