Acoustic Engineers - good career?
Discussion
Are there any Acoustic Engineers on PH?
My son, doing his A-Levels has expressed an interest in this. He is a bright lad (Maths, Physics and Philosophy) with a love of music (he writes his own and produces his own songs). I know only part of an Acoustic engineering course covers sound production.
He is interested in going to Salford University to study it (4 year course with a years placement).
Career prospects seem good.
I would be interested to hear from anyone who works in this field or studied it at Uni. Thanks
My son, doing his A-Levels has expressed an interest in this. He is a bright lad (Maths, Physics and Philosophy) with a love of music (he writes his own and produces his own songs). I know only part of an Acoustic engineering course covers sound production.
He is interested in going to Salford University to study it (4 year course with a years placement).
Career prospects seem good.
I would be interested to hear from anyone who works in this field or studied it at Uni. Thanks
dxg said:
Very good. Heriot-Watt used to be good for acoustics. Don't know if they still are, but they have the chambers.
I think only Southampton and Salford offer undergraduate degree courses in it these days. We've been to Salford and it was an impressive set up and they seem well integrated with industry for placements and post degree employment opportunities.Do you work in this field now?
trickywoo said:
Worth considering the impact of AI.
A neighbour in early 30s with a masters tells me he lost his job as a composer of music / sound for computer games due to AI.
He’s been looking for a new job in the same field of 6 months so far.
I suppose this is my main concern. But Acoustic Engineering is different to Sound / music production. It deals mostly with engineering solutions to how noise is transmitted through the environment (roads, schools, offices, homes, hospitals, life music venues etc). As well as microphone/loud speaker design.A neighbour in early 30s with a masters tells me he lost his job as a composer of music / sound for computer games due to AI.
He’s been looking for a new job in the same field of 6 months so far.
He is a bright boy and loves his maths/physics, and he could, within reason head down the route of any engineering discipline (apart from Chemical), and I have suggested other avenues such as Nuclear, electrical, mechanical engineering, but his heart seems set on Acoustic Engineering.
I'm in Nuclear (Mech Eng) but one of my uni modules involved a model town where the brief was that a busy road was to be built to run alongside it and each group had to come up with and test ideas to keep the sound out of the town as much as possible. Involved doing surveys on local roads taking readings to use real-life data and so on. I found it really interesting and the tutor running it clearly lived for that sort of stuff.
Most focussed on layout changes and throwing trees everywhere but my group won because we put the whole town under a dome
The tutor conceded that he didn't put it in the rules because he didn't think anyone would even consider it.
Patent pending for the super sound dome.
Most focussed on layout changes and throwing trees everywhere but my group won because we put the whole town under a dome
The tutor conceded that he didn't put it in the rules because he didn't think anyone would even consider it.
Patent pending for the super sound dome.
I'm not one but know a bit about this. I used to run a Radio Station and currently run a media/comms business and have regular need to engage with such professions.
Firstly, Acoustic Engineering is a very broad church. At one end you have creative sound (music, film, soundscapes, etc,) and at the other you have things like architectural sound engineering where the acoustics of a space need to be managed. My area of knowledge is on the former and I suspect this is where your son may be looking.
The most successful person I know in this field is responsible for pretty much every advert you hear on any Global radio station. Either produces them or fettles. He started out as a session musician, then music producer for the likes of Sugarbabes and similar. He now works from his home studio in Norfolk and does very well for himself.
Another chap who processes the sound on all the videos and films I make started out as a News Reporter on ITV, then BBC and still does a bit of radio. He's now a solo sound guy.
And a couple of lads that came and worked for us at the Radio Station, presenting shows and producing went onto study similar degrees to your son and ended up on various intern programmes at the BBC where two of them now work, one producing shows for Radio 2 and the other doing sound production for live shows. The other went to Australia and hosts a breakfast show in Melbourne.
So, there's demand and opportunity....... but....... it's fiercely competitive and what set all of the above apart is that they had another different but related string to their bows. This adds tremendous value to what you can offer an employer.
