In Summary

The availability of amazing audio tools makes it easy for anyone to get hold of anything. With audio production bringing together a number of skill sets, we discuss why it might not be possible to excel at everything even when we think we’re fully equipped…

Going Deeper

The Modern Engineer

Outside the studio, most pros need to deal with lots of other stuff, such as doing their accounts, managing their calendar, and doing all the other everyday tasks that come with many jobs. And that’s all before the none-too-small subject of audio engineering…

In times gone by (and for a lucky few in larger facilities), audio engineering tasks were divided up between a small cohort of specialists. With a team of two or even three engineers handling between them the studio floor, the tape machine, and the console, control rooms would also keep a chair for person overseeing the whole thing: the producer. In a few large scale settings, these roles still exist but they are the rare exception.

The modern studio paradigm often sees one person running the whole show. There are the business and organisational skills many of us need to have, but in this article we’ll concentrate on the audio side of things. Here we take a look at why in a world full of instantly accessible audio tools, the opportunity to use them all might not be the magic solution we think it is.

How To Do Everything

Although the audio engineer working in a large studio will have their own area of expertise, the engineer doing everything themself still has access to all the same tools. When it comes to knowledge to do each job well, they could be in for more than a life’s work of learning.

Recording is achievable by most, although even the finest mastering engineer might not know from experience which combo of mic and position to use in a given situation. The recordist might know their tools down to component level but do they understand the physics that dominate how their recording will be heard and mixed? The lightning-fast DAW native might know little about how to move a signal between physical gear while the tape-junky wrestles with yet another Manager app or system update. The re-recording mixer will skillfully navigate hundreds of tracks to weave a tapestry of story, atmospheres, and symphonia, but could they record that orchestra? The recordist would be equally lost when faced with a film mix.

We Don’t Even Know How Much We Don’t Know

Anyone can go on YouTube and find out how to rewire their house or even plumb in a new sink or shower. Problem is, these are jobs that need a lot of skill and experience to do properly. Through the filter of the newbie (however smart they are), it goes without saying why some things are best left to the professionals.

Some reading this might be familiar with the following experience: we get interested and drawn towards a particular skill or subject. At first, we learn the basics of how to get something done, such as where to point a mic without getting it actually wrong.

We then find out about how different sounds can be achieved and how the electronics and acoustics involved make that result. Then we get into the physics of air and electrons… It goes on and on. The engineer bows to the designer who bows to the physicist. And that’s just the science. What about why people like the way things sound? Is there even any such thing as a good or bad sound anyway?

We simply cannot know everything about our job. Being a master of any job is seeing the big picture (ie, “What am I trying to achieve as part of a process?”) and knowing just the things needed to play that part with excellence.

The Modern Disease

Multitasking is the art of getting more things done less well. Most do it because they have no choice; I’m guessing that many who do multitask already know that it’s the enemy of excellence.

If you’re that way inclined, it turns out that Science thinks so as well. We humans have got ourselves into a bit of a mess (in the developed world, at least), because our complicated lives are at odds with what our brains do best. Thousands of years of trying to find food while not getting eaten ourselves has given us brains that thrive on priority, driven by pure existential threat… Come to think of it, maybe things haven’t changed that much.

We do best when we prioritise. Texting while crossing the road can end badly compared to crossing the road before texting. In audio learning how to master well, for example, needs an understanding of mixing, but the job itself has its own unique set of skills.

We Can, But Should We?

Going back to the days of the studio system with one person-per job, the tools used were not easily available. With studios up until the middle of last century often owned by record labels, these industry monoliths quite often researched and developed the very gear their employees used.

In the present, things are almost completely different. Solo engineers have audio plugins that can be instantly downloaded and used. On the gear side of things, not only can we walk into a showroom or shop to buy gear that completely outruns the pro gear of Old (technically, at least), but we can just skip that and buy it online from the same store or somewhere else.

Yes, I can walk into any DIY store and buy all the gas, blow torches, and power tools I need to blow up my house on that next home improvement project. Or I can get someone who knows their stuff to put that new boiler in while stick to what I know to put up some shelves, change a fuse in the car, or mix that track for someone who trusts me to do my job properly.

Audio plugins for mastering are a classic example of giving amazing tools to the wrong person. Not because that person doesn’t have the skill or the understanding to use them (many including myself use them), but because these tools mean nothing without a level of distance and perspective away from the mix. The best the modern multi-tasker can hope to achieve is to use them with this in mind. Even that is a big compromise.

Leave The Myth Behind

Will getting it ‘wrong’ on a mix or master hurt anyone? No, but the point is that understanding where your own skills lie is key, as is knowing when to hand over to the next person. The good news is (at the risk of sounding like a self-appointed life coach), that with a bit of work and experience, we can be that next person anyway.

The availability of amazing audio tools makes it easy for anyone to sell anything to anyone. This brings the myth that complex subsets of audio engineering can be successfully carried out with excellence by anyone. Many musicians who have bought something like RX will know the feeling of “Surely I’m not supposed to know what all of this stuff does?”.

We can take on just about anything, but this can also mean doing more tasks worse than doing a single one at our best. The recording engineer can get hold of the same world class audio plugins or gear used by the world’s best mastering ears. Those ears could go and buy the best mics but could they place them as well as their colleague?

It turns out that being a master in your chosen area never gets old.

Even if you could know everything, you couldn’t execute everything at once. It’s OK. No-one expects you to know it all.

A Word About This Article

As the Experts team considered how we could better help the community we thought that some of you are time poor and don’t have the time to read a long article or a watch a long video. In 2023 we are going to be trying out articles that have the fast takeaway right at the start and then an opportunity to go deeper if you wish. Let us know if you like this idea in the comments.