I would like to know what are the career opportunities for someone who has a knowledge of sound recording/ designing? I do know about opportunities in the field of film, radio, advertising . but are there anything more than that which I may not know of? I know about the branch of Sound art but I am not quite sure of the career opportunities in this specific field as well. It would be nice if people can shed some light on the different branches one can aspire to work in the field of sound.


There are hundreds of fields related to sound. I'll try to give a broad overview by breaking it down into the following categories: media production, event production, broadcast, design and engineering, and scholarship. There are some medical applications of sound that could be considered separate from those categories but normally one would approach those fields from a medicine or biology background.

Media production

This is probably the most widely known group of fields in which knowledge of sound is used. This includes production of music recordings, other sound-only recordings (everything from digital talking books to production sound libraries), sound for film, video, TV, video games, museum exhibits, training videos, toys, etc., etc. The kinds of jobs in this area include musician, voice actor, narrator, recordist, mixer, editor, mastering engineer, producer, boom operator, foley artist, sound designer... there are too many to list.

Event Production

This encompasses everything related to live events that need sound reinforcement, including musical concerts, Broadway musicals, plays, business presentations, keynote addresses, sporting events, etc. Again, there are hundreds of jobs related to sound in putting on events, depending on the type of event: mix engineer, monitor engineer, all kinds of technicians, consultants, backline, roadies, stage management, sound director, techinical director, sound designer, etc., etc.


I'm including radio, TV, and internet broadcasts in this category. All three require a lot of the same audio engineering as media and event production (mixing, etc), plus there are jobs in broadcast engineering that involve more electronics and/or computer science. Again, there are so many little jobs it's not practical to list them all. Broadcast areas include music, sports, TV, movies, streaming, video games, broadcast of all kinds of events and media as listed above.

Design and Engineering

This category is about creating and maintaining products and spaces that deal with sound. Pretty much everything in this category requires other skills along with knowledge of sound, like architecture, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, or computer science. Jobs in this area include design all manner of audio hardware and software, like instruments, amplifiers, processors, plug-ins, speaker cabinets, and on and on. Plus there are jobs in acoustic design and engineering for concert halls, recording studios, conference rooms, convention centers, etc. In addition to design, construction and installation of all of the above products and systems requires lots of manpower.


All of this knowledge of sound is tied into research, science, and education, so there is work in academia in acoustics, engineering, and production. Teaching is done both in public and private post-secondary universities and trade schools, and the subjects are wide-ranging including topics on every field listed above.

  • thanks for the excellent answer! More like this, please - – Jay Jennings Sep 1 '15 at 6:57
  • Frankly if I had the rep for it I might have voted to close the question as "too broad". – Todd Wilcox Sep 1 '15 at 10:13
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    please…what is the POINT of this forum if questions like this cannot be asked without the fear of getting shut down?? Man, do I ever miss the old Social Sound Design sometimes… – Jay Jennings Sep 2 '15 at 4:13
  • also…what exactly is "broad" about this question?? I think it is very specific in its scope and has elicited one very detailed answer. I have seen many other questions on this forum that are MUCH broader than this one. I say again, more like this please. – Jay Jennings Sep 2 '15 at 6:35
  • I would point to the fact that my answer is very long and yet still doesn't come close to being complete as evidence that the question is fairly broad. Whether it's too broad or not is definitely up for debate, and why it would just be my one vote to close and not necessarily a clear case of over broadness. Maybe no one else would agree with me and it would stay open. I'd be ok with that. – Todd Wilcox Sep 2 '15 at 10:19

The Video Game industry is one. Console, online, PC, mobile...

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