If there's a community Radio Station near to you/him, then suggest he goes and volunteers there; present a show, produce a show, make the tea, or whatever else they may need.
It's also a very heavily networked industry (All those sound engineers you see at the big (and smaller) gigs..... none of them applied for the job through Linkedin!) so he'll need to get in amongst it all and become 'known'. That takes time but the sooner it starts the better. This also means he'll at some point need to be living in a media-centric city which in the UK means either London or Manchester. You need to be visible to the industry.
I'd also suggest that starting out in broadcast is a must!
Ai is having an impact, that's certain but there is still the need for a human ear and that's unlikely to change anytime soon. Apple, Netflix and Amazon are all invitingly heavily in UK production bases at the moment and this will inevitably lead to more opportunities.
Hope that's of help.
Firstly, Acoustic Engineering is a very broad church. At one end you have creative sound (music, film, soundscapes, etc,) and at the other you have things like architectural sound engineering where the acoustics of a space need to be managed. My area of knowledge is on the former and I suspect this is where your son may be looking.
The most successful person I know in this field is responsible for pretty much every advert you hear on any Global radio station. Either produces them or fettles. He started out as a session musician, then music producer for the likes of Sugarbabes and similar. He now works from his home studio in Norfolk and does very well for himself.
Another chap who processes the sound on all the videos and films I make started out as a News Reporter on ITV, then BBC and still does a bit of radio. He's now a solo sound guy.
And a couple of lads that came and worked for us at the Radio Station, presenting shows and producing went onto study similar degrees to your son and ended up on various intern programmes at the BBC where two of them now work, one producing shows for Radio 2 and the other doing sound production for live shows. The other went to Australia and hosts a breakfast show in Melbourne.
So, there's demand and opportunity....... but....... it's fiercely competitive and what set all of the above apart is that they had another different but related string to their bows. This adds tremendous value to what you can offer an employer.
If there's a community Radio Station near to you/him, then suggest he goes and volunteers there; present a show, produce a show, make the tea, or whatever else they may need.
It's also a very heavily networked industry (All those sound engineers you see at the big (and smaller) gigs..... none of them applied for the job through Linkedin!) so he'll need to get in amongst it all and become 'known'. That takes time but the sooner it starts the better. This also means he'll at some point need to be living in a media-centric city which in the UK means either London or Manchester. You need to be visible to the industry.
I'd also suggest that starting out in broadcast is a must!
Ai is having an impact, that's certain but there is still the need for a human ear and that's unlikely to change anytime soon. Apple, Netflix and Amazon are all invitingly heavily in UK production bases at the moment and this will inevitably lead to more opportunities.
Hope that's of help.
I have worked in Acoustics for over 35 years - automotive industry for 25 years and now focussed on the health effects of noise and vibration exposure. We used to recruit into automotive industry mostly from Salford until their courses started to focus much more on media focussed sound recording rather than industrial. The best known courses for industrial acoustics are at Southampton (Institute of Sound and Vibration Research).
I spoke to someone manning the PA desk at a big conference this week who studied at Derby and said they were as big as Salford now.
There are a lot of people who want to do music/concert/PA type careers and I think a lot of them end up doing ‘roadie’ type jobs that isn’t quite what they imagined. A good grounding in acoustics opens up a lot of opportunities and it is a really interesting area, particularly if you are comfortable with maths and physics.
By far the biggest area of interest in industrial acoustics at the moment is ‘soundscape’ - the effect noise has on the ‘built environment’ ie developments towns and cities, etc. The biggest international acoustics conference, InterNoise, has had more talks on soundscape than anything else for the last few years. I have recruited a couple of times recently and most applicants are coming from an environmental noise background.
If the music side of things didn’t work out, there are many other opportunities for good acousticians - have a look at the IOA (institute of acoustics) website for some ideas of current job vacancies.
Hope that helps
I spoke to someone manning the PA desk at a big conference this week who studied at Derby and said they were as big as Salford now.
