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hello, my name is Ben Christy and I am 16. I am currently very interested in attending a school with a very successful audio engineering program. I'm sure this topic could be controvercial, but I was just wondering what schools are the top for audio engineering. For example like the "Harvard" of audio engineering?

Thanks
Ben

Comments

thegrobinson Sun, 03/06/2011 - 14:44

RemyRAD, post: 204062 wrote: Ben, I'm not terribly impressed by most of the recording schools. It might be better if you were to receive a bachelor of science degree from a major university in the recording arts and sciences/music?

I'm currently at State University of New York at Fredonia (SUNY Fredonia) I'm a Sound Recording Technology (SRT) and applied percussion double major. The program here is awesome and its a bachelor of science degree. You have to pass a school of music audition and be prepared to tackle calculus and physics. But the calc and science aside, the recording science of it is everything I love doing here. Check out Fredonia, that's basically what Im saying :P

aaronwaudio Fri, 05/27/2011 - 12:55

I went to UW Oshkosh in Oshkosh, WI. Great school. Got a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Industry and Recording Technology. The recording program instructor there will be the first to tell you that real world experience in a studio will be way more useful than the stuff that you learn in school, but you will get a great foundation there. He has had experience in running a studio, owning a publishing company, and being an engineer and started the recording program after his last studio endeavor went south. The man is an encyclopedia. Incredibly knowledgeable. It was also great being a music major honing my instrumental craft as well. I couldn't count the amount of times I have talked to professional musicians about their recording experiences and they were mad about some engineer or another "ruining" their sound. I feel like I have the musical background to see where musicians are coming from and working with them to get an honest recording of their craft. Awesome school, great job placement with an internship being a required part of the program, and very affordable tuition.

nightjar Fri, 06/03/2011 - 13:32

There are many paths to consider...

Recording Workshop in Ohio is a good option.

Been doing it well for a long time... not super-expensive... can be used for 13 semester hours of college credit...

[[url=http://[/URL]="http://RecordingWor…"]Recording Workshop - RECW Music + Audio Production School[/]="http://RecordingWor…"]Recording Workshop - RECW Music + Audio Production School[/]

studio33 Tue, 01/03/2012 - 09:49

I went to the Conservatory of Recording Arts in Arizona. Loved it! How in heck else was I going to get my foot in the door of this industry knowing nothing other than the albums I had made in other studios SUCKED and I wanted to figure out how to make them the right way. I did have to go through a time of stupid pride but now I own a studio and know my limits and have a knowledge base that is allowing me opportunities that I never would have had without school. I am currently being commissioned to write the 10 week curriculum for a recording program for the arts high school in my home town. I am copying directly from my notes from C.R.A.S. GO TO SCHOOL! :smile:

Point Blank Mu… Wed, 01/04/2012 - 09:31

Hey,

Point Blank is a Music Production College based in London. We run courses here at the College and online.

We have a new Audio Mastering course starting on the 9th of January. It was developed by JC Concato (mix engineer for The Cure, Erasure, US3) and Doug Shearer (mastering engineer for Jamelia, Gorillaz, Kasabian). Take a look at the course page here -

[="http://www.pointblankonline.net/audio-mastering-course.php"]Audio Mastering Course | How to Master your Music[/]="http://www.pointbla…"]Audio Mastering Course | How to Master your Music[/]

The course features extensive video content from Jim Lowe (producer/engineer for Stereophonics, The Charlatans) and Bunt Stafford Clark (mastering engineer for Thom Yorke, Manic Street Preachers, Aloe Blacc) who share their views on specific topics including compression, EQ, monitoring, analog vs digital and various others. The course looks at these topics and many more in detail. It will give you definitive answers and a solid skill set to proficiently master your own material.

Take a look at our site and get in touch for more info - [[url=http://="http://www.pointbla…"]Electronic Music Production & DJ Courses, Online Music School, Ableton Courses, How To Make Dubstep[/]="http://www.pointbla…"]Electronic Music Production & DJ Courses, Online Music School, Ableton Courses, How To Make Dubstep[/]
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Dark Horse Institute Wed, 01/18/2012 - 09:33

Check out Dark Horse Institute

From what I've heard from individuals that have attended Full Sail University is that the staff is not as trained and knowledgable at the staff we work for here at [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.darkhors…"]Music Production, Audio Engineering & Recording Arts School Nashville | Dark Horse Institute[/]="http://www.darkhors…"]Music Production, Audio Engineering & Recording Arts School Nashville | Dark Horse Institute[/] Dark Horse Institute.

