Top Audio Engineering School??

Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 8:11 pm

How about those "Recording Mentor" programs? The ones where you pay to be an apprentice in a functioning studio...

I've checked out www.recordingmentor.com and www.recordingconnection.com and they seem alright. Their websites are pretty shabby but maybe they make up for it in substance.

Anyone know about these? They say they can put me in a working studio in my area and can usually get me a job AT THAT STUDIO or another when the mentorship is done.

Here's the curriculum for Recording Connection:

http://www.recordingconnection.com/recording-info-course.html

Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:06 pm

This is a tricky question these days.......I went to what was probably one of the first schools for audio in the country, College for Recording Arts in San Francisco, in 1976-77. I also went to Institute for Audio Research in NYC in 1983-84 which started as an AES workshop. The former was a well rounded curriculum with business, law, music theory, engineering, workshops, etc....the latter was more technical with acoustics, digital circuit design and so on. I'm glad I learned what I did, but the industry model is changing beneath our feet as we discuss this. Big studios that employ people are folding like card houses. I opened my own one horse town 3 years ago with no plans of hiring any help. I'd say if you truly plan on getting into this field, you'd best go to work for a broadcast company or do your own thing. I second that it helps to have some business background and to be a musician. I've been self employed pretty much my entire life, and been a performing musicican for 38 years. It helps to speak the language.

Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:14 pm

hey what u al think bout S.A.E. institut?

http://www.sae.edu/

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 12:52 am

I'd like to repeat something that has been repeated a bit here - but not enough in the world-at-large, I'm afraid: expecting these schools to make you a super-engineer is like beating a wargame on your XBox and thinking you can go win the Iraq war by yourself. (Please, let's not go there with the discussion!!!!) There's more than tech to this...

I have met a lot of grads from these schools and almost NONE of them are working locally. This is because using the gear is only about 30% of what it takes to make it. People skills and a basic understanding of business are crucial - not to mention the fact that you must have a unique and well-formed marketing strategy to stand out. Most of these grads just don't get it.

As a result, the program I have developed for Otterbein College (in Columbus, OH) has equal parts tech/business/hands-on. It's small now, but it's growing fast. Drop me an e-mail if you are interested in learning more:

evan-wagner@otterbein.edu

BTW, one of my students just got a gig as a sound engineer before she even graduated, so we're doing something right! Smile

Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 2:28 am

Hey Ben, Did you ever find a good recording school?

Denise

Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 11:39 am

Anybody want to talk about recording schools?

Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 12:23 pm

Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, TN (about 25 miles out of Nashville) has one of the premier college programs in the industry. Business, law, marketing, tech, theory, every aspect of the industry is offered. In addition, they have a vast state of the art studio that rivals anything you can find anywhere.

Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 8:17 pm

Slavebell wrote:

hey what u al think bout S.A.E. institut?

http://www.sae.edu/

It's a good enough school but you need to work on spelling first. no offense intended if English isn't your first language, but if it is then take it personally!

Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 9:45 am

I'm going to 2nd, 3rd, or whatever MTSU as well.

I graduated there with a degree in Music Business (as opposed to the Production Tech side of the Recording Industry program).

The benefits: You have a REAL University degree....a Bachelors! If you decide not to go into the business or want a change of career, you have something to fall back on. You could minor in Business Administration. Plus having a Bachelors as opposed to a certificate makes mom and dad REAL happy that their education dollars are not going to waste!

And their studios are AMAZING and constantly growing. The program has become quite popular....so if you are thinking about it, don't slack off your freshman year like so many of us did because you need a 3.5 GPA in your "core" classes to make candidacy for the program. And with more and more people trying to get into the program and them only accepting a handful every semester/year....it's getting tough.

I couldn't say enough about the program though!

Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 7:55 am

Hello all!

I would recommend either of these programs to someone considering audio engineering schools:

http://mue.music.miami.edu/index.php (undergrad & grad programs)

http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/recordingarts

Both are affiliated with university music schools requiring an audition, and both are EXTREMELY competitive, accepting about a dozen students per year. (I believe the Peabody program is a five year Bachelors program) Best of luck!

Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 12:10 pm

2 years ago I graduated from A.R.T.I in Orlando, which by the way is a great school. There's roughly 5-6 instructors, to the 5-6 classmates you will have the entire time. Somebody mentioned they were intrested in post production. ARTI has the first certified THX studio, equipped with an SSL Axiom, Pro Tools and the whole 9. I am in no way gaining anything from giving you this information, including what I say next. I have yet to hear anything remotely positive about the program at Full Sail. The price is outrageous, and keeps rising faster than any other school that I know of, you don't get on equipment for about 3 months (we were on small consoles within the first week at ARTI), and the average class holds a wapping 30+ from what i've heard. You keep crazy hours the whole way through the course. I've had aquaintances tell me that they've had labs at 3 in the AM! I heard a story about a full sail graduate applying at a studio in Nashville. During the interview, the owner asked the applicant what school he went too. The applicant replied, "Full Sail," then was immediately asked to leave. Could be a nasty rumor, but I wouldn't want to find out the hard way. Just because a school advertises in the front and back of every Vibe, King, or Source magazine doesn't mean you should waste your 37,000 dollars on it.

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 6:39 am

I have a friend who decided to go through the "get a mentor" program....

http://www.getamentor.com/index.html

... so far he loves it. I think the thing that sold him was the rate of job placement after completing the program... they give your mentor a cash bonus to get you a job... which to me makes since as a perfect motivational tool.

I think if I were considering going to recording school, that is one thing that would be critical... job placement rates. That's one expensive piece of paper otherwise...

Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 2:22 am

Don't go to ex'pression. I know people that went there and I've recorded stuff there myself, and I don't think anyone coming out of their audio department knows anything about how to make a decent recording

Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 1:21 pm

RemyRAD wrote:

Although I do have GRAMMY, EMMY and Soul Train music award nominations

An emmy for remy! Smile

I actually dont know how to pronounce remy, but they seem like they would rhyme.

Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 9:24 am

Slavebell wrote:

hey what u al think bout S.A.E. institut?

http://www.sae.edu/

I graduated from SAE Singapore a few years back. Didn't get a lot out of it except basic theories (which I guess applies to most kind of schools etc). Anyway the SAE I attended were just so-so, though back then they had a Neve VR, which was supposed to be the WOW console, before they replaced it with 2 x Yamaha O2R...Duh....

I don't think they are professionally managed but not sure of the SAE overseas.

But end of the day, like most would agree or have stated, going to places like SAE will only get you some basic theory and that piece of paper. And those papers, in my personal experience, do nothing. I tried getting applying jobs at studios and the first question is what experience do you have and not what kind of papers do you have. Infact none even bothers asking if I have attended any kind of school.

Sad, but I guess its a fact Smile

This topic sponsored by: