The profession that i will be exploring in this portfolio is ‘live sound engineer’, i have chosen this profession as to me, it is an art that can often be under appreciated compared to other areas of the music industry. A live sound engineer is responsible for making sure that a live performance is heard well by both the audience and the performers, this could include, mixing the instruments, preventing distortion, feedback or phase, using effects…

Live sound engineering is a profession that values practical experience over academic experience, this is because the job requires creativity and problem solving abilities that can not be taught in a usual academic way. Employers looking for a live sound engineer would value a job application with lots of experience and no qualifications over one with only a degree in music production but no prior work. Often people trying to become live sound engineers will start with the smallest responsibility in the profession and slowly work their way up to more and more responsibility and their experience grows. The knowledge and skills required for this job involve, music production knowledge, mixing experience, adaptability and being able to work with others, the better an engineer is at these aspects, the more successful they will be as a live sound engineer.

A live sound engineer is the sole person responsible for making sure that a live performance sounds as it should, this means live sound engineers have the job of setting up all sound systems and event requirements before the show, making sure the performers are happy with their respective positions and setup for the performance, running a soundcheck to get the correct levels before the show but also adjusting the levels during the show if adjustments are needed… This is a reason why live sound engineers have to be completely aware during a show to make sure nothing goes wrong and ruins the performance. For bigger shows, there are usually 3 different types of live sound engineers; Front of house, they will control the sound that the audience hear, often a front of house will be constantly mixing the live sound while they are positioned behind the audience. Monitor engineer, these control the sound that the performers can hear, a monitor engineer might get signal from the performer on stage to alter what they are hearing to their liking. System engineer, at massive events their will be a few system engineers and they are responsible for setting up the speaker systems, this is often an entry level job in the profession as it requires less responsibilities however still takes music production knowledge. At smaller shows, 1 live sound engineer is responsible for the tasks of all 3 different types of engineers, the average day working as a live sound engineer for a small show would look something like this:

• Arrive at the venue usually many hours before the show is planned to start and start the pre-event setup. This would include; deciding what the event requires, planning and setting up the sound systems, choosing the right equipment for the performers, checking all electrical equipment and cable to make sure they are not faulty, setting up the mixer, monitors and microphones, making sure the cables are not messy and dangerous and testing the complete system once its up.
• Then once the performers arrive, the engineer will do a soundcheck to make sure all the instruments and mics are balanced in the mix, the use of effects like reverb or EQ can be utilised here to get a good sound for the audience, the soundcheck also allows the engineer to create individual mixes in the monitors of the performers.
• During the event, the engineer will adjust the mix in real time, this includes altering effects and EQ if needed, this is one of if not the most important skill for a live sound engineer. the engineer will also respond to performers who need changes to their individual mixes in their monitors. This is why adaptability and teamwork are important aspects to becoming a live sound engineer.
• After the show, they are responsible for powering down the equipment and dismantling anything that needs to be put away, an engineer will also examine if any equipment was damaged during the performance to note that it shouldn’t be used again if not repaired. If the show was recorded, the engineer is usually responsible for backing up the recording to give to the performers or venue owners.

The financial and legal issues that come with this profession can include irregular income as most live sound engineers are freelancers and are therefore not sign to a fixed rate from a contract, this can make the profession insecure as a full time job as work is not always guaranteed. The profession is often labelled as competitive which can be true but (UK Music, 2024) says “In 2023, the core UK music industry employed 216,000 people, a slight increase of 3% from 210,000 in 2022.”, (Careerpilot.org.uk, 2024) says “There will be 3.2% more Live sound engineer jobs in 2029.” This shows that the music industry is getting bigger and therefore there are more and more employment opportunities. A legal issue that a live sound engineer might face is health and safety laws as the engineer is responsible for the safety of the performers and the audience when dealing with electrical equipment and hearing protection. Also a live sound engineer could be responsible for making sure the venues is allowed to play recorded music and that they have appropriate music licences.

A big part of the profession is marketing and promotion, this is because live sound engineering greatly relies on reputation and building relationships with employers. Building a personal brand can help a live sound engineer work their way up through the industry, therefore, remaining consistent and reliable within in your work is very important. Making sure your brand is well established on social media is also very useful for live sound engineers as this is a common place for employers to find you, posting photos of previous jobs will tell employers about your experience in the field and will also show them what type of work you usually do. Live sound engineers also value a lot from networking, building good relationships with co-workers at your jobs will sharpen your brand as being well-known helps establish your work ethic and skills to potential employers which will lead to more opportunities. With a well built brand, at some point you could even establish a value to your work which will make the job way more secure in terms of income.

