Sound Engineers Scheme

Musicians Institute

Radio is all about sound: our goal is to achieve flawless audio in the 2,800-plus concerts exchanged each year over the Music Exchange.

In keeping with the ongoing development of the Music Exchange and the 2022-2023 EBU Music Workplan, the Sound Engineers Community leader Huw Robinson (Operations Manager, Music, BBC Audio; Chair, EBU Contact Engineers) and the Classical Music Group are pleased to announce the resumption of the Sound Engineers Scheme. This knowledge-exchange programme, initiated in its current format in 2016, seeks to emphasize the crucial importance of sharing expertise in the field of classical music and opera recording, giving high audio quality the place it deserves – at the heart of the music.

A new aspect of this programme’s relaunch is that, whenever relevant, it will build bridges with the successful Concert Evaluation Initiative, which, since February 2019, has created a Sound Engineers Community of more than 60 people and provided detailed peer-to-peer concert recording reports to more than 40 organizations. One of the consequences of these reports is that depending on their results, specific organizations will now be automatically be invited to engage with the Sound Engineers Scheme.

How does it work?

On the one hand, a sound engineer wishes to expand and diversify their own audio knowledge by working with peers in another country; on the other, a broadcaster’s team of sound engineers offer to collaborate with colleagues from abroad on specific real-world challenges.

The visiting sound engineer

The sound engineer will have approval to travel to another EBU radio organization for a maximum of 4 days. Ideally, they will be on site for at least two concerts of different genres (orchestral, opera, plus another music genre is recommended), and for all discussions and meetings with peers, planned and agreed ahead of the visit. The content of the discussions will include the two concerts recorded with the local team as well as any other relevant projects linked with an EBU offer.

EBU Music will cover travel costs of the visiting sound engineer, plus accommodation (max. three nights) and pay a daily allowance of 80 EUR. Travel and accommodation are to be booked by the visiting sound engineer (costs will be approved beforehand with the EBU).
Please make all possible efforts to travel by train where possible.

The host organization

The organization’s sound engineers team is responsible for setting up a precise schedule – tour of the premises, concert recordings, debriefs, discussions, listening sessions, etc.

The host is responsible for providing lunch each day.

The programme is open to all European radio organizations.

In addition to potential participants’ wishes and the outcomes of the Concert Evaluation Initiative, the pairing will take into account environmental issues. Train connections are preferred over short flights, where possible.

Please note that EBU Music may not be able to satisfy all requests.

“Opening-up sound quality borders, learning from each other’s aesthetics, leading the way to creating and promoting knowledge exchange opportunities for the benefit of all radio organizations: these are the Sound Engineer Scheme’s goals", said Huw Robinson, Operations Manager, Music, BBC Audio and Chair, EBU Contact Engineers.

”The diversity of the different scenarios during the three days in Madrid was perfect, covering almost all the things we do in Sweden. The discussions with our colleagues were the best part of the trip as we learned a lot from each other. A big thank you to RTVE for having us and making these arrangements", said Bengt Pettersson, Sound Engineer, Swedish Radio.