Assistant Engineers

Recording sessions can be technologically complex. There are mics to set up, cables to run, headphones to deploy, maybe patching in the control room, and software and hardware to configure. It is a lot for one person to handle.

The job of assistant engineer has existed as long as recording. It not only spreads the work around, but it is also potentially a stepping-stone to becoming a fully-fledged engineer.

In this episode, I talk about the role of assistant engineer. What are their tasks? How do you teach them? I use an example of how I work with assistants in my studio, which may not be typical of most recording sessions, but it explains what my assistants do. I also discuss the same aspects from when I had a commercial studio.

You, as engineer on a session, have certain obligations as a mentor to your up-and-coming engineers. And the assistants have skills to master, plus learning about the human factors when interacting with creative people.

email: dwfearn@dwfearn.com
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Transcript

Episode 108        Assistant Engineers                                         August 19, 2025

 I’m Doug Fearn and this is My Take on Music Recording

 Engineering a complex session is difficult for one person to do alone. There is a lot going on: mics to place, headphones to set up, patching to be done, software to configure, and more.

Over my 56 years of recording, I have almost always relied on an assistant engineer for anything other than a simple overdub session. This is especially important if I am also the producer for the session. Producing requires almost all my attention during a session, especially if we are developing parts and the arrangement during that time.

After all those years of sessions, the mechanics of the equipment and studio setup are so ingrained that I do not usually have to devote much mental bandwidth to those tasks. But handling those chores can be enough of a distraction, so more often than I like, I find that the song got away from me because I had to devote some time to the practical mechanics of the session.

That’s why I always have an assistant or two at every session.

Sometimes the assistant may be credited as a “second engineer.” I think there is a subtle difference in the two terms. A second engineer implies something more like a co-pilot in an airplane – someone equally qualified but with less experience. Or maybe a second engineer does some overdubs, at your studio or somewhere else. However, in this discussion, I will use the term “assistant” to cover both categories.

Those assistant engineers cannot be just anyone. Just because someone has some experience with recording does not necessarily qualify them to be my assistant. In fact, it can take months or years of guidance for me to get someone up to full speed.

And working for me is not easy, since I am demanding, exacting, and always conscious of the time things take to get done. The musicians I work with in the studio have very busy musical lives, so it is always a challenge to get them out the door in time for their next gig.

I always had engineers in training when I had a commercial recording studio. Some of them got to the point where they could handle sessions on their own. But it takes time. There is a lot to learn, and much of it has to be mastered by actually doing the work. Just watching or reading about it, or responding to instructions, is not enough.

For generations, the studio assistant engineering job was a stepping stone to becoming a successful engineer. Most studios brought on people who seemed to have the talent and motivation to learn, and passion for the craft of recording. Some percentage of them were successful. That is still the case for some studios today.

I can’t count the number of people I have trained over the decades, but it must be close to one hundred. These days, every couple of months, I am contacted by someone who trained with me long ago. They want to reestablish our connection, which pleases me. Others I have kept in touch over the years.

What greatly pleases me is to hear from those who made recording into a successful career. Even those that went into some related field tell me that their time in my studio was a big influence on their lives.

They express gratitude for the opportunity to learn, and I appreciate that. But the truth is that I always thought I was doing a lousy job of teaching them. There was always way too much going on and I couldn’t take the time to explain how and why I did something the way I did. Sometimes there might be a few minutes before or after the session for that, but usually I went home frustrated that I did such a poor job of educating people.

Evidently that was not how many of the trainees viewed the experience. They claim to have received a good education in the fundamentals of recording. I think that was because they were careful observers and were able to assimilate knowledge even when I could not explicitly explain things to them.

The job of assistant requires multiple skills and talents. Of course, one must be technically-oriented. And it is helpful to have an understanding of the electrical and mechanical principles that underlay everything we do.

They have to be self-motivated, not only on the job, but also on their own time, learning all they can about the craft. Access to that knowledge has changed over the years, and today many aspiring engineers learn some, or even most, of what they need from online sources. They need to be discriminating and skeptical of what they are told, since much of the information out there is misleading or only partially correct.

And an assistant has to have a personality compatible with the people they will work with in the studio. They have to genuinely like people, be sensitive to their needs, and be able to put them at ease.  They have to have some understanding of the way the musicians think.

Artists like working with compatible people in the studio. They like to see decisive action and competence. If those traits are lacking, an assistant engineer is going to have difficulty getting cooperation from the performers.

An assistant has to have physical and mental stamina. Sessions can be long. A well-run session should never be tense, but sometimes the pressure is high. Often, an assistant’s day will quickly transition from intense work to periods of relative inactivity. A motivated assistant will use the quieter times to observe and think about the session and anticipate what they might have to do if they detect something that is not optimum. And they should always be thinking ahead to their next likely task.

