Who went to school for recording? Who hometaught themselves?

  • Thread starter Thread starter monkie
  • Start date Start date

What school did you went to for recording?

  • Full Sail

    Votes: 9 2.4%

  • IPR (Institute of Production and Recording)

    Votes: 2 0.5%

  • Berklee College of Music (Boston, MA)

    Votes: 7 1.8%

  • SAE Institute

    Votes: 6 1.6%

  • Los Angeles Recording Workshop

    Votes: 1 0.3%

  • I taught myself recording

    Votes: 301 79.2%

  • Others

    Votes: 54 14.2%
  • Total voters
    380
I'm currently a music performance major and I'm required to take somewhere around 6 hours of additional/elective music courses (ones not directly linked to performance) so I've taken, and will take, classes on music technology and live sound. What I've learned so far has been invaluable and a lot of fun.
 
what do they teach in a music performance major? I didn't even know you could major in that.
 
self taught 100% through home demos and my first couple of bands demos were recorded by friends with similar home setups to the one i am trying to get up and running now. i am extremely green however, and trial and error seems to be my main passtime at the moment. have friends with good experience and knowledge who i fall back on though when i'm stumped. i just discovered this site today actually, and think its great.
 
monkie said:
How many of you in this forum actually went to school for audio recording?

Well, I went to IPR (Institute of Production and Recording) about 3 years ago. I dropped cause I didn't think it was worth paying that much money to learn recording when you could get it for free from online forums like these. With that much money I could've got me some real nice gears for my studio.

What's your story?
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home taught, from the heady days of tascam porta 01, via Atari ST 520 and then 1040 with steinberg pro 12 / pro 24, then to a steam powered pc and cakewalk and now getting to grips with a mac and garageband atm, soon to be cubase studio 4 methinks.
 
A day of experience is worth a week of sitting in a class, imo.. I've always been a hands-on type person.
 
suprstar said:
A day of experience is worth a week of sitting in a class, imo.. I've always been a hands-on type person.
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you do tend to remember the lessons you teach yourself a lot better. probably due to the pain and anguish along the way!
 
Professers at these school do know a lot and you can learn a lot but I think that if you don't practice these techniques then they'll be completely useless when you leave.
 
I went to Full Sail, and I have to say, I agree with everyone that working under someone's wing gives GREAT experience. I would have never learned some of the things I did by just reading a forum post or two.

On the other hand, i'll be in debt paying my loans for years to come. The initial sticker shock CAN drive people away. I have a great job, and I run my studio on the side for whatever price I like, 'cause i have the experience people are looking for. And you can't get that on a forum, either.:p
 
They have a program called recordingconnections.com. I have been debating about going here. You get 6 months worth of working in a studio and a course curriculum about everything that goes on in the studio. They say that this is better than going to Berklee or Full Sail because you get way more hands on experience and you interact with the studios clients all the time. Except you don't get a degree. You get a certificate saying you completed the course. But everyone says that they don't care if you have the degree; it's the experience that counts.
 
Art institute of seattle, i was right near the end when i realised "wait, i paid whut for this?" felt like the shool was more about getting their money. Teachers were cool, most of them cared.... a couple of teachers were quated saying "those who do, do. those who dont do, teach. those who teach, teach at the art institute of seattle." i mean a few teachers were saying that... n e ways i went cause i had a background in graphic design, and if audio didnt work out i could fall back on graphics. but of course passion pulled thru.

i kinda wish i knew someone who knew better, who could of guided me better on what to do, but i guess when u solo and young u go with what u think is right, which is sometime ignorance.... now wit my degree and like 20 independent albums under my belt, im lookin for a mentor to help take me to that next step.
 
Reading some of this makes me kind of anxious about what I'm going to do with my near future. I just transferred from safe majors in cs then to chem, now to music with music tech emphasis at UMaryland Baltimore. I'm already 21.

I think music's one of a few things I'm sure I have the least bit passion for. Unfortunately, I've also figured out that I haven't been really productive if I'm not the least bit passionate about it. Maybe recording tech is such an unstable-guaranteed-life-in-a-box choice it means I'm truly passionate about it (or truly capable of making rational decisions :rolleyes:). I have trouble figuring out what I'd be "best" at in life. I don't consider myself good at science--I used to think I was decent in high school.

