Introduction
People’s professions are usually viewed from the most known sides. Those, who treat people, are thought to be doctors, miners are considered to extract coal, and sound engineers deal with music instruments. The important part is that most people do not even guess that all professions deal with lots of other responsibilities, which are usually unseen to others and are not considered as important, but the fact is that often this or that profession is rather interesting in terms of this or that function, which is not spread universally. Sound Engineers’ part of responsibilities also involves the voice correction of the singers, who cannot sing in reality.
Main body
The profession of sound engineer is not so structured and uninteresting, as it may seem from the first time. People have used, that responsibilities of sound engineers involve the microphone fixing and sound arrangement (Medoff, Fink, and Tanquary 117). The responsibilities, which are usually provided by the sound engineers, are boring and routine, but when the case is about voice change, all becomes interesting and impressive. The sound engineer is put in the sound recorder room, where the person sings. The attention is not paid to the fact that the person singing abilities are not so perfect, if it may be said so, as we are taking the fact when person, who cannot sing, wants to become famous. The sound engineer, after the voice record, turns to work and tries to make it so that the terrible sound, which was produced in the microphone, began to sing. This part of responsibilities of the sound engineer is the most interesting, as this is the creative work, not just the set of the sound equipment. Sound engineer is responsible for the sound effect, what the sound arrangement and voice organization of bad singers is (Shepherd 231).
Considering modern singers and groups, which are not popular in the world, but are known on some territories within one country, the most number of them are not professional singers, moreover, some of them cannot even sing. The question is how they managed to appear on the TV with their songs and clips and how they managed to sound so good. The answer is simple: it is the work of the sound engineer, who with the development of the modern technologies is able to change the voice in such a way that it may sound better than of any singer, who has earned the world appreciation. People loaning for the fame and the sound manager is the person, who may help them in this by using their knowledge in the sound sphere.
Trying to improve people’s singing abilities through the record correction, not singing teaching, sound engineer uses the innovative technologies, computer programs and Internet, which the source of information. First of all, the computer technologies help to save the singer’s timbre of the voice, some significant features, which make the singer recognized, when he/she speaks. Then, computer technologies help to save intonation of people’s voice, with which the singer speaks, and at the same time to make the voice sound perfect, melodic and pleasant to the audience.
The creativity of the sound engineer’s work starts, when the voice should be changed greatly. The slight modifications do not demand for the creativity intrusion, while the person with no singing voice at all is a hard work for the sound engineer, but at the same time interesting, as using computer is not the only technique, the sound engineer should turn on his/her imagination and only with this condition the work will be done on the highest level of quality. The quality of the result does not depend from person’s ability to sing and the quality of the music played, as the sound engineers may provide miracles and make even the most terrible voice sound as the song of the bird.
The reasons of the sound engineers providing such activities are not rather understandable for me, but the public is ready to listen to the singers, whose voice was modified with the help of computer. Some people want to be famous, and are ready to pay any money for this. Smart face and presence of the taste and style are the only qualities, which the person should possess. The question which I want to ask is why people listen to it. In most cases, people are aware of who sings by their own voices, and who the creations of sound engineers are, which are considered to be unreal and false.
This is one of the aspects of the sound engineer’s work, that in the question of singer voice improvement, sound engineers should cope and respect the opinion of the producer of the new star. It is crucial that “the producer and engineer have virtual identical conceptions of how a given recording should sound is the sessions are to be productive (Eargle 290). In other words, all the actions, provided by the sound engineer, the shade of the voice and configuration should be agreed with the producer, as he/she is responsible for the image and style of the singer and sound in the songs is one of the main characteristics of the singer.
Considering the importance of the mentioned sound engineer responsibilities, it should be mentioned that people are able to fix some errors while singing, to correct the voice, but some people use such opportunities for their own benefit and abuse the opportunities. In spite of changing and correcting slight mistakes, the whole singing picture is changed. To the point, there are a lot of cases, when the mix of the same sound by one two different engineers led to opposite results. What is the reason? The same equipment is used, but the outcome is different. Such effect may be provided by different sound engineers’ hearing abilities. Some professionals heal even the slightest mistake, the smallest voice vibration and change it, by means modern equipment and with the use of their imagination. The other, correcting the singer’s voice, may miss the smallest mistakes and do not organize them, that leads to the terrible outcome recording (Bartlett 317).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the profession of sound engineer is not so uninteresting and boring, as he/she is responsible not only for sound arrangement and microphone set, but his work may be creative and imaginative in the cases, when people come for them with the desire to record a song without any abilities for singing. People without voices want to become stars and pay much money for their dream come true, and in the modern world of innovative computer technologies, there is no impossible things, which could never be done, especially in the world of sound engineering.
Works Cited
Bartlett, Jenny. Practical recording techniques: the step-by-step approach to professional audio recording. New York: Focal Press, 2005.
Eargle, John. Handbook of Recording Engineering. Boston: Birkhäuser, 2005.
Medoff, Norman J., Fink, Edward J. and Tom Tanquary. Portable Video: ENG & EFP. New York: Focal Press, 2007.
Shepherd, John. Continuum encyclopedia of popular music of the world. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2003.