Working as a live sound engineer can sometimes come with challenges that you may have to overcome, for example, the job can get very pressuring at times as you are often work around deadlines or need to solve a problem, remaining calm in this profession is very important, if the employer realises that you cant work well with pressure, they are likely not to hire you again. Another challenge within the profession is the complex technology that you have to study, as technology advances, more and more ways of live sound engineering will come about, this means that you have to keep an open mind to this new technology and learn to work with it rather than discredit it. A big challenge in the profession is skills that will be learnt overtime such as having a good ear to know when the sound doesn’t sound as it should, this skill cant be studied and will only get better as you gain more experience whilst working as a live sound engineer. A personal challenge that a live sound engineer might face is irregular working hours, seeing as the time is usually set around a venues schedule, you may be working long days at a time (most often on a weekend), learning to balance work hours with free time is important to make sure you don’t get overwhelmed with work which may cause stress. Another personal challenge to face might be hearing problems, working regularly with loud sound is known to cause damage to the ears and many live sound engineers struggle with hearing issues because of their job, a way around this may be wearing ear protectors (Drew, 2024) says “We know that events are loud and that our ears are being put through a lot of punishment in the environments we play through repeated exposures over long sets. But we sacrifice our bodies to the beat because the accuracy of our blends and our ability to “feel” the music are oftentimes more important to us than our safety. We deeply do not want to compromise our art and in the process have created a culture of throwing caution to the wind in pursuit of an ideal.” Often, live sound engineers will say that ear protection can reduce mixing skill, however, it is much better to use hearing protection than risk a serious injury.

Working as a live sound engineer can be risky as there are is no guaranteed progression that you will experience, the only way to progress as a live sound engineer is hone your skill and become more and more respected within the field. This is the ideal progression path of a live sound engineer:

• At first you will start of as an assistant employee for a live sound engineer or a company that produces live sound engineer, your main job would to help with simple tasks such as moving equipment, arranging cables and maybe a small amount of mixing during the show, the payment for this job would be very limited however it is the best way to enter the profession and learn the tricks of the trade.
• After this you may set up on your own as a freelance live sound engineer or you could be given a contract to work as the house engineer for a single venue, here you will have the responsibilities of a typical live sound engineer, you will be mixing during the show, setting up the systems and overall making sure the event goes to plan, the event will still be very small so the payment may still be quite limited.
• A good way to progress here is by having a niche and focusing on one of the 3 roles i mentioned earlier, front of house engineer, monitor engineer or system engineer. Establishing this niche will be helpful to land jobs at bigger venues where you have more responsibility but a higher wage, events like concerts, festivals, tours and even theatre shows are where you will make a decent wage and be able to progressive through the profession.
• From here you’re best way of progressing would be to get signed as a touring engineer for a professional artist or production, you will travel throughout the tour and manage the entire engineering team at each location of the tour. For this responsibility you will have to have a vast knowledge of the profession and be the most qualified engineer at the events.
• After this, establishing your live sound engineering skills as a business would be the highest point of progression that you can achieve, building a team of engineers to work at many different venues will create a solid flow of income, your responsibilities here would be to manage your team of engineers and create a reliable way for venues to find live sound engineers for their shows.

A path in between this progression could be that you go into teaching your live sound engineering skills, teaching would also be a way to ensure a solid flow of income and the progression through an academic career could lead you to becoming a headteacher at a university.

Bibliography

Careerpilot.org.uk. (2024). Careerpilot : Job sectors : Media : Job profiles : Live sound engineer. [online] Available at: https://www.careerpilot.org.uk/job-sectors/media/job-profile/live-sound-engineer.

‌Drew, E. (2024). A Fine Tip No. 2: Use Hearing Protection When Mixing. [online] Substack.com. Available at: https://journalofthemotherbeat.substack.com/p/a-fine-tip-no-2-use-hearing-protection.

UK Music (2024). THIS IS MUSIC 2024. [online] Available at: https://www.ukmusic.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/TIM-Report-2024-reduced.pdf.

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