There are a lot of people who want to do music/concert/PA type careers and I think a lot of them end up doing ‘roadie’ type jobs that isn’t quite what they imagined. A good grounding in acoustics opens up a lot of opportunities and it is a really interesting area, particularly if you are comfortable with maths and physics.
By far the biggest area of interest in industrial acoustics at the moment is ‘soundscape’ - the effect noise has on the ‘built environment’ ie developments towns and cities, etc. The biggest international acoustics conference, InterNoise, has had more talks on soundscape than anything else for the last few years. I have recruited a couple of times recently and most applicants are coming from an environmental noise background.
If the music side of things didn’t work out, there are many other opportunities for good acousticians - have a look at the IOA (institute of acoustics) website for some ideas of current job vacancies.
Hope that helps
padrc66 said:
I have worked in Acoustics for over 35 years - automotive industry for 25 years and now focussed on the health effects of noise and vibration exposure. We used to recruit into automotive industry mostly from Salford until their courses started to focus much more on media focussed sound recording rather than industrial. The best known courses for industrial acoustics are at Southampton (Institute of Sound and Vibration Research).
I spoke to someone manning the PA desk at a big conference this week who studied at Derby and said they were as big as Salford now.
There are a lot of people who want to do music/concert/PA type careers and I think a lot of them end up doing ‘roadie’ type jobs that isn’t quite what they imagined. A good grounding in acoustics opens up a lot of opportunities and it is a really interesting area, particularly if you are comfortable with maths and physics.
By far the biggest area of interest in industrial acoustics at the moment is ‘soundscape’ - the effect noise has on the ‘built environment’ ie developments towns and cities, etc. The biggest international acoustics conference, InterNoise, has had more talks on soundscape than anything else for the last few years. I have recruited a couple of times recently and most applicants are coming from an environmental noise background.
If the music side of things didn’t work out, there are many other opportunities for good acousticians - have a look at the IOA (institute of acoustics) website for some ideas of current job vacancies.
Hope that helps
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. I think my son is aware that he will need to focus on the engineering side of things more for a progressive career, rather than the sound recording/live events stuff. At the Salford open day, quite a few of the guys attending were from more of a sound recording background and looking to enhance their employability having realised that there are not that many good jobs now in sound recording/live events.I spoke to someone manning the PA desk at a big conference this week who studied at Derby and said they were as big as Salford now.
There are a lot of people who want to do music/concert/PA type careers and I think a lot of them end up doing ‘roadie’ type jobs that isn’t quite what they imagined. A good grounding in acoustics opens up a lot of opportunities and it is a really interesting area, particularly if you are comfortable with maths and physics.
By far the biggest area of interest in industrial acoustics at the moment is ‘soundscape’ - the effect noise has on the ‘built environment’ ie developments towns and cities, etc. The biggest international acoustics conference, InterNoise, has had more talks on soundscape than anything else for the last few years. I have recruited a couple of times recently and most applicants are coming from an environmental noise background.
If the music side of things didn’t work out, there are many other opportunities for good acousticians - have a look at the IOA (institute of acoustics) website for some ideas of current job vacancies.
Hope that helps
We are waiting for Southampton to tell us when their open day is, and will certainly attend that now.
My son studied the Tonmeister course at Surrey but I remember visiting Southampton for an open day. Looked like a great course from what I could judge. I'm not sure about the future for studio engineers any more. AI is going to take it on. I know that some of the Tonmeister graduates took up acoustic engineering as a career although it is a bit construction industry dependent. Equally some no longer in audio.
Noting to add, only that I wish I had such an engaged parent willing to help me out when I was his age, half a lifetime ago. Good on you.
I got bugger all careers advice from my parents or my school, I sort of fell into an IT career by accident of circumstance, and whilst it has been good to me, it's not what I really wanted from life.
I love music and sound, studying something like this would have fascinated the younger me. I had bugger all idea that you could do it at University back in my day.
I got bugger all careers advice from my parents or my school, I sort of fell into an IT career by accident of circumstance, and whilst it has been good to me, it's not what I really wanted from life.
I love music and sound, studying something like this would have fascinated the younger me. I had bugger all idea that you could do it at University back in my day.
alfabeat said:
Are there any Acoustic Engineers on PH?
