An Audio Engineer is a
person who in some way
engineers the audio for a particular purpose. In the
real world however the definition is usually narrowed down to the people doing the
mixing (so no, the guy setting up
mic stands doesn't count, they have their own
titles). The most common places they are found in are usually:
theater
recording studio
concert halls,
stadiums, and other
music venues
The primary job of an Audio Engineer (by which I mean the person
mixing the show) is to make sure that the sound is reproduced
accurately, and if possible, better than the original. This is not such an easy
task. Depending on the complexity of the
system it can take quite a bit of
work to prep and operate a system.
Lastly, as a
tech, don't come up to the tech during
intermission and talk to them about
the sound system or other such things, chances are they have 30 million other things to do, and
the last thing they want to deal with is getting past an
annoying patron.