Job Check
Sound Engineering Technicians
Assemble and operate equipment to record, synchronize, mix, edit, or reproduce sound, including music, voices, or sound effects, for theater, video, film, television, podcasts, sporting events, and other productions.
10 main tasks · most important first
Your main tasks and AI
Importance- 01Confer with producers, performers, and others to determine and achieve the desired sound for a production, such as a musical recording or a film.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 02Regulate volume level and sound quality during recording sessions, using control consoles.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 03Record speech, music, and other sounds on recording media, using recording equipment.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 04Separate instruments, vocals, and other sounds, and combine sounds during the mixing or postproduction stage.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 05Set up, test, and adjust recording equipment for recording sessions and live performances.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 06Report equipment problems and ensure that required repairs are made.Mostly human for now
- 07Prepare for recording sessions by performing such activities as selecting and setting up microphones.Mostly human for now
- 08Mix and edit voices, music, and taped sound effects for live performances and for prerecorded events, using sound mixing boards.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 09Keep logs of recordings.AI could speed this up a lot
- 10Tear down equipment after event completion.Mostly human for now
Tasks from O*NET® 31.0 (US Department of Labor, CC BY 4.0, changed by us), most important first. “Already use” comes from Anthropic’s data on real work chats with Claude; “could speed up” from task ratings made with GPT-4 in 2023.
Four studies, side by side
None is a forecast of job lossToo little dataNot enough work use was seen to measure. This does not mean the job is safe from AI.Anthropic, 2026
43%of this job’s tasks an AI model could do in half the time, counting tasks that need extra tools as half (rated in 2023).Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock, 2023
Above 19% of jobsin how often and how well AI helped with this job’s work in Microsoft Copilot chats (2024 data).Microsoft Research (Tomlinson et al.), 2025
Above 57% of jobsin how much of this job’s physical work robots have been shown to do, from factories to homes (2026).Anthropic, 2026
Your human edge
The main tasks with no real AI use seen and no big speed-up expected. This is where your skill counts most today.
- Report equipment problems and ensure that required repairs are made.
- Prepare for recording sessions by performing such activities as selecting and setting up microphones.
- Tear down equipment after event completion.