My son, doing his A-Levels has expressed an interest in this. He is a bright lad (Maths, Physics and Philosophy) with a love of music (he writes his own and produces his own songs). I know only part of an Acoustic engineering course covers sound production.
He is interested in going to Salford University to study it (4 year course with a years placement).
Career prospects seem good.
I would be interested to hear from anyone who works in this field or studied it at Uni. Thanks
My son has a first in Acoustic Engineering from Southampton Uni. (straight A's at A level Maths, Physics, Chemistry, English, Further maths). he also writes his own music and songs, had a couple of EP's recorded with his band etcMy son, doing his A-Levels has expressed an interest in this. He is a bright lad (Maths, Physics and Philosophy) with a love of music (he writes his own and produces his own songs). I know only part of an Acoustic engineering course covers sound production.
He is interested in going to Salford University to study it (4 year course with a years placement).
Career prospects seem good.
I would be interested to hear from anyone who works in this field or studied it at Uni. Thanks
He really wanted to do it, and decided not to do Theoretical Astrophysics (his other love) for Acoustic Engineering. He enjoyed his course but it was challenging especially on the maths front and the workload he said was greater than that of the medics at Uni.
He wasn't particularly taken with the career options, most seem to go into consultancy for large firms like Atkins, a couple went on to places like Cambridge Audio and a couple to MOD supply chain, but most of his peers didn't go into acoustic engineering.
My son went and did a masters in Fine Art at Central St Martins, ended up with a distinction, worked Damien Hurst on mega statues, doing welding and designing structures to support them. At 28 he has just landed a job designing and making underwater habitats capable of supporting human life. The main skills they want him for are "general engineering and structures" and very specialist welding and fabrication.
In short - he is using engineering, but not really the acoustics bit. However engineering with fluids has many similarities to acoustic engineering. His note books are still page after page of mathematical formulas.
Shooter McGavin said:
Noting to add, only that I wish I had such an engaged parent willing to help me out when I was his age, half a lifetime ago. Good on you.
I got bugger all careers advice from my parents or my school, I sort of fell into an IT career by accident of circumstance, and whilst it has been good to me, it's not what I really wanted from life.
I love music and sound, studying something like this would have fascinated the younger me. I had bugger all idea that you could do it at University back in my day.
Exactly the reason why I am taking an interest. I also didn't get much advice, just fell into a job that would pay the bills (Accountancy). I think the future with regards work is more uncertain now than ever, and with the cost of university courses, don't want him going down a dead end.....I got bugger all careers advice from my parents or my school, I sort of fell into an IT career by accident of circumstance, and whilst it has been good to me, it's not what I really wanted from life.
I love music and sound, studying something like this would have fascinated the younger me. I had bugger all idea that you could do it at University back in my day.
blueg33 said:
My son has a first in Acoustic Engineering from Southampton Uni. (straight A's at A level Maths, Physics, Chemistry, English, Further maths). he also writes his own music and songs, had a couple of EP's recorded with his band etc
He really wanted to do it, and decided not to do Theoretical Astrophysics (his other love) for Acoustic Engineering. He enjoyed his course but it was challenging especially on the maths front and the workload he said was greater than that of the medics at Uni.
He wasn't particularly taken with the career options, most seem to go into consultancy for large firms like Atkins, a couple went on to places like Cambridge Audio and a couple to MOD supply chain, but most of his peers didn't go into acoustic engineering.
My son went and did a masters in Fine Art at Central St Martins, ended up with a distinction, worked Damien Hurst on mega statues, doing welding and designing structures to support them. At 28 he has just landed a job designing and making underwater habitats capable of supporting human life. The main skills they want him for are "general engineering and structures" and very specialist welding and fabrication.
In short - he is using engineering, but not really the acoustics bit. However engineering with fluids has many similarities to acoustic engineering. His note books are still page after page of mathematical formulas.
