A sound engineer is responsible for the technical side of a recording or live performance. A sound engineer designs and manages sound levels and quality of output. They are also responsible for maintaining the physical sound equipment, like speakers, mixing consoles, and microphones. A sound engineer might review recorded tracks and edit them to improve them.
Personal Competencies
You like Science
You like to play instruments or sing
You are a creative person
You like to have clear instructions to follow
Entry Pathway
1. Complete your class 10 + 2 in the Science stream (Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics)
2. Complete Bachelor’s degree in Sound Engineering/Acoustics Engineering/ Sound and Music Technology
OR
Complete Diploma in Sound/Audio Engineering/Audio and Music Production/Acoustics/ Music Technology/ Sound Production/ Electronic Music Production/ Sound Design or similar fields.
For admissions, you must qualify entrance examination conducted at national level (JEE Main, JEE Advanced etc.) or state level (WBJEE, AP EAMCET etc.) or institute level (VET, IP etc.)
Please check the duration of the course during enrolment
Where will you study?
The course is offered by the Department of Engineering. This list of institutes is indicative only.
Government Institutes 1. College of Applied Science Vadakkencherry, Palakkad 2. Government Film & Television Institute, Bangalore 3. University of Mumbai 4. IIT Kharagpur 5. Film and Television Institute of India, Pune 6. Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communication, Delhi 7. Sri Annamacharya Government College of Music & Dance, Hyderabad 8. Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, West Bengal
Private Institutes (Please check if institute is affiliated and accredited with UGC and AICTE before applying) 1. SAGE University, Indore 2. Risali Institute of Management, Visakhapatnam 3. Garden City University, Bangalore 4. CMR University (School of Science Studies), Bangalore 5. Seamedu School of Pro-Expressionism, Pune 6. Deviprasad Goenka Management College of Media Studies 7. Rayat Bahra University, Punjab 8. Angel's Music Academy, Jaipur
The approx. course fee ranges between INR 45,000 - 13,00,000*
*(The above-mentioned figures are approximate numbers. This will vary from institute to institute)
Scholarships & Loans
Scholarships
• Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana Scholarship - This scholarship is provided to students enrolled in the first year of their engineering undergraduate course. Eligibility includes an aptitude test. It is awarded by the Government of India for economically backward students who have a strong aptitude for scientific research.*
• Merit-cum-Means based Scholarship - About 20,000 such engineering scholarships are awarded by the Ministry of Minority Affairs every year. The full course fees of awardees is directly paid to their institutions under this scheme.*
• Indian Oil Educational Scholarship - The IOC Ltd offers 300 scholarships every year to eligible students. Students need to be enrolled in an undergraduate course. The scholarship particularly focuses on students with physical disabilities, women and students from North East and J&K.*
• National Scholarship Portal - Visit http://www.scholarships.gov.in the National Scholarship Portal. Under this portal there are central government schemes offered by different departments, UGC/AICTE Schemes and State Schemes.*
• Scholarships are made available by institutes themselves based on merit.*
*(Availability of these scholarships vary from time to time)
Loans
• VidyaLakshmi, http://www.vidyalakshmi.co.in, is a portal for students seeking education loan. This portal has been developed under the guidance of the Department of Financial Services, (Ministry of Finance), Department of Higher Education (Ministry of Human Resource Development) and Indian Banks Association (IBA).
• Some states have student credit cards with low interest rates, for instance, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, etc.
• All banks give education loans.
Where will you work?
Places of Work: Production houses, Theatres, Music companies, Film production agencies, and Sound technology companies among others.
Work Environment: While you may or may not have to handle a team, you will have to collaborate with different stakeholders of the project you will work on. You may usually work 5 to 6 days a week and minimum of 8 to 9 hours every day. However, you can expect long irregular working hours
Opportunities for work exist for differently abled in this field
Meena Narayanan is considered to be India’s first woman Sound Engineer. She worked with her husband A Narayanan, who was one of the most acclaimed directors in early Tamil cinema. Although she did not receive any formal training in the field she said, film historian S. Theodore Baskaran writes in his book, The Message Bearers, that she paid attention to sound engineering and gained experience in two years. She was trained in Carnatic music.*
Sound Engineer
NCS Code: 2153.0500 | E0311. Complete your class 10 + 2 in the Science stream (Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics)
2. Complete Bachelor’s degree in Sound Engineering/Acoustics Engineering/ Sound and Music Technology
OR
Complete Diploma in Sound/Audio Engineering/Audio and Music Production/Acoustics/ Music Technology/ Sound Production/ Electronic Music Production/ Sound Design or similar fields.