Currently, I have two assistant engineers. One, Ian, has been helping me on almost all my major sessions for the past 40 years. He does his own recording projects, too, and is very good at what he does. That’s a good thing, since I depend on Ian for much of the routine mechanics of setting up the studio. Ian is particularly good at mic choice and placement.

The other assistant, Matthew, is young, smart, good-natured, and learns quickly. He has only been on board for about a year, but he has come a long way.

Both of them have a musical background and experience performing and recording as a musician.

Ian started out helping me when I was doing mostly location recording. That’s hard work, since everything you need has to be brought to the venue, set up, and then packed away and transported back after the session. Those are long days, with a lot of physical labor.

Mic lines have to be run from the performance space (concert hall, church, whatever), to a temporary control room far enough away from the performers that the direct sound of the music is not audible. That is the only way I know I can determine what it really sounds like. It is not unusual to have multiple mics lines over 100 feet long. And mics have to be placed to avoid being a distraction if there is an audience. Some mics may need to be hung from the ceiling.

I don’t do location recording anymore. The studio is much easier, and everything needed is nearby, so setup and teardown are much faster and less physically demanding.

So, what, exactly, do my assistants do?

Before the session, I have the control room setup completed. Since none of the equipment is permanently interconnected in my control room, I start by writing down all the instruments, mics to be used, preamps and any processing equipment needed, and track assignment. I patch as much of the session as I am sure of before the session -- the day before if that is possible. I put this data on a spreadsheet and print out copies for myself and the assistants. But nothing is set in stone, and it would be a rare session that conformed perfectly to my original plan.

Once I set up the control room, I test it: every mic line, every headphone. I don’t want to be troubleshooting during the session. Ninety-nine percent of the time, everything works perfectly from the beginning. But just one wrong patch could drive me crazy trying to track it down during the session. It’s just easier to test everything when there’s minimal time pressure.

My pre-session routine also includes software. I create the new session in the DAW, and test it ahead of time, too.

In many studios, some or all of this prep work is done by assistants. I would appreciate that, but I typically only have a few sessions each month, so assistants are not around to do that work. In a busy studio with full-time assistants, it makes sense to have them set things up for the upcoming session.

I try to teach my assistants the rudiments of the software and patching, but mostly that is my job. But they know enough to be able to do those tasks when necessary.

I should note that I do not generally label things like mic preamps, physical mixer faders, etc. Those things change too often during a session, and a wrong label left over from the tracking part of the project can be misleading and create errors when we get to overdubbing. That means I have to keep all the track assignments, outboard gear choices, and mixer inputs in my head. I have a paper backup if I forget, but mostly I depend on my memory. I’ve done that my entire career. That should be a goal of the assistants, too. It’s also good for your brain.

On a big session (for me) there might be 16 mics and preamps. That is small compared to what happens in sessions conducted by other engineers, but it’s still a lot of set-up. Most of my sessions use fewer than eight mics.

Since almost all my sessions are recorded in DSD, there are only as many tracks as there are converter channels. You can’t just add more tracks in DSD, so planning is essential.

And since many of the musicians I use on projects that I am producing play several different instruments, I don’t always know exactly what we are going to need until the song is arranged. We have to be flexible and agile in order to be ready for whatever comes along.

For example, a typical session might have basic instrumentation consisting of drums, acoustic guitars, grand piano, cello or upright or electric bass, plus a vocal recorded in a separate booth. The vocalist might also play an instrument. My assistants know how I like those instruments set up and I do not have to say much about it. But other sessions may be entirely different. For those, I spend some time before the musicians arrive explaining the setup to my assistants, along with my choice of mics, placement in the studio, etc., so they have a broad picture of what is likely to happen. If there is time, I explain my reasoning to them. Sometimes they catch some error in my plan, and that is helpful. They may have suggestions, too, which I listen to. Often, they have good ideas.

On a typical session, the choice of mics might depend on which instrument, say, a guitarist settles on for the song. One guitarist also plays mandolin, and the microphone choice would be different from what I would normally use for his acoustic guitar. Another guitarist often brings many instruments, acoustic and electric, to the session, and we won’t know which instrument and amp will be used until after some experimentation during the rundown phase of the recording.

That means that we have to be nimble enough to change things at a moment’s notice. I can plan for a likely scenario, and maybe a couple of other possibilities, but we won’t know for sure until the song evolves.

During that period of experimentation, I will often advise Ian and Matthew of the possibilities, so they have some notice when we start to go in a different direction.

Sometimes they can set up a couple of different mics on stands to save time when the inevitable changes occur.

During the setup and rundown stage, we have the studio lights at a bright setting. But when we are ready to record, most musicians prefer less light. One of the jobs of the assistant engineer may be to adjust the lighting, making sure everyone has enough light to see their music.

