How To Become An Audio Recording Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is an audio recording engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

The average audio recording engineer salary is $77,354. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an music major. It usually takes 1-2 years of experience to become an audio recording engineer. Audio recording engineers with a Certified Audio Engineer (CEA) certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 10% and produce 12,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreAudio Recording EngineerUS Average

Salary

6.0

Avg. Salary $77,354

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.9

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.39%

Asian 5.04%

Black or African American 9.19%

Hispanic or Latino 16.08%

Unknown 6.57%

White 62.73%

Gender

female 9.95%

male 90.05%

Age - 41

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 41

Stress level

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.5

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

0.5

Work life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an audio recording engineer

Explore audio recording engineer education requirements

Most common audio recording engineer degrees

Bachelor's

57.0 %

Associate

28.9 %

High School Diploma

7.4 %

Start to develop specific audio recording engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Promotional Videos	23.86%
Pro Tools	19.05%
Digital Audio	9.37%
Equipment Maintenance	7.44%
DAT	6.28%

Complete relevant audio recording engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New audio recording engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an audio recording engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real audio recording engineer resumes.

Research audio recording engineer duties and responsibilities

Operate various digital and analog audio consoles during musical performances to create optimal experience for listener and musicians.
Retain several local and national commercial clients while primarily engineering and producing music CDs.

Prepare your audio recording engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your audio recording engineer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an audio recording engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable audio recording engineer resume templates

Build a professional audio recording engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your audio recording engineer resume.