Teaching Audio / school for audio

  • Thread starter Thread starter Erockrazor
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Erockrazor

Erockrazor

I mix in (2x) real-time
Hey,

Figured I could post this in this forum as it's pretty much anything goes.

I want to teach audio in a college. BUT HOW DO I DO THAT!?

I need to know what an honorable major to be a teacher in college.

Bachelor and Masters in communications?

There are options such as bachelors in recording arts but no masters that I've found. Should I go bachelors in recording arts then masters in communications?

I'm lost and time's ticking. Please help a fellow homerec friend!

Thanks, Eric.
 
That sort of depends on the school, no?
 
Well I'm trying to get in the ballpark with some direction. I don't have aspirations to become a teacher in berklee or like full sail at this point. Like a community school or a lesser acclaimed university.

Any help? I'm sure it depends what school completely but I don't know how a marine biology major would translate for an audio teacher profession. You get where I'm going with that.

Thanks, Eric:)
 
Electronics, acoustical engineering - Always going to be a big help. Having a degree from one of the mentioned places probably wouldn't hurt either.

Although admittedly, many of the teachers at several "audio engineering schools" that I know of (even some rather prominent ones) have no business teaching audio engineering. So, knowing how to engineer well doesn't really seem to be an issue at many of them.
 
Thanks Massive. I don't know if thats comforting or discomforting to know that I might not necessarily need to get a real specific study major. Hopefully I can find something that works and not be one of the people that you say aren't fit for teaching audio.

Thanks for your help. When I see your ad in tape op I always say " I know that guy! Sort of! ", to myself.
 
I am not sure about the smaller community colleges, but most that I've checked out prefer a Phd in Education along with their other credentials. I am also sure that for college level teaching, you need at least a master's degree.

I wanted to teach English a few years back, and hit a brick wall with most places because I only have a bachelor's degree. You will also need to get a teaching certificate, and that averages around $3,000 in most states.
 
Yeah, I was figuring on a masters to teach at a college level. Didn't really assume PhD though. I'm graduating community college with a major in Broadcasting after another semester. I need to choose which school to transfer to and it's more difficult than I thought. I want to find a school with a major that would get me on the right foot for being an audio professor. Thanks for the reply rokkit.

Sorry about the ad massive. Wasn't bringing in many clients? TapeOp has a lot of DIY but then again, every walk of life gets tape op. Who wouldnt? Good Luck Massive.
 
Erockrazor said:
Sorry about the ad massive. Wasn't bringing in many clients? TapeOp has a lot of DIY but then again, every walk of life gets tape op. Who wouldnt? Good Luck Massive.
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Nothing to be sorry about -- Just didn't seem very productive. Ran for - I dunno - 18 months or so there. Longer than I run in most.
 
I don't know for sure...since I've never inquired about it...but a couple of the schools around here (community college) offer a recording class that is taught by local studio owners/engineers. That doesn't mean those engineers don't have a degree, but I would think that the experience thing is more important to the school who hires them than a degree (especially in our field). I know Full Sail's teachers don't all have masters, PhD, etc. Many of the lab instructors are just former engineers.
 
bennychico11 said:
I don't know for sure...since I've never inquired about it...but a couple of the schools around here (community college) offer a recording class that is taught by local studio owners/engineers. That doesn't mean those engineers don't have a degree, but I would think that the experience thing is more important to the school who hires them than a degree (especially in our field). I know Full Sail's teachers don't all have masters, PhD, etc. Many of the lab instructors are just former engineers.
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Reassuring to hear. I agree that experience should be more important than technical knowledge. I'm sure many would like to argue that though.

Thanks for your reply Benny
 
Step ONE: a diploma in teaching - seriously.
Step TWO: a degree of madness.
Down under state run Technical & Further Education Colleges do have teachers that are industry experienced/based but they do undergo teacher training. Recent Federally funded Technical Colleges (established to undermine the state option) use untrained industry experienced workers.
 
Thanks Rayc,

Very informative. I was actually thinking about the education major. I'm going to look more into that now. Thanks for your response Ray. Eric.
 
go to school

GO get a degree in anything! All of my audio engineering teachers are nowhere near real teachers! You just have to know your stuff! And F the big expensive schools! I got a fully better education at a community college for a fifth of the price!
 
Ok, I'll go ahead and suggest the obvious. See if you can find a few people who do what you want to do, and see what their qualifications are.

Academia can be a tough market to break into. There are a few good jobs, and a _lot_ of crappy jobs. I teach math at the college level, so I can tell you what I've seen in my field. Things may differ fairly widely subject to subject, or country to country, so take all this with a grain of salt. Among college teachers, there are two types -- those that get paid only to teach, and those that have a research program. I taught at a community college a couple of summers ago, and I mostly saw the first kind. In 4 year colleges, most of the people called "professor" are the second kind. The people who only teach at larger colleges usually teach a lot more, get paid less, and have somewhat less job security. Most of the people I know who teach at a community college have a masters in the subject they teach. At the place I was, the few people there who had doctorates usually had them in education.

The main point I want to bring up is that unless you're at a school where a _lot_ of audio classes are taught, it may be hard to make a living at it unless you also teach other stuff. Most of the full-time community college professors I know teach about 5 classes a quarter, so if the schools you're looking at only offer 1 or 2 classes in this subject per quarter, it's more likely they'll get a local studio professional to teach the course instead of hiring somebody full-time just for that. They can hire them part-time, and they don't have to pay them benefits. They get to say they have a field-tested professional teaching the material, and their conscience is clear about the low pay because these guys are making most of their living doing something else.

I'm by no means trying to discourage you from taking this route, I just want to make sure you're thinking about this thing realistically.
 
I hear ya Dan. I have asked two of my college professors what their majors were. One had a journalism master and taught television courses and screen writing. The other had an electrical engineering masters and taught television and audio courses.

While I can imagine becoming a teacher having its difficulties, I can imagine making a living through an audio trade being even more difficult. I would like to be a teacher who teaches more than one subject in the school. That's what I had imagined being possible. I will have and already have a background in media related courses so that approach seems realistic to me. The most consistent answer seems to be an education major. Maybe the most expandable option at this point.

I've looked for a place that offers an audio masters degree and havent found one (searching mostly through collegeboard). Is there an audio production/ sound recording masters?

I know you're not trying to discourage me and thanks a lot for the help. I want to think of this realistically and this is why I'm asking this question. I don't want to do something I'll regret. Thanks so much for your reply. Nice to hear from a college teacher.:) Eric
 
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