Very interesting. I suppose the questions are.....He really wanted to do it, and decided not to do Theoretical Astrophysics (his other love) for Acoustic Engineering. He enjoyed his course but it was challenging especially on the maths front and the workload he said was greater than that of the medics at Uni.
He wasn't particularly taken with the career options, most seem to go into consultancy for large firms like Atkins, a couple went on to places like Cambridge Audio and a couple to MOD supply chain, but most of his peers didn't go into acoustic engineering.
My son went and did a masters in Fine Art at Central St Martins, ended up with a distinction, worked Damien Hurst on mega statues, doing welding and designing structures to support them. At 28 he has just landed a job designing and making underwater habitats capable of supporting human life. The main skills they want him for are "general engineering and structures" and very specialist welding and fabrication.
In short - he is using engineering, but not really the acoustics bit. However engineering with fluids has many similarities to acoustic engineering. His note books are still page after page of mathematical formulas.
- did Southampton Uni satisfy his music interest (externally from the course)
- did his Acoustic engineering degree help him get to where he is now? It was a stepping stone to something he is enjoying?
It sounds like quite an academically challenging degree, which I imagine many employers, who know, look favourably on?
I did the Acoustical Engineering course at Southampton, graduating in 2012. It's was extremely maths and 'engineering' heavy with lots of fluid dynamics and some computational elements like finite element analysis and matlab, which I imagine will have developed significantly since then. The course was full of musicians but music production/live sound etc was maybe half a module throughout the entire course. There was a very interesting group project to design and test a loudspeaker from scratch including all electronics.
The university was amazing and I loved my time there but as a very average student, getting very average grades at school I really struggled throughout the degree. I was originally on the 4 year master's course but decided to leave with a bachelors at 3 years and went into consultancy. The best of the class would have went into product design and I really wanted to do something with automotive NVH but it didn't happen.
I specialised in environmental acoustics which studies the noise impact from things like roads, railways, factories etc on residential properties. Any new planning application for a medium size development will have a noise survey completed or maybe a quarry will want to extend its operating hours. I completed a lot of work on HS2 considering both the construction and operational impact.
I was also involved in some building acoustics projects such as designing the acoustics of an internal space, like a church or conference space or testing a new school to make sure there wasn't a significant amount of noise transferred between classrooms or through the floors/ceilings. It can be a rewarding career and obviously the good consultants will get more interesting projects to work on. The IOA website will have jobs listed but the salaries generally aren't great compared with many other degree fields.
After about 6 years of consultancy I got bored writing reports that no-one would read and I moved to a different industry to be more hands on.
I don't mean to put you off and it's definitely worth exploring but isn't going to be an easy ride making mix tapes or jamming with local bands.
The university was amazing and I loved my time there but as a very average student, getting very average grades at school I really struggled throughout the degree. I was originally on the 4 year master's course but decided to leave with a bachelors at 3 years and went into consultancy. The best of the class would have went into product design and I really wanted to do something with automotive NVH but it didn't happen.
I specialised in environmental acoustics which studies the noise impact from things like roads, railways, factories etc on residential properties. Any new planning application for a medium size development will have a noise survey completed or maybe a quarry will want to extend its operating hours. I completed a lot of work on HS2 considering both the construction and operational impact.
I was also involved in some building acoustics projects such as designing the acoustics of an internal space, like a church or conference space or testing a new school to make sure there wasn't a significant amount of noise transferred between classrooms or through the floors/ceilings. It can be a rewarding career and obviously the good consultants will get more interesting projects to work on. The IOA website will have jobs listed but the salaries generally aren't great compared with many other degree fields.
After about 6 years of consultancy I got bored writing reports that no-one would read and I moved to a different industry to be more hands on.
I don't mean to put you off and it's definitely worth exploring but isn't going to be an easy ride making mix tapes or jamming with local bands.
Edited by BelfastBlack on Monday 14th April 20:26
I studied acoustics at uni. Did well, and enjoyed the course.
Was very heavy in engineering and maths, but I enjoyed that.
Was always miffed that all my housemates only seemed to be in uni for a couple hours a day, I seemed to be in labs and lectures constantly.
