Top Audio Engineering School??

Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 5:19 pm

Aint that the troof Bent, but other than that, sit down, shutup, listen, learn and then when the session is OVER ask questions

Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 9:53 pm

Correct!

Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 4:26 pm

berklee school of music, or eastman

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 12:10 pm

HemlokSociety wrote:

Aint that the troof Bent, but other than that, sit down, shutup, listen, learn and then when the session is OVER ask questions

here's my situation. see what you think. i'm 35 and have been bartending in, running and owning clubs for the past 13 years. i had/have some money in the bank so that's not a worry. my wife wanted to get her masters of music from full sail. she has a bachelors from uc-boulder already. i was interested in a recording arts program and thought, let's just go there. well....they have a lot of goodies. your spine tingles just playing in the studio, however, the classes are huge. the majority of the students were not too concerned about staying on task and didn't mind poor grades (annoying while in group work). I started looking into other options. my wife is doing the online program so i am free to go wherever (with her okay, of course). i have a friend in phoenix who has been trying to get into the conservatory of recording arts down there.
here's the rough part. i want to shoot video and record live audio, then do post production. this is a lot of work i know, but i have the drive. given that they don't do much foley work there, would it be a better option to go the entertainment career connection route? they have a specialized editing option.
anyhoots, i have my telephone interview with the conservatory in 3 hours so we will have to see. opinions are all good. i just want more inside. i'm bright enough to be pragmatic as to your reasons.
cheers.

Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 11:42 am

I wanted to get an opinion on SAE institute (www.sae.edu)? All I have been able to find about them sounds very promising, but is it realy so?

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 4:50 pm

I say the LA recording school. They have all the equipment the pro studios have and you get trained on everything that has to do with sound. Also when you get out u are pro tools certified

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 11:27 am

monetmelly wrote:

Also when you get out...

Like on probation?

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 11:35 am

Greener wrote:

monetmelly wrote:

Also when you get out...

Like on probation?

One other benefit - conjugal visits...

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 11:37 am

monetmelly wrote:

I say the LA recording school. They have all the equipment the pro studios have and you get trained on everything that has to do with sound. Also when you get out u are pro tools certified

That does kind of beg the question - what do other schools use if they don't use "all the equipment the pro studios have..."

Do they have like Fisher Price microphones and KitchenAid mixers?

Do they have the drum kits from Costco? Or maybe Barbie guitars and Playschool Pianos?

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 11:46 am

Isn't it all the same thing? Apart from quality (prolly a function or two) what's the difference between a Neve and a Behringer when you're learning to mix?
The difference is if you blow the Behringer up no one will remove your extremities.
However I could see some benefits to not having pov pack gear, for instance my friends snare stand wont go up high enough to let me not hit my knee when playing... 1 extra inch of steel tube... Tight.

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 11:58 am

DOOD...
What U talkin about?!

Behringer is DA BOMB! IDK what this "Neve" shizzle is, but she sucked in Scream and was even worse in Wild Things DAWG!

Wutever tho! You bi-otches don't know quality if it bit you in da a$$.

I think U should go to Full Sale tho. My brotha from anotha mutha went there and he's now the manager at Guitar Center. He's living proove - u to can suxceed if you work hard and dream big.

Piece out...

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 12:04 pm

monetmelly wrote:

.....when you get out u are pro tools certified

This is not something they guarantee is it? There are 2 levels of ProTools certification in three possible directions of expertise. The first level requires 4 levels of courses each requiring between 16-40 hours of lessons then a final exam. Can they cram all this into a 10 month course in audio along with all the other necessary practical and theoretical skills? For certification, I hope they require a better than 85% score to qualify. Otherwise they're just churning out half educated hacks......like me.

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 12:09 pm

That was totally killed by the thing you made me cough up after I was done laughing so loud. My face hurts.
On a serious note though, the _only_ reason someone should consider one school over another for anything up to bachelor is the quality of the "co-ed". When it's time to do masters or become a doctor, then look at the tech.
Pick a fun school and enjoy being young.

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:03 pm

Great question. As a former academic advisor and music business vet, I'll throw out a few things that might help in making the decision as to what school is most deserving of your hard-earned money, particularly those related to the music industry.

The most important thing to realize from the get-go is that "best" is always relative. What is great for one person would not be good for another. And all sorts of things go into what makes a school a good experience for any student, girls/guys, what the campus looks like, proximity to home or its distance (for those looking to get away), the school's size, specialty, night life, etc. It's so different for everyone.

I went to school at Southern Illinois University. They've got a great R&T (Radio/Television) program there and that is a big draw for a lot of people interested in a career in entertainment. When I went in 1987, that was the program to check out. Now they have a Music Business program, where music performance is a big component, and a Hollywood program, where TV production, etc., is a big component. I did the Music Business program since I'm a drummer and found that the performance aspect of the program was something I really enjoyed.

SIU is six hours from Chicago and an hour and a half from St. Louis. In other words, it's in the boonies for the most part. But FOR ME, and frankly, a lot of people from Chicago, it was heaven. So think about the big picture when choosing a school.

