What ’ s with the Sound ? An interview with
Dr Rajesh Khade
Dr Rajesh Khade is an awarded systems engineer from India and a SMAART certified trainer who is regularly associated with some of the biggest acts in India and overseas tours as well . And if that is not enough , he is an actual medical Doctor ( Hence the Dr tag ). In this interview , we talked about the current scenario for sound engineers , education and the different domains one can approach in Sound Engineering , especially Live Sound applications .
Q : How has your journey been and how planned was it ?
A : It was never something I thought I would be doing . It was very organic , and I just followed what I felt like doing . I used to work 4 days in a hospital up until last year when I finally made a complete switch . Even during Covid , I only came home twice in a span of 1.5 years when my family members were admitted .
Q : With the Live event scene going big in India especially after Covid , do you think there is a shortage for sound engineers in the industry right now ?
A : There ’ s always a need . The market is at a level where we are doing massively big productions . So , we need people who are educated as well as skilled . With wireless systems getting more complicated , venues demanding bigger systems and also the artist and the engineers getting more aware of what goes on in
The Score Magazine
46 highonscore . com the sound department , we have a massive shortage of talented engineers .
Q : Do you think there is a balance between educated engineers and “ learned on the job ” engineers in the industry right now ?
A : There is definitely no balance between these two . The industry is dominated by people who have learned on the job and there is no good or bad thing about it . You need experience , and you have to go wrong twice to understand how to avoid that the next time .
Q : Would you prefer working with someone who is educated , or someone who has worked in the field throughout his / her career ?
A : I would prefer someone who has been educated first and then worked in the field for maybe a year or two afterwards . In my experience , engineers who are educated with no experience tend to panic when it comes to troubleshooting . On the other hand , people who have learned on the job have learned by watching someone else . They don ’ t necessarily have the solution for every problem because they are hardwired to do the same system setup for all scenarios .
Q : Do you think there is a gap in the education system for sound engineers ? And how can the institutes bridge that gap ?
A : No matter how much you learn in an institute , you have to be on the field and perform all that you have learned . There are institutes who let their students go out and mix , that gets them the experience . But there is always someone who backs you up in that situation . Once you start with your internship , you take more responsibility of what you are doing and that is when you start learning .