I am an intern at Dark Horse and some of the other guys interning here graduated from Full Sail, but wish they hadn't wasted the money and just went to the 12 week program that is offered at Dark Horse.

Our staff is highly trained and they work with real world artists, such as Taylor Swift and Faith Hill. They communicate well with the students because the maximum class size is only 12 students.

Students are also welcome to stay late at the studio and play with the console and outboard gear and look through our extensive mic cabinets.

It's located in Nashville, Tennessee out in the middle of the hills and woods, it's such a beautiful place. I'll post a link and leave a number for anyone who wants to get some more information on the place.

http://www.darkhorseinstitute.com
(615) 791-5030

hueseph Wed, 01/18/2012 - 15:37

While I respect that your school has nice facilities and it's great that you have industry professionals and not ex-students teaching, the biggest problem with Engineering schools is the state of the industry. There just aren't any jobs for most people. Even if they are particularly talented, the amount of work the likelyhood that you will have to relocate are daunting. Having to relocate to be an intern and work for free? That's tough. Of course, you might say that a person has to be driven to succeed and that's true with any career. Sure. But, that doesn't change the fact that the industry is dying.

There will always be nurses. There will always be teachers. Will, there always be professional music recording studios? I don't know. Maybe but certainly not as many as there were in their heyday. Something has to change. We all know that. But, what? Monetizing music is becoming extremely difficult for most. Not that I don't think it can be done. Somebody has to make people appreciate the quality of sound again. The quality of quality sound. Stereos that are overpowered because they can produce a better quality at low volumes. Not like the dinky bookshelf stereos we have now. Hi Fi needs a comeback.

There are some good schools out there but there are few jobs. There are jobs in post production and video game production but not a lot in music. Let's face it. Most of the kids in these schools are looking to become rock stars and hip hop "producers".

The greater majority of the schools are just mills. Not just recording schools but all of the technology schools and many of the trade schools. They just want to graduate you to guarantee the cash keeps flowing. They don't care if you know what you're doing or not. Education is a huge racket. Privatization has done this.

So what are we going to do about it? What are you going to do about it? What can I do about it?

Beats me.

End of rant.

studio33 Wed, 01/18/2012 - 21:39

Well I disagree with both the dark horse guy and huey. I couldnt have possibly learned what I learned in a year at The Conservatory in 12 weeks. No possible way. I got only got to play on consoles for a year Neve/SSL/Soundcraft/Neotek/Tascam.... I got to know them well. I couldnt have done that in 12 weeks. No possible way.
Yes the jobs out there are few but thats good in a way. That leaves us to figure out where the industry is going and to go there. Its not a schools job to care about me after I graduate its MY JOB! I have to get my crap together and create a career path and not feel sorry for myself. Your school never will no matter what school it is.

anonymous Tue, 01/31/2012 - 06:42

that doesn't change the fact that the industry is dying.

Being killed.

ISPs are a fabulous business. The money arrives every month, and really the machines do almost all the work, the rest is disposable engineers. No royalties, no judgement calls, just shunt the data and the job's a good'un. No market research required, customers are like postcodes, the product is generic. Not only do the punters pay to participate, it's also a marketable product, wholesaling to blue-chip customers. Things like facebook (Goldman Sachs) use datamining to figure out how best to fleece the masses. That's their business, and they're profitable. The network can be exploited further beyond mere subscription fees, you can even get into selling the subscribers, which is the new business model being pioneered.

The fact that the industrial conglomerates who saw this coming in the 1970s never really got on with the media or the public hasn't escaped me. They publish little brochures for investors about what the near and middle future will be all about, too, and it's charming. Network connected location devices, everybody will have a little bell like a cash cow.

People pay for the Internet. Comcast and Universal are the same company as of last year. Yet, universal will still pursue for piracy, despite the fact that the revenue is landing squarely in their pockets and not being redistributed to artists with contracts.

