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I'm an Illinois native (Quad Cities) currently attending Expression College in Northern California.

This is the only college I've attended, so I can't say anything about Full Sail, SAE, or Columbia. I've got friends at Columbia and a friend going to the Madison Media Institute and essentially doing the same thing I'm doing.

Expression is a pretty solid school. The free studio time and stuff is kind of bullshit, as you're limited to a certain amount of hours each month, and there's a fair amount of loopholes to jump thru before booking any time at all. Not to mention certain pieces of outboard gear are instructor only and off limits to the student.

My only serious complaints about the school is their inability to handle the growing pains associated with any growing institution. Their financial aid office is woefully out of touch and difficult to deal with: if you plan on attending, do your own FA, save copies of EVERYTHING, and get ready for some headaches (unless Mom and Dad are footing the bill for school).

Also, like most other schools, they offer "career development." The "career development" at Expression, in my opinion, is implemented way too late in your program and almost worthless. When I tried to talk to them about internships 8-9 months ago, they told me to come back when I was closer to graduating. Just recently I got an email saying that I was to check in during my last 5 weeks at the school and they'd "get something set up." I don't know exactly what they mean, but to me, the last term is simply too late to start interning.

Oh, and your precious free studio time is going to disappear (or close to it) very soon. When I started in the Sound Arts, there was around 600-700 students (in 1/06): now, ~1,100. I was allotted 20 hours a month in studio time: now, 12. Soon, fewer. They've recently built a new studio (which is great, by the way) but that won't remedy the problem all that much. There's more and more labs, more and more classes, and less and less space.

The teachers are great at this school. I've made a lot of good friends and have landed both of my current internships thru amazing people I've met at this school, so don't take my bitching too seriously. If I had to do it again, I would.

The school is brutal. Four year BAS in 2 1/2 is not a joke. You WILL have a shitty schedule; you WILL have midnight to 4am labs; you WILL be miserable at times, but I'm pretty happy with what I've learned and the time I've spent there.

recording school is a waste, and heres why..


spending a boatload of money on school merely gets you a suitable for framing certificate.

spending a boatload of money on gear gets you a boatload of gear.

if you want to be an accountant, go to school.

if you want to be an engineer, buy some gear and start learning to use it.

Tomeister BMus Degree
University of Surrey
Guildford, England
www.surrey.ac.uk/soundrec

not a doubt in my mind this is the best recording school i've come across.

I've been to SAE in London, you meet some great guys on your course, but my advice is simple:Rather than paying 8,000 for fees, and putting yourself in debt like a lot of the guys, for one-year of elementary learning, spend the money prudently on gear, gear that you know you'll use for what you want to do, and buy a couple of good books, Amazon has some great second-hand Audio Engineering books that will teach you more than a lecturer.Tom Misner is running SAE for a profit, all 50 world-wide. Hell, people can even franchise their own SAE just like a person can a McDonald's, with the aim of running it like a business and making a profit. This gets to me a little, because it means they cut costs, and from what I've heard all SAE locations cut-costs and make a lot up to get you signed by contract (And if you don't make fee payments, they'll put collectors on you VERY FAST).So, do some reading, get your own gear, or you may end up broke with no gear.

At SAE Institute your teacher is a former student, this is how they work and how they managed to run a so called college for years. They don't pay much so no one with a teaching qualification or industry experience wants to work there. But go and speak to the staff especially the manager, he as well is only a former student and if you complain about anything none of the management will listen to you. it's more like our way or you can leave. Another thing is the contract when signing up, if you do intend to leave because you are not satisfied they have you by the bxxxs. Be careful.They don't offer Protools certificates or Logic Pro training which at certain other schools are included in the fee.http://www.wiretotheear.com/2008/10/25/ ... mment-3217http://lithax.wordpress.com/2006/06/13/ ... ae-anyway/http://saeoxford.blogspot.com/

I'm a current student @ Flashpoint Academy, which in my opinion, far surpasses the Audio Engineering program @ Columbia. It's a two year INTENSIVE program, with knowledgeable faculty, impressive equipment, and lots of hands on labs. It's a generalized program, therefor you will learn how to use the DAW for music, film post production, and game audio your first year, and in your second year, you will declare a focus, and take advanced courses in that area. All in all, this is an amazing school, and I speak for all my fellow classmates when I say it's worth the investment! Take a tour and I promise you'll have your socks knocked off. It truly does not feel like I'm coming to class every day, never have I been bored with coursework, and the access we have to the main studio, location audio equipment and mini-suites is definitely a plus... The only bummer thing is that until the very last segment of the program, everything you will be doing is in ProTools. I will admit it's nice to learn an industry-standard program to the T is nice, but how about some Analog!...Just found my pop's AKAI tape machine. What fun!!

While I can't contribute to the reputable side of this thread, I would caution anyone considering the Audio Production or Audio Post-Production programs at Ohio University. While the faculty are highly competent and the studio facilities are excellent given the constraints on their construction, there simply aren't enough of either, and you have to fight like hell to get any studio time. There's also not much of a barrier to entry, which means that there are a lot of people in the program who are in it just to get the degree and who really don't care about audio. This can make some classes suck quite a bit. If you're willing to put in the time, however, you might emerge from the program with some degree of competence. I find myself wishing that I had done some more research when I considered where to go to school way back when, as it sounds like some of the schools mentioned in this thread (Flashpoint, Indiana) would have been more my speed, and I actually got accepted at Indiana, but couldn't ignore OU's money. Oh well.