Making it as an audio engineer

Now that jingles and tunes for television and radio commercials are being produced and aired more than ever, audio engineering has become a lucrative profession. Audio engineers are the people who produce the music and tunes for professional use in commercials.

For Mahmood Hossain Farsim, music is a heartfelt passion. Besides being a musician, Farsim took up audio engineering as a profession.

"It was in 2008 and I was working on an album for my band Kalponik. I was also exploring different recording and production techniques at the time. That, I believe, was my first foray into the world of audio engineering", Farsim shared. 

Having found his calling, Farsim then began creating and mixing music on his personal computer, until he was hired as a Music Producer at Radio Shadhin. 

"Shadhin was a great way for me to break in at the industry level. Some books have greatly aided me in honing my skills as well," Farsim said.

Earning from this profession depends on the client requirement and complexity, which can vary. Audio engineers with 10 to 15 years of experience, with a workload of 8 to 12 projects per month, can net around Tk2 lakh, said Farsim.

"Most of the projects come from returning clients. Only being good at mixing does not bring good business. Networking is key, and you have to fully absorb what the client wants to convey. Communication is the biggest skill in this field."

Photo: Noor-A-Alam

In recent times, getting work from other countries and freelance sites has become necessary as a lot of young engineers are entering the trade, he added.

In a country where parents are adamant about their children pursuing white collar careers such as becoming doctors, teachers, lawyers, bankers, government officials, Farsim has a different story to tell. "My parents have always encouraged me to achieve my own goals. They never bothered about whether the society recognises an audio engineer or not, and I am grateful to them for that."

Farsim's go to software for music production is Ableton Live. 

"I also use Cubase, Pro Tools and Logic Pro. There are of course other hardware and VST programs, which I use for mixing and making music and jingles," he said.
He is now working as an audio engineer at home as well as a cloud engineer. A cloud engineer is an IT professional responsible for any technological duties associated with cloud computing, including design, planning, management, maintenance and support.

"Later on, though, I needed to learn programming skills to get employed in the IT industry. I chose to learn cloud engineering also because I loved the way it works," he added. 

Farsim cites Ray Bradbury as part of his inspiration in life: "Love what you do and do what you love… Imagination should be the centre of your life."