Shibboleths in the studio: Informal demarcation practices among audio engineers

Recording engineers have an interest in maintaining their roles as skilled professionals as compared to external competitors, which increasingly include unpaid amateurs and automated software tools. They do this through a variety of material-semiotic demarcation practices. Formal modes of demarcation, such as unionization and professional attire, have largely eroded in recent decades, making informal practices increasingly important. These informal demarcation practices, which I term ‘shibboleths’, allow engineers to locally observe and perform differences between ‘real’ engineers and non-engineers (amateur and automated) while also controlling the visibility of these performances for various audiences. I situate the shibboleth concept within the existing literature on boundary objects and boundary-work, suggesting that it is useful for analyzing situations where collaboration and consensus temporarily break down. I consider two examples: electrical audio cable wrapping techniques and hearing the artifacts of digital vocal tuning software.