Expert: Wayne Tapia - 8/31/2008

Question
QUESTION:
I have a musical ear & also had a bachelor degree in electronics & communication  engineer , so I thought that the sound engineer will be best for me as working in studios & stations or being sound director

so whats your opinion ?
need your comments
is musical ear is being an advantage for working in that field ?

please give me the names of positions related for what I did explained above ?

wish to hear from you soon
thanks


ANSWER: It's great that you have those degrees, but unless you get an audio engineering degree, you can't call yourself an engineer. Audio engineering is a very different beast than most people realize, and unless you have training in with the tools of the trade, I'd look elsewhere. Having a "musical ear" holds no credence as far as qualificatons are concerned. There is much more to audio engineering than mixing music, and it is highly unlikely that you'll be able to walk into a job as an engineer without the proper background.

There are, however, many jobs for people with electronics and communications backgrounds. they are more on the technical (hardware) side as opposed to the artistic.

If you really want to get into the industry as an audio engineer, I would highly recommend getting a degree and interning for a few months first.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thank you sir
you said " Having a "musical ear" holds no credence as far as qualifications are concerned. There is much more to audio engineering than mixing music, and it is highly unlikely that you'll be able to walk into a job as an engineer without the proper background."

please try to explain further more because I misunderstood

secondly ;

is audio engineering will let me interact with electronics components like capacitors , resistors , AVO meter ??????

that's will be bad because I had a disease called hyperhydrosis ( extremely sweating in hand ) so I try to avoid any job let me working in microelectronics , so whats your opinion ?

wish to hear from you soon
thanks

Answer
What I mean is that to be an audio engineer, there are specific skills that you need to learn that will only be taught in audio engineering courses. Having a "musical ear" is not a skill, it is a subjective opinion. There are specific skills you HAVE to know before any studio will allow you to become a mixing engineer or "sound director".

There are probably hundreds of jobs more suited to the schooling you've already acquired. I'd recommend investigating those opportunities. If audio engineering is what you still want to do, you'll need to go back to school for that specifically.