DUTIES OF A SOUND ENGINEER Alright, so what exactly does a sound engineer do? The typical visual is of someone in front of a huge soundboard with all its levers, dials and panels. That's part of it. In truth, the person sitting at the soundboard may be a sound engineer or an audio engineer. The roles are similar, but a sound engineer has more responsibility for the success of a project than does an audio engineer. In fact, spending time as an audio engineer may be a stepping stone to becoming a sound engineer. A sound engineer is responsible for the technical side of a recording or live performance. The sound engineer designs and manages sound levels and outputs, and is responsible for maintaining the physical sound equipment, like amps and microphones. When a sound engineer is working on a recording, the responsibility doesn't end with the act of recording the performance. The sound engineer is then responsible for editing, mixing and mastering the tracks so...