3 answers
Garrett
Student
North Branch, Michigan
1
Question
Asked
1119 views
What route do I take for an audio career?
I'm a junior in high school and I love music and quality audio equipment. I'm interested in audio equipment like learning about drivers in headphones. I want to get into a career involving creating and tuning drivers and headphones and earphones. I've spent a lot of time researching and getting information about this topic. #audio #headphones #earphones #iems #music
Login to comment
3 answers
Frank Lemmon
Retired, former Sr. Software Test Eng.
98
Answers
Santa Clara, California
Updated
Frank’s Answer
Hey Garrett, it's outside of my field, but I'll take a shot at giving you some ideas. First of all, it's an awesome field you're interested in. With voice-activated assistants like Siri, Alexa, Google Home, and Cortana becoming widespread, the sound field is exploding! Likewise, if you're interested in quality audio, Dolby Labs and others are cutting-edge as you've probably personally experienced in movie theaters. So, how to get started? Here's some thoughts:
1) If you want to get in on the research and technical design of audio equipment, you'll want to go to school to study the subject and gain a working knowledge of the physics, math, mechanics, and electronics behind sound recognition, reproduction, and transmission.
2) While in college, check into Internship opportunities with audio-related companies like Dolby, Bose, JBL, Logitech and others. Another great opportunity will be to land an internship within a company or a conference-center A/V Team, which sets up equipment for large meetings, public events, etc. Check out chegg.com, Internships, "audio" and you'll see a bunch of possibilities.
3) Go to audio-based meetups in your area, maker faires, or follow professional society meetups on audio (ieee.org has an "audio and acoustic signal processing" working group, https://signalprocessingsociety.org/taxonomy/term/49/technical-committees/list/audio-tc/aasp-challenges?page=1). It will give you an opportunity to meet others with the same interest and to share experience.
4) Try landing a job in an electronic musical instruments store, where you can cross paths with working musicians, and share / gather audio processing experience, too.
Hope these help!
1) If you want to get in on the research and technical design of audio equipment, you'll want to go to school to study the subject and gain a working knowledge of the physics, math, mechanics, and electronics behind sound recognition, reproduction, and transmission.
2) While in college, check into Internship opportunities with audio-related companies like Dolby, Bose, JBL, Logitech and others. Another great opportunity will be to land an internship within a company or a conference-center A/V Team, which sets up equipment for large meetings, public events, etc. Check out chegg.com, Internships, "audio" and you'll see a bunch of possibilities.
3) Go to audio-based meetups in your area, maker faires, or follow professional society meetups on audio (ieee.org has an "audio and acoustic signal processing" working group, https://signalprocessingsociety.org/taxonomy/term/49/technical-committees/list/audio-tc/aasp-challenges?page=1). It will give you an opportunity to meet others with the same interest and to share experience.
4) Try landing a job in an electronic musical instruments store, where you can cross paths with working musicians, and share / gather audio processing experience, too.
Hope these help!
Paul Bordenkircher
Audio Engineer
82
Answers
Las Vegas, Nevada
Updated
Paul’s Answer
Hi Garrett! From your message, it sounds more like you're looking at some type of engineering career - as in electrical engineering or similar. The idea of developing and testing audio components is definitely different that operating them!
I would suggest doing research on audio equipment manufacturers, and connecting with the design people there. They are going to give you the best advice. Just to get you started, here's a few companies I work with on a regular basis.
- AKG
- Sennheiser
- Jerry Herman Audio (makes top end IEMs)
- Ultimate Audio (IEMs)
- Sony Pro Audio (makes industry standard headphones)
- Tectonic Audio Labs
You can also research other companies through audio sales sites like Sweetwater or Guitar Center.
Since you're fairly close to Detroit, there may be audio companies based there, and you could actually go and talk to someone at one of these companies.
To echo Frank's response, you will need to look into some type of electrical engineering program. Designing audio components will require an engineering degree to pursue that type of career.
And most importantly - and I can't stress this enough - be working toward having practical experience in your field. I've seen this mistake made by too many students. They want to be in engineering, but their side job is at Pizza Hut. All your other activities need to surround your career goal.
I would highly recommend to get a part time job doing corporate live events. These companies do sales conferences, auto shows, educational workshops, etc. You will learn how the gear is used, which will give you insight into how to improve it as an engineer.
Good luck!
I would suggest doing research on audio equipment manufacturers, and connecting with the design people there. They are going to give you the best advice. Just to get you started, here's a few companies I work with on a regular basis.
- AKG
- Sennheiser
- Jerry Herman Audio (makes top end IEMs)
- Ultimate Audio (IEMs)
- Sony Pro Audio (makes industry standard headphones)
- Tectonic Audio Labs
You can also research other companies through audio sales sites like Sweetwater or Guitar Center.
Since you're fairly close to Detroit, there may be audio companies based there, and you could actually go and talk to someone at one of these companies.
To echo Frank's response, you will need to look into some type of electrical engineering program. Designing audio components will require an engineering degree to pursue that type of career.
And most importantly - and I can't stress this enough - be working toward having practical experience in your field. I've seen this mistake made by too many students. They want to be in engineering, but their side job is at Pizza Hut. All your other activities need to surround your career goal.
I would highly recommend to get a part time job doing corporate live events. These companies do sales conferences, auto shows, educational workshops, etc. You will learn how the gear is used, which will give you insight into how to improve it as an engineer.
Good luck!
Kenneth Roldan
Music Production
4
Answers
Orlando, Florida
Updated
Kenneth’s Answer
Hey!
I had the same passion as you for music equipment, I spent two years studying music production at Valencia College. It was the best decision I've made, it gave me the opportunity to have hands-on experiences with audio equipment that I wouldn't be able to have anywhere else.
Colleges offer various programs that include audio technology, I recommend looking for a degree near a college near you that offers a program that allows you to get knowledge in Audio technology. You might have to dip your toes on some engineering as well if needed that requires some math, but don't be afraid! best of luck to you.
I had the same passion as you for music equipment, I spent two years studying music production at Valencia College. It was the best decision I've made, it gave me the opportunity to have hands-on experiences with audio equipment that I wouldn't be able to have anywhere else.
Colleges offer various programs that include audio technology, I recommend looking for a degree near a college near you that offers a program that allows you to get knowledge in Audio technology. You might have to dip your toes on some engineering as well if needed that requires some math, but don't be afraid! best of luck to you.