I
Ironklad Audio
New member
Ok, check it out - a couple of years ago, i took two semester-long classes on recording arts at my local community college(Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA). Near the end of the curriculum, I started looking into schools such as Full Sail, CRAS, and many of the others that offer some sort of degree or certification in Recording Arts.
Of course, these schools all cost at least $15,000 - and that's for the ones that don't actually give you a degree in anything. I thought at the time "Damn, my school's a pretty damn good deal!". The studio was equipped with some great mics(M149, U87's, 414's, royer 121's, etc.) and preamps(1073, UA 2-610, Focusrite 110, Grace 801, + more). Mixing was done on both a Mackie D8B and Soundcraft Ghost, through Genelec and JBL monitors. Best was the fact that the class is taught by an extremely knowledgeable individual - although all of the mixing techniques he shares come from a jazz perspective.
I thought that for $27/unit - a total of $54/semester + books, it had to be one of the best deals in audio education. Then I started the 1st day of the just-added 3rd semester course on Monday, and my previous conclusions have been confirmed. Since I was last there, they've scrapped the D8B and Ghost for a Digi D-Command console, and have added a U47 to the mic arsenal. They've also added 16 channels of API 3124+, along with some great outboard gear to go along with all of the great outboard stuff that was already there.
In addition, there will also be a 4th semester course being offered starting next spring, and the school will be awarding a Recording Arts program certification upon completion. With this new class, there will be 28 Digi 003 systems being installed to take pressure off of the main control room, which now has 3 classes of students fighting for mixing time. This will also allow the school to offer the 200-level ProTools certification. Best of all, the cost is still $54/class. That makes a total cost of $216 for 2 years of courses, plus about $100 of books. In all honesty, where the hell else can you get ProTools certified for that kind of green?
I realize there's probably better places to learn this stuff, and MAYBE even some cheaper...but I thought I might share this, since I see a lot of people asking a lot of questions about audio education. For around the price of a few SM57's, you can get an education that likely rivals that of many of the "top" schools in the industry - and still take courses that are applicable to a degree other than recording arts or music.
Of course, these schools all cost at least $15,000 - and that's for the ones that don't actually give you a degree in anything. I thought at the time "Damn, my school's a pretty damn good deal!". The studio was equipped with some great mics(M149, U87's, 414's, royer 121's, etc.) and preamps(1073, UA 2-610, Focusrite 110, Grace 801, + more). Mixing was done on both a Mackie D8B and Soundcraft Ghost, through Genelec and JBL monitors. Best was the fact that the class is taught by an extremely knowledgeable individual - although all of the mixing techniques he shares come from a jazz perspective.
I thought that for $27/unit - a total of $54/semester + books, it had to be one of the best deals in audio education. Then I started the 1st day of the just-added 3rd semester course on Monday, and my previous conclusions have been confirmed. Since I was last there, they've scrapped the D8B and Ghost for a Digi D-Command console, and have added a U47 to the mic arsenal. They've also added 16 channels of API 3124+, along with some great outboard gear to go along with all of the great outboard stuff that was already there.
In addition, there will also be a 4th semester course being offered starting next spring, and the school will be awarding a Recording Arts program certification upon completion. With this new class, there will be 28 Digi 003 systems being installed to take pressure off of the main control room, which now has 3 classes of students fighting for mixing time. This will also allow the school to offer the 200-level ProTools certification. Best of all, the cost is still $54/class. That makes a total cost of $216 for 2 years of courses, plus about $100 of books. In all honesty, where the hell else can you get ProTools certified for that kind of green?
I realize there's probably better places to learn this stuff, and MAYBE even some cheaper...but I thought I might share this, since I see a lot of people asking a lot of questions about audio education. For around the price of a few SM57's, you can get an education that likely rivals that of many of the "top" schools in the industry - and still take courses that are applicable to a degree other than recording arts or music.
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