In the meantime, all of the publishing and copyright licenses are being snapped up super-cheap. It all adds up that everything is monopolised properly, and that the man on the street has no rights / is poor. That's not just the music business.

Of course, the big game with the web's curious disability to get its act together about redistributing revenues from subscription fees to content creators... this hits the whole media. The people who the proper business heads have never liked are journalists, not musicians.

But let's face it, there never really was a big culture of redistributing revenue back in the "good old days", either.

This is worse than Tin Pan Alley, though. More of a big brother scenario.

____

I learned on the job.

Boswell Tue, 03/06/2012 - 03:13

Al_Weeks, post: 385729 wrote: Do you think the recording industry will ever recover from these dulldrums or have the glory days passed for ever?

Correct choice and positioning of microphones in a good acoustic space can bring back the snap and attack that is so often missing.

As for the industry being in the doldrums, well, that's another question.

anonymous Tue, 03/06/2012 - 03:25

When Edison first showed his recording device, the musicians were up in arms, they believed that it would put them out of jobs. It did, but copyright law enabled some musicians to financially profit, although generally most of the commercially run labels endeavoured to pay artists and staff the absolute minimum. It took a long time for the various regulatory bodies to appear, and they were rather subject to being subverted to protect corporate interests rather than artists, eg: RIAA's various campaigns against technologies such as DAT. Copyright licensing was often used to rob artists of their work as much as it got them paid.

What we've got going on today across the board is hyper-capitalism, the people who control the means of production and basic material resources are in a position to exploit the masses, creating a total wealth gap. It's a buyer's market. Len Blavatnik for example is Russia's largest Nylon producer, and he bought WMG. ISP is a natural resource that lives in the ground like gravel, rent is extracted from it.

Any industry, never mind the music industry is currently suffering from a brand new level of corruption and consolidation, driven by a new style of transnational financial-industrial body who have blank chequebooks and control double digit percentages of the global marketplace, and don't pay taxes, thus weakening the process of government as a law-maker. It doesn't matter if you make songs, shoelaces or computer parts, the truth is that a few huge corporates have done a monopoly-cartel race to the bottom in almost every industry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_to_the_bottom which has made it impossible for organisations that remunerate their staff properly to compete. Cannibalistic pricing.

In certain countries there were laws to protect the market from excessive exploitation, but globalisation has weakened this position. There are trans-national monopolies and cartels which can buy first world politicians all day long. Hence, the legal restraints proposed on the Internet are currently ones that will limit consumer choice and protect corporate privacy. There's no mention of paying royalties to artists, instead it's about censorship and control. The DMCA, PIPA, SOPA etc is not about artists or employees.

The new lucrative industry is data-mining, that's the new record industry, the selling of records. It's a complete reversal of the traditional publishing model. It's the act selling the public to the corporates.

Thomas W. Bethel Tue, 03/06/2012 - 04:52

Not sure where this is all headed but I can tell you a couple of things.

1. There are virtually NO JOBS in the audio industry for recent audio school graduates.
2. The music industry as a whole is suffering terribly from pirated recordings.
3. More and more people are going the DIY route when it comes to recording and mixing and this further negates the need for professional recording/audio engineers (i.e. college or trade school trained engineers).
4. The music industry as I knew it growing up has all but ceased to exist and they have no money any more to support new and upcoming artist.
5. The day of the CD or other "physical media" is coming to an end. More and more people are getting ALL their entertainment off the WWW
6. Commercial TV stations maybe going away fairly quickly since people can download or watch almost everything that is on the air and without commercials.
7. Cable TV may be on the endangered species list as more and more people get their entertainment off the WWW.
8. The days of newspapers is also coming to an abrupt end and the statistics say 3 out of every 5 newspapers will not be around in 5 years.
9. The overall world economy is in the doldrums and needs to be kept on life support.
10. There is a fairly good rumor that the CES show will be discontinued as more and more manufactures are pulling out of exhibiting.
11. The price of oil will keep going higher and higher and it will influence more and more decisions. Just going out for some casual shopping or out for a movie may get to be just too expensive and more and more people will retreat into their houses or apartments and use the internet to order products and get their entertainment off the WWW.
12. The days of excess in all its forms in the US are over and will not return.

