BSc (Hons) Audio Engineering graduate, Kane Rawnsley, tells us about his experience on the course and how it set him up for working life.

Course: BSc (Hons) Audio Engineering

Tell us a bit about yourself and the course and what you've been doing since you graduated?

From a young age, I have always had a keen interest in music, audio production, electronic technology and science in general. At college, I studied music technology which was largely music production, but I always found myself wanting to get into the detail and theory/physics behind audio and the technology used to produce it.

After finishing college I looked around various universities for audio courses. The BSc (Hons) Audio Engineering course at Leeds Beckett University sounded perfect and was just what I was looking for.

I graduated with a 1st class degree and managed to secure a job back with my placement provider at Calrec.

What have been the highlights and challenges of your career so far? 

My job is very challenging but equally interesting and rewarding. Every day is unique as you never really know what enquiries are going to come through. 

We also get to travel out to customer sites around the world for the commissioning of new consoles, software/hardware upgrades of existing systems and for on-air support of high-profile events. It means I have been able to see and work in some interesting places all over the world and been able to travel to the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. 

How has your experience studying at Leeds Beckett influenced you and your career? 

The advanced theories behind acoustics, electro-acoustics and digital signal processing techniques that the Audio Engineering course teaches, gave me a wide knowledge base which I could adapt to many areas of the audio industry. 

The degree teaches you many skills that are fundamental to how you operate in the industry. It gives you the option to choose which elements you want to focus more on, I chose the acoustics and audio system design modules. 

I took the option during my degree to do a placement year. This was as a product tester at Calrec Audio Ltd., a manufacturer of high-end audio mixing consoles for broadcasting applications and utilised around the world by leading companies such as the BBC & Sky in the UK, NBC in the US and NHK in Japan.

This gave me crucial experience and insight above and beyond what you get with a standard degree, which alongside the excellent theoretical and practical content of the course, gave me everything I needed to start my career in the audio industry.

What advice would you give someone thinking about studying this course?

You get what you put in, so my advice would be to work hard and take advantage of all the facilities available while on the course.

Also, get involved in the numerous optional extra-curricular activities that the course makes available to you, such as guest lectures and student conferences. These provide the opportunity to learn directly from industry professionals and to do some networking. 

I would also recommend taking the placement year as you learn so much and it could lead to a job, as mine did.

What's next for you?

I am excited to be involved in the future development of Calrec’s products and AoIP standards in general at this pivotal moment in the industry. I suspect it will keep me busy for a few years to come!