linuxaudio.org

On Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 07:38:31PM +0100, Pedro Lopez-Cabanillas wrote:
> how much of sound engineer and musician should be in

quoted text
> your blood stream? 

If you want to be a musician you need music in your

blood stream, to be a sound engineer in the usual

meaning of that term you need both music and technology.
The term 'sound engineer' is sort of a linguistic

mixup. Usually an 'X engineer' is someone who has

a good knowledge of the technology of X, and able

to apply that knowledge in a systematic way to the

the solution of practical problems. In many cases

it also implies formal training and certification.

The focus on technology and practical application

is what differentiates an engineer from a scientist

in the same field.
By that definition, most of the people called 'sound

engineeers' should maybe be called 'music engineers',

and the 'real' sound engineers according to that

definition are the ones usually called 'acoustic

engineers'.
But even the term 'music engineer' is too broad to

describe most 'sound engineers'. It implies a much

more universal knowledge - most people called 'sound

engineer' only know about one type of music and would

be completely lost when e.g. asked to record an opera

performance. That's not a reflection on their qualities

which can be exceptional, but on the usual meaning of

the term 'engineer'.
Apart from all this there is a second linguistic

mixup. In English the term 'engineer' refers to

engines and machines. The drivers of steam trains

were called engineeers. In roman languages the term

used sounds almost the same (French: ingenieur,

Italian: ingegnere), but has a different origin going

back the the Latin 'ingeniosus' meaning 'skilled'.
And strangely enough, in Italian today 'ingenuo'

means just the opposite: someone naive and easily

abused.
Ciao,
--

FA
O tu, che porte, correndo si ?

E guerra e morte !

_______________________________________________

Linux-audio-user mailing list

Linux-audio-user@lists.linuxaudio.org

http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/linux-audio-user