For admissions, you must qualify entrance examination conducted at national level (JEE Main, JEE Advanced etc.) or state level (WBJEE, AP EAMCET etc.) or institute level (VET, IP etc.)
Please check the duration of the course during enrolment
The course is offered by the Department of Engineering.
This list of institutes is indicative only.
Government Institutes
1. College of Applied Science Vadakkencherry, Palakkad
2. Government Film & Television Institute, Bangalore
3. University of Mumbai
4. IIT Kharagpur
5. Film and Television Institute of India, Pune
6. Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communication, Delhi
7. Sri Annamacharya Government College of Music & Dance, Hyderabad
8. Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, West Bengal
Private Institutes
(Please check if institute is affiliated and accredited with UGC and AICTE before applying)
1. SAGE University, Indore
2. Risali Institute of Management, Visakhapatnam
3. Garden City University, Bangalore
4. CMR University (School of Science Studies), Bangalore
5. Seamedu School of Pro-Expressionism, Pune
6. Deviprasad Goenka Management College of Media Studies
7. Rayat Bahra University, Punjab
8. Angel's Music Academy, Jaipur
Information on Institute rankings is available at - https://www.nirfindia.org/2022/Ranking.html
Online courses
1.Coursera - in.coursera.org/search?query=sound%20engineering&
2.Udemy - https://www.udemy.com/courses/search/?q=sound+engineering&src=sac&kw=sound+engineering
The approx. course fee ranges between INR 45,000 - 13,00,000*
*(The above-mentioned figures are approximate numbers. This will vary from institute to institute)
Scholarships
• Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana Scholarship - This scholarship is provided to students enrolled in the first year of their engineering undergraduate course. Eligibility includes an aptitude test. It is awarded by the Government of India for economically backward students who have a strong aptitude for scientific research.*
• Merit-cum-Means based Scholarship - About 20,000 such engineering scholarships are awarded by the Ministry of Minority Affairs every year. The full course fees of awardees is directly paid to their institutions under this scheme.*
• Indian Oil Educational Scholarship - The IOC Ltd offers 300 scholarships every year to eligible students. Students need to be enrolled in an undergraduate course. The scholarship particularly focuses on students with physical disabilities, women and students from North East and J&K.*
• National Scholarship Portal - Visit http://www.scholarships.gov.in the National Scholarship Portal. Under this portal there are central government schemes offered by different departments, UGC/AICTE Schemes and State Schemes.*
• Visit http://www.buddy4study.com a gateway to scholarships starting from Class XI.*
• Scholarships are made available by institutes themselves based on merit.*
*(Availability of these scholarships vary from time to time)
Loans
• VidyaLakshmi, http://www.vidyalakshmi.co.in, is a portal for students seeking education loan. This portal has been developed under the guidance of the Department of Financial Services, (Ministry of Finance), Department of Higher Education (Ministry of Human Resource Development) and Indian Banks Association (IBA).
• Some states have student credit cards with low interest rates, for instance, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, etc.
• All banks give education loans.
Places of Work: Production houses, Theatres, Music companies, Film production agencies, and Sound technology companies among others.
Work Environment: While you may or may not have to handle a team, you will have to collaborate with different stakeholders of the project you will work on. You may usually work 5 to 6 days a week and minimum of 8 to 9 hours every day. However, you can expect long irregular working hours
Opportunities for work exist for differently abled in this field
Recordist → Sound Engineer → Sound Engineering Manager OR Worker/Helper → Sound Assistant → Senior Sound Assistant → Sound Engineer → Senior Sound Engineer → Producer
The approx. salary of a Sound Engineer ranges between INR 12,333-83,333* per month
Source : https://www.payscale.com/research/IN/Job=Sound_Engineer/Salary?loggedIn
*These figures are indicative and subject to change
Experts from the field
Meena Narayanan is considered to be India’s first woman Sound Engineer. She worked with her husband A Narayanan, who was one of the most acclaimed directors in early Tamil cinema. Although she did not receive any formal training in the field she said, film historian S. Theodore Baskaran writes in his book, The Message Bearers, that she paid attention to sound engineering and gained experience in two years. She was trained in Carnatic music.*
Source - thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/in dias-first-woman-sound-engineer-unsung-yet/article29453789.ece
*The above information is for training purposes only and will not be used for any commercial gains
sound engineering, audio engineering, sound technician