The Windy City is becoming a mecca for sound recording engineers. Opportunities have increased for a wide variety of careers in music technology, from recording live music, producing multitrack rock `n roll sound to interactive CDs and audio for film and television.
When DePaul School of Music Associate Professor Tom Miller entered the music recording business 20 years ago, he started at the bottom, making $1.85 an hour at a local studio, where his duties included emptying ashtrays.
“It’s a good time to be in the music technology business,” Miller said. “When I started in the Chicago market, there were four recording studios. Now you look in the Yellow Pages and there are 150.”
In addition to Chicago, Miller said graduates with music technology know-how are in demand in the traditional recording industry centers of Los Angeles, Nashville and New York and in emerging recording hubs such as Seattle and Miami.
Technological convergence and advances in CD-ROM and Internet technologies are two major reasons for booming careers in sound recording technology.
Relax, you don’t need to be a tech-head to take advantage of this trend. Simply put, “technological convergence” is a way of combining the functions of television and radio, so both audio and video play off of the same medium: your personal computer. Scientists, engineers and manufacturers are scrambling to make everything we do occur in a PC based environment.
There are more sophisticated definitions of technology convergence but just imagine dialing the phone to page someone with the same appliance you use to surf the Net for Christmas gifts. That is technological convergence. For only 50 bucks, you can also purchase a video camera to place atop your PC to take streaming video as you e-mail. This trend has increased opportunities for sound engineers, especially in the gaming industry. Afterall, those video games require sound, too.
“Not only can careers be made in traditional sound production and engineering for radio, TV, film and live concerts, but wherever there is a need for audio, like in the gaming industry,” said Jeff Cline. Cline is the associate coordinator of the music business, recording & technology division for the University of Memphis.
“The gaming industry supplies countless jobs for video games and sound design, like Sega Play Station,” said Cline. “Gaming provides a host of jobs requiring sound production–for audio books, webcasting, multimedia, CD-ROMs, digital audio delivery and mp3 formats. You must now possess a strong technical component to understanding sound recording in this digital age.”
West Coast audiophile Craig Andrews, who left the Midwest to pursue a career in Los Angeles, offers a cautionary note to those considering a sound recording career. Despite his success as a technical consultant who has edited music for films that include “A Civil Action” and “Sleepy Hollow” Andrews says “The job outlook is sometimes frightening because of the current dynamic of changing technology. They’re really pushing the envelope. New formats are exploding onto the professional arena. Pro tools (software) has changed the way that digital audio works.
“It makes the competition much more fierce because everyone believes they can do what you went to school to learn right in their living room or their dorm,” said Andrews.
What is the job outlook for women? Unlike in other high-tech industries, opportunities for sound recording engineers seem to be just as open to women as they are for men, said DePaul’s Miller.
“I think opportunities are exceptional for women. More young ladies are enrolled in the school and moving on to professional positions in the industry. The good ‘ol boy network is changing,” Miller said.
“I have both lost work and got work for being a woman,” said Chicago-based Pegasus recording manager Mary Mazurek. “It’s very tough. You must be in the right place at the right time. I’ve been told in the past by a client that I was much too attractive to be effective as a sound engineer. I have also been told that the artists needed something pleasant to look at.”
Mazurek, who had not originally planned to pursue a sound recording career, also teaches at the Columbia College Sound Recording Program and freelances as a sound engineer for the classical radio station WFMT.
“I knew nothing about sound recording.,” said Mazurek. “I was a music major planning on teaching. I love music and had a strong science background and this was a way to apply both.”
There have been new programs implemented at area universities to accommodate the interest and demand of the recording industry. Both Columbia College and DePaul have state of the art facilities and a multitude of course offerings
“When I started they didn’t have sound recording programs,” said Miller. “You went to a trade school where they had technological awareness and you learned the trade yourself. I was fortunate to work during the heydays of the record and jingle industry in Chicago. I have worked with [artists such as] Placido Domingo, Barry Manilow to the Blues Brothers.”