Also, in my studio, the HVAC makes too much noise for recording, so someone has to make sure that it is shut off during recording, and turned back on during any extended break.

During that song-construction phase, the players want to be close together so they can hear each other and easily exchange ideas. They do not have mics nor headphones and they are not in the position they will be in for the actual recording. And they may be playing a different instrument from what they will play when we are ready to start recording. For example, often during this stage we will use piano, even though there is no intention of using piano on the song. Or a guitarist will play an acoustic instrument when he ultimately will transition to electric.

In other words, everything is very fluid during this part of the session.

We can’t set up mics and we can’t get levels. But we can do other things, like run mic cables to likely locations – with enough extra cable to allow fine-tuning the mic placement later. The same applies to headphones.

During this time, I am in the studio listening to the parts as the players work out the song, and getting some idea of what microphones I want to use. I will convey my thoughts to the assistants as we work, with the caveat that everything might change.

We usually have a limited amount of time to arrange and record the song. Sometimes there will be two songs in a session, but that is rare. The studio players are busy working musicians, and often they have other sessions, or live gigs, later that day. They will tell me in advance what time they have to leave.

I have to keep an eye on the clock, to make sure we stay on schedule.

During this time, the assistant engineers have little to do. I may mention things that they could be setting up while this is going on. But usually, they know the process and take it upon themselves to do what they can do at this stage.

We may spend an hour or more getting to this point, and there is a lot to remember for each of the musicians. Even for the singer-songwriter, the stress increases because the changes made might be very different from their demo of the song. Everyone gets a chord and lyric sheet before the session starts, and the players will make their changes and corrections on the paper. That means that everyone needs not only a pencil or pen, but also a comfortable place to write on their music. The assistants need to be aware of what is going on around them and provide whatever the musicians need, ideally even before the player is aware of the need.

That means the assistants have to be engaged with the process and anticipate the needs of the personnel.

Once we have parts worked out, the pressure on the engineering staff rapidly increases. At the point where we are ready to record, everyone must move swiftly and accurately to get the players in place, mics positioned, headphones adjusted, levels set, etc. We do not have the luxury of casual movement at this stage.

The change to recording means that players need their preferred chair in place, a music stand set up, maybe a guitar stand, and any baffles moved into position. If we’re doing this optimally, it will only take ten minutes to get past this stage.

It’s vital to complete this part of the process as quickly and as unobtrusively as possible. The players have to remember a lot of details, and the session will go best if they remain in the moment and are not distracted by the mechanics.

I rely on the assistants for mic placement. It may be only their best guess at that point, subject to fine tuning. There are many things for them to consider. Since we are recording everyone in the same room, we have to be aware of the practical degree of isolation we can achieve. That requires careful consideration of not only the pickup pattern of the mics chosen, but also their individual off-axis directionality and frequency response.

I use mostly ribbon mics, and almost all of those are bi-directional. We can use the extreme nulls off the sides of a ribbon mic to achieve a lot more isolation that we might with cardioid mics. But I record a lot of instruments in stereo, usually with a Blumlein pair of bi-directional mics. We have to keep their pickup characteristics in mind, since the mics will be equally sensitive to sound in back of the mics.

Even the routine task of running mic and headphone cables needs to be done optimally. Any cable can be a tripping hazard, and although most of the players I work with have spent decades in the studio environment, navigating the room may not always be top of mind for them. I emphasize to the assistants that cables need to be run in an organized way. For example, it is easier to see and avoid a bunch of cables all run parallel to each other, than a scattering of random cables crossing the studio floor. Thoughtful grouping and routing of the cables makes moving around the room easier, safer, and it looks better.

Cables should always lie flat. There should never be any loops on the floor, or cables sticking up to catch a foot. Any excess cable must be coiled in a location where no one will step. If there are connectors on the floor, they should be located as close to the mic stand as possible, or otherwise placed where it is impossible to step on them.

You don’t want anyone to trip and be injured, or drop, or fall into, an expensive instrument.

Despite working with the same musicians for many of the sessions, and despite working in the same room with the same mic collection, it is almost inevitable that some changes in the studio will be necessary. Every song is different, and that might mean a different mic, a different location in the studio, or even a move to an isolation space if the bleed is beyond what I find tolerable. Any changes have to be fast and accurate.

Once everything is ready, and the players are in place, they will play the song as I get levels set. Usually at this stage, one or both assistants are in the control room with me. They are additional ears to catch anything that does not sound as good as it should.

If a mic needs to be repositioned, my assistants are usually aware of it at the same time as I am, and they will go into the studio to make the change. Because we don’t want to interrupt the players, we use hand signals mostly to guide the mic placement.

Usually, I can set the preamp levels fairly close to where they need to be, based on experience. But sometimes I am surprised. An assistant in the control room can help me save time by watching what the levels on the DAW meters look like and adjusting the proper preamp gain.

