Some self-indulgent ruminations

Before I retired people would ask, "What do you do?".  I used to reply, "I'm an engineer. Electro-acoustics is my specialty."

Now when people ask me what I did I say, "I recorded music".  I did a lot of things but my first love is that of music and theatre.

I remember at high school we were all ushered one by one in to see the vocational guidance counsellor. She sat behind a desk and asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up … no, she didn't say that but she did inquire as to what I had in mind to do when I left school.

My response was clear and straight forward, "I want to be a recording engineer".  After asking me what that was, then leafing through a number of thick indexes of books about careers, she looked at my academic record and results of the aptitude tests and said I could do whatever I wanted to.

Now, I don't know how the brain works but when I left school I was awarded a scholarship to university and chose electrical engineering ... there was no 'recording engineer' course at the University of NSW.  There were no sound engineering schools anywhere.

Unbeknownst to me, my brain took me on a journey that lead me to a career in theatre, music, and recording.  During this time I also had a strong interest in loudspeakers and electro-acoustics and did spend a reasonable amount of life in a nice little engineering business designing loudspeakers and electro-acoustic installations.

Follow your dreams they say (whoever 'they' are), but some people follow their dreams and end up living on the street (many an artist), and others end up in the public service (many a musician), but if you are one of the lucky ones your dreams may come true.

When I was the Sound Manager at the Sydney Opera House I would regularly receive phone calls from mothers (always mothers) of wannabe sound engineers.  They were often distraught at their son's (mostly) inability to get a job after doing a two year part time course in how to mix sound.

I was unable to placate them but my advice to kids who wanted to pursue a career in sound was to first get a degree in music, then a diploma or better in electronics, and volunteer for amateur theatre and/or attach yourself to a band … then a better band … then a professional theatre company … then onwards and upwards. It seemed to me that a successful career in sound was harder to achieve than being an actor, musician or artist.

I was one of the lucky ones.