Audio Engineer facts

While investigating facts about Audio Engineering and Audio Engineer Salary, I found out little known, but curios details like:

Alan Parsons (the audio engineer of Dark Side of the Moon) rejected Pink Floyd's invitation to work as the audio engineer of "Wish You Were Here" and started Alan Parsons Project

how to become an audio engineer?

Bose, the audio equipment company was founded by Amar Bose, an MIT engineering professor who bought a high-end stereo speaker system in 1956 and was disappointed of its sound quality. Despite owning Bose, he remained as a professor. He donated most of Bose shares to MIT as non-voting.

What audio engineers do?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what's audio engineering. Here are 18 of the best facts about Audio Engineering Jobs and Audio Engineering Schools I managed to collect.

what audio engineers really do?

1. Tom's Diner by Suzanne Vega was used to test the early MP3 compression algorithms. The audio engineer listened to the song thousands of times before it came through clearly.

2. 35 GBs of Titanfall's total file size of 49 GBs is uncompressed audio because the engineers thought the minimum specification CPU couldn't handle decompressing the audio.

3. Modern car engines are so quiet that a lot of manufacturers pipe in audio that makes the engine sound louder than it actually is. Manufacturers fear that passengers may find their whisper quiet engine and silent cabin unsettling and that car enthusiasts prefer that classic engine sound.

4. Rock musician Alan Parsons (of The Alan Parsons Project) is also an audio engineer and helped to produce such iconic albums as the Beatles Abbey Road and Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon

5. During the recording sessions for Steely Dan's Gaucho in 1980, audio engineer Roger Nichols built a percussion sequencer he named Wendel. It was insanely expensive—one crash cymbal cost twelve thousand dollars worth of RAM.

6. Dr.Tomabechi,an audio engineer,made a ringtone which increases bust size with subliminal messaging,the sound of a crying baby.This triggers a response in women to enlarge them so they can feed the kid.It takes 20times a day,for 10days to enlarge them by 3cm (which is 50% larger than he thought.)

7. David Gilmour mixed sound for Jimi Hendrix's set at the Isle of Wright festival, his final UK performance, when audio engineer Peter Watts was too stoned to do his job properly.

8. Alan Parsons of the Alan Parson Project was the Audio Engineer on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of The Moon

9. Tom Scholz founder of legendary band Boston, invented his own audio devices while working as a senior engineer at Polaroid after graduating from MIT.

10. A Soviet era audio engineer invented a synthesizer called the ANS synthesizer that scanned images and generated sounds on glass disks. The original was destroyed and there's only one copy of the machine in existence. [Sample music in link - Certainly not for everyone.]

Why study audio engineering?

You can easily fact check it by examining the linked well-known sources.

A recording of 'Teddy Bears' Picnic' was so good, it was used by BBC Enginers for more than 30 years to test audio equipment

Auto-Tune was initially created by an engineer developing methods to interpret seismic data, he subsequently realized that the technology could be used to detect, analyze, and modify the pitch in audio files. - source

Going to California by Led Zepellin started out as a song about Californian earthquakes. When Jimmy Page, the band manager, and an audio engineer traveled to LA to mix the album, they coincidentally experienced a minor earthquake. - source

Auto-tune was initially created by an engineer working for Exxon who developed methods for interpreting seismic data. He subsequently realized that the technology could be used to detect, analyze, and modify the pitch in audio files.

Co-pilot Imme Visscher (not Capt. Karl van der Elst) saved the lives of 245 people on KLM 867 (Boeing 747) after it flew through a volcanic ash cloud and lost all 4 engines. Audio is chilling. - source

When did audio cassettes come out?

There is an online quiz that can determine if you'd be a good audio engineer or not