recording school or how to get started

[Kemic Hal]

Hey,
I am interested in getting into a good school. Or maybe what certifications I would need to be relevant to todays recording techniques. I would like to dabble in music production, recording, mixing, and mastering. I have found several sites with great info. I guess what I would like is suggestions on where to start. I know some people here are professionals and some are not but all suggestions are welcome. I generally feel that I can get good recording and a nice sound but I feel infantile in certain areas. I read as much as I about technique but feel it is hard to develope without hand-on experience. So my situation is that I would still need to work while going to school. I live in the Washington, DC area. Yes there are schools around here, some of which are very reputable. Another question is should I get certifications or a degree. I have found A company called Career Connections that uses a mentoring program to teach is curriculum. It sound like the winning ticket but they offer certs not a degree. So in closing tell me if I'm heading the right way or if I need to back the truck up and reconsider(your suggestions).

P.S. I didn't really know where to post this. I felt this was the most relevant place.

Kemic Hal

 

[RD423]

I'm gonna keep it real even if you go to school for this to get your degree you still have about the same chance as if you tought yourself (like I did) at home on the computer but if you can do the mentoring thing do it but I got lucky and get to do some engineering work at a pro studio in my area but my point is go to school or not you still have about the same chance of getting a job in a pro studio in my opinion and also what I have been told because the majority of the engineers that I have met have not went to school for it

 

[sweetnubs]

And of course you know all engineering is done on computers, especially a professional facilities.

 

[Kemic Hal]

mentoring program

I agree about the self-taught part. Most of the engineers I've worked with were guys who just happen to start by coincedence. So this is why I liked the mentoring program. I do know most stuff nowadays is computer recorded thats sorta what I meant about certifications. Seeing that ProTools is mulitrack standard I could obtain a certification for this from the mentor program. I've worked with PT LE And similar stuff like Vegas Video and I don't find it challenging. I quess I think that having a piece of paper that says "he can do this" to get my foot in the door is what I need. There is a school/studio close to here that offers internships but because it is a school also most new students fill those positions.

Kemic

 

[Cloneboy Studio]

I live in a mid-sized city, but I work in the professional audio field doing commercial radio. I work with Cumulus and Clear Channel engineers all the time. Not a SINGLE one of them has any formal schooling in audio. Heck, some were DJ's before they got into it, and a few were voice talent that had no musical skill whatsoever.

 

[ampd]

Dallas Sound Lab is a great school to go to.It`s in the Las Colinas movie studios here in Dallas. I believe they have dorms to stay at now and I think they have started a grant program. You can teach yourself, but you`re going to be limited in learning on what you can afford in equipment. I know there you`d be doing everything from Pro Tools to working with vintage Neve`s and everything in between. Its a world class facility with a national client list too lengthy to list. You will also learn how to edit and overdub for tv and movies. I agree that you dont HAVE to go to school, but you`ll have a HUGE heads up being able to walk into any situation and know what you`re doing

 

[chessrock]

There's a few good ones in the midwest. I'd call AES headquarters and see if you can get a recommendation from someone there. I'd stay far away from half-sail. I mean full-sail. Yea, call or email AES and tell them you don't want any shitty schools.

 

[TexRoadkill]

You can teach yourself, but you`re going to be limited in learning on what you can afford in equipment.

Considering you save $30k on tuition by not going to school you should be able to afford some pretty nice stuff. The problem with Audio Engineering is that it's not like a regular job. You can't just go to school and then get a job. Jobs are hard to find and you usually work for free or very cheap for a long time. After 10yrs you may find yourself worth about the same as a night manager at Circle K only he actually has health insurance.

 

[ampd]

what a joke

like its going to cost you 30k. I think its getting a little hot in Phoenix Tex.

 

[Be Loveless]

I've had the same debate with myself, and I am going to register for fall at the Sheffield Institute for the Recording Arts. WWW.sheffieldav.com
As far as I can see these are the advantages to going to school.
1. Meeting people and making connections with people that are currently and will be working in the industry.
2. A step by step guided, regimented, curriculum with a variety of instructors with multiple perspectives and approaches. As opposed to one or two "mentors" who are possibly set in thier ways and you have the added pressure of auditioning for a job with them while you are suposed to be learning.
3. JOB PLACEMENT ASSISTANCE
4. The argument that you could take the amount of money that you would spend on tuition and spend it on equipment instead is a moot point. It is VERY likely that I will qualify for a student loan even a non traditional one such as Sally Mae. It is extremely UNLIKELY that one could walk into a bank and get a large "tuition sized" loan to buy a bunch of equiment without a well thought out business plan and proof of successful experience in said field.
5. If you do not know where to start or can't weasel your way into the sliver of an opening that you do know of, schooling will help you build a solid foundation to build upon, you will still have to fight to get your foot in the door but you'll be wearing steel toe boots instead of bare feet.

I say go for it man.

 

[SHEPPARDB.]

like its going to cost you 30k. I think its getting a little hot in Phoenix Tex.

Holy shit!!!When did they move Phoenix to Texas???

 

[chessrock]

You must not have gotten the memo.

