I would imagine sound engineers would be an easy AI job swap..
Eagler
Yes and no.
In the late 90s, before digital consoles, wanting to mix multi channels in a PC, I designed a script that would keep the input gain at zero on the meters. Was just messing around. Nver let anyone see it because of just that. Then digi consoles came out and it became more real than I cared for..
There is some physical work that no AI can do. Patching in the mic cables, mic choice, mic placement. For a monitor engineer, not only is he mixes for that artist as adrenaline changes, instrument volumes change, things break. Something goes bad its up to him to get out there on stage and fix it on the spot within seconds -1-2 minutes. I/he controls the entire stage. Its not just mixing. There are also cues during the show where the mix will change for certain parts, then back again. Then there is feedback if using wedge speakers,… what mic out of 30-40 is causing it, which graphic EQ out of 4-22 needs the tweak.
FOH mix, maybe. There is nowhere near the work a ME does. I hand him a product to mix.He only mixes left-right and center. - front row fills. I’m doing 4-22 mixes at the same time. He’s doing 1-2.
AI COULD do that as long as it knows how the songs are suppose to sound. The gear rental to do that would cost x4 of a human show payroll.
You’d have to keep the crew no matter what AI can do, you’d only be replacing 1-2 guys. Monitors is highly doubtful. A lot of split second decisions made second to second.
Top that off with one or both of us will have talent buyers, promoters, record company and sound company execs are standing behind us making sure we make no mistakes and approval of our work. Its a ship load of pressure. They probably can’t communicate with AI to change something. There are so many things to do I barely remember the actual show. You’re not sitting there enjoying a show, things change. Things don’t always go as planned. It might be easier to pilot a trip to the moon.
Can it be done? Maybe in some form of lameness. Will it save money? No. Some dweeb exec will probably research it, it won’t go far, he’ll be fired for trying and failure..
One of the main reasons we have lame-ish digital consoles is because you can stuff 2-3 tons of and $100k-300k of analog sound gear into a 150lb console, 2 tons less in truck room and weight. They do not sound as good as analog. It saves money. A corp idea. Problem is, that console crashes you lose everything. I’ve seen the pure panic of a digi console crashing mid-show. Scary AF, you’ll be fired for it crashing and your reputation smashed..
Is it possible? I guess. Probably not in my lifetime. Maybe studio stuff, not live.