Learning to listen when there is too much to hear : music producing and audio engineering as 'engaged hearing'

This article examines how music producers and audio engineers learn to listen in the context of a very particular form of musical work. Ethnographic interviews provide data on their acquisition of skills, strategies they devise to remain engaged with the physicality and aesthetics of sound, and the socio-cultural and psychogical dimensions of their work. It comments in particular on the multi-skilling brought about by the technological changes and economic imperatives informing the cultural production of popular music.