Every career path always has various myths that surround it and it is always good to address them and expose them for their truth or falseness.
I always come across the question “is sound engineering easy?” , therefore, this post will address this question to determine whether it’s actually true of false.
With that said, Is sound engineering actually easy?
Sound engineering is not easy, it is a highly involving field that requires a variety of skills and calls on good judgement that can only be developed with years of practice. The fact is, you’ll have to put in immense time and effort. However, sound engineering is still a field anyone can thrive in, provided they are willing to put in the work to learn the craft and improve constantly.
With that said let’s get into why sound engineering is not easy.
Why Sound Engineering May Not Be An Easy Career
The complex nature of audio
Before we even get into each of the points I discuss in the post regarding the difficulty of sound engineering, we need to address the elephant in the room which is that; the nature of audio is complex and that aspect should be clear from the get go.
Other fields may be difficult to learn but the nature of the ideas in the field could be simple which would make the learning curve shorter, well this is not the case for audio.
Sound and audio are complex ideas that you’ll have to grasp as you go on your journey in this field.
Only dedication and the will to learn can help you progress, if you’re looking to sound engineering as a quick and easy fix that you can grasp in a month or two. I’m sorry but you completely have the wrong idea.
Understanding audio will take time and a lot of effort on your part. For somebody that can’t stand the complexity and the difficulty level of sound production, this career path will be far fetched.
You need specific knowledge
Now that we’ve pretty much understood the complex nature of audio, we can go on to discuss the second thing that may make sound engineering difficult.
To be a sound engineer, atleast professionally, you need specific knowledge and this is true for almost any field.
You need highly technical knowledge that can only be generalised to a very small degree. This creates problems because getting into sound engineering usually means coming in knowing nothing and starting to pick up concepts as you begin to learn.
This means you’ll have to work out things as you get introduced to new principles and this will take you a reasonable amount of time.
For newbies or people that don’t have passion for this career path, learning this kind of specific knowledge can be very difficult due to the amount of time that has to be put in.
This is one of the reasons why sound engineering is not easy at all.
There are a lot of things to know
The complex nature of audio combined with specific knowledge as a requirement to become a sound engineer means that there are a lot of things to know.
I’ve been producing music for over 10 years and I can openly say I’m still learning new things even today. Even with my expertise it is impossible for me to say I have reached a plateau where I know everything and can easily wield my diverse knowledge base in all situations.
Sound engineering is a field in which you’ll have to keep learning because they’re simply alot of things to know.
This means you’ll have to put in those 10,000 hours to be functional at the very least.
You’ll also have to be able to grasp and utilize alot of information for the purposes of growing as a sound engineer.
It is highly competitive
Another factor that makes sound engineering a difficult career is that it is highly competitive and your competition will usually have years of experience under their belt. Making any sort of impact will mean being able to put your best foot forward and do the work (explore the competitiveness of sound engineering).
You’ll mostly learn on the job
Sound engineering is one of the jobs best learned with practice, you can learn and read as much as you possibly could but it will be no substitute for actual practice. For a person that doesn’t have a studio or place to work from, this can be quite a challenge.
Plus the fact that you’ll have to constantly read and apply what you read will inherently mean spending hours in the studio per day.
Final Thoughts
Sound engineering is a craft that is learned by the individual that is willing to put in the work and see themselves progress.
The internet has made it easier for anyone to find information which they can use to understand and develop more knowledge in any career.
This can work just as well in sound and audio engineering so don’t get discouraged.
Simply understand that you’ll need to put in a lot of effort on your part if you wish to succeed.
Sound engineering offers a lot of career options which can work out well for you provided you can do the work and better your craft. Check out this article to understand whether sound engineering is the right career for you.
