Sound Designer
Audio Producer
Music Producer
Sound Technician
Sound Engineer
Audio Engineer

...is there a somewhat complete list of all production related audio job titles? If no, can we create one (post titles on your mind)? which title would you choose to describe your profession if you had to choose a single title?

 

Its just a title. not your identity

you want to become good/proficient at all the things that are covered in those titles. - Before you die of old age

 

I swear I thought the thread on first read was Professional Audio Job Titties.

 

excuse me sirs reliefsan and superliquidsunshine, but that was not what i wanted to hear :P of course i am - as you and all other board members - already an expert in all those things. my only skill lacking is not in knowing what titles are out there :D

 

its me that is sorry @VinylScra i was in a bad mood when i was reading your question so my answer was "from that place"
- I whent and worked on some music, So thank you for starting the thread whitch made me go make music! feel much better now lol :P

 

Bedroom Warrior

 

Unless one is a certified engineer with a university degree, sound engineer and audio engineer are off one's title by definition. Fortunately or unfortunately, sound engineering per se is a very young profession, and audio professionals are a mix of fairly recently-trained graduates and seasoned practitioners. As the profession evolves, audio professionals will have to belong in a bar or some kind of union to get a job, just like doctors and lawyers.

We still live in the wild west regarding cetification and legitimacy.

That being said, lucrative jobs are so scarce that audio professionals are in a way like musicians and artists: You live through fame and popularity. If one of your audio productions becomes a success, you instantly become an audio celebrity no matter how hard you worked before to break in the industry or not (I'm sure there's always a lot of work in the shadows).

I guess it was Bobby Owisinski who said, "Print out some business cards and knight yourself as an engineer graduated from the school of hard knocks." So what do I call myself? As many of us have realized, the term "producer" is broader and easier to fall into than any other name or title in the audio industry. Who is a producer? Nowadays a producer is a lot of things, from runner to mastering engineer and everything in between. I may be missing a thing or two, but in the days of glorious audio productions and huge record sale and royalty advances, the food chain for a project ranged from A&R executive, to agents and bookers who found talent, to band managers, to record producers, to writers and composers or the very artist, to studio managers, recording engineers and mixers, assistants, runners, to disc printing houses and mastering engineers. It was a lot of people. Nowadays, it's only you and your Internet access (and luckily some artist or band you can hook up with to produce).

I guess music producer is the term for me.

 

My sincere apologies (so too to Angie)...Mix Engineer comes to mind as well as Mastering Engineer.

 

When asked whether he considered himself a musician, Ralf Hütter of Kraftwerk replied, "Ich bin ein Musikarbeiter."

 

I guess this is like the saying that goes, "If a woman needs to call herself a lady, then she is not." I suppose the title gets applied to you when people perceive you as an audio professional. Ultimately this is what happens to us, street-trained musicians. I am a certified teacher, but this says nothing about who I am. When I became a bass player, over the years (over 20 on the low-down axe) people started to refer to me as musician. This speaks more about myself than my university training. I hope one day I get to carve my teeth with music production chops to the point that people see it in me. I won't hold it much longer up on a stage carrying a ten-pound bass around my back. I'm not a Rolling Stone.

 

Last edited: Mar 22, 2016

@mercurysoto ... being a great teacher, as I am fairly certain you are, says much about who you are.

 

That's kind of you to say. Thank you. I don't mean to bash on my education or my love for my career. I am proud to teach people and work to touch their lives meaningfully. However, had I had a choice in my school years, I would have chosen music production. My love of music is my drive. I'm actually doing the numbers and saving up to attend a local music production school in my country. Whenever the idea feels close enough, something happens and my money goes elsewhere. Adult life, right?

 

I 've been a session musician for 20 years, playing in rhythm sections with quite a few recordings and gigs, but when I have to give me a title then Music Lover is the closest I can think.

 

My contract says I'm a audio engineer and music producer. I can agree with that.