As people have alluded too, it’s fiercely competitive to get into a career afterwards.
I’ve now been a chartered accountant for the last 16 years! And I’m starting to see that AI too will take that over in a decade or so!!
Just to add to this. I didn’t help my career progression in acoustics. I really didn’t want to move to London. Wanted to stay in Yorkshire. So that pretty much put a stop to any career.
It definitely helped with my accountancy qualifications. Got me a few exemptions, and my uni learnt ability to self study saw me get through it with relative ease.
Often think what could have been. But I’m happy with how it all turned out.
Was very heavy in engineering and maths, but I enjoyed that.
Was always miffed that all my housemates only seemed to be in uni for a couple hours a day, I seemed to be in labs and lectures constantly.
As people have alluded too, it’s fiercely competitive to get into a career afterwards.
I’ve now been a chartered accountant for the last 16 years! And I’m starting to see that AI too will take that over in a decade or so!!
Just to add to this. I didn’t help my career progression in acoustics. I really didn’t want to move to London. Wanted to stay in Yorkshire. So that pretty much put a stop to any career.
It definitely helped with my accountancy qualifications. Got me a few exemptions, and my uni learnt ability to self study saw me get through it with relative ease.
Often think what could have been. But I’m happy with how it all turned out.
Edited by joestifff on Monday 14th April 20:47
alfabeat said:
blueg33 said:
My son has a first in Acoustic Engineering from Southampton Uni. (straight A's at A level Maths, Physics, Chemistry, English, Further maths). he also writes his own music and songs, had a couple of EP's recorded with his band etc
He really wanted to do it, and decided not to do Theoretical Astrophysics (his other love) for Acoustic Engineering. He enjoyed his course but it was challenging especially on the maths front and the workload he said was greater than that of the medics at Uni.
He wasn't particularly taken with the career options, most seem to go into consultancy for large firms like Atkins, a couple went on to places like Cambridge Audio and a couple to MOD supply chain, but most of his peers didn't go into acoustic engineering.
My son went and did a masters in Fine Art at Central St Martins, ended up with a distinction, worked Damien Hurst on mega statues, doing welding and designing structures to support them. At 28 he has just landed a job designing and making underwater habitats capable of supporting human life. The main skills they want him for are "general engineering and structures" and very specialist welding and fabrication.
In short - he is using engineering, but not really the acoustics bit. However engineering with fluids has many similarities to acoustic engineering. His note books are still page after page of mathematical formulas.
Very interesting. I suppose the questions are.....He really wanted to do it, and decided not to do Theoretical Astrophysics (his other love) for Acoustic Engineering. He enjoyed his course but it was challenging especially on the maths front and the workload he said was greater than that of the medics at Uni.
He wasn't particularly taken with the career options, most seem to go into consultancy for large firms like Atkins, a couple went on to places like Cambridge Audio and a couple to MOD supply chain, but most of his peers didn't go into acoustic engineering.
My son went and did a masters in Fine Art at Central St Martins, ended up with a distinction, worked Damien Hurst on mega statues, doing welding and designing structures to support them. At 28 he has just landed a job designing and making underwater habitats capable of supporting human life. The main skills they want him for are "general engineering and structures" and very specialist welding and fabrication.
In short - he is using engineering, but not really the acoustics bit. However engineering with fluids has many similarities to acoustic engineering. His note books are still page after page of mathematical formulas.
- did Southampton Uni satisfy his music interest (externally from the course)
- did his Acoustic engineering degree help him get to where he is now? It was a stepping stone to something he is enjoying?
It sounds like quite an academically challenging degree, which I imagine many employers, who know, look favourably on?
Because the course was very intense his music took a back seat. He has only just started playing gigs again and doesn’t do them often.
I think for him it’s worked out well and has for most of his friends on the course who all have good jobs.
I have contacts with Salford for very technical acoustics work ( aerospace) and they are very good. The only comparable outfit in this sort of acoustics engineering is probably Southampton. For the more creative end going more towards recording engineering it's worth looking at the Tonmeister course at Surrey.
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