FWIW and YMMV

Ryan Edward Wed, 03/14/2012 - 05:27

Thomas W. Bethel, post: 385732 wrote: Not sure where this is all headed but I can tell you a couple of things.

1. There are virtually NO JOBS in the audio industry for recent audio school graduates.
2. The music industry as a whole is suffering terribly from pirated recordings.
3. More and more people are going the DIY route when it comes to recording and mixing and this further negates the need for professional recording/audio engineers (i.e. college or trade school trained engineers).
4. The music industry as I knew it growing up has all but ceased to exist and they have no money any more to support new and upcoming artist.
5. The day of the CD or other "physical media" is coming to an end. More and more people are getting ALL their entertainment off the WWW
6. Commercial TV stations maybe going away fairly quickly since people can download or watch almost everything that is on the air and without commercials.
7. Cable TV may be on the endangered species list as more and more people get their entertainment off the WWW.
8. The days of newspapers is also coming to an abrupt end and the statistics say 3 out of every 5 newspapers will not be around in 5 years.
9. The overall world economy is in the doldrums and needs to be kept on life support.
10. There is a fairly good rumor that the CES show will be discontinued as more and more manufactures are pulling out of exhibiting.
11. The price of oil will keep going higher and higher and it will influence more and more decisions. Just going out for some casual shopping or out for a movie may get to be just too expensive and more and more people will retreat into their houses or apartments and use the internet to order products and get their entertainment off the WWW.
12. The days of excess in all its forms in the US are over and will not return.

FWIW and YMMV

Sounds about right.

anonymous Tue, 03/20/2012 - 06:30

Thomas W. Bethel, post: 385732 wrote: Not sure where this is all headed but I can tell you a couple of things.

1. There are virtually NO JOBS in the audio industry for recent audio school graduates.
2. The music industry as a whole is suffering terribly from pirated recordings.
3. More and more people are going the DIY route when it comes to recording and mixing and this further negates the need for professional recording/audio engineers (i.e. college or trade school trained engineers).
4. The music industry as I knew it growing up has all but ceased to exist and they have no money any more to support new and upcoming artist.
5. The day of the CD or other "physical media" is coming to an end. More and more people are getting ALL their entertainment off the WWW
6. Commercial TV stations maybe going away fairly quickly since people can download or watch almost everything that is on the air and without commercials.
7. Cable TV may be on the endangered species list as more and more people get their entertainment off the WWW.
8. The days of newspapers is also coming to an abrupt end and the statistics say 3 out of every 5 newspapers will not be around in 5 years.
9. The overall world economy is in the doldrums and needs to be kept on life support.
10. There is a fairly good rumor that the CES show will be discontinued as more and more manufactures are pulling out of exhibiting.
11. The price of oil will keep going higher and higher and it will influence more and more decisions. Just going out for some casual shopping or out for a movie may get to be just too expensive and more and more people will retreat into their houses or apartments and use the internet to order products and get their entertainment off the WWW.
12. The days of excess in all its forms in the US are over and will not return.

FWIW and YMMV

And that is truly terrifying and very sad.

hueseph Tue, 04/03/2012 - 05:06

jasonthomas, post: 387604 wrote: Though some will do the training just so that they can record for themselves at home.

Seriously? When I attended Columbia Academy, the tuition was a "mere" $14000. Fourteen thousand dollars! If you want to attend Full Sail, you are looking at well into double that. Who is going to spend that kind of money to record at home? How do you intend to pay for that while working at McDonald's? There are home recording courses that are offered at night schools and recently Tom Lee Music has offered such a course but this is a very new development. For the rest of the people there is Full Sail and Berklee.

Do you think people spending $30000 are just wanting to record at home? I highly doubt it. These people are under the impression that somehow they are going to get a job in a recording studio.

Al_Weeks Sat, 04/14/2012 - 07:57

Thomas W. Bethel, post: 385732 wrote: Not sure where this is all headed but I can tell you a couple of things.