When we work with the same players over many sessions, my assistants get a sense of what headphone level they require. We know some players will need a lot more volume than others. Those levels can be pre-set to save time. If the level is not right, the assistant has to be ready to make the necessary adjustment quickly. Musicians appreciate that, and it keeps things moving.

By the way, I generally provide only one headphone mix for everyone. That is fine almost all the time, but I do have provisions to provide two separate mixes, should that be necessary. But it is rare that anyone has a problem with their headphone mix or level. It should be a non-issue, but assistant engineers need to be ready to address the problem, should it arise.

During the actual recording, the assistant engineers are usually in the control room. In many studios, the job of running the record and playback goes to an assistant. That is good experience for them, and allows a producer to focus on the performance. However, I usually do those tasks myself. There is a rhythm to the recording process, and it helps if everyone on both sides of the glass is in sync. That saves time and makes the process smooth and relaxing.

If you are working with assistants, however, it is important to provide them with experience with the mechanics of running a session. It takes time to develop an understanding of this subtle aspect of the human interactions, but it is vital for the success of a project. I try to do that when I can, but I admit that most of the time it is just easier and less distracting for me to do it myself.

The teardown is as important as the setup, and it’s a primary responsibility of my assistants. Unless we are coming back the next day to continue work on a project, everything must be put away in its proper place before we leave. Even if we are coming back tomorrow, I insist that all mics are either put away in their designated cases, or at least covered to prevent contamination. It’s always best to put them away.

I teach that the teardown process follows a standard pattern. First, mics are put away. Then headphones, Then, all cables are properly wound up and placed in their designated storage place. For new assistants, I may have to conduct a remedial cable-winding class.

Mic stands may not have a specific storage spot, but where they are placed should make sense. In my studio, the larger stands go around the periphery of room. Some smaller and less-often-used stands have a specific storage location.

Putting things in a standardized place makes it much easier for the next session. You always know where to find something.

Sometimes this standard teardown process has to modified. It makes sense to get cables out of the way of musicians packing up their instruments. An assistant engineer has to be aware of what’s going on in the room and make sure they are not an impediment. Often, players need to get out the door quickly, and we have to help them achieve that. That may also mean helping carry stuff out to their vehicle.

And, yes, there may be things that are even less glamorous. Like getting coffee, picking up lunch or dinner, or cleaning the facility. It’s all part of the job, whether you are just starting out or even when you have years of experience.

Would you feel confident that someone who cleans your office or your house would be a good choice to clean your studio or control room? There is a lot of expensive stuff in there, and much of it is easily damaged. It does take a certain amount of education to know how to maneuver a vacuum cleaner around equipment and instruments. If an assistant doesn’t understand why this is true, or feels such a task is beneath them, then maybe they are not in the right business.

On the other hand, assistant engineers may have the opportunity to work with top-level musicians and producers. That education is priceless, and the connections made will prove valuable in their career.

Be sure to credit the assistant engineers on any released product. It is not only the right thing to do, but it could be helpful in their career.

The tasks in my studio may not be typical. Many recording sessions may be done by a band itself, with their own ideas of their needs and the sound they want. Or there may be a producer who wants to do things his way. The assistant engineers have to be ready to accommodate those situations.

And many sessions utilize the same setup over and over, because the music is very consistent. The artist may want that consistent sound, so a standard mic’ing and studio setup makes sense.

I don’t want to do the same thing over and over, so the artists I am producing trust me to keep coming up with new ideas, musically and sonically. I would be bored by the same sound at every session. I know, because years ago that’s what I had to do.

Assistant engineers can be a source of creative input. They may have ideas of how to accomplish the sonic goal of the producer, engineer, or artist. I encourage that creativity – but I must always keep the goal of the music as the top priority. That means vetoing an idea from time to time. Good assistants will take that in stride and do what I need.

Assistant engineers learning the art and science of engineering probably want to be full-fledged engineers on their own. That should be encouraged.

They may want to open their own studio someday. I would never discourage that. But as a mentor, I feel a responsibility to educate them about the demands of running a business. It is a very different skill set from the engineering part, and not everyone is interested in doing that. They may prefer sticking to engineering, and let someone else worry about the business side.

If you are the engineer on a session, and you have an assistant or two, I feel it is your responsibility to teach them as much as you can during every session. Maybe that education will have to be before or after the pressure of the session, or on a separate day.

I also feel it is important to emphasize that the way you do things is not the only way. Make sure the assistants know that there are many different ways to approach recording, and not all of them are wrong.

The assistant engineer is an invaluable part of most sessions. Make sure that you treat them well, which usually means paying them appropriately, and providing them with an education to help them learn their craft.

Thanks for listening, subscribing, and commenting. You can reach me at dwfearn@dwfearn.com

 This is My Take on Music Recording. I’m Doug Fearn. See you next time.