Specific to music/engineering here is a brief list of the other things you want to consider and make sure the school your considering offers:

1. The classes you want. If you're a rock 'n' roller and the school your looking at teaches mostly jazz. Good luck.

2. There is a career office staffed by people who have actually had jobs outside of academia. Nothing is worse than asking for someone's help finding a job when the only paycheck they've ever accepted had a school's name attached to it. Better than someone who has just had any real job, is someone who has worked in music. That's where the real connections are at.

3. The school can document and put you in touch with their graduates working in the entertainment industry. If they can't do this, and have not kept track of their alumni, run away, and run away fast!

4. They have a formalized internship program with studios, labels. . .whatever. If you can't get your own internship, you'll want to have them help you.

5. Access to good equipment that is state of the art. No sense learning how to record on reel-to-reel if its not being used as much or at all anymore. This is very important.

6. The school will allow you to get "real world" experience. In other words, they'll either train you on the type of equipment mentioned in my response above, or they'll allow you to have a life outside of school that affords you the time to get an internship.

7. You like the people and the school's environment.

8. It's affordable. If a program offers to train you on all the latest equipment, for X billion dollars, but you can learn how to operate that equipment on your own by interning at a studio, is it a necessary cost to incur?

9. Be sure you can take classes other than engineering at your chosen school. While engineering is a very specific field, you'll want to learn all that other so-called boring stuff as well. Two reasons: Most employers will require it, and secondly if you ever want to run your own studio, you'll want to know how to market it, manage it, and add up the money you're making like an accountant would.

10. lease keep in mind that if you EVER plan on pursuing an Associate degree and THEN going to a four year college, you MUST make sure that the classes you're taking at the two year school transfer to whatever 4 year program you're considering. I saw too many students in my day who re-took so many classes and spent too much money doing so that I feel I have to advise you to get this cleared up ahead of time. The last thing you want to do is take highschool all over again three times: once in high school, once in your two year program and then again in your four year. Check with the schools and/or the state board of education to see what classes/schools are accredited in your state.

11. Bonus answer. Have fun!

Cheers,
Doc

Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 5:52 am

About time I contribute to this thread since I'm one of the people who asked about schools like about 2 years ago! Smile

Well last year about the same time I was laid off from my job in the semiconductor field, and I couldn't have been happier, no my job at KLA was great, educational, I traveled the world for free and got paid for it! Just the nature of the business was that they were moving manufacturing operations to Singapore and business wise that was the smart choice (80% of the chip manufacturing is in Asia) so I got me a nice severance package and a chance to go back to school. Now I live in the Bay area of california (think SF) so there are no SAE schools or Full Sail here, but there is Foothill Community College http://www.foothill.edu/musictechnology/

so luckily I lived near to a very affordable school that did offer courses in music recording and the such... and here is my assement of going there for a year.

I'll start with the bad because there really isn't much. The lack of hardware/outboard gear. Nothing to work with like the industry standards (well older standards) of NEVE, SSL, UA, or any other mic pres/compressor/limiter/saturation equipment, HOWEVER there is makeup for that explained later down the post. This is my only disappointment, but it is a JC and on a tight budget.

Now the good! The main staff are really good teachers, one being an actuall working musician and the other a studio owner/engineer for about 25 years, both being very easy to communicate to. The music technology department has 2 buildings. The first one is the lab room, about 30 macs with PT/Mbox's, and a Midi controller for each. Yes this is pretty much a Pro Tools dominant program, but students do get student discounts on PT gear and software, about to get a Digi003 rack w/factory bundle for $1000, so in the lab if you're a songwriter you have all the tools at your disposal. The 2nd building is my favorite, the tracking room. This actually sounds pretty good and we've done some class projects recording in it. There is the control room also, they have an older C24 console with a 192 HD system in which the mics pres in it do a good job when tracking and another thing good is the mic locker, enough mics to do any type of session and some great quality ones too, I think they have a few Neumans, I haven't tracked anything there for my solo projects so don't hold me to it. So you pretty much have everything to start recording and mixing a project. I will say the school's program is catered to a songwriter or artist looking at learning how to make a good sounding demo with all the digital tools that are out there, for recording engineering not so much but its a great alternative to any of the other facilities that charge 17K for a 6 month course.

One other added bonus though, and this is where the lack of hardware comes into play, is one of the teacher's studio that he's been toiling over the years is still open, and he has some of us students helping out on sessions that he contracted, so yes this is the summer of me being exploited and I'm gonna love it! here is link to that studio
http://www.suspectstudios.com/

So what have I gotten from the program so far? A better understanding how the music industry works, the list of hardware/software that are out there, better understanding of how PT works and the plugins, working on a more sophisticated machinary (as opposed to just work on an Mbox), and how much more I have to learn about everything in this field. If you're gonna succeed in this field you got to be highly motivated and don't think there is a job at the end of your time at school and look for material to work with. And also a school to retake my Japanese Smile

BUT this all pales in comparison with getting some hands on experience, the school has been great for the academic part but there is no better way to learn than to get your hands dirty, which I hope to be doing this summer. This is coming from a guy who is just a student and acknowledges I've still got a long way to go.

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