1. There are virtually NO JOBS in the audio industry for recent audio school graduates.
2. The music industry as a whole is suffering terribly from pirated recordings.
3. More and more people are going the DIY route when it comes to recording and mixing and this further negates the need for professional recording/audio engineers (i.e. college or trade school trained engineers).
4. The music industry as I knew it growing up has all but ceased to exist and they have no money any more to support new and upcoming artist.
5. The day of the CD or other "physical media" is coming to an end. More and more people are getting ALL their entertainment off the WWW
6. Commercial TV stations maybe going away fairly quickly since people can download or watch almost everything that is on the air and without commercials.
7. Cable TV may be on the endangered species list as more and more people get their entertainment off the WWW.
8. The days of newspapers is also coming to an abrupt end and the statistics say 3 out of every 5 newspapers will not be around in 5 years.
9. The overall world economy is in the doldrums and needs to be kept on life support.
10. There is a fairly good rumor that the CES show will be discontinued as more and more manufactures are pulling out of exhibiting.
11. The price of oil will keep going higher and higher and it will influence more and more decisions. Just going out for some casual shopping or out for a movie may get to be just too expensive and more and more people will retreat into their houses or apartments and use the internet to order products and get their entertainment off the WWW.
12. The days of excess in all its forms in the US are over and will not return.

FWIW and YMMV

I have to say your post is seriously depressing. However I have little doubt that you are correct.

studio33 Sat, 04/14/2012 - 11:47

Thomas W. Bethel, post: 385732 wrote: Not sure where this is all headed but I can tell you a couple of things.

1. There are virtually NO JOBS in the audio industry for recent audio school graduates.
2. The music industry as a whole is suffering terribly from pirated recordings.
3. More and more people are going the DIY route when it comes to recording and mixing and this further negates the need for professional recording/audio engineers (i.e. college or trade school trained engineers).
4. The music industry as I knew it growing up has all but ceased to exist and they have no money any more to support new and upcoming artist.
5. The day of the CD or other "physical media" is coming to an end. More and more people are getting ALL their entertainment off the WWW
6. Commercial TV stations maybe going away fairly quickly since people can download or watch almost everything that is on the air and without commercials.
7. Cable TV may be on the endangered species list as more and more people get their entertainment off the WWW.
8. The days of newspapers is also coming to an abrupt end and the statistics say 3 out of every 5 newspapers will not be around in 5 years.
9. The overall world economy is in the doldrums and needs to be kept on life support.
10. There is a fairly good rumor that the CES show will be discontinued as more and more manufactures are pulling out of exhibiting.
11. The price of oil will keep going higher and higher and it will influence more and more decisions. Just going out for some casual shopping or out for a movie may get to be just too expensive and more and more people will retreat into their houses or apartments and use the internet to order products and get their entertainment off the WWW.
12. The days of excess in all its forms in the US are over and will not return.

FWIW and YMMV

Ok but I get people coming to me all the time that have tried the home recording thing and now know that they cant make it sound good. Plus lets not feel sorry for ourselves what are we a friend of Winnie the pooh? You know what they do to things that wallow. They get turned into breakfast sausage. Get off our butts and go to where the industry is going people you guys sound like my 6 year old when he runs out of bubble solution in his bubble machine.

Thomas W. Bethel Sat, 04/14/2012 - 13:15

studio33, post: 388101 wrote: The indie market is huge right now by the way. Absolutely huge! And they need engineers right? Go to shows meet people stop waiting in your control room for someone to bang the door down it wont happen!

Indie = for the most part...home based recording and mixing and mastering. They don't want to use professionals or can't "afford them" At least that has been my experience. If your experience is different good for you.

Thomas W. Bethel Sat, 04/14/2012 - 13:23

studio33, post: 388100 wrote: Ok but I get people coming to me all the time that have tried the home recording thing and now know that they cant make it sound good. Plus lets not feel sorry for ourselves what are we a friend of Winnie the pooh? You know what they do to things that wallow. They get turned into breakfast sausage. Get off our butts and go to where the industry is going people you guys sound like my 6 year old when he runs out of bubble solution in his bubble machine.

