Switching to sound technology

Pervin Malhotra

Q.I’m a student of BTech Electronics. I’m passionate about music and my friends love my DJ skills. I’m now thinking of making a career in sound technology. What are the possibilities in this field? — Rohan Bakshi

A.As a sound engineer, your work will involve making high quality recordings of music, speech and sound effects. Working in recording studios and “on location,” you will use complex electronic equipment to record sound for TV, radio, commercial music recordings, film and commercials, websites, video and mobile games, and live shows.

Your work would involve:

• Planning recording sessions with producers and artists
• Setting up microphones and other equipment in the studio
• Operating equipment for recording, mixing, mastering, sequencing and sampling
• Recording each instrument or item onto a separate track
• Setting, monitoring and balancing sound levels
• Mixing tracks to produce a final ‘master’ track

To work as a studio sound engineer, you’ll need good knowledge of music and recording technology. A good understanding of physics and electronics would be a definite plus, so your engineering degree would be of good use.

You could start working as an assistant in a recording studio where you’ll not just do basic routine jobs, but also get the chance to learn how to use studio equipment and assist on recording sessions. This practical experience would help you land bigger jobs.

You could enhance your prospects by pursing a diploma/certificate course in sound engineering /technology. There are several specialised courses in technical skills such as sequencing, mastering, editing and recording on offer. To further build your experience, pursue activities such as participating in local music programmes, FM, mixing/recording music in a local/home studio.

PS: You’ll be required to spend 10+ hours in the studio every day. So make sure you’re doing this for your passion and not just because your friends love your DJaying skills. All the very best!

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Tame pre-interview jitters

Q.I am a student of final year  of Hotel Management  course at one of the IHMs. I have my first hospitality sector job interview lined up for next week. What should I keep in mind to ace the interview? — Mandeep Chhabra

A. Many employers complain that a vast majority of fresh graduates they hire aren’t suitable for the job. Pray, why so?

For one, it’s easy to evaluate hard skills, but not a candidate’s personality and cultural fit in the organisation. And although recruiters sometimes use psychometric tests, that’s a tricky bit. Moreover, hard skills are not as important for the hospitality sector as the softer ones like humility, willingness to learn and high energy levels.

To help your interviewee know more about your passion, make sure you clearly communicate your hobbies and interests.

For communicating your long-term purpose, think through your long-term goals if you haven’t done that already. Make sure you don’t have anything silly or embarrassing on your social media profiles, as that speaks a lot about your personality and perspectives.

Even if you’re not totally qualified for the job, portray your willingness to learn, to take initiatives and readiness to work in a team. As a fresher, you would have the advantage of bringing in fresh perspective into the work, but you must sound humble while mentioning it (desist from the “sab kuch badal daalunga” variety of bravado).

Lastly, always smile warmly as soon as you meet anyone. That’s one of the most important characteristics of any hospitality sector aspirant.

Most importantly, enjoy the interviewing experience. If f you treat it as a learning situation, you’ll get better with each successive interview. And, these tips will surely help you make the best use of this opportunity. All the best!

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Is marketing automation going to gobble up jobs?

Q.I’ve been working in a digital marketing firm and enjoy what I’m doing. But of late, we’ve been hearing a lot about marketing automation which is going to replace our jobs soon. Is that really going to happen? What can I do about it? — Kashmira Gulati

A.The first thing that you need to do is to avoid letting unnecessary panic rob you of the joy of doing what you enjoy.

Yes, it’s true that machines can process information and complete tasks (particularly the repetitive and mechanical ones) more efficiently than a human being. And yes, Artificial Intelligence (AI) does pose a threat to the role of digital marketers and so many more jobs. But we don’t really know how much time it would take – 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, or 50 years!

Moreover, when we worry about job security, etc, we’re sometimes unable to foresee the opportunities such a scenario throws up.

A machine can only perform a task based on the data fed by a human being. Marketers of today need to process huge amounts of data — known as ‘Big data’ — which machines can do better. But it’s humans who would ensure that the right data is being processed by the machine/s.

Also, it’s not that “the robots are coming” for every job. It’s quite unlikely that the jobs of marketing and sales directors would be automated any time soon. Since you’ve been in this field for some time now, you might become one soon with subsequent promotions.

As a present-day digital marketer, one thing you must do is keep yourself updated on the latest advancements in AI and automation… Not only to enhance your knowledge, but to help you better decide which parts of your job can be done by you and which ones relegated to a machine.

Even if marketing automation is inevitable, you must strive to focus your energies and work strategies on doing work that’s more creative, emotional and intuitive. For the rest (of the routine stuff), we have automation.