A sure-fire way for DJs to expand their careers

European-based DJ James Haidak has always believed that a huge part of being a successful DJ is knowing technical stuff that involves sound engineering. In fact, recording, mixing, and producing sound overlaps between the jobs of DJs and sound engineers. However, unlike music producers, writers, and performers, sound engineers work mainly on the mechanical and technical aspects of sound and music. A lot of successful DJs have gone on to become even more successful by expanding their careers into sound engineering.

The process of recording, mixing, and producing sound sees a sound engineer often assisting musicians and record producers in achieving the sound they want to hear. An excellent example of this would be a sound engineer piecing together a song that may have auto-tune and synthetics sounds. And James Haidak adds that while a sound engineer is different from a music producer, one can do both simultaneously.

DJs who are into sound engineering may also work as studio engineer. This job would require one to work closely with music producers in a studio. Other available examples of jobs for people with experience in sound engineering are assistant engineer, who is an apprentice to a studio engineer, working in a studio setup for the most part; a recording engineer, who records the sound that’s being produced in the studio; and a game and audio design engineer, who works on the sound engineering of video games, adding sound to the game appropriately.

James Haidak has played at festivals alongside names such as John Digweed, Nic Fanciulli, Stephan Bodzin, Reinier Zonneveld, Oliver Weiter, Henry Saiz, Kobosil, and many more. Read more about James by checking out this page.