The Lecture

Dean Humphreys is an audio engineer who has taken on many roles within the area of sound production. He has helped produce sound for various movies and other pieces of media.

His lecture today taught me all about how to get a job in, and work your way up, the audio production industry. He stressed that there was a lot more required from you than just technical skills. There’s also a great deal of creativity required in order to help you and your work stand out amongst others. However, before you’ll be given any opportunities to get creative, it’s important to have good social skills.

Being able to act, dress, talk and write formally will certainly help during the process of finding a job. However, working your way up the industry will also require a lot of perseverance and dedication. Once you do find yourself working a leading role within the production of a film’s audio, you’ll finally be able to show off your creativity and technical skills. However, in most cases, you’ll also have to be open-minded to other people’s ideas as some members of the production team might disagree with your creative choices. Stubbornness will only negatively impact people’s views on you and might even prevent people from wanting to work with you, in which case you’ll find yourself with less work. Humility and open-mindedness are of high importance in the audio production industry.

How might this lecture apply to my audio project?

Although I’m currently producing music as a freelance artist, I do wish to collaborate with other musicians during the production of my next EP. In the future, there may even come a time in which I begin work under a record label or production company. And so, it is important that I take these social skills into consideration in order to improve and maintain relationships between myself and other parties. When working with other artists, or under the guidance of a label or production company, it is important to accept that I may sometimes find myself having to make compromises.