The thing I figured was that I wouldn't be limited to strictly a job as a recording engineer or producer. I could work in TV/radio audio production, live sound, or acoustics. A degree wouldn't hurt my chances in these fields, right? Or maybe I could get certified to teach piano and cello. But that would mean even more time spending money on college. Although it's more secure, I'm not sure if teaching's my thing either.

I don't know if I should switch back to something more practical. I already have some science courses out of the way. I'd graduate earlier than if I stay in this track. I would avoid the "WTF I could've just taught all of this to myself." The biggest problem is what I'd major in instead of music, since there is no indecisionology major available.:p
 
A curious thought just occurred to me. By the same argument of "don't do it, you're destined to live in a box--they don't give a crap about your degree," can't you say that every arts/language-related major is a waste of time? They could've just learned it through Internet forums or just by practicing every day.

That's depressing.
 
A CS major with a music tech minor doesn't seem so bad right now, especially while I still can look forward.
 
I started about 4 years ago...with an old used porta-studio I found on e-bay.....Been a musician almost all my life but this was something new....when I finally bought a used Boss Br-532 I was HOOKED!...I bought another later and synch them together...and then a couple years ago I ran across a used Yamaha AW-16G...8 tracks at once with all sorts of stuff you can do all the way to the final CD. The whole time my best friend in FORT COLLINS was building his own studio "Perspective Music Studio" He has ProTOOLS HD system. He kept telling me it was just a matter of time before I went to the full computer DAW. Well, I retired last year from my REAL job and I took the plunge. I bought a DIGI 003 rack...a new MAC PRO and 7.4 ProTools. I am loving it to the max. I am still working with the basic plug ins that come with the 003 Rack but have acquired Antares Auto tune and am learning tons everyday. Besides that, since I live in St Louis and my friend lives in Colorado it gives us an excuse to talk everyday. It is like I have finally found what I love to do. I have already done several local bands first CD or Demo and have really gotten at home with the automation and working with gates limiter and compressors. I realize I have just scratched the tip of the iceberg and at my age and my income I'll never be able to really stay up with the tech curve but I am like a kid in school and I am learning everything I can as fast as I can!
 
School

I went to school for 9 months @ RAC in Toronto. I learned alot about connectivity and synch nothing about being an engineer that's recording music. 9 months and 13k later I've got a degree that I haven't used once, and I'm paying off my loan one payment at a time.

I don't think it was worth it. Should have bought some good preamps, microphones and a tascam 48 and started a remote recording business.

Andy
 
I went to Musicians Institute in Hollywood three semesters ago, but started getting interested in audio engineering years before that (sometime before high school). For the most part, I think it really helped me with more of the "advanced" aspects of recording engineering (especially working on boards I will never be able to afford :(), but I value the formative years before schooling. I think the school really gave me insight to the industry itself.

Hollywood was a shithole, but I enjoyed school for the most part.
 
Self taught. Started with a 244 in 1985. The only training I've had is in electronics (hardware development) and that has always been useful. FM radio theory also helped me understand FM programming :)

I've never had access to high-end gear and the only access to truly experienced AEs has been via the web. Unfortunately, that doesn't help so much with several major requirements for success at this game - microphone technique, ear training, EQ, and dynamics control. Mostly it's been practice combined with specific little snippets from web forums to fill out that understanding. In fact, understanding is the key - it's one thing to have knowledge and all the theory but if you don't truly understand what's going on, you can't apply that knowledge and get the results you desire.

Personally, to progress at any great speed from where I am right now would mean getting to work with experienced professionals in a good quality studio. I don't see that happening any time soon.
 
I went to Full Sail and graduated in September of '06. I absolutely loved it. Sure it was expensive and all that and I'll be in debt for pretty much forever but I really loved my time there. You really get what you put in to it.
 
I have learned a lot on my own and a lot from some of the best engineers on the planet.

When it all comes down to it recording is an art. With home recording one does not need to "know it all" to accomplish their goals. They need to understand the sound spectrum and how to manage it. They need to understand the sound they want. Use the spectrum management tools to get that sound.

Not to discourage school. I wish I had the time and money to do it.
 
I went to school and got my finance degree, aside from that, my music training was all self taught. The fun in the process was a 9 year experiment with all levels of the game. I would note my progress once I realized the limitations with certain free software. I began to watch other studio engineers and study their recipes for some common problems faced in studio environments.

This is definitely like cooking, mix and match your techniques, develop your ear training and always be willing to learn more. Im constantly roaming forums to brush up on recording techniques and when it all comes down to it, your training is not about what school but what obstacles you overcome.
 
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