Q:

Audio hats that have the most pressure.

What's the most stressful, highest stakes, pressure inducing job in audio?
My guess:
Grammy awardee music playback engineer. This cat has to listen to the person at the podium in the Staples Center read off the winner's name and has to instantly with no delay start the playback of that artist's song that won. If you slip or hit the wrong track - ouch. Oh, and by the way, they keep the winners confidential until they are read from those little envelopes, so no rehearsal or list of awardees for you. No pressure!
"The winner is... Taylor Swift!!"
PA: "We gonna sip bacardi like its ya birfday..."

A:

The fellas who aren't getting paid often enough yet!

A:

I used to work as an audio assistant on a live to air morning news/variety show, and i have massive respect for the audio directors there. They have to deal with: 

a rolling schedule that stops for nobody 
various audio sources (satellite feeds, hybrid boxes, studio mics, tape playback) - all of which can, and do, drop out at the worst possible moment 
a 5:00 am start and a 9:00am finish - during which they can maybe get away for a single 2 minute toilet break 
a noisy control room where you have to yell to be heard
on air talent who aren't really sure how to work their IFB receivers
directors who ask for random music tracks with no advance notice

It's not as high stakes as the Grammys button press, it's more like a marathon of pressure. 
Hats off to TV audio directors!

A:

Rerecording mixers on big budget studio film gets my vote! When you look around the room during a playback & count up the hourly rates (director, producer, entourage, editor, compsoer, mixers, sound editors & support crew plus the dub stage) and then consider the deadlines that EVERYTHING is based on, then think about how its technically a VERY demanding job, but even more importantly it is an incredibly creative, intuitive job... Its like these guys fly to the moon and back every other week, without breaking a sweat... And when that deadline is imminent & VERY late picture changes/VFX updates are occurring constantly.... And despite the fact they haven't seen their families for weeks, maybe months, or slept properly for weeks, they make it all seem effortless - nothing is a problem. 
Hats off...

