DJ_Statikfire wrote:A wise man once told me...

"you can either go to school for sound engineering, or you can spend the same amount of money on the gear, and teach yourself"

I agree.

As a "recordist" as well as an educator I have to say that this will probably
work for some but not work at all for others.

I was a music major in college and started learning the recording side of things long before I hit college. I had a couple mentors which helped immensely. Teaching myself worked for me.

I now teach audio recording at a community college and I see some folks who should be off on their own, but more often I see people who benefit from the structure of a class.

It's great if you're disciplined enough but some folks thrive in the structure of a class or program.

Gotta say, I couldn't agree with you less. Don't know about where you are but there are far too many people around here who think they're sound engineers because they did a two year course involving loads of theory, essays and crap like that but gained next to no practical experience then realise how little they know when faced with the reality of recording a band.

Fact is these places are making out anyone can be a sound engineer when, ironically, 90% of the time the guy teaching is probably a trained sound engineer who has had to resort to teaching it when he couldn't find any other work. There's simply not enough for everyone, you go to college then expect at best some live sound work for a pittance in a dingy club or to end up perpetuating the vicious circle by becoming a teacher yourself.

The only real way to make any progress if you want to work in a studio is to work ion a studio.

This argument could go on forever. The quality of the education one receives in school is dependent on weather or not the school/program is any good. You can't blame all recording schools, or advise people not to go to college for audio engineering just because one school does a shit job of teaching the theory and skills properly. Furthermore, it's all about what the student makes of the program. Audio engineering is not a one of those fields that you can just sit in a class, do your paperwork and get an "A" and expect to be a remarkable sound engineer.

I went to school for Audio engnineering. I was also recording and practicing in my own place before i went to school, and continued to do so while in school by constantly applying what I learned in class in the studio. Sometimes I would find out that what I learned was a crock of shit, or sometimes I would realize that something that seemed so simple was actually far more complicated.

Taking courses and being able to completely emmerse myself in all aspects of sound engineering with qualified mentors and instructors, a good solid theory of electronics, acoustics, music theory and audio and theory, analog tape editing, tape machine calibration, over 140 hours of hands-on experience every semester in all genres of music from orchestras to jazz ensembles to rock groups to operas to hip-hop to movie soundtracks in addition to access to both great equipment and really terrible equipment, helped me attain a much deeper lever of understanding than I would have gained on my own in such a short period of time. Of course, I see plenty of students go through this very same program and they hardly learn a thing, but like I said before, it's all what you make of it. And, unfortunately some people just aren't inclined to this kind of work, just like not everyone can draw sweet pictures of Ligers.

There is no right or wrong way to do anything. Although going to school (for any profession) is not for everyone, if you pick a good program, go into it with the right attitude and constantly practice and reinforce everything you learn in your classes as you are learning it, you will gain more useful knowledge and experience than you would interning at the hottest studio in the USA.

I have met plenty of full-of-shit "engineers" that have come out of various audio programs and have met equally as many of these guys that have "taught themselves" in their basements, as interns at other studios or sitting around reading the internet... It all boils down to the individual; either you know you your shit or you don't.

mtar