Audio Electronics at FocusRite
Second year Media Technology students were visited by FocusRite last Tuesday 14th to talk about product design and working within the field of audio electronics. Quality Assurance Manager Andy and Electronics Placement Student Jack brought along some of the company’s latest products to demonstrate including devices from their Red 16 Line of audio interfaces as well as a Peak Synthesiser (sold under the Novation brand).
Jack described the various facets of his role; tasks include identifying and fixing any hardware issues that are picked up by quality assurance, carrying out general maintenance such as changing PCB components as well as developing box-based solutions.
FocusRite are currently looking to fill ten year-long places within Hardware, Mechanical Design, Production Engineering, Software Development, Quality Assurance, Software Design, Online Marketing, Product Design, Technical Support and Firmware Engineering. The roles demonstrate the range of skillsets required by the company and the number of placements on offer not only shows the health of FocusRite as a business but also their genuine commitment to helping train the next generation of technologists.
Jack and Andy ran through the roles and provided the students with some insights as to what they involve. Students were surprised to learn that the mechanical design of a product is sometimes as complex as the electronic design with considerations for ergonomics, heat dissipation as well as cost and the scope for rapid production. Meanwhile other engineers are tasked with overseeing the bill of materials (BOM) and engineering change orders (ECO).
Jack commented “[working at FocusRite] was a big step up from being at University, dealing with personal projects to big commercial projects. The hardware team are good at helping with questions on circuits or business. After two of three weeks, I was settled in."
Many thanks to FocusRite for showing us their latest innovations and for providing us with such an insight into their industry.
