Jonathan Magee's List: Recording Engineer (Mock Interview)

• With the advent of increasingly more sophisticated audio manipulation technology, the recording engineer’s role in the production of a record is just as creative and vital as that of the vocalist, drummer, or guitarist.
• It is an art and a science, and a recording engineer is both a technician and a composer.
• The recording engineer is responsible to the artist and the producer for the mix and overall sound of the album.
• This involves preparing the studio for a recording session, operating the mixing console, and maintaining all additional electronic studio equipment and instruments with the help of the recording assistant.
• Individual components or tracks are recorded separately, and often repeatedly. Strings, drums, and vocals are isolated to perfect each one separately
• recording engineer manipulates each track and weaves them together while tweaking tone, intensity, and tempo, applying effects, and editing through the console.
• constant revision until the desired result is reached. 
• College-level or technical school training in sound engineering and audio design are particularly important.
• music appreciation and composition will help to train your ear.
• Classes in computer technology and programming will prepare you for working with audio editing software
• Pro Tools, Adobe Audition, and Sony ACID.
• look for work in a small studio as an apprentice, assistant, or intern.
• both insight into the business and hands-on training under a chief engineer. Of course, the ability to play one or more instruments and read music is a plus.
• Recording sessions begin early in the morning and usually run late through the night, or even to the following morning.
• When one session is over, you can expect to start preparing for the next session right away.
• hours are long and irregular.
• must be flexible, patient, and creative,
• even without sleep.
• will work side-by-side with artists and producers whose careers and paychecks hinge on the quality of your work,
• must be cool under pressure.
• you have to be a good listener
• keenly trained ear for sound and the people skills to collaborate in a creative endeavor are the key attributes of a good recording engineer. 

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• Recording engineers are individuals who run a variety of sound and video recording equipment to produce, record and mix sounds for various purposes, such as music recordings, movies, radio broadcasts, television programs and live events. They work for a variety of employers including sound recording companies, film and video production agencies, nightclubs, recording studios, television stations and advertising firms.

• The yearly salary of a Recording Engineer will vary depending on experience, company, and location. As of January 2013, the total salary ranges is $19,918 to $80,355. The average salary is $40,873.

• Becoming a recording engineer is a combination of natural talent, education, experience and good old-fashioned luck.

  To be a successful recording engineer, you need to start with a deep appreciation for music, preferably a wide variety of music.

• record producer is responsible for shepherding a project from beginning to end.  He or she will usually start by talking with the artist and/or its label about expectations for the recordings to be undertaken.
• talking about a single, a group of singles, an EP, or a full-length album?
• talking about nicely-done demos or finished masters (tracks that can compete musically and sonically with your standard, major-label commercial recording)?
• these initial meetings that budgets are discussed as well, to make sure the budget for the project is sufficient to meet the expectations of the person, people, or company paying the bill.
• producer introduces him or herself to the artist or band and they begin a musical collaboration together. 
• producers like to start in the writing and/or rehearsal room, although some would rather just go straight into recording sessions
• there is some measure of pre-production involved in the making of a master-level recording, where songs are selected, refined, arrangements are tweaked, and parts are analyzed and fine-tuned.
• At that point, the producer takes the band into the studio.
• producers work out of various recording studios around their local area or the world. 
• have their own studios where they do the majority of their work
•   Two things stand out about producers who have studios.  One is that the rooms, microphones, analog equipment, instrument backline, and listening environment have all been hand-selected by that producer with his or her particular genres and workflow in mind.  Two is that, without a third-party studio owner needing to take their own share of profit from the sessions, that producer is more likely to be able to pass on substantial cost savings to their clients.
• During the recording sessions, the producer must at all times keep an eye (or ear) on the musicality of the end result.

• the recording engineer (if it’s a separate person) is free to focus on mic placement, preamp selection, and the proper dialing-in of outboard equipment to ensure that the session runs smoothly and the best possible sounds and captures are achieved.

   
• also the engineer’s job to mix the record, applying the proper panning, equalization, compression, reverbs, delays, effects, level balance, and volume automation to give the track a well-balanced shine…BIG when it needs to be BIG, stark when it needs to be stark, all bearing in mind the intended purposes of the genre and the song.
• producer is usually involved in mixes, as well, but typically more as a guiding force that helps define tonal objectives and provide notes throughout each stage of a mix.
• background, producers are usually born in one of three ways:  A musician/writer/performer who transitions into helping other artists and musicians refine their sound into great records, an engineer whose studio work on the technical side transitions into playing the role of producer, or – sometimes, a non-musician, non-engineer who simply “speaks music” in a compelling way (sometimes a record executive or promotions person who gets more involved in the creative process over time).
• Engineers are usually either technically-gifted people who start as live sound or maintenance engineers and make their way into the recording and mixing fields or musicians who develop a love for recording and learn the technical side as a function of their musicality
• producer and engineer play a crucial role in the development of any serious recording project.
• Some people prefer (or have no choice but) to play both roles

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