 

[Be Loveless]

oh and by the way, besides recording music in studios there are

Speecches
Business Conferences
Conventions
Churches
Radio
Sound for Video
Film (both music and foley arts)
Enviroment recordings
Live sound (concerts/clubs/cruise ships/resorts)
and thats just what I can think of off the top of my head. Its not just music production, its SOUND engineering. There are jobs out there, but you have to love it. If you don't it will bite you in the ass.

 

[ampd]

Thats right Loveless. Sorry Shep, I forgot the comma. I was referring to Texroadkill if I need to explain.

 

[TexRoadkill]

like its going to cost you 30k. I think its getting a little hot in Phoenix Tex.

Have you actually looked at tuition costs for recording schools?

 

[TexRoadkill]

oh and by the way, besides recording music in studios there are

Speecches
Business Conferences
Conventions
Churches
Radio
Sound for Video
Film (both music and foley arts)
Enviroment recordings
Live sound (concerts/clubs/cruise ships/resorts)
and thats just what I can think of off the top of my head. Its not just music production, its SOUND engineering. There are jobs out there, but you have to love it. If you don't it will bite you in the ass.

I've done every one of them. Conventions and business conferences pay the best by far but it's so fucking boring it'll make you want to go back to school to study plumbing.

 

[c7sus]

If I was young and wanted to break into the biz I would go to Las Vegas and get into the scene there. There isn't anyplace in the world that has the concentration of hotels, showrooms, and the whole convention thing there goes pretty much year-round.

More and more of the conventions are going to recording/video of keynote speakers, and all that stuff needs to be edited for release back to the client.

Every single hotel has multiple showrooms that all need sound, and again, many shows are recorded.

I'm sure the pay isn't the greatest, but it's gotta be a damned sight better than interning. Some of the houses are union, but I imagine most aren't.

Anyway, if I was young and wanted an in, that's where I'd look.

The other angle might be trying to get on with your local community access TV. It may not be the same gear, but the principles are the same.

Just for kicks take a look at Craigslist in your area. You might be able to find somebody that would let you tag along on an independent film shoot. Maybe in exchange for helping out they'll show you some editing and production tips.

 

[ampd]

recording school cost

Last time I checked, the one I was referring to was around 5k. But I believe you can get a grant now. But that is the only one I have checked, so I`m sure some could be very expensive.

 

[junplugged]

I went to computer school. really just a certificate training program for $10,000 in 1994/95 just as the whole boom was happening.

I learned that I could have done the same thing, in the same time, with less money, gotten much better equipment to KEEP, and I still would have gotten the same crappy job I got when I left there. >>>>>>>>>> IF <<<<<<<<< I had gotten into the right books >>>>>>>>> AND <<<<<<< the right community or internet group and the right FAQ's and such. All this did exist, but I didn't get into it at the time but I definitely would have found it b/c it was there.

So you here, have a heck of a lot of info and you can do a lot before you lay down your future bankruptcy money on paying 50 times more than you need to.

I know it isn't exactly the same, but it is close enough of an example. Definitly take note that many of the people in the studios doing it aren't from those programs.

If you need to know something that you need to take a class for, take the class but not the program.

EBAY - you can get a lot of stuff cheaper there, you can work at a music store to learn all the stuff that's out there and meet a lot of people who use the stuff and network <<<<<<<-----

Even after my bs schooling, I learned 99% afterwards, On The Job.

You can do a heck of a lot with less than pro equipment. See if you have the ability to make stuff sound awesome first. If you can't then maybe you're not really into it, engineers and sound people are creative and go nuts improvising when they have to and a lot of stuff gets invented that way and they are always using their ears and hands-on everything.

Develop a portfolio of great sounds you love, then emulate them, get close to them w/ your huge collection of used gear, that you also learned how to repair, get local people to want to work with you on an amateur level for no pay because they know you get great sounding results.

Send your stuff to the known and not so known pros who do work now and see if you can impress them, help them, get their coffee, go to studios and sweep the floor and empty the garbage. score them their weed, smokes, whatever, but get in there and do the unexpected if you really want it it's there.

The story of the producer guy who sent a tape in and said to the people who produced a record on the radio, that he knows how they got that sound and here it is, - I'm paraphrasing the crap out of this sketchy story - they were impressed and either hired or took note or invited him in or whatever, but you get my point.

All I'm saying is dive in with both feet and dig and read and you'll be ahead of some lazy, pay for it, it comes to me loosers who go to those programs that are sold to them in fantasy terms. They told me $40,000 is available, but I got out and made $20,000 and then after 4 years, I made $40,000 and then Y2K and now they make $12/hour all shifts and weekends. And I'm out of there.

 

[Be Loveless]

All of the scenarios of trying to force your way into a studio at random and maybe they need or want a lackey and maybe they'll have some time for you and maybe they'll like your recordings. These all involve luck. School helps take some of the luck out of the equation. I am doing all of the things you describe AND I am going to go to school. Sorry if your still bitter about the tech bomb man, but that does not make me some "lazy loser" I'm not expecting a miracle or an easy time of it. I expect to have to bust some ass but when I do MY only tool won't be a hammer or haphazard guess work and luck.