Audio Engineer: Â Someone with experience and training in the production and manipulation of sound through mechanical or electronic means. They record, edit, manipulate, mix, or master sound.
Jobs in Audio Engineering:
Studio engineer - an engineer working within a studio facility, either with a producer or independently.
Recording engineer - engineer who records sound.
Mixing engineer - a person who creates mixes of multi-track recordings. It is common for a commercial record to be recorded at one studio and later mixed by different engineers in other studios.
Mastering engineer - typically the person who mixes the final stereo tracks (or sometimes just a few tracks or stems) that the mix engineer produces. The mastering engineer makes any final adjustments to the overall sound of the record in the final step before commercial duplication. Mastering engineers use principles of equalization and compression to affect the coloration of the sound.
Game audio designer engineer - deals with sound aspects of game development.
Live sound engineer - a person dealing with live sound reinforcement. This usually includes planning and installation of speakers, cabling and equipment and mixing sound during the show. This may or may not include running the foldback sound. A live/sound reinforcement engineer hears musical material and tries to correlate that sonic experience with system performance.
Foldback or Monitor engineer - a person running foldback sound during a live event. The term "foldback" is outdated and refers to the practice of folding back audio signals from the FOH (Front of House) mixing console to the stage in order for musicians to hear themselves while performing. Monitor engineers usually have a separate audio system from the FOH engineer and manipulate audio signals independently from what the audience hears, in order to satisfy the requirements of each performer on stage. In-ear systems, digital and analog mixing consoles, and a variety of speaker enclosures are typically used by monitor engineers. In addition most monitor engineers must be familiar with wireless or RF (radio-frequency) equipment and must communicate personally with the artist(s) during each performance.
Systems engineer - responsible for the design setup of modern PA systems which are often very complex. A systems engineer is usually also referred to as a "crew chief" on tour and is responsible for the performance and day-to-day job requirements of the audio crew as a whole along with the FOH audio system. This is a sound-only position concerned with implementation, not to be confused with the interdisciplinary field of system engineering which requires a college degree.
Audio post engineer - a person who edits and mixes audio for film and/or television programs.
Education:
Audio engineers come from backgrounds such as fine arts, broadcasting, music or electronics. Many colleges and accredited institutions around the world offer degrees in audio engineering, such as a degree in audio production.