AUDIO
ENGINEERING
O
ne
can
interpret Audio
Engineering as the involvement of Engineering in
Music. In other words, audio
engineering is a discipline of engineering
that deals with the technical aspects of
sound during recording and reproduction.
The name itself suggests that this discipline of Engineering greatly deals with
“sound” which is fundamentally, the birth
of music. The Oxford English Dictionary
defines “Audio” as “sound, especially when
recorded, transmitted or reproduced”. Audio
Engineering is one of the few key ingredients in the production of good music.
People who work to ensure that the
music we hear when artists perform during recordings are in good condition are
called Audio or Sound Engineers. In other
words, an Audio Engineer is someone,
who is highly concerned about recording,
mixing, manipulation and reproduction
of sound. The fine music that we hear
at a live concert or on a CD is a result
of all the hard work of a skillful sound
engineer. Audio Engineering, which is
also known as Sound Engineering or
Acoustical Engineering leads to a career
“If it wasn’t for
in our lives. A sound engineer must be
Thomas Edison’s
Gramophone in
1877, we would
not have achieved
‘magic’ in acoustical engineering”
slightest and the most delicate sound
have a sound understanding about computers and software since the most of it
is processed by computers nowadays. As
almost all the post-production tasks are
handled by computer software, an audio
engineer must be proficient in handling
a computer.
If
it
wasn’t
very sharp and keen to record even the
variations. That is how you can preserve
the quality of the output. Not only capturing the audio signal would take care
of the quality of the processed or the
reconstructed signal, but also the equipment and accessories that are being used
in the process. For example, top quality
recording studios use a special type of
cables which are capable of transmitting
audio signals with the minimum noise
in them.
Other than the tech aspects, the workspace of a sound engineer defines a few
other sub disciplines of sound engineering. The following sub disciplines are
based on PACS (Physics and Astronomy
for
Thomas
Edison’s
Gramophone in 1877, we would not have
achieved all of this ‘magic’ in acoustical engineering so fast, along with the
enhancement and rapid development of
electronics technology and computer science. Today, music plays a major role
Classification Scheme) coding used by
the Acoustical Society of America.
However many of us do not understand
that that capturing a good sound within
a room is a science, a science in which an
audio engineer plays the main role.
which is all about capturing, recording,
mixing, editing and reproducing sound
with the help of technology. This technology is based on mechanical and electronic instruments and devices designed
to filter and mix audio signals. One might
think that this discipline of Engineering
only requires expertise in Electronics
and IT. But, the reality is that this field
of engineering requires expertise from
many areas of study such as music, acoustics and electronics plus the basic knowledge in physics. It’s equally important to
6
Gauge Newsletter
University of Peradeniya
Source: www.wolfsoundaudio.com