Sound track
A career in music technology rocks with opportunities in sound recording, mixing, editing and dubbing, writes Usha Albuquerque

Does a career that offers you the opportunity to study and experiment with various elements of sound and music appeal to you? Liking music is really not enough. You need to be passionate about it—a passion that does not tire you from sitting for nine, 10 or even more hours in a studio, surrounded by music amplifiers, recorders, cassettes and CDs. That is what sound engineering or music technology is all about.

A career in music technology often begins as a hobby, playing the guitar or drums or any other musical instrument. You may have worked on live shows in college or found yourself tapping the night away DJ-ing at a local discotheque, or even at a friend’s party. The hobby becomes a passion and then, a full-fledged career.

Making music

In a nutshell, sound engineering is the art of recording, mixing and dubbing or mastering sounds and music on machines. Music technologists and sound engineers are responsible for the overall recording quality of music and for translating the producer’s or music director’s ideas into reality. Sound recordists make available, and take care of all sound-recording equipment used during filming, or for live events and help in the setting up and operation of sound recording and reproduction equipment too.

As a music technologist or sound or audio engineer, you can opt for working in several areas. Your choice of work environment can vary from working in studios, including music, film recording, background sound, broadcast, dubbing studios and so on; to working on the sets of live shows, concerts and events; or mastering musical programmes.

Tuning in

Since this is a partly creative and partly technical field, a background in science helps, although it’s not always essential. Knowledge of computers is useful, since most of the music recording today is digitised and it’s Mac and PC-based. There are degree as well as diploma-level courses available to students after Class XII or graduation.

The Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, offers a one-year postgraduate diploma course. On the other hand, the SAE Technology College with centres in Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Mumbai, New Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram offers courses in audio engineering, and multi-media technology essentially for Class XII pass-outs who have an aptitude for music and technology.

The curriculum in most courses includes sound theory, acoustics, psychoacoustics, frequency, sound propagation, perspective, vibration and structural science, among other subjects. Wave theory and characteristics of sound, including amplitude, pitch and timbre are taught too. The sound engineering course offered at institutions like the SAE Technology College focus on the aspects of recording, mixing, broadcast engineering and post production for films and TV.

Other than the academic requirements, you must have a passion for music. Being technically sound is also important, especially having a good grasp of physics and electronics, but it’s not enough. You must have an ‘ear’ for music of all types and at the same time, you must be able to ‘feel’ it.

The programmes help hone your musical talents with ample scope to shape music to a given concept or situation. You will be familiarised with specific computer programmes that are employed for mastering and mixing songs.

Jobs galore

As a music technologist or sound engineer, you can look for openings in music and film recording studios, broadcast and dubbing studios, television channels and software companies. Companies dealing with recording audio cassettes, CDs and music videos, radio stations and channels and advertising agencies also recruit music technologists. In addition, there are event management companies specialising in musical shows, those working in theatre, concert and show facilities that take on such professionals. You can explore both the options: that of being self-employed or freelancing or the option of working as a full-time audio engineer. And if you so desire, there is scope in the area of studio sound research, development and production.

Starting salaries would vary depending on the area of work. With some experience and a good network of contacts, you can even set up your own studio, for which the investment could be as little as Rs 50,000 to as much as Rs 1,00,00,000, depending on how much infrastructure you want to build up and who your clients are. You will have to continue working on building your own client list.

So, if you have confidence in your ability to translate ideas into reality in the world of music, music or sound technology can enable you to get others dancing to your tunes!

The writer is a noted career expert