By means of switches and dials on the mixing boards, sound engineers monitor the sound input in terms of the volume, and sound quality. Other integral components of sound engineering include digital audio workstations, signal processors, and sequencing software. In movies, sound engineers and technicians incorporate the voices of actors in the movie sound tracks along with special sound effects. The movie ‘Apocalypse Now’ produced in the year 1979 is considered as a classic example of ’sound’ films till date.

Sound engineering is one of the most popular career options in the modern generation. Sound engineers can have a promising career in movie and video production, advertising as well as sound broadcasting. However, it is crucial to receive formal training and a degree from a recognized institute, which is certified by accreditation association, such as NORDING or EURING.

Sound Engineering Schools

Generally, students obtain formal education and training in sound engineering through sound engineering schools. These schools offer extensive as well as intensive training in different fields of sound engineering such as Recording and Production. Since there are a large number of schools and institutes that impart this form of education, it is advisable to select a school on the basis of certain criteria.

a.) Strength Of The Class And Amenities Offered – It is crucial to know the number of students enrolled in a program as it statistics reveal that institutes enrolling limited number of students offer better training environment. Another deciding factor is the facilities offered by the training school or institute. The Hartt School at University of Hartford (CT) restricts the number of students to thirty for its production program. This school has 6 modern studios, and is associated with the Yale theater department. As a result, students get theoretical as well as practical training in live recording.

b.) Type Of School – Students looking for a full-fledged training and career in sound engineering, can opt for schools that are specialized and dedicated exclusively to Music and Video production. Others can opt for schools that are a part of a bigger organization or University.

c.) Location – With this branch of career gaining popularity over the years, there are many institutes located in different cities that offer training as well as placement assistance.

d.) Reputation Of The School – It is important to select a school after verifying its credibility.

There are a large number of institutes that offer 12 week or 24 week courses in sound engineering. The advantage of such programs is that students can decide the pace of their program for better comprehension. Students also have the option of choosing the examination center that is convenient to them. These courses are becoming popular owing to their flexibility and convenience.

For this tutorial i am using a sound file of a vocal recording. I will be using ‘adobe audition’ to edit this sound file. ‘Adobe audition’ is a popular brand of multi track recording software. This software allows you to record, edit and mix sound files/recordings. It has loads of tools to edit/engineer your sound files exactly as you would like them to be.

This tutorial will show you how to use the noise reduction tool to remove unwanted sounds/background noise from a recording or any sound file. I am using adobe audition for this example but any decent sound editor will have this tool.

The first step is to identify an appropriate section of the sound file that contains the noise. A good area to find is that which represents a pause between the speech/vocal. Just like when you take a pause between your sentences or words when you are speaking normally. It is useful to zoom in using the software to get a nice clear view of the part u would like to work with. This is the section that will be used to clean up the entire sound file. Once you have zoomed in on your chosen section it will be apparent that where it should be a silent pause there is actually a quiet noise. This is the section that we will sample and then remove from the entire sound file.

In most cases when you record any sound there is usually a quiet hiss or humming (noise) that can be heard during playback. This can come from the recording equipment itself or from background sounds that are within the range of the recording equipment. It is generally regarded as noise because these are usually unwanted sounds.

As well as noise you will also find other quiet looking parts of the sound file that represent the sound of someone breathing in. You will usually see these breath sounds just before a vocal part begins. These breath sounds will always be recorded with voice recordings unless you use a microphone that only records outward sound. Another option is to have a very skilled vocalist! Some people choose to remove or reduce the volume of this breath sound but that should only be done after you have removed the underlying noise of the entire track first.

So now we will remove the noise!

Highlight the silent pause/noise. This is done in the exact same manner as you would highlight text in a text document. Be careful not to select any of the vocal part when making your selection. You may want to zoom in to guarantee your accuracy for this part of the process. To sample this noise in ‘adobe audition’ right-click on that highlighted section and click on “capture noise profile” from the menu that appears.

This tells the software (adobe audition) what you consider to be the noise (sound frequencies that you would like to remove or reduce). The next step is to to go ahead and remove this noise from the entire sound file. In ‘adobe audition’ this is done by using the noise reduction tool.

Which ever sound editing software u decide to use within your studio setup the method may vary slightly but the basic steps and terminology will be very similar.

Next, click on the “effects” menu at the top of the screen and then click on noise reduction from the menu that appears. Once you have done this a new window will appear. This window represents the noise reduction tool and displays all the options and relevant information about that tool. The noise that you captured earlier will be the default noise used by this tool. You can either completely remove the noise or you can just reduce the noise to an acceptable level using the “noise reduction level” variable shown in the image. If you click on the preview button you can listen to what the alterations will sound like before permanently applying them. This is useful to fine tune the amount of effect you want to apply.

It is important to take care and listen carefully at this stage of the process because sometimes it is possible to apply too much noise reduction. This can effect the overall sound of the file in a way that you did not intend. Once you are happy with the settings click on the OK button and the noise will be removed. Magic!

You will then see complete silence where the silent pauses between the vocal waveforms are. At this stage you will have successfully removed the unwanted noise from the entire length of sound file. This can be seen most clearly by the completely flat line (zero decibels/volume) where the pauses are. At this point you may choose to adjust the volume of the breath sounds discussed earlier if you feel it is appropriate.

It is useful to get rid of noise within all of your vocal recordings because when you have several vocal tracks playing at once it also means you have several layers of noise. This noise can easily go un noticed but it can sometimes slightly muffle other sounds/frequencies such as your musical parts or beats. When dealing with mastering, mixing and balancing the whole mix this is a useful and important tool for a quality production and allows the beat/music to be heard crystal clear.

This informative lesson is to help you to become a highly skilled sound engineer and to create/edit your sounds to perfection.

Also if you would like to see a version of this tutorial with images that show each stage of this process go to the address below.

http://www.abcprodesign.com/music production/music production studio.htm

To be an audio engineer, you have to go to school and pursue the course and there are many audio engineering colleges offering such programs. This is the main reason you need them as you have to acquire the right knowledge, skills and certifications to be considered a professional. You will only be employed or find jobs if you can prove that you have undergone the required audio engineering courses and emerged successful.

Audio engineering has progressed over the years and one of the changes that are noticeable is the fact that people are now using the digital technology as opposed to analog technology. The good thing with these colleges is that you get a chance to learn both technologies especially the new techniques resulting from the latest technology and how to integrate them.

Client’s needs are ever-changing and as such every audio engineer must adapt to the changes to be able to meet the demands of the customers. You need to go to school to learn how to meet changing clients’ demands and most of the audio engineering courses are designed in such a way that you will find it easy to adapt to the changes in technology which results in people’s need for quality products.

There are many equipment used in audio engineering and the best place to learn them is at the audio engineering colleges. Most of the equipment are not very easy to use but under the right environment and with the right people, you can master them. After completing your studies, you can now purchase your own equipment for use in your work having learned how to use each of them.