Top 10 Reasons Not to Be an Audio Engineer

In this episode, Justin Colletti tries to talk you out of all your hopes and dreams of being an audio engineer or music producer.

He hopes he succeeds! (Really but not really.)

For the original article that inspired the video, try here:

#audioengineer #musicproducer #mixing #musicproduction

[sethhartman]

"I write because I must. It's not a choice or a pastime, it's an unyielding calling and my passion." - Elizabeth Reyes

[dodzidenudzakuma]

As a former Tuba player, I appreciate the double shout out to the lowest of the low brass!

[johannesfalk]

My experience as a live audio engineer confirms the "feast/famine" observation. I was fighting for years to fill my schedule with actual music gigs, and filling the rest with back breaking stage hand work. It always felt like an uphill battle. But at some point I passed some sort of threshold and I had more gigs than I knew what to do with. In my experience there is and abundance of people who know a lot about sound, gear and music. But if you know those things and also have your ego under control, know how to listen to people, know how to read the mood in a room, know when to speak and when to stfu, and know how to show up prepared to the teeth, then you are hot stuff in the professional music market.
In my experience, there is actually an enormous shortage of competent live audio engineers. The only propblem is that in order to become a competent audio engineer you need a decade + of technical experience, a big scoop of nerdiness, and a few ego crushing personal crisies to grind down your smartass attitude. Not an easy combo to come by.

[israelc]

The fact that recording labels are closing and recording is relatively inexpensive are very good reasons to keep going. It means we don’t need recording labels because we are so capable of producing our own music.

[seanramey]

I'm currently serving in the Navy, thinking about going to college to learn how to be a studio engineer/ audio engineer and this video gave me some much needed insight, as to what to expect, which is good. It didn't change my mind, i still want to learn how to be a audio engineer. I'm just a little more informed.

[ChariKat]

I've been messing with audio production for 9+ years now but I only like doing it as a hobby in my bedroom but I enjoy it.

[unclemark]

Great stuff. Got out 5 years ago. Sold my audio company after 12 years. it was fun, made good money even did audio at Universal Studios, but was time to move on. Writing was on the wall. The college I went for audio got rid of their recording program (Headed by Oingo Boingo former engineer) too. Seen many studios close. Now working in automation for medical field. Great advice!! Audio knowledge very applicable for technical fields and even better if you understand electronics. I still would encourage folks to learn audio, but not make it a career. If it was the 60s, 70s or the 80s then a strong Yes. In my opinion, some parts of the Industry have “sunsetted” and on a pay downward trajectory. Happily married with kids. Home on the weekends!

[yeseldiaz]

So many people need to hear this desperately. It would narrow the funnel so well.

[smuleplayz]

I got into audio engineering after finding true love for reggae/ dub tracks and watching videos of Mad Professor and The Scientist work in an almost mystical way on the soundboard. I set out to learn bass but now I want to record and clean up the sound which now has me wanting to learn how to build my own analog equipment. I have a passion for this field that I’ve only also felt for the world of cannabis which is the closest thing I’ve come to to being able to know what the love of someone else feels like. I’ve always searched for people to talk technical music with and it’s a lonely passion but through the loneliness I learn temperament and that dedication is all that matters. There’s nothing superficial that I hope to gain from it. At the worst I’d be working at a restaurant to fund my passion and at the best I’d be learning under the last student of King Tubby or from the remnants of Lee Perry

[TVBABYSPONTANOMOUS]

TOO LATE! I'M ALL IN! Thanks for the warning though,

[RelievedMusic]

9:10 Because this is what I always wanted to do. Mixing music. And I won‘t pick any other hobby. I used to fly little planes in my free time. Mixing music is way more fun than anything else.

[mjterrier]

Great vid man! I’ve been doing audio for a living my entire 26 year career. My 1st gig at 20yrs old in ‘97. What I love about sound is it’s literally everywhere. I’ve tried out pretty much every lane in audio from live, location, and post. I spent 15yrs in audio post on staff at 2 different houses and got burnt out on studio work. Nowadays I have a small home studio and spend my time doing a little of everything and am having the most fun yet. In the next few months I’m doing post on a micro budget indie film I did production sound for on set, ran sound for a big band at the performing arts center, a 2 day corporate shoot, a Arena Soccer league game, a reality show shoot, then next month I’m going out of town for a 6wk feature film shoot. Having a diverse skill set w audio, quick troubleshooting skills, and just don’t be an a*hole are key to finding work. Good luck to my fellow sound engineers and those who seek out this profession! If I were to offer one piece of advice to anyone thinking about getting into the job, it’d be that you want to do it for the love of the craft, not how big the band or film is. I think of my job as a trade craftsman. The pride is in the work. I always like talking w other audio engineers. We are a great community of, generally speaking, smart and fun ppl to hang out with!

[lilpinky]

Incredible video, from start to the way you finished, you added your personality but stayed relevant to the video . Well done !

[benjamin]

#5 absolutely was a huge problem for me, especially because I was in the film industry. Recording foley, I had zero creative input. My foley artist decided what was going to be done, how it was going to sound, etc, and I was just a glorified button pusher.

[laffytaffyog]

Went to to school for audio. It was fun and I learned a ton..so it wasn’t a complete waste. People don’t often realize that you need to climb the latter(just like any gig). You will work with shitty bands, who are broke, you will be doing more unpaid work rather then paid work. When you eventually do get paid, it won’t be shit to sustain you at all. Even when you get decent at your craft, you still need other things to attract or earn peoples respect to even consider you for work. Want to work picky clients who are the ones who tend to have the money for higher budgets? Then you better have the money and aesthetic to show prove that your worthy. My advice is get a good stable job and then save towards to slowly getting your business up.

[xAudiolith]

This video actually motivates the hell out of me for some reason. These all seem like worthwhile compromises!

[drgswhk]

I do it as a hobby because I study physics and math, I’m interested in studying many of things because of this and acoustics is one of them lmao, plus it’s fun when you’re a super nerd about it (instrumentals, engineering, producing etc etc) I see the entire music making process through those glasses.

[nunocosta]

That bit about feeling like a failure hit me hard! I wish I heard this years ago. I love audio for all the reasons Justin listed but as a family man, I feel like I've made a giant mistake investing in school and equipment at the prospect of working in a career that I put on a pedestal. If I can give any advice its this: DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY GOING TO SCHOOL FOR AUDIO!!!! I cannot stress this enough. It's not like any other skilled trade or specialized career path. You can learn everything you need to learn on the internet and by committing yourself to a community of like-minded people. Studio's don't give a rats ass what school you went to or if you were the top of your class. Good luck out there!

[OmelasMusic]

Gonna go out on a limb here and say - goddamn, I love being an audio engineer so much but you're right.. I don't know if it does a bit of good, not for me or the community around me. Nobody in the music scene i'm involved in can afford to record, anymore than I can afford to work for a small low budget studio. Like, seriously, I worked 8 hours straight today for a total of 40$ (in NYC). Maybe I'm deep down the rabbit hole but I'd like to believe these skills are worth more than that? How does one both do what they love & have the self-respect to quit when the work environment itself is so broken? At my wits end tbh.

[devipoof]

i liked how you lead into the sponsorship, it was engaging and I didn't expect it.