That does not seem to be the case with the "artist" I have coming to me for mastering. Most of them seem to be quite satisfied doing their own "thing" in their own homes. Again if that is not your experience then good for you. As to your 6 year old...make your own bubble solution out of dish-washing liquid and glycerin. Less expensive and you can make really large bubbles and it means you will always have some for him when he wants some. Here are some recipes [[url=http://[/URL]="http://bubbleblower…"]Homemade Bubble Solutions[/]="http://bubbleblower…"]Homemade Bubble Solutions[/]

You might want to read Matthew 7:1

studio33 Sat, 04/14/2012 - 19:41

Ya I do have a different situation, I get mostly indie business. I am not standing in judgement against anyone on this thread. I dont even have half the nice equiptment that some of yall have. I just cant see how complaining about the industry will solve anything. My statement was more of a motivational speech. I mean they crossed the rockies in covered wagons and at least a few survived. We should be able to figure a way to make money at this still. Nothin but love TB

Thomas W. Bethel Sun, 04/15/2012 - 06:53

studio33, post: 388118 wrote: Ya I do have a different situation, I get mostly indie business. I am not standing in judgement against anyone on this thread. I dont even have half the nice equiptment that some of yall have. I just cant see how complaining about the industry will solve anything. My statement was more of a motivational speech. I mean they crossed the rockies in covered wagons and at least a few survived. We should be able to figure a way to make money at this still. Nothin but love TB

I hear ya. I LOVE what I do and always have since the 7th grade when I got into audio in a big way BUT...I can no longer make a good living off something that I enjoy AND it seems neither can a lot of other professional audio people.

Then there are the young people who are spending a lot of money going to "audio" schools that "train" them for non existing jobs. It is a MESS!!!!

When I went to college in the 60's I would have LOVED to go to a college that had a course in audio engineering but there were none around so I started majoring in Electrical Engineering but it was not what I wanted to do so I switched to RTV since it was about as close as I could come to my beloved profession of audio engineering. I did a lot of extra curricular audio work throughout my college career. My degree plus my extra curricular audio work provided me with a really good background in all things audio. Two years of military service doing audio and then a professional career in audio that spanned 40+ years. Now I find that all that experience and knowledge is null and void and people don't want to spend money hiring me preferring to do it themselves with cheap equipment.

When their stuff doesn't turn out the way they think it should they attempt to do their own mastering. When that doesn't turn out they call me and ask for my assistance but don't want to adequately pay me for my time and experience. So yes I am somewhat bitter but still I have the dream that somehow the DIY indie phase will go away and people will again collaborate with others to get their material sounding the best that it can. The loudness race has not helped, the piracy issue has not helped, the DIY mentality has not helped and very few people today actually know what good sound is all about. The MP3 generation thinks that what they hear on their MP3 player trough cheap ear buds is how music should sound. Of course nothing could be further from the truth...

I agree with you that complaining will not help but sometimes I get upset and just wish people would understand that it not just about them and their wants and needs. The music recording industry was GREAT in the 60's and 70's and 80's and I think it could be again but with the current problems (loudness race, piracy, DIYing) it is struggling and its about time that people understand that when they pirate a song off the WWW or decide to do EVERYTHING themselves it is ALSO putting a lot of other people out of work. They may get a real rush doing their own "thing" or having 100,000 illegally downloaded songs on their computer but it translates into lost work for a lot of other folks, myself included. Put on a smile and hope this all goes away is one way of dealing with the problem. The other way to handle this is to try and find out how to get things up and going again and get people back to work.

If I am going to put up a picture or replace a washer on a leaking faucet I do it myself. If I have to have something structurally done to my house or need my toilet replaced I call a pro. This is the basically the same way it should be in recording and production. Unfortunately today not only does the DIYer want to figuratively replace the washer in his or her faucet they want to redo all the plumbing in their house without knowing anything about how to do it. When their recording doesn't turn out the way they think it should they either say "this is the way I wanted it to sound - it is my thing" or they go out and purchase some new and hope it will do what they want or they download a plugin off a WAREZ site and again hope it will do what they want.

FWIW and YMMV

studio33 Sun, 04/15/2012 - 19:12

Tom you have 40+ years of experience in an industry that has schools popping up all over the place with thousands of students who have 0 years experience but would love to learn from a person like you. Also those schools would love to have a guy like you. Are you pickin up what Im layin down brother?

studio33 Sun, 04/15/2012 - 19:15

hueseph, post: 388121 wrote: You are missing the point. There are people getting into large debt (apparently up to $120,000)to get involved in an industry that does not pay back.

