In the Field and Studio: Can be One in the Same

In the audio world, live sound and studio recording are often painted as contrasting career paths. I’ve even had colleagues in live event situations dismiss the need to learn new skills in the field because “I’m a studio engineer! I just won’t get this live stuff.” But in reality, the experience from both settings can be advantageous for understanding and expanding your skillset as a rounded audio engineer. When beginning my education in music technology, live events and studio recording felt siloed from one another. The classes that taught mixing basics did not seem to intertwine properly with the ones that taught us how to set up basic PA’s. I was under the impression that the rules and lessons from one side of the industry did not necessarily apply to the other.

This fact began to shake my confidence in my recording and mixing abilities when my career and experience began favoring live sound, church worship bands, and corporate events.I was afraid that the more I learn and leaned into this part of the industry I wouldn’t be able to go back to studio recording--I felt the need to choose one or the other. However, my perspective started to shift once I was able to come back to recording and mixing. Balancing the volume of my tracks became more natural, and the music sat together much easier than before. I could find frequencies much faster than before. It seems all the practice of ringing out mics and having only 20 minutes to set up a band and sound check was starting to pay off.

While refamiliarizing myself with mixing, I reached a new level of nuance with plug-ins and processing. Going out into the field after taking some time in the studio, I found myself tweaking small details of compression, applying more optimal bus processing and reaching more clarity from gigs that were just a podium to a live band. After exploring my place in the industry, I’ve learned that the different sections of audio are more interconnected than one may think, and to never turn down an opportunity to learn on one side of the industry that can help you in many others.