Best Sound Engineering Technician programs in Maryland, ranked by enrollment
Assemble and operate equipment to record, synchronize, mix, edit, or reproduce sound, including music, voices, or sound effects, for theater, video, film, television, podcasts, sporting events, and other.
6 schools in Maryland run programs that feed this job, graduating 107 people a year. The job pays a median of $79,990 in Maryland across about 160 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in Maryland that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
4 programs in Maryland that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Maryland (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Maryland page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 10.0203In Maryland → | 52 | 48.6% | 2 | $21,634 | $20,000 |
| 2 | CIP 10.0105In Maryland → | 29 | 27.1% | 2 | $24,790 | $13,494 |
| 3 | CIP 50.0913In Maryland → | 23 | 21.5% | 2 | $25,929 | $25,980 |
| 4 | CIP 15.0307In Maryland → | 3 | 2.8% | 1 | $59,859 | $15,372 |
Top 6 schools in Maryland
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 3 of the 6 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Omega Studios' School of Applied Arts & Sciences Rockville, MD Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 39 | Recording Arts Technology/Technician | $14,502 | — | — | — |
| 2 | Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 30 | Music Technology | $16,479 | 94% | $11,888 | 6% |
| 3 | Montgomery College Rockville, MD Public · 1 feeder programs | 15 | Communications Technology/Technician | — | 32% | — | — |
| 4 | Allegany College of Maryland Cumberland, MD Public · 1 feeder programs | 14 | Communications Technology/Technician | — | 40% | — | — |
| 5 | University of Maryland - Baltimore County Baltimore, MD Public · 1 feeder programs | 6 | Music Technology | $23,991 | 70% | — | 72% |
| 6 | Frederick Community College Frederick, MD Public · 1 feeder programs | 3 | Audio Engineering Technology/Technician | — | 37% | — | — |
All 6 schools in Maryland
Every school in Maryland with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Omega Studios' School of Applied Arts & Sciences | Rockville | Private for-profit | 39 | 1 |
| Johns Hopkins University | Baltimore | Private not-for-profit | 30 | 2 |
| Montgomery College | Rockville | Public | 15 | 1 |
| Allegany College of Maryland | Cumberland | Public | 14 | 1 |
| University of Maryland - Baltimore County | Baltimore | Public | 6 | 1 |
| Frederick Community College | Frederick | Public | 3 | 1 |
What sound engineering technicians earn in Maryland
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $73,130. Maryland pays above the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in Maryland
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.
How to get in
The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Sound Engineering Technicians page.
How to become a Sound Engineering Technician
Job zone 3 of 5 · SVP 6.0 to < 7.0- Typical entry education
- Postsecondary nondegree award
- On-the-job training
- Short-term on-the-job training
Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Top skills
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in Maryland
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 4 majors mapped to Sound Engineering Technicians4 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 10.0105Communications Technology/Technician
- 10.0203Recording Arts Technology/Technician
- 15.0307Audio Engineering Technology/Technician
- 50.0913Music Technology
Common questions
Answers for people weighing sound engineering technicians programs in Maryland.
What degree do you need to become a Sound Engineering Technician?+
Postsecondary nondegree award is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Recording Arts Technology/Technician, which awarded 52 degrees in Maryland in 2024-25, 48.6% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Sound Engineering Technician?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 4 programs to this occupation. The largest are Audiovisual Communications Technologies/Technicians, Communications Technologies/Technicians, Music, Electrical/Electronic Engineering Technologies/Technicians. Together they graduate about 107 people a year in Maryland.
How much do sound engineering technicians earn in Maryland?+
The median is $79,990 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 9.4% above the U.S. median of $73,130. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for sound engineering technicians growing?+
BLS projects a -1.7% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 1,200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Maryland?+
6 institutions in Maryland reported graduates from at least one of the 4 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
What other job titles do sound engineering technicians work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Audio Engineer, Sound Engineer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 27-4014.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
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