Some of the longest lasting businesses are the ones that are born in a down time. Also I agree debt sucks. Nobody should go into debt like they do in the west. Not sure how to fix this. I have not had a loan since school. Thanks to Dave Ramsey

hueseph Sun, 04/15/2012 - 19:32

studio33, post: 388141 wrote: Some of the longest lasting businesses are the ones that are born in a down time. Also I agree debt sucks. Nobody should go into debt like they do in the west. Not sure how to fix this. I have not had a loan since school. Thanks to Dave Ramsey

You're saying what I've been saying for a while now. Money is not in the music industry. It's in music education.

Thomas W. Bethel Mon, 04/16/2012 - 03:46

studio33, post: 388140 wrote: Tom you have 40+ years of experience in an industry that has schools popping up all over the place with thousands of students who have 0 years experience but would love to learn from a person like you. Also those schools would love to have a guy like you. Are you pickin up what Im layin down brother?

Good idea. Thanks!

RemyRAD Tue, 04/17/2012 - 09:48

The previous business plan for studios has disappeared like lead in gasoline. It doesn't matter if you want lead in your gasoline. It ain't going to happen anymore. And it was important for the purpose it served. So along with a boost in power and its lubricating properties within the combustion chamber cannot be had anymore. So compromises have to be made. It makes no sense to spend $40,000 on a degree from a fraudulent school in the business of making money. They have a business plan and their plan is to rip off the public and give you a degree. You would be better served by investing your money and creating your own studio at home, in the garage or in a commercial warehouse. And that doesn't mean that you will get any business whatsoever. Because the industry doesn't support that anymore except for the very rich. And most of us ain't rich except in our experience and capabilities. I think it's idiotic to go to school to learn what you can get off of the Internet, YouTube, books and just doing it for yourself through trial and error utilizing your friends rock bands as guinea pigs, or lab rats, little white bunnies with pink eyes. And it really doesn't matter what kind of equipment you obtain because nobody really gives a crap about that anymore either. Only we do. Only I do. So I have what I want and I utilize what I have. I was extremely lucky in the types of equipment I was able to obtain. Beyond my wildest expectations in fact. And most of everything was purchased used and had to be restored/rebuilt and constantly maintained. Which means I also have to be a proficient electronic technician, which I am. And that came through years of trial and error experience and a fabulous mentor that I was just damned lucky to have been introduced to in my mid teenage years. I had to take jobs I wasn't particularly interested in but were still at least within my field. And that was broadcasting news and politics for NBC-TV. You're not getting it any Grammys for recording talking heads. You won't even get an Emmy. You might get an enema? Maybe a hernia. And most probably, a nervous breakdown all free of charge. You might get a degree from a community college which would be the most practical and affordable way to get the basic rudimentary fundamentals you need to know about. And that will not include any electronics education. That's separate. So you might want to get a degree in computers? From there, you'll understand some of the basics of what goes on inside technically. With that knowledge in hand, you could easily pick up some books and learn about audio electronics. Then you can build your own home studio and customize what you need to customize in order to make a viable working home studio.

I also find acoustics to be the least of any of the problems encountered. That's because in live on location recording, you never get a choice of what the acoustics are going to be like. So when recording at home, consider it live on location recording at your home. Which will mean a minimum of structural changes. Lining your room with foam gizmos and other blah blah can be more counterproductive to the acoustics. All you need really is diffusion and that comes from a standard living room environment with heavily padded couches, chairs, pictures hung on the wall, etc.. If you want better diffusion, building floor to ceiling bookshelf along an entire wall lined with discarded books from schools, universities, libraries. It also presents an image of knowledge even if you haven't read a single blasted book on the shelf.

Mentored and self-taught successful engineer.
Mx. Remy Ann David

RemyRAD Fri, 04/20/2012 - 10:43

I think the best way to learn is basically by doing it. I am preparing to start to teach where it will be all hands on and very little book time. I'm going to make this affordable that I hope will inspire business? Like many other studios, we are virtually going out of business and so we become recording schools. This will be a certificate only school and I'm not interested in any college accreditation. People just want to learn how to make good recordings and not all of the other blab blab that goes with that. There will be some reading to familiarize everybody with previous and current technologies. There will be a strong emphasis on learning the basics since everybody today, knows how to use a computer already. So checking into your local recording studios might yield something similar to that?

I will profess that I am not a profess
Mx. Remy Ann David