what does it mean to be a AE...

[gabriel g.]

We have lots of discussions around here atm, so I want to give interested people some chances to get a better picture of the Job:

http://www.livesoundint.com/archives/2002/septoct/questions/questions.php

20 questions in english every real AE should be able to answer in less then 5min without any help (books, internet....)

for the german guys:

http://www.sengpielaudio.com/Quizaudio04.htm

If you are not able to answer the questions you are no AE in any way!!!
If you are not willing to learn this stuff be an AE is not your cup of tea!!!

Using some software to create music is a beatiful thing, but has nothing to do with being an AE.

This is hard I know, but thats the reason I dont call me a AE at this moment...

 

[gabriel g.]

Producing bands is a totaly different thing.
Mixing bands also dont mean being an AE, it simply means being a Mixing-guy

Beeing an AE means being an ENGINEER!!!



But maybe I write this because I´m from germany....dont know how people think about that in other countries.
And I also dont know the definition of AE in other countries, but here in good cold germany you cant choose to be an engineer just out of fun, you have to study for it (like to become a Dr. Prof. Master. blablblaba)

 

[Pedro Teixeira]

The same thing goes on in Portugal. It confuses me a bit seeing people from other countries calling themselves AE's, to be considered an Engineer you must have a degree of Engineering, be it IT or Electronics, or whatever, then you can go through the Audio route, that's why I refuse to call myself as an engineer, since my degree is in Arts. I can answer most of those answers because I like to read about physics and electronics, also I had a few classes that tought most of the things referred in those questions. Except stupid bullshit like "when did shure release microphone X", lol... who cares? That isnt implying any knowledge at all

Also, that's what is shit in Portugal, your degree qualifies you as a person, if you have an engineer degree your considered of a high scale and people regard you as a "proper" individual, which is completely and utter bullshit. I know a person that passed most of his years in electronics engineering by cheating in exams, etc... But people there regard much better a piece of paper instead of your actual ability. That's one of the reasons I'm not living there anymore

 

[Metaltastic]

Oh man, I was just about to post a link to that thread XGabrielX started where we had a huge debate about this and decided it was a language barrier - then I realized that you're him, you just changed your name But I thought we had already reached a consensus on this back in that thread, so here it is again:

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/off-topic-tavern/529058-some-things-realy-piss-me-off.html

 

[Pedro Teixeira]

Yeah Marcus, I did a quick read through that thread and it's mainly the language barrier that was causing a bit of shitfest. Basically what he means and I understand completely since it's pretty subdued in my country's culture is that you CANT call engineer to someone who hasn't got an engineer degree/major. You just can't, since it's a classification, just like you call someone a Doctor because he has a Doctorate on something. But I have realized that "engineer" in the audio reign is considered of a more broad meaning, of one who knows how to, but doesn't actually have a degree of Engineering. That was pretty confusing to me a few years ago, but I got used to it.

 

[Brandon E.]

That thread reminds me of why Gareth was banned It's almost difficult to read

 

[Metaltastic]

It did have a moment of gold though:

Seriously, I'm guessing there might be a language barrier issue here or something, because it never would have occurred to me to even think that such a generalized term as "audio engineer" only referred to professionals (as in, those that make a substantial portion/all of their income from the trade); saying "pro audio engineer" or "hobbyist audio engineer" works for me (it's like with a baseball player on a major league team vs. one in little league, they're both still baseball players)

Sorry, I have to take issue with this.

The pros are baseball engineers.

 

[Pedro Teixeira]

LOOOL

 

[-J-]

I got one right! Number 5 about the speaker being used as a mic. What do I win?

 

[gabriel g.]

The thing is:
In all this threads people are fighting about real studios, pros and bedroom warriors bla bla bla...

So I put that up to show people whats realy behind the audio engineer thing:

Most real AE dont even work in studios anymore, they are building mics for Neumann, planing concerts(the audio system) for Metallica, touring with artist like Britneys Spears.....bli bla blub

Putting the XLR into the preamp end press record is a part of the Job but IS NOT everything.

I´m not saying this is a bad thing. I´m doing it myself.
This year I produced (tracked, mixed) two full length which will be released in germany soon. I´m in the middle of mixing one demo for a band from spain, and 2 other demo-projects are knocking at my door.
But to be honest, this is mostly CREATIVE working, and has often nothing to do with any technichal knowledge...

This has nothing to do with blaming anyone nor saying that anything is bad people do...

But I just think it is WRONG to put yourself up to a level people are working and investing their lives for.

I´m posting this to let people understand why the few real pros on this forum are pissed about the bedroom-warrior movement.

 

[Metaltastic]

I´m posting this to let people understand why the few real pros on this forum are pissed about the bedroom-warrior movement.

Actually, it seems a bit more like your posting it to try to convince us to stop using the term AE so liberally, but it ain't gonna happen

 

[gabriel g.]

You can call yourself however you want, I´m in no position to tell someone who he/she is or not....nor do I realy want to.

I´m just putting the cards on the table

thats it.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

17/20 here. I'm horrible at remembering years (the questions about Shure and Sennheiser), and the 20 micropascal thing was something that had escaped me.

 

[Brandon E.]

You can call yourself however you want, I´m in no position to tell someone who he/she is or not....nor do I realy want to.

If you are not able to answer the questions you are no AE in any way!!

hmm

 

[lilhermiejobo]

Theoretical knowledge does not garuntee skill and/or ability.

 

[Line666]

I got about half, most of the other half was filled with stuff I have been taught at some point but have mostly forgotten due to lack of interest/any practical use.

 

[gabriel g.]

hmm

No question here
You can call yourself a lawer if you want but this didnt make you a lawer

 

[gabriel g.]

I got about half, most of the other half was filled with stuff I have been taught at some point but have mostly forgotten due to lack of interest/any practical use.

same here, I forgot a lot of things
Did 12/20

There are 4 times more questions in german then I found in english.

Some are very difficuilt!!!

About Filters, Nyquist ....good stuff

 

[Trevoire520]

I'll admit I didn't know 10, 11, 12 and 17.

I feel that 11 and 12 aren't really that relevant to "being an audio engineer" I don't need to know what year a certain microphone was introduced.

As for 17, I've never used a Crown PPC or seen a spec sheet so how am I expected to know the pickup pattern